whole-wheat flour

brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies / biscotti al burro nocciola con fiocchi d’avena e uvetta

| Simona

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brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies / IMG_4545

just baked
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I had fun reading again Alice’s adventures. For example, I paid more attention to the way she talks to herself and about herself. Truly one of those books that tell us something more or a bit different each time we read them.

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words “EAT ME” were beautifully marked in currants.

I knew immediately I’d make cookies for Alice: when I like a cookie, it’s like it has EAT ME written on it. Also, in my opinion, the best foods with tea are cookies and scones, and Alice really goes with cookies. After deciding to bake cookies, the question was: which kind? 

brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies / IMG_4553

the right size, the right shape, balanced flavor
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Some time ago, I developed my version of chocolate chunk cookies, so I turned my attention to another traditional sweet morsel of goodness: oatmeal raisin cookies. They are made with ingredients I like, but not necessarily in a way that appeals to me. 

Guided on one hand by my Brown butter chocolate chunk cookies1 and on the other by the recipe for Oatmeal raisin cookies in Stacy Adimando’s The Cookiepedia2, I experimented with various versions until I settled on the recipe below, which includes a few steps to execute ahead of preparing the cookie dough: browning the butter, re-hydrating the raisins, and toasting rolled oats and sliced almonds. Additional personal touches include the use of coconut sugar, rye and whole-wheat flour (farina integrale), and okara flour3, a protein-rich, gluten-free flour derived from the soybean pulp (okara) generated during soymilk (latte di soia) production.

ingredients for oatmeal raisin cookies / IMG_4543

some of the ingredients, ready for use
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The cookies are tender, sweet enough, with a contrast between plump raisins and crisp sliced almonds (mandorle). The rolled oats give the texture more body. I like them a lot.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies

Ingredients for 11 cookies:

  • 1/4 cup / 2 ounces  / 56 grams unsalted butter (to make brown butter, recipe below)
  • 1 1/2 ounces / 42 grams raisins
  • 1 tablespoon / 15 ml warm apple juice OR tea OR water
  • 3 ounces / 85 grams rolled oats
  • 1 ounce / 28 grams sliced almonds
  • Avocado OR other mild-flavored vegetable oil to add to the brown butter to obtain 2 ounces
  • 1 3/4 ounces / 50 grams sugar: 1/2 coconut sugar and 1/2 light brown sugar 
  • 1 egg about 2.1 ounces / 60 grams, at room temperature 
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 ml vanilla extract
  • 2 ounces / 56 grams total of a combination of flours:
    • 1/2 ounce  / 14 grams okara flour 
    • 1/2 ounce / 14 grams whole rye flour
    • 1/2 ounce  / 14 grams whole-wheat pastry flour
    • 1/2 ounce  / 14 grams sprouted whole-wheat pastry flour OR whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (cannella)

Prepare the following four ingredients ahead of making the cookies: brown butter, plumped raisins, toasted rolled oats, toasted almond slices.

1) Cut the butter into small pieces and put them into a small saucepan. Melt the butter while stirring then keep the melted butter on the heat, stirring. The butter will foam as water evaporates then the solids will caramelize. Remove the saucepan from the heat, pour the brown butter into a ramekin and let cool. The process is fast and requires full attention as the solids go from brown to burned in a few seconds4.

2) With your fingers, separate the raisins that are clumped. Place the raisins in a ramekin. Pour the warm liquid over them and stir well. Stir again a few more times.

3) Heat the oven to 350 F / 170 C. Spread the rolled oats on an unlined baking sheet. Toast rolled oats in the oven for 4-5 minutes, shaking the sheet half-way through.

4) Toast the sliced almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Shake the skillet to ensure even toasting and prevent burning. Transfer the almonds onto a plate.  

Finally, make the cookies. Let the brown butter soften in a mixing bowl. Weigh the butter and add enough vegetable oil to get to 2 ounces / 56 grams. Add both sugars to the mixing bowl. Cream the butter and sugars. I do all the mixing with a spatula or wooden spoon, but you can use an electric mixer until otherwise noted. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and stir until combined.

Sift the flours into a small mixing bowl. Sift in the baking soda, then add salt and cinnamon. Add about half of the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir briefly. Add the rest and mix just until the flour is incorporated. Add the toasted oats and incorporate them `using a spatula. Finally, add the raisins and incorporate them using a spatula.

