Fooled . . . Again . . .

# 8 - 2009

How often have you put something in your mouth expecting a certain flavor or food and been surprised?

In my first week of nursing school everything was new and tended to be intimidating. Barnes Hospital even then covered over an entire city block and was composed of something like eighteen different specialty hospitals. Just making our way from the dorm to the cafeteria the first week seemed a major accompolishment. Once in the cafeteria everything seemed electified with the excitment of newness: an eighty foot long cafeteria line with an enormous selection, docters, nurses, medical students, interns, upper-class nursing students, the intercom-paging system going almost constantly. Needless to say selecting what you put on your tray didn’t always get your fullest attention. One night that first week, I sat down with some students I was only starting to get to know with a bowl of soup and “french fries” on my tray.

The first bite of the “french fries” resulted in me very literly spitting them out - so revolting . . . well so surprising . . . why would anybody cut cauliflower into strips and deep fry it to look like french fries. I was dumb-founded and for some time really didn’t want to eat any form of cauliflower.

Well, this bread was a surprise at first bite but in a gush of delight. If you enjoy cumin, you’ll love this bread. If you don’t enjoy cumin, you may still enjoy this bread I think. The reason I say that is because while this uses a lot of cumin (four teaspoons of the seeds) and toasts them to intensify the flavor somehow the cumin flavor you might expect from this seems subtly altered by the honey and oragne juice found in this recipe. We enjoyed this tremendously with some spicy chili.

Pain au Cumin (Cumin Bread)
Adapted from Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads

4 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup honey
5 tablespoons butter @ room temp=very soft
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons flax meal
2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cup unbleached bread flour
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
(original calls for 2 tablespoons)

I made two small loaves and one large with this recipe.

Toast the cumin seeds - mine took about 5 minutes. When cool with a mortar and pestle grind to a fine powder.

Mix the ground toasted cumin seeds, milk, honey, butter, orange juice.

Mix 1 1/2 cup of both the whole wheat and the bread flour with the yeast, flax meal and salt. Add the above liquid and mix well. Add the remaining cup of bread flour and cup of whole wheat flours 1/2 a cup at a time. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead to form a smooth elastic dough. Resist the urge to add too much more flour.

Lightly oil your rising container and place the dough in it in the refrigerator over night. (The recipe simply allowed the dough to rise, doubling in volume before shaping).

Allow the dough to warm about 30 minutes when removed from the regrigerator next morning before shaping. I did a free form and two small loaf pans. Allow the shaped loaves to rise - mine took about 45 minutes.

Bake at 375° for 35 to 55 minutes
The two small loaves measured 205° at 35 minutes.
The larger freeform loaf took 55 minutes go get to an internal temp of 205°.

We really loved this toasted with the chili. I think if any thing I might add a little more cumin next time. The honey is really wonderful in this.

And now for something completely different just because I want to see if I can do it and because, well just because.

The teachers are my son & his wife on the drum and cymbals.

I’m sending this to Susan at WildYeast for her weekly Yeast Spotting. I’ve come to look at the weekly Yeast Spotting as a delightful trip to a Bakery Wonderland! If you’re not familiar with Susan and Yeast Spotting, it’s explained here.

Oh and I have never tried french fried cauliflower again and don’t have plans to either thank you.

Pain au Cumin (Cumin Bread)

Monday, February 9, 2009

This will surprise. Cumin is so savory. The honey hides in here and makes for a savory sweetness!

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