America’s Food Secrets #8, Vermont Feather Beds

Illustration for The Princess and the Pea, by Edmund Dulac. In early America, feather beds were most often just thick down comforters, often piled on top of each other, "Princess and the Pea" style

There were two things that my sister and I liked about going to our grandmother’s house in Delaware – and they may have been the only things we liked about it – one was the fact my Gramma Warren (I never remember hearing her first name, my mother simply called her, Mom, or to us, Gramma Warren) loved ice cream more than almost anything else – and when we’d visit, my mother would always send my father out to the corner store to get two quarts, one for Gramma, and the other for us. I always marveled at Gram’s ability to finish off that whole quart well before any of us had finished our paltry shared portions – but I never remember feeling envious, just amazed that a scrawny old lady could actually do such a thing.

The other thing we liked was the huge feather bed in her bedroom – and when I say huge, I mean ridiculously huge. My first memory of the bed was when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old, and I can remember not being able to see over the top of it. Of course, my sister and I had to have a feather bed “experience” each time we visited – but that required using a chair to climb up into it. And once in, you would sink down about a foot or 2 into the mass as it enveloped your entire body – super soft and comfy, but I always thought how I’d never be able to sleep in that thing, for fear of suffocating – and it was simply another thing that amazed me about my Gramma Warren.

This was more like Gram's feather bed than today's thin, flat ones!

As I recently made my way through some of my old community cookbooks, looking for candidates for America’s Food Secrets, I came on a recipe for “Vermont Feather Beds”, and immediately memories of Gramma’s house and her huge feather bed came rushing back. My first thought was “What a cute name”, and then I took a closer look at the recipe, and was surprised to see that it essentially was a yeast batter muffin, with an overnight “rest” – whoa! Bread bakers would immediately recognize this as a unique animal in the bread world, especially the old American bread world. First, few old yeast breads called for an overnight fermentation or rest, and then, there are not a whole lot of yeast batter muffins – at least not that I’m aware of! A perfect choice for our project.

Now this baby was coming from a strange source – the cookbook was titled, “Casseroles”, and was essentially a collection of 2000 casseroles from American women’s clubs by The Federated Women’s Clubs of America, published in 1970. As I read, I discovered that the reason why a book on casseroles had a section on bread was that during the forties and fifties –the heyday of casseroles in America- housewives were not about to heat up the oven to make just a casserole – as long as it was hot, the oven was used to bake a few loaves of bread too. Besides, casseroles and bread went well together.

Being the curious guy that I am, I spent a good deal of time searching the net for references to Vermont Feather Beds, or just Feather Beds – not a fruitful search! I had to give up on “feather beds” early on, because of the overload of results referencing the sleeping kind of feather beds. “Vermont Feather Beds” never did come up with a hit, and “feather beds, bread” also resulted in a mass of off-target results, but I did find two references to breads simply called, “Feather Beds”, both of which are yeasted batters, but only one notes a long dough rest, and the other suggests using mashed potato and potato water in the dough – I shall try them both, and if either impresses, I shall report back.

Sometimes the internet proves to be a meager source for desired information – or all current net search capabilities are less than advertised – or both! But in this case we at least know that our Feather Beds are not the unique creation of a single baker back in the 60s – in fact, their uniqueness gives them entry into a niche among American breads, and that makes it a worthy candidate for America’s Food Secrets.

Now that I’ve made a case for this bread’s uniqueness, let me dirty the water some, and suggest that there is no reason why Vermont Feather Beds cannot be made as a sourdough bread. Why not? It’s almost perfect, what with its slow fermentation period – so of course, that’s exactly what I did first time I baked these. However, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t try them as a yeasted muffin as well – so the recipe below gives that choice – Your pick.

Vermont Feather Beds

(Yeasted or Sourdough Muffins)

(From “Casseroles”, The Federated Women’s Clubs Cookbook, 1970 – pg. 323)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk, scalded
• 3 Tbs butter
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1 pack dry yeast, dissolved in ¼ cup warm water (or ¼ cup of sourdough starter instead)
• 3 cups AP flour

Process:

• Combine hot milk, butter, sugar, salt – mix well and let cool – add beaten egg.
• Add yeast mixture (or sourdough starter) and flour – mix well.  (if you use sourdough starter, as I did, take into account that it will be increasing your flour amount w/o increasing the liquid – my risen dough was probably too stiff, so next time I’ll increase the hydration of the starter by 1/4 cup water)
• Cover bowl and allow to stand at room temp for eight hours or overnight.
• Stir batter down, and spoon into buttered muffin tins.
• Let rise until double (usually about 1-2 hours – I let mine proof for almost 4 hours before achieving double)
• An hour before baking, preheat oven to 350 F.
• Bake at 350 F for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

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How’d they turn out? Well, is it enough to say that this is one of the breads I’m going to include at the breakfasts for our Thanksgiving guests this year?  They do look a bit like puffy feather beds, don’t they?  And the texture is light and airy, and all too easy to eat – Bet ‘ya can’t eat just one!

My suggestion – either eat ‘em fresh out of the oven, or re-crisped in the oven for a bit, or simply split and toasted – that’s how they’re best.

And of course, these’ll go to Susan at YeastSpotting for this week’s grand collection – hop on over and see what the real bakers are creating for Thanksgiving.

It’s Just a Garden in the Rain …

I’m sitting here today watching it rain on a terribly miserable day! Typical Oregon November. Trying to think of what my next blog post might be about – and I’m looking out on a wonderful summer garden being “drowned” by weeks of constant drench – isn’t it ironic that all summer long, the biggest problem faced by almost every garden plant is not enough water, and then in the space of a few weeks, what was a blessing becomes a curse?

And this beautiful old song came to mind-

Oh wow – the thoughts are flowing fast and rich – the rain as metaphor – something to be avoided, and yet beautiful and life giving – all depends on the emotional environment of the moment.

And more, … remember that this little ditty was written in 1929 – yeah, 1929, when there was absolutely no one who didn’t need a reminder, now and then, that yes, things would get better – yes, the sun will come out again, and we’d be all that much better for the experience.

Now – do me a favor – keeping in mind the mental state of America at the time this was written and released, go back and take a look at the pictures that the YouTube poster included with the song – they are simply beautiful, and meant, I’m sure, to reflect the metaphorical reality of the song – I especially love the final shot – I’m willing to bet that the poster lived through – painfully – this tragic era.  What a beautiful job by the poster, Grzegorz, who interestingly is a Polish doctor, not even an American.

” …, was just a garden in the rain, but then the sun came out again, and sent us happily on our way.”

Damn, I love that music of the twenties and thirties – I’d almost be willing to trade places with my parents just for the experience – Almost!  Or I could just spend the day – and I did – on YouTube reliving the era – Fun.

Oh yeah, the garden.

So, what were the stars of the summer garden? Well, before I tell you that, let me tell you which were the biggest disappointments. As you may remember, this past spring I moved my garden to a new part of the back yard, and I didn’t realize just how much stored up nitrogen there was in that new garden soil. Now, nitrogen is good, and if you don’t have enough, your plants don’t grow well – but if you have too much, all the plant’s energy goes into getting bigger and stronger – and it forgets about making “fruit”. So, my tomatoes grew into huge tree-like plants which spread into their neighbor’s rows, and robbed them of sun. And they didn’t start making tomatoes until well into late August, which in our area, does not allow enough time for the fruit to ripen. Result – very few ripe tomatoes!

Same fate befell the green beans – huge plants (almost tore down it’s support structure), but the beans came so late that we ate them very few times. Cucumbers did the same, although we got our fair share.

But the real star of the summer garden (Yes, there is a “winter” garden too) were the winter squashes – a word of explanation, “winter” squash gets its name not from the fact that it grows in the winter – as my pic below will reveal – but because it stores well into the winter. Actually, it’s quite closely related to many of the summer squashes, and may even cross with some of them given the opportunity.

These too took kindly to the high nitrogen environment of the new garden, and grew massive vines which took off in all directions – for much of the summer, I couldn’t get anywhere near them, and so had no idea whether they were producing fruit or not! Only in October, when the vines began to die back, did I see that they had in fact produced fruit, but far fewer than the norm. However, this was not a bad thing, because one of the problems of winter squash is that they set so many fruit that all are stunted to a smaller that desired size – in my case, nature took care of this and nicely limited the number of fruits each plant produced, giving me quite large squashes.

Before the Rains

After the Rains

We have already eaten several of these, although most are so large that one squash will provide enough for 4-5 meals easily – in fact, the best way to deal with the excess is to freeze most of it once cooked, and eat it over several weeks. Yes, it’s a good thing that they’ll store in a cool place most of the winter.

Hubbard (light green), Kobucha (dark green), Delicata (striped)

How do we cook them? Frankly, I think the best way to prepare high quality winter squashes is very simply – we often cut one up, remove the seeds (for roasting with olive oil and salt – Luscious!), and simply bake – and by bake I mean to place in a roasting pan -or pan with high sides- add an inch of water or broth to provide moisture, sprinkle the squash with your choice of seasoning/herbs (my fav is Old Bay powder), and drop a chunk of butter into that nice little well that nature provides – I also baste the surface of the squash sev times during baking (325 F is good), and using a large roasting fork, I try to make holes in the surface of the squash for the seasoned butter to seep into. If you want to cover all with aluminum foil for 45 minutes, and then remove for the last 30, that works well – but you can roast without foil too – just may take a little longer. Test for done-ness with your roasting fork – you want nice and soft!

Sometimes we par-roast for the freezer – then later, we thaw, wrap in foil, and finish baking at 325 F, until nice and soft. Additionally, once you have par-roasted squash in the freezer, you can use it for any number of wonderful creations. Make a soup with chunks of the almost cooked squash – add some chunks to a quiche or frittata – make mashed or pureed squash, with curry and/or coconut milk – or just saute them in butter and season. Damn, there are thousands of ways to go and things to make. Ask me again in the spring!

What about the winter garden – well, that’s another post.

Pierre Nury’s French Rye Ciabatta

A few weeks ago, I did a Daniel Leader bread, Raisin Pumpernickel, to be specific. And recently, I was popping around on The Fresh Loaf and I found another Leader bread, this one Pierre Nury’s Rustic Auvergne Light Rye, which is one of the breads out of Leader’s newest book, Local Breads. Nury is one of France’s premier bakers, having been granted its Meilleurs Ouvriers de France, an award presented only to the nation’s finest craftsmen.  The loaf looked interesting, in that it’s a French bread, but more in the tradition of an Italian ciabatta, and containing a bit of rye (just enough that you know you’re eating something not 100% white flour.). Since my other recent ciabatta attempts were quite successful and fun, I thought, why not!

I baked this one up with no surprises, and it was splendid – and as with almost all of my home creations which turn out well, I’d thought I’d share it with you – but why repeat a transcription of the recipe when zolablue has so graciously done so already on The Fresh Loaf. So, I think I’ll simply give you my baking notes, which bakers all know are as important as are the instructions themselves.

Immediately, you need to know that zolablue starts you off by making a firm levain, by using another firm levain – you’re simply building the levain.  But what if you don’t have any firm levain?  If you were using Leader’s book, he would direct you to a week long process of development – Sure!  So, if you don’t happen to have any firm levain, do what I did, and probably what zolablue also did, and just make up one the day before.

If you’ve never worked with a really wet dough before, it may take a little getting used to. This is not a hand-knead, which is good since it takes a hell-of-a-lot longer to knead than do most breads – this requires a stand mixer, and 14+ minutes on the machine, maybe even longer. And this dough is really sticky (another reason why the machine is good!) – it’ll never come away from the bowl. And once the machine kneading is done, let me suggest that you use a covered tub as your proofing environment – with a really wet dough, you can liberally oil the inside of the tub and slide the dough into it – the tub also makes it easier to do the needed stretches, folds, and turns. Once you try it, you’ll see.

This dough will take forever to get going. Leader remarks throughout the recipe regarding this fact – probably because he is fearing that you’ll think midway that his recipe is a failure. But when the dough exits its overnight fermentation, you may notice a nice dough growth (I did!), even though Leader once again tells you that the dough “will not rise”. Regardless, do not be concerned, for this is one of those doughs that has amazing oven spring. However, if you get a nice rise during the fermentation phase, the oven spring will be less (No you can’t have both!).

Another joy of working with these uber wet doughs is that you do not need any artistry when it comes time to form the loaf – all you do is drench your dough with flour, cut it into two parts, and stretch it out a bit – it’ll even look better if you mess up during this process – Really! No scoring necessary – Really!

Yes, I think once you’ve done one or two of these breads, you will no longer have a fear of wet dough, and you will know just how easy it is to get those huge holes! And this stuff is just about the best sandwich bread going – tons of flavor, nice crisp and chewy crust, and a soft, moist crumb – it’s got it all.

Ya’ wann’a try it? The recipe is at the top of this post, or just use this link.

Have fun – I know you will.

Let’s Celebrate Autumn

If you live in the U.S., anywhere in the U.S., there is a season when all normal activity takes a timeout to make room for that special local something that’s about to come into season – some lucky areas have dozens of special “seasons”, some only a few – but no matter where you reside, I know there are times of the year when your local foods become all important for a short period of time – and then they are gone for another year. It’s our life cycle playing out – not only do we take part in it, we are part of it!

So, what is it where you live right now? Well, the easy answer is, whatever you’re thinking about right now! And what is it where I live? Answer: mushrooms. Here in the northwest, autumn means mushroom season – the return of the rains also means the annual return of many kinds of mushrooms. Some people couldn’t care less, and never give it another thought – but some, me included, eagerly await mushroom season, and look forward to not only gathering lots of them, but also the opportunity of making all sorts of good things to eat using mushrooms.

And for a bread baker, that necessarily means making a mushroom bread of course – but what kind? Well, being a person who goes through phases (don’t we all?) I can’t help combining my latest mushroom preservation – see it here – and a very basic sourdough formula. I like this basic dough because it’s a loaf that goes together quickly -for a sourdough- and without a lot of fuss or bother. But, it’s a bread that will support and even bring attention to a supplementary ingredient – not all breads will do that.

You may choose to use any type of mushroom in this baking – or any other type of complementary ingredient for that matter, such as olives, cheese, sausage, whatever. I’m finding it to be a friendly and forgiving preparation, but perhaps that says more about the current state of my starter than it does about the formula. BTW, depending on the health/strength of your current starter, the times below may need a little adjusting.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Roasted Mushroom Bread

Ingredients:

• 554 g all purpose white flour
• 327 g whole wheat flour
• 198 g sourdough starter
• 16 g salt
• 507 g water
• about 170 – 227 g roasted mushrooms (feel free to use less – or more!)

Process:

• Mix flours, starter, salt and water (by hand or on stand mixer) for 2-3 minutes slowly
• Allow to rest for 10 minutes
• Mix on stand mixer at medium for 2 -3 minutes, or hand knead for 5 -6 minutes
• In a separate bowl, add 1 Tbs of flour to the roasted mushrooms and mix well
• Add mushrooms to dough, and mix on medium speed for two minutes until well incorporated, or hand knead them into the dough until well incorporated
• Remove dough to a bench/board and cover with a towel
• Allow to rest for 15 minutes and fold/stretch – cover with towel
• Rest again for 15 minutes and fold/stretch – cover with towel
• Allow to rest for 45minutes and fold/stretch – cover with towel
• Repeat another 45 minute rest and a final fold/stretch
• Cover dough and allow it to rise for 1 ½ – 2 hours
• Divide into two loaves, or shape into only one larger loaf – form using your preferred process
• Give final proofing of 2 -3 hours, or place in fridge overnight
• Preheat oven to 430 F
• Use a pan with boiling water in the bottom of your oven when baking begins, and/or misting
• Bake 10 min. at 430 F
• Lower oven temp to 400 F and continue baking for another 40-45 minutes
• Bread is done when internal temp registers 205 F or better

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This is a great bread for entertaining or a dinner party – it really shines on its own – but I love it as a sandwich bread as well. And perhaps surprisingly, I find it holds its own in the morning with a sweet jam and your first cup of coffee, even enhancing the experience. However, I must share what I feel is it’s premier use – to make the best French toast ever! Until you’ve tried this version of French toast, you haven’t had the ultimate French toast experience.

I hope you’ll give this bread a try.

Because I believe this is a noble and worthy loaf, I’ll be submitting it to Susan at Wild Yeast for the upcoming session of YeastSpotting.  Check it out.

(Update 11/16/09:  I’ve changed the amount of flours in this recipe, as I had made an error in transcribing the recipe from one place to another – my apologies to anyone who attempted to make this bread with the previous recipe – it wouldn’t have been impossible, but at 78% hydration, a bit difficult to work with.  I’ve adjusted it to 62% hydration – much more manageable.)

Mushroom Mania

I have a problem. Not a big problem, in fact, it’s not even a bad problem – just one of those nagging life issues which force a man to call on his or her creative juices – just the kind of thing that has, for millions of years, separated us from our mammalian friends and relatives.

My problem is simply this – over a period of two weeks, I have collected and processed the bulk of 8+ gallons of wild mushrooms -primarily chanterelles- for the freezer – that’s a lot of mushrooms. It’s enough mushrooms that one risks using only one or two ways of preserving them, and then tiring of the “sameness” of them when later put to their eventual use.

My basic way of preparing them for the freezer is something called “dry saute”, which is just a red hot, bare pan, into which you toss about a pound of mushrooms, and move them around until they have given up their liquid and cooked down in size by some 2/3rds – dry saute is a bit of a misnomer, since it’s a pretty “wet” process. Yes, I do process some by introducing some butter into this process – but since I could just as easily introduce the butter later when using my thawed dry sauteed mushrooms, I consider either of these preps one and the same. Whatever.

The only other process I use for freezer prep is to use Lydia Bastianich’s wonderful and simple sauce – this is a very different way to process the chanterelles, and although it is a great way, and a creates a super dish, it is a bit limiting in the ways the mushrooms can be used in a resulting way. Still, I consider it a basic process, and at least ¼ of my mushrooms get processed this way each year.

So, I’ve been on the lookout for an additional but simple way I could process some of the pickins, and I think I’ve found a good one – roasting!

I’ve always rejected roasting chanterelles because, as anyone who has tried drying them knows, when chanterelles dry, they turn to something quiet similar to leather – this is not appetizing, nor is it eatable. But, I kept seeing recipes on the net for roasted chanterelles, so thought I’d give it a try.

I was delighted with the outcome!

The recipe I used – actually a compilation of ideas, here, and here – was to simply clean and split large chanterelles (the larger the better, since a good deal of the mushroom “disappears” in the process of roasting, and you risk having all char and no body of the mushroom left), marinate them in balsamic vinegar(my idea), olive oil, and salt, and roasting them at a very high temp until their edges blacken and crisp. This gives the chanterelles a delightful texture, with a crispy edge and a chewy interior – and the mushroom’s delicate flavor is not overshadowed by the vinegar, but is in fact, enhanced by the roasting (I think this is so because most of the minimal amount of vinegar used is washed off when the mushroom exudes it’s water content).

If you don’t have chanterelles, you may use any kind of mushroom.  Here’s the formal recipe:

Balsamic Marinated Roasted Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. mushrooms (any mushrooms can be used – if larger than a half dollar, split them)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 Tbs. balsamic or red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbs. Kosher salt

Process:

• Preheat oven to 475 F – If you have convection, use it, but set temp at 450 F or so.
• Clean mushrooms, and try to use mushrooms of similar size, so that they will roast consistently.
• If your mushrooms are large, you may wish to split them – I had huge chanterelles, and for visual effect they needed to be split.
• Place mushrooms in a large bowl, and sprinkle the vinegar, oil, and salt over them.
• Toss the mushrooms in the marinade to try to distribute it among the mushroom pieces.
• Allow to marinate for 15 minutes, tossing the mushrooms every five minutes.
• Place the mushrooms on a rack in a sheet pan in a single layer – the pan must have sides to contain the liquid that will cook out of the mushrooms (I can get about 2 lbs of mushrooms in a 1/2 size baker’s sheet pan).
• Slip the pan(s) into the oven for 10 – 15 minutes (the time will depend on the size of your mushrooms – if yours are smaller, reduce the time and check on them often).
• Carefully pull the pan from the oven and flip the mushrooms over – the pan will have a lot of liquid at this point – you may wish to remove that liquid now, because if you let it cook away, you may have a tough cleaning job ahead, and the liquid could be used in sauces or soup if you save it.
• Return the pan to the oven for an additional 8 – 12 minutes, again, depending on the size of the mushrooms – you want them to have crisp edges with lots of brown.
• At the end of the time, or anytime they look like they may be done, try one – Delicious? They’re done!

Now, there’s nothing sacred about this recipe – it’s the process which is more rigid. Feel free to change the recipe as you wish – and you may discover some even nicer results – You can bet I’ll play with it. I think both of my links above suggest doing so. No reason why the addition of garlic wouldn’t be interesting – or trying it without vinegar – or with some fresh or dried herbs – the options are endless!

For those of you who -like me- suspected that roasting may turn the chanterelle to leather, I did not experience that!  I believe that enough of the mushroom’s internal moisture is retained to avoid this potential, and perhaps the intense heat does its magic so quickly that the chanterelle does not have a chance to react. And I have now had a chance to use some frozen roasted chants and can report that they cook up nicely – much as they did right from the roaster – it works!

But I think the major reason why I like roasting mushrooms is because roasting retains much of the mushroom’s visual appeal – frankly, sauteing always cooks down the mushroom to the point that a chanterelle has lost it’s identity – Roasting not only allows diners to see the beauty of the chanterelle, but imparts a diverse mouth-feel that is lacking in a sauteed mushroom. These would be simply spectacular as an addition to a creamed vegetable dish, or adorning a sauced chicken or seafood creation. Or, how about a white sauced pizza with garlic, bacon, and these beauties peeking out?  Nice.

Yup. Roasted mushrooms will join my short list of ways to prep my shrooms for freezing – it’s a definite winner.