Cover the mixing bowl and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so to firm up the dough (it will be easier to handle and the cookies will remain chubby), but not too firm, since there is one last ingredient to incorporate. 

Heat the oven to 350 F/177 C.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator. Add the toasted almonds to the dough and stir to incorporate. Weigh approximately 1.2 ounces / 34 grams of dough for each cookie. Shape each piece of dough into a half dome, tap the top to flatten it slightly and place on the baking sheet, leaving 1 1/2-2 inches / 4-5 cm of distance between them.

Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate the backing sheet. Bake for another 6 minutes. The cookies will still be soft. The edges should be golden brown.

Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Store the cookies in a sealed container.

brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies / IMG_4550
hard to photograph them without nibbling on one or two
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I imagine Alice’s EAT ME cake was prettier than my cookies, but they make up in flavor what they lack in good looks. I enjoy one in the afternoon with roiboos tea—and so far there has been no change in my height.

1 From briciole’s archive: Brown butter chocolate-chunk bookies and review of The Cookiepedia
2 Recipe for Oatmeal raisin cookies from The Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando
3 The Okara flour I use
4 A more detailed post on how to brown butter

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

biscotti al burro nocciola con fiocchi d’avena e uvetta

or launch the biscotti al burro nocciola con fiocchi d’avena e uvetta audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

CtBThis is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot’s Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

cookies, oatmeal, raisins, oatmeal raisin cookies, brown butter

recipe: brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies

| Simona

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brown butter chocolate chunk cookies / biscotti al burro nocciola con pezzetti di cioccolato

| Simona

jump to Recipe

IMG_3888

the simple charm of chocolate chunks
(napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Recently, during one of my customary browsing of the sale shelf of a local bookstore, I picked the mystery novel The Whispering City by Sara Moliner1 (pseudonym for the writing duo Rosa Ribas and Sabine Hofmann). The title and subtitle (Barcelona 1952) piqued my curiosity and the back-cover blurb made me decide to purchase the novel.

The story is set during the regime of dictator Francisco Franco, who was still alive when I was born. I remember his death in 1975 (after which Juan Carlos became king of Spain), so as dictatorships go, this one is clear in my memory. The civil climate described in the book is typical of dictatorships, where freedom of expression, information and thought are outlawed. Ana Martí Noguer is a young journalist aspiring to do more than write the society column for a newspaper that strives to maintain a certain amount of independence from the regime without running afoul of it. She is figlia d’arte, as her father was also a journalist.

Circumstances catapult Ana into the middle of a murder investigation and she ends up becoming entangled in it, together with her older cousin Beatriz, whom she had recently met. Beatriz is a linguist who has fallen on hard times due to her political leanings.

chocolate chunk cookies / DSCN0075

post-exercise energy recharge
(napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I enjoyed the story and the historical setting. As the NPR review2 says

The mental sepia tones evoked (and used on the cover — good job, Pegasus designers!) aren’t just those of vintage photographs, but those of a city blanched of its color and vivacity by a right-wing regime.

One of the recurring themes in the book is scarcity, partly as a result of the time (post WWII in a dictatorship with mostly democracies as neighbors) and partly as a result of Ana’s limited economic means. Sugar (zucchero) is a luxury food item, so when she is in a coffee shop, she indulges in it, adding it liberally to her coffee and licking the cup clean after finishing the liquid.

While reading the novel, I spent a weekend on a bicycle ride around San Luis Obispo, on the Central California Coast. In the oceanside town of Cayucos, The Brown Butter Cookie Company3 makes cookies and shortbread. I don’t have a sweet tooth and was skeptical about the cookies, but after tasting a few options I had to admit that they are quite good. While nibbling on half of a chocolate chunk cookie (it was pretty big), I decided to try making my own version.

Serendipitously, a few days later, this recipe4 came to my attention and I chose to use it as my base because it was neither overly sweet nor overly buttery and also made a manageable number of cookies. Of course, I would change several things to make the recipe suit my taste. First of all, I use brown butter, like the bakery in Cayucos. Then, I substitute 3/4 of the white flour with whole-wheat / whole-grain flour (farina integrale). I decrease the amount of sugar slightly and omit the finishing sea salt. Finally, I choose good-quality chocolate and chunk it by hand.

