La Lama Mountain Ovens
Old Italian family recipes and archives,
baking tips, and bakery gifts
Family Secrets
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La Lama Mountain Ovens |
The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended Italian-American family - with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. This is a cookbook-in-process project. If you try any of these recipes please let us know how they turn out, whether or not you had any difficulties, and any clarifying improvements you might recommend to make them foolproof. We will of course acknowledge genuine "test-kitchen" assistance. |
Family Secrets #46Sourdough Bread (and Starter) By CeCe Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens |
If you are of a certain age you will remember the advent of supermarket bread. Sliced, white, soft and convenient, our mothers loved it because it freed them from the need to bake bread at least once a week. We loved it because it was "modern" and so very different from our daily loaf. We found all sorts of interesting things to do with it in addition to making a sandwich. For instance, you could ball it up in you hand to make a convenient missile to hurl at your bothersome brother. After a few years of a fairly steady diet of this air bread it began to lose its shine and we began to hunger for the crusty, dense loaves straight from the oven. The sort that if you broke off a chunk and dipped it in the simmering sauce, it would not fall apart and disappear to the bottom of the pot. Fortunately in the little town where we grew up there were several good Italian bakeries that still specialized in what we now call "artisan" breads. Mom would occasionally treat the family to a loaf from her favorite, and she would still bake her own version now and then; but it wasn't until the l970's that a true revival of interest in home baked bread occurred in this country. It is interesting to me that just about the time that women decided to move out into the professional world seriously, and a large percentage of our families became two income families, that this revival took place. It seems that as women got busier than ever they longed for the serenity that comes from providing this basic food. This revival of interest has not been limited to women, however. Men seem to find the same sort of therapeutic value in producing a fine loaf. Perhaps it is because it forces you to slow down. You cannot rush a good loaf of bread. There is a certain peace that comes from the slow, developing process of making bread. You have provided something basic, unique and healthful to your family's needs, the house is filled with wonderful aromas, and you've created an edible work of art.
_______________________________________ Sourdough Starter
Warm the milk until barely tepid. Combine the milk and flour in a glass or plastic bowl, do not use metal. Whisk vigorously until well blended. Cover with clean cheesecloth to keep out insects and dust. Do not cover with plastic or anything that will seal. Leave at room temperature. Stir well every 24 hours and in anywhere from one to three days you should see bubbles appearing on the surface. You have been successful in capturing a wild yeast. Feed the mixture 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup tepid non fat milk every 8 hours for the next two days, stirring well. At this point it should be quite active with a thick layer of foam. If at any point you see a pinkish color developing, discard the mixture, scrub everything well and start again. A pink color indicates a bacterial infection, something you do not want in your sourdough. The layer of foam indicates the activity of the culture. You may now use it or refrigerate until ready to use. When you refrigerate a starter it will go dormant and separate into two layers. The bottom layer will be heavy, pasty and doughy, and the top layer will be yellowish and watery. Simply whisk them together and bring it all to room temperature before using (about two hours). If you do not use your starter for two or three weeks it is a good idea to pour out a cup and feed it with 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup tepid non fat milk, let it sit at room temperature until it is nice and bubbly again. Each time you do use it, feed it the same way, replacing whatever you remove. For example if your recipe calls for 8 oz of starter, then replace it with 4 oz flour and 4 oz of milk. A word about
equipment. Bread baking is such a basic procedure that all you really need is a bowl, your
two hands and a baking sheet. But in the interests of accuracy and ease I would recommend
that you have a large dough scraper, an accurate kitchen scale (the new digital ones are
wonderful because you can use the tare feature and add most everything to one bowl),
assorted baskets of appropriate size and shape, and a clean spray bottle for water
(inexpensive ones can be bought from hardware stores). You can purchase baskets from
specialty kitchenware stores at a very high price or inexpensive ones from a local import
store. Just be sure they are clean. You will line them with clean kitchen towels anyway.
Since this recipe makes about 4.5 lbs. of dough, a heavy duty mixer, while not a
necessity, will surely simplify the process. Ingredients are also about as basic as you can get. Flour, water, salt, and leavening, properly proportioned, will produce a loaf of bread. However, whole books have been written about types of flour, their chemistry, and their various uses. For now, suffice it to say you want two basic types of flour for the following bread. The first is all-purpose unbleached white flour and the other is high gluten flour. The second can usually be purchased in bulk at specialty stores or in bags (at a much high price) in high-end supermarkets. For more information on flour please refer to "The Italian Baker" by Carol Field or "World Sourdoughs from Antiquity" by Ed Wood. All ingredients in the following recipe have been converted to weight for accuracy. For example one cup of white flour will weigh anywhere from 4.5 to 6 ounces depending upon how the cup is filled and what the relative humidity might be. Using weights instead of measures makes a much more consistent loaf, therefore the need for the kitchen scale. Sourdough Bread Makes two generous two pound loaves or three 1.5 lb. loaves
Measure starter, wheat germ and water into mixer bowl. Mix flours and salt together in another bowl. With paddle attachment on mixer, add half of the flour mixture to the starter mixture and beat for 4 to 5 minutes at medium speed until the mixture is elastic. Change to dough hook and add remainder of flour. Knead with machine until dough ball forms and it begins to climb the hook. Turn onto a well floured board and finish kneading by hand an addition 5 minutes or until the dough feels satiny and beginning to blister. If you get tired, take a five minute break and go back to kneading again. Place in a large oiled bowl (the bowl should be twice the size of your dough mass), cover tightly with plastic wrap, then cover again with a clean heavy towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about three hours. Turn out onto a floured board, deflate the dough and
cover with the empty bowl. Let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough into desired amounts and
shape according to your baskets. Round baskets (or even a kitchen bowl in a pinch) will
make a boule, long wide baskets will make a batard. As you form each loaf work the dough
on the board to form a taut "skin", gathering and pinching and rolling on the
board. Place each loaf in its basket which has been lined with a clean kitchen towel and
then lightly floured. Cover each with plastic wrap secured with a rubber band so it is
tight. Let sit at room temperature about 30 minutes and then refrigerate overnight. Next day: Remove from refrigerator, remove plastic wrap and replace with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise until almost doubled. This will take anywhere from three to four hours depending on the ambient temperature. Don't rush the dough. About 20 minutes before you wish to bake, preheat oven to 475 degrees. Turn bread out of baskets onto sheet pans that have been heavily dusted with cornmeal (not oiled). