OATMEAL COOKIES

11 large cookies are in your future. 
The generosity of size allows for my favoured ratio of super-crunch edge to the tweedy middle, trust on it.

113 g | 1/2 cup butter, salted or unsalted though the former preferred
21 g | 1 1/2 tablespoons hot water
133 g | 2/3 cup brown sugar
100 g | 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried orange peel or finely grated peel of half an orange
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
128 g | 1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon medium grain kosher salt, depending on the butter you use
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
134 g| 1 1/2 cups traditional rolled oats
64 g | 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
37 g | 1/4 cup chopped dates
39 g | 1/4 cup butter toffee chips
71 g | 2 1/2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat an oven to 350°F |180°C with racks in the upper and lower thirds. 

Line two half-sheet pans or heavy, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, brown the butter - 113 g, stirring regularly. 

The time will vary depending on the size of your pot, let’s set aside 5 to 7 minutes. 

Once the solids look the colour of hazelnut skins, pull from the heat. 

Let cool for 30 seconds, then slowly pour in the hot water21 g, stirring constantly.

Measure 133 g brown sugars+100 g granulated sugar into a bowl. 

Pour the (still warm) brown butter on top and let stand 30 seconds more, then whisk to combine. 

It will look like wet sand, clumpy and not-at-all-promising, this is fine.  

Add 1/2 teaspoon dried orange peel or finely grated peel of half an orange zest if using. 

Whisk this bowl of grit for maybe 1 minute. 

Add in one egg, and poof, it’ll turn into liquid velvet. 

Beat until lightened in colour and aerated, 1 minute more. 

Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract. 

In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients … or go for broke and simply dump them, in order, on top of the butter/sugar/egg goo. 

128 g all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon medium grain kosher salt, depending on the butter you use

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

134 g traditional rolled oats

64 g chopped toasted walnuts

37 g chopped dates

39 g butter toffee chips

71 g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Fold until just combined.
With two spoons or a spring-loaded scoop form 11 balls of dough, using roughly 3 tablespoons for each. 

Arrange the balls evenly on the prepared baking sheets, then with clean, damp hands or the flat bottom of a glass, press the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness, neatening the edges if desired.

 Bake in the hot oven until puffed with dry, evenly golden tops, 13 to 15 minutes. 

Rotate the pans once during baking, from front to back and top to bottom. 

Pull the pans from the oven and immediately knock each against the stovetop or counter to force out any trapped air (this will deflate the cookies quickly, and make for exceptionally craggy tops). 

Let the cookies cool on their pans for 3 minutes, before moving them to a baking rack to cool completely.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. 

Over time, the cookies will soften; to reinstate their crunch, rewarm in a low oven for a few minutes. 

 
NOTES: I usually toast the nuts while the oven is preheating. Spread the walnuts on one of the pans and bake until aromatic and snappy, about 5 to 10 minutes depending on the temperature.

 Make sure to stir them often. 

Transfer to a bowl once they’re cool enough to touch. 

Shake any nut dust off the parchment paper before continuing with the cookies.
Using chocolate bars or blocks rather than chips means that the chocolate will melt into the cookies rather than stay in discrete shapes. 

It is my preference, as the resulting rills quite literally extend the chocolate’s reach.

Sourdough Bread by Anne-Marie Tonneau

- Make a leaven
- Soak the flours
- Combine half the leaven with the soaked flours
- Turn dough during the bulk fermentation
- Shape dough
- Proof
- Bake

Sourdough Starter
Before you make your sourdough bread, you’ll need a starter. Posts on that here, here and here. 

For answers to the most frequently asked sourdough starter questions, go here.

Ingredients:

- For the leaven:
50 grams whole wheat flour
50 grams white flour
100 grams warm water
18 grams recently fed sourdough starter


- For the sourdough:
300 grams whole wheat flour
100 grams white flour
100 grams spelt or rye flour
375 grams warm water (adjust as necessary)
1/2 the leaven
12 grams salt combined with an additional 25 grams warm water

1. Begin with active, fed sourdough starter.
I usually feed mine twice before I bake, once first thing in the morning and later in the early afternoon.
I then start my bread in the evening with my active starter.
Sometimes I will only feed the starter once before starting the bread.

2. The night before you make your bread, in a glass or ceramic bowl, make a leaven (basically a giant starter).
Combine:
50 grams whole wheat flour,
50 grams white flour,
100 grams warm water
18 grams fresh starter

Cover with a plate to prevent crust from forming on top and place in a warm spot.


3. Soak the flours for the dough at the same time as you make your leaven.
In a large glass, ceramic or wooden bowl, 

combine:
300 grams whole wheat flour,
100 grams white flour, 

100 grams rye or spelt flour
375 grams warm water

Cover tightly with a plate to prevent a crust from forming on top.

You don’t need to place this in a warm spot as with the leaven and it may dry out if you do.
Pollen’s recipe calls for more water in this step - 425 grams.
I would suggest you start off with less and work your way up to more as you get more experienced at baking this.
Even with the smaller amount of 375 grams of water, the very wet dough can freak new bakers out.

4. In the morning, 

combine 1/2 the leaven with the soaked grains.

I use my hands to work everything in together.
The remaining leaven is your new sourdough starter.
The starter that you made your leaven with now goes into your discard jar along with all the other excess starter left over from feedings.

5. Combine 12 grams salt with 25 grams warm water and set aside.

6. Wait 20 minutes.
Add salty water to dough and thoroughly mix it in with your hands.
The bulk fermentation begins now so note the time.

7. Wait another 20 minutes. 

Turn the dough for the first time.
Wet your hand, reach under to the bottom of the dough, pull it up and fold it over on itself.
Turn the bowl 1/4 of a turn and repeat for a total of at least 4 turns.
If you want to add seeds, nuts, olives or raisins, do that after the second turn of the dough.

8. Continue to turn your dough every 30 to 45 minutes.

9. End the bulk fermentation after 4 or 5 hours.
My dough begins to break down around 5 hours so I rarely go past 4 1/2 hours.
Your bulk fermentation may require more or less time, depending on your kitchen environment.

10. Generously flour a wooden cutting board or your counter top.

11. Dump dough onto work surface.

12. Sprinkle with flour and with your hands, rotate blob gently while pushing the sides toward the bottom of the blob.
Don’t work the dough any more than you need to in order to achieve this.

13. Cover with a towel and wait 20 minutes.

14. Sprinkle your work surface with more flour.
With your dough scraper, flip a blob over.
You’ll now shape your loaves.
Pull gently on one end of the dough to form a rectangle.
Fold the dough in half.
Pull gently on the ends (i.e., not the folded side) to form a rectangle again.
Fold over again.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat this folding.
Now turn the dough diagonally.
Make a rectangle, fold it.
Make a rectangle in the opposite direction, fold it.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat this folding.
You have folded the dough a total of eight times.
This creates a tight loaf and helps create a better rise.
But be gentle!
Don’t pop any air pockets.
These are gold!
The dough gets more difficult to fold as you continue to fold it.
This is the trickiest part.
Don’t worry, your bread will taste great

15. Sprinkle banneton basket or cloth-lined bowl generously with flour. 
Place formed loave in basket, top side facing down.
When you drop the loaf into the Dutch oven, the smooth side will face up.
Cover the loave with a cloth.

16. Proof the shaped loave.
I get the best results from an overnight cold proof in the refrigerator.
This overnight proof gives you a break BUT you can proof now for two hours at room temperature and then bake as outlined in the next steps.

17. After proofing the loaves, place the Dutch oven in the oven and heat at 260C for 15 minutes.
If you have refrigerated your loave, remove the one from the fridge before you turn on the oven.

18. Pull the Dutch oven from the oven and remove the lid.
Hold the basket above the pot.
Drop in the loaf being careful not to burn yourself.

19. Score the loaf using a razor blade on a stick or a store-bought lame.
I prefer the razor-blade-stick combo /Gillette Platinum DE Razor Blades/ as the blade on the lame is not usually replaceable. 

Put the lid back on.
Return the Dutch oven to the oven.

20. Reduce the temperature to 230C.

21. After baking for 20 minutes, remove the lid.
This is the moment of truth.
Hopefully your dough has risen nicely.
Before I peer inside, I ALWAYS feel a little anxious!
I doubt this will go away…

22. Bake another 23 to 25 minutes without the lid, until the crust of the bread has browned and caramelized.

23. Place baked loaf on cooling rack.
Devour bread after it has cooled. 

Resist the temptation to tear into it. 

The bread continues to bake after you remove it from the oven.

Note:

- I often grind fresh flour for my bread. 

I use only about 20 percent freshly ground as it tends to make a dense loaf. 
If you use freshly ground flour, grind it immediately before using as the oils in the grain turn rancid quickly. 

- Try to do the following as you work on your bread:

Take lots of notes
Smell and taste the dough at its various stages—the smell, taste and feel all serve as clues to the dough’s progress

- Michael also offers many delicious variations, such as the coriander raisin bread.

Seeds: Fennel, sesame, sunflower and flax seeds are good choices. 

I use about 1 ½ cups total. 
Toast for 10 minutes in the oven at 175C. 
Then, soak the seeds in about 1 cup warm water for 30 minutes before adding to dough. 
The seeds will absorb this water.
If there is any remaining water, strain it out. 
Soaking plumps these up. 
They taste so good. 
Skip this step if you prefer though.

Nuts: Toast as with seeds until fragrant. 
You don’t need to soak nuts after toasting but chop whole ones into small pieces.

Olives: Chop into smaller pieces if whole.

Raisins: Soak 3 cups golden raisins in warm water for half an hour and strain before adding to the dough.

AUTORS:

- https://zerowastechef.com/sourdough/

This is based on Michael Pollan’s recipe from his fabulous book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. 

He bases his recipe on Chad Robertson’s in Tartine Bread. 

Joe Fitzmaurice, an Irish baker

#EasyWhenYouKnowHow