I imagine Ana would dive in and enjoy my cookies. I have made them several times and everybody who has tasted them (my husband and some friends) has given them thumbs up. I like them a lot.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Brown butter chocolate chunk cookies

Ingredients for 16 cookies:

  • 1/4 cup / 2 ounces  / 56 grams unsalted butter (to make brown butter, recipe below)
  • Avocado OR other mild-flavored vegetable oil to add to the brown butter to obtain 2 ounces
  • 2 tablespoons / 25 grams granulated OR superfine sugar AND enough light brown sugar to obtain 3 1/2 ounces / 100 grams total
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons / 1/2 tablespoon / 7.5 ml vanilla extract
  • 1 large pastured egg at room temperature
  • 6 ounces / 170 grams of a combination of flours:
    • 1 1/2 ounces  / 42 grams pastry flour OR all-purpose flour 
    • 4 1/2 ounces / 128 grams whole-grain flours: 1/3 whole rye, 1/3 whole-wheat pastry, 1/3 whole spelt AND sprouted whole quinoa
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 5 1/4 ounces / 150 grams extra-dark chocolate (I use 88%), cut with a knife into small pieces

Brown the butter5 in advance. Cut the butter into small pieces and put them into a small saucepan. Melt the butter while stirring then keep the melted butter on the heat, stirring. The butter will foam as water evaporates then the solids will caramelize. Remove the saucepan from the heat, pour the brown butter into a ramekin and let cool. The process is fast and requires full attention as the solids go from brown to black in a few seconds.

Let the brown butter soften in a mixing bowl. Weigh the butter and add enough vegetable oil to get to 2 ounces / 56 grams. Add both sugars to the mixing bowl. Mix with a spatula until the sugars are well blended into the butter. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix until well combined. While I prefer to mix butter and sugar with a spatula, I like to use the electric mixer to mix in the liquids.

Sift and weigh the flours into a small mixing bowl. Sift in the baking soda and baking powder, then add the salt. Add about half of the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix briefly, using either a spatula or the electric mixer. Add the rest and mix just until the flour is incorporated. Finally, add the chocolate chunks and incorporate using a spatula.

Cover the mixing bowl and place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to firm up the dough, longer if possible (it will be easier to handle and the cookies will remain chubby).

Preheat the oven to 350 F/177 C.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator. Weigh approximately 30-32 grams of dough for each cookie. Shape each piece of dough into a half dome, tap the top to flatten it slightly and place on the baking sheet, leaving 1 1/2-2 inches / 4-5 cm of distance between them.

Bake for 12-14 minutes. Check the cookies after 12 minutes and bake longer if needed. The edges should be golden brown.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely.

Store the cookies in a sealed container.

chocolate chunk cookies / DSCN0073

or enjoyed with a cup of tea
(napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO)

My cookies neither look like nor taste like those I ate in Cayucos: they are less sweet, softer, and have a fuller, whole-grain flavor. They are excellent. I have come to rely on them as energy recharge after a long run or bike ride.

1 The novel’s page on the publisher’s website
2 A review of the novel on the NPR site
3 Brown Butter Cookie Company
4 Recipe for Chocolate chunk cookies with sea salt on Culinary Ginger
5 A more detailed post on how to brown butter

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

biscotti al burro nocciola con pezzetti di cioccolato

or launch the biscotti al burro nocciola con pezzetti di cioccolato audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

Small_NFlogoThis is my second contribution to the 42nd edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started over 14 years ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

cookies, chocolate, chocolate cookies, brown butter

recipe: brown butter chocolate chunk cookies

| Simona

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sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / cracker integrali al formaggio

| Simona
sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / DSC_8407

one by one, they will soon be all gone
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The August-September selection of the Cook the Books club is the novel Sourdough by Robin Sloan1. Intriguing title, I thought immediately, but did not know what to expect: I rarely read reviews before I read a book (sometimes do so after turning over the last page2). Being familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area contributed to the story's appeal, but even if you don't know the island of Alameda or the San Francisco Ferry Building, you will enjoy the twists and turns of Lois Clary's adventures in robot-aided bread baking.

The atmosphere is sci-fi, so don't expect your sourdough starter to behave the same way as that of the title. My adventures in sourdough-baking started some years ago with an evening class taught by Rhonda Wiedenbeck now of Beck's Bakery3. I got home that night with 2 tablespoons of Rhonda's sourdough starter (pasta madre), which I have fed, used, refrigerated, frozen (in between uses). I have a relaxed relationship with it. For regular feeding, I use the simple formula I learned in the class: I stir well 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter + 1/4 cup of water + 1/3 cup of King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour, cover the (recycled yogurt) container and place it on top of the refrigerator.

I have baked various types of sourdough bread4 (pane al lievito naturale) and this time what got me scouting for recipes was the idea of using the starter in between feedings that would otherwise be wasted. I found inspiration on the King Arthur Flour website which has a recipe for Sourdough Crackers5, made particularly appealing for the inclusion of whole-wheat flour (farina integrale). I halved the quantities and adjusted the ingredients to my taste, particularly with the addition of cheese to the dough.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces / 113 g sourdough starter (see Note below on starter feeding)
  • 2 ounces / 56 g whole-wheat flour (I use 1 ounce / 28 g Chiddam Blanc de Mars from Capay Mills6 and 1 ounce / 28 g hard red wheat from Beck's Bakery3 both stone-ground)
  • 1 tablespoon / 1/2 ounce unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon / 15 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/2-1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh herbs of your choice, optional but nice (I use rosemary)
  • 1 ounce / 28 g sharp cheese of your choice, freshly grated
  • olive oil for brushing
  • coarse sea salt for sprinkling on the surface

Note: For regular feeding, I stir well 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter + 1/4 cup of water + 1/3 cup of King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour, cover the (recycled yogurt) container and place it on top of the refrigerator. I repeat this morning and evening during the days in which the starter is not in the refrigerator. When I make the crackers, I take the amount of starter needed and use the rest in the preceding formula.

In a bowl, weigh the sourdough starter, whole-wheat flours, butter and olive oil, and stir to make a dough. Sprinkle sea salt and herbs (if using) and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Stir salt and herbs into the mix, transfer on your working surface and knead until you have a smooth, slightly tacky dough. (To make this step easier, I lightly oil my kneading board and wet my hands.) 

Shape the dough into a thick rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to a couple of hours.

When ready to shape and bake the crackers, preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Lightly flour the surface of the dough and roll it into a long rectangle (top left photo below). Distribute the grated cheese over one half of the rectangle (middle left photo) then fold the other half over the cheese (bottom left photo).

Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper and transfer the folded dough onto it. Roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/16 inch / 1.5 mm. Transfer the dough and parchment paper together onto a baking sheet. Lightly brush the surface of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt on top. Cut the dough into squares (a pizza cutter wheel works well for this task). Don't worry if the cut doesn't go all the way through: a deep score is good enough (top right photo below). Prick the surface with the tines of a fork.

preparing sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / IMG_1226

rolling and scoring the dough for crackers

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake the crackers for 20 to 25 minutes, until they brown around the edges, or a bit more (the thinner pieces will brown almost fully, bottom right photo above). After 12 minutes, turn the baking sheet front to back to help the crackers bake more evenly.

Take the baking sheet out the oven and transfer the crackers to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week (in my case they never last that long, because I also like to share them).

sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / IMG_1224

composition of shapes

I love these crackers: beyond their delightful crunch, the notes of rosemary (rosmarino) and cheese make them great on their own or with a layer of prosciutto, fresh chèvre or your spread of choice.

1 The book's page on the author's website
2 The NPR review, the Guardian review the Washington Post review
3 Beck's Bakery
4 My bread collection
5 Recipe for Sourdough Crackers on the King Arthur Flour website
6 Capay Mills

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

cracker integrali al formaggio

or launch the cracker integrali al formaggio audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

CtBThis is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot's Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

Small_NFlogoThis is also my contribution to the 34th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started 11 years ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

crackers, whole-wheat flour, cheese, sourdough

recipe: sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers

| Simona

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chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali al cioccolato e noci

| Simona
chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / DSC_8328

everything is better with chocolate, including bread
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

On a recent visit to a local bookstore, I purchased Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout1. A friend had told me the movie was really good, but I rarely watch TV, so the recommendation made me buy the book. I loved every page of it. The writing is superb and the characters of the stories are drawn with delicacy, precision and empathy.

I also like the author's choice in writing a collection of short stories, rather than a novel. In some of them Olive is the protagonist, in others she makes an appearance. Having been a math teacher in the school of her small town in Maine, she knows a lot of the residents. And her husband Henry was for many years the pharmacist and is a well-liked member of the community.

Olive's stern manners make students fear her. Christopher, Olive and Henry's only son, gets crushed between his parents and moves to California to build his own life, rather than the life his parents had planned for him (they design and build a house for him, which he promptly sells after getting married). Sometimes it is hard to imagine what Olive wants. She may say something rather rude one moment and the next she empathizes deeply with a stranger or refuses to leave alone a former student whose emotional trouble she senses.

There are a lot of doughnuts in the book: people eat doughnuts at the local cafe on the bay, Bonnie expects a doughnut (not cinnamon) when her husband, Harmon, comes back home from running errands, which include a visit to Daisy, for whom he will eventually leave his wife. Olive talks about her preference for doughnuts with Nina, a young woman with anorexia:

Olive finished the doughnut, wiped the sugar from her fingers, sat back and said, “You’re starving.”
The girl didn't move, only said, “Uh—duh.”
“I’m starving, too,” Olive said. The girl looked over at her. “I am,” Olive said. “Why do you think I eat every doughnut in sight?”
“You’re not starving,” Nina said with disgust.
“Sure I am. We all are.”
…
Olive Kitteridge was crying. If there was anyone in town Harmon believed he would never see cry, Olive was that person But there she sat, large and big-wristed, her mouth quivering, tears coming from her eyes.
…
Olive shook her head again, blew her nose. She looked at Nina, and said quietly, “I don’t know who you are, but young lady, you’re breaking my heart.”

I don't understand doughnuts: They don't appeal to me. Good bread, on the other hand, attracts me like a magnet. At the Temescal farmers' market, in Oakland, I purchased some chocolate sourdough from the Midwife and the Baker bakery2 Made with 40% whole-wheat flour (farina integrale), it beats all the doughnuts of the world. I decided to try making some chocolate bread and to that end, I reworked a beloved recipe for buns3.

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_1051

homemade cheese goes well with homemade bread
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I ran a few tests and below is the version I liked best. I suspect Olive would mumble if I arrived at her place with a bag of buns instead of doughnuts. I would leave the bag on her table without making a fuss. She would eat one, thank me brusquely and add a morsel of her sharp wisdom, like: "Don't be scared of your hunger. If you're scared of your hunger, you'll just be one more ninny like everyone else." That's the best one can expect from Olive. But if I were going through a rough time, Olive would be there and not leave, sensing the sadness welling up from deep down inside me.

The recipe calls for a long, slow rise (lievitazione) in the refrigerator to enhance flavor. Make sure to allow time for it.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls

Note: I specify the brand for the flours I use, because flours are not created equal; however, this in not an advertisement, i.e., I don't get receive any payment for mentioning the brands.

Ingredients (for 10 rolls)

For the sponge:

  • 3/4 cup / 180 ml water
  • 2 grams (slightly more than 1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
  • 100 grams King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
  • 15 grams sprouted whole-wheat flour
  • 10 grams Ultragrain all-purpose flour (or King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour)

For the dough:

  • 25 grams millet
  • 20 grams hemp hearts
  • 35 grams walnuts, finely chopped
  • 1 large egg, possibly from pastured poultry, lightly beaten
  • 2 tablespoons / 30 ml olive oil
  • 70 grams whole-spelt flour (I use stone-ground from Capay Mills4)
  • 150 grams whole-wheat flour (I use stone-ground, hard red whole-wheat flour from Beck's Bakery5)
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
  • 55 grams extra-dark chocolate, finely chopped (I use 88% cacao, but I am used to eating 100%, so it tastes sweet enough; if you are not used to unsweetened chocolate, I suggest you use 70-72% cacao)
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 grams sea salt
  • a bit more all-purpose flour to dust your work surface

The sponge
Pour the water into a mixing bowl, add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Whisk in the flours to make a batter. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature for about 30 minutes, at the end of which you should see tiny bubbles (yeast at work).

The soaker
In the meantime, put the millet, hemp hearts and walnuts in a small bowl and cover with boiling water (1/2 cup / 120 ml). Leave to soak for 30 minutes, then drain the excess liquid (some will remain in the mix and that is fine). Stir the mixture into the sponge.

The bread dough
Add to the sponge and millet mixture the egg, the olive oil, the spelt and whole-wheat flours, the cocoa and chocolate. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Sprinkle the salt on the surface and let the dough rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

Lightly oil your work surface. Transfer the dough on it and knead with wet hands until smoother (a minute or two). The dough will be a bit sticky: use a dough cutter to help you knead. Avoid adding flour: during fermentation the flours will absorb water and by the time you cut it and shape it into rolls, the dough will be easy to handle.

Fold the dough and place it into a clean, oiled bowl. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. Better still, make the dough in the morning and bake the rolls the following morning or later in the day. The slow rise in the refrigerator allows a more complex flavor to develop. 

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_1043

oh, the dough!

Shape the rolls
When ready to cut and shape, prepare a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Take the bowl with the dough out of the refrigerator, uncover it and flip it onto a lightly floured work surface. Scrape all the dough from the bowl. Cut the dough into 10 pieces, each weighing 77-80 grams.

Shape each roll as follows: Flatten the piece of dough then fold the corners towards the center, then fold again inward into a small bundle. Flip it seam side down on a piece of clean work surface and roll it with lightly floured hand to shape it into a tight ball. [This short video shows my hands rolling a larger piece of dough, but should still give an idea.]

Place the roll on the lined baking sheet, seeded side up, about 2 inches / 5 cm apart from the others.

Repeat until all the rolls are shaped. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap and place the baking sheet in a warm place until the rolls have doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hour, depending on the ambient temperature. Check the rolls' progress and when they are 15-20 minutes from being ready to be baked, turn on the oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Home stretch
Bake the rolls for 15 minutes. The internal temperature will be close to 210 F / 99 C (bake a minute or two longer, if needed). Take the baking sheet out of the oven then transfer the rolls onto a rack. Let cool. Enjoy!

I LOVE these rolls. You can nibble one by itself or with cheese6 or with a slice of prosciutto. They are delicate, a bit crunchy, ever so slightly sweet. Move over doughnuts!

1 The book's page on the author's website and the miniseries page on HBO
2 the MIDWIFE and the BAKER bakery
3 On this blog: seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls
4 Capay Mills
5 Beck's Bakery
6 On this blog: English-style coulommiers

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

panini integrali al cioccolato e noci

or launch the panini integrali al cioccolato e noci audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

Small_NFlogoThis is my second contribution to the 33rd edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

Fr2018-150I am also contributing to the June edition of Foodies Read the reading/cooking event hosted by Heather of Based on a True Story.

Visit the linkup page to see what others have read and cooked.

FTC disclosure: I have received the placemat free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

bread, dinner rolls, whole-grain flour, whole-wheat flour, chocolate, walnuts, millet, hemp seeds

recipe: chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls

| Simona

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seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali ai semi

| Simona
seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_0675

what happens when you drop a poppy seedpod
(on La FABBRICA del LINO placemat)

In the many years I have been hosting Novel Food I have contributed and received contributions inspired by a wide range of literature, from thick novels to flash nonfiction, from intense memoir to moving poems. One category of books notably absent from the Novel Food library is so-called self-improvement books, which examine a life's problem and offer advice on a way forward (I prefer to avoid the word "solution" which is better applied to math problems).

The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work by Christine Carter1 (recommended to me by a friend), together with some articles from the Greater Good Science Center's Greater Good in Action website2 have helped me a lot recently to deal with some intense stressors and find again some balance in my daily life. I am not yet able to get into the sweet spot easily, but am working on it. If you are interested you can sign up for the Greater Good Science Center's newsletter.

The book did not per se inspire the recipe below, but it inspired me to bake bread again after a long hiatus. Baking bread (fare il pane) is one of the joys of life, but in the last year and a half I had it set aside for various reasons. With its focus on, among other things, bringing positive emotions into one's life, the book reminded me that baking bread is a reliable way for me to feel good. That and making cheese (fare il formaggio).

seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_0659

(homemade) cheese is (homemade) bread's best friend

I selected from my archive a recipe by David Tannis3 for seeded dinner rolls with whole-wheat flour (farina integrale). The recipe rightly advocates for a long, slow rise (lievitazione) in the refrigerator to enhance flavor. I halved the quantities, made some changes to the list of ingredients and applied techniques I learned at the San Francisco Baking Institute. The rolls are great: dense but light, soft but with the lovely crunch of seeds, the perfect size not only for the dinner bread basket (cestino del pane) but also for a sandwich. And if you slice them and toast the slices you have a great base for canapé.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls

Note: I specify the brand for the flours I use, because flours are not created equal; however, this in not an advertisement, i.e., I don't get receive any payment for mentioning the brands.

Ingredients (for 10 rolls)

For the sponge:

  • 3/4 cup / 180 ml water
  • 2 grams (slightly more than 1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
  • 100 grams King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
  • 15 grams sprouted whole-wheat flour (I use stone-ground from Capay Mills or King Arthur Flour)
  • 10 grams Ultragrain all-purpose flour (or King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour)

For the dough:

  • 25 grams millet
  • 15 grams sunflower seeds
  • 20 grams pumpkin seeds
  • 20 grams hemp hearts
  • 1 large egg, possibly from pastured poultry, lightly beaten
  • 2 tablespoons / 30 ml olive oil
  • 70 grams whole-spelt flour (I use stone-ground from Capay Mills4)
  • 150 grams whole-wheat flour (I use stone-ground, hard red whole-wheat flour from Beck's Bakery5)
  • 1 teaspoon / 5 grams sea salt
  • a bit more all-purpose flour to dust your work surface

For the topping:

  • Poppy seeds or sesame seeds

Make the sponge
Pour the water into a mixing bowl, add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Whisk in the flours to make a batter. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature for about 30 minutes, at the end of which you should see tiny bubbles (yeast at work).

Soak the seeds
In the meantime, put the millet and all the seeds in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for 30 minutes, then drain (some water will remain in the seed mix and that is fine). Stir the seeds into the sponge.

Make the bread dough
Add to the sponge and seed mixture the egg, the olive oil, the spelt and whole-wheat flours. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Sprinkle the salt on the surface and let the dough rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

Lightly flour your work surface. Transfer the dough on it and knead until smoother (a minute or two). The dough will be a bit sticky: use a dough cutter to help you knead. Avoid adding flour: during fermentation the flours will absorb water and by the time you cut it and shape it into rolls, the dough will be easy to manage.

Fold the dough and place it into a clean, oiled bowl. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. Better still, make the dough in the morning and bake the rolls the following morning or later in the day. The slow rise in the refrigerator allows a more complex flavor to develop.

Shape the rolls
When ready to cut and shape, prepare a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, and also a small bowl with water and another bowl with poppy seeds. Take the bowl with the dough out of the refrigerator, uncover it and flip it onto a lightly floured work surface. Scrape all the dough from the bowl. Cut the dough into 10 pieces, each weighing 70-72 grams6.

Shape each roll as follows: Flatten the piece of dough then fold the corners towards the center, then fold again inward into a small bundle. Flip it seam side down on a piece of clean work surface and roll it with lightly floured hand to shape it into a tight ball. [This short video shows my hands rolling a larger piece of dough, but should still give an idea.]

IMG_0654

Holding the roll by the seam with your fingertips, dip its top surface quickly in the water, then roll it gently on the poppy seeds. Place the roll on the lined baking sheet, seeded side up, about 2 inches / 5 cm apart from the others.

Repeat until all the rolls are shaped. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap and place the baking sheet in a warm place until the rolls have doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hour, depending on the ambient temperature. Check the rolls' progress and when they are 15-20 minutes from being ready to be baked, turn on the oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Home stretch
Bake the rolls for 15 minutes, or until nicely browned. The internal temperature will be close to 210 F / 99 C. Take the baking sheet out of the oven then transfer the rolls onto a rack. Let cool. Enjoy!

Perfect positive emotion to make, bake, smell and taste these rolls, especially when topped with some of my homemade cheese, like the (French) Neufchâtel7 in the photo or my famous crescenza (which these days I am making with half Jersey cow milk and it comes out out-of-this-world good8).

1 The book's page on the author's website
2 The Greater Good Science Center's Greater Good in Action website 
3 Recipe for Seeded molasses whole-wheat dinner rolls on the NY Times
4 Capay Mills
5 Beck's Bakery
6 The number of rolls the original declares to make is puzzling: it is impossible to make 30 rolls each weighing 3 ounces from the quantities listed. Also, by my test, smaller-size rolls rise and bake more evenly.
7 On this blog: homemade (French) Neufchâtel
8 On this blog: homemade Crescenza

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

panini integrali ai semi

or launch the panini integrali ai semi audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

Small_NFlogoThis is my second contribution to the 31st edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the placemat free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

bread, dinner rolls, whole-grain flour, whole-wheat flour, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, millet, hemp seeds

recipe: seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls

| Simona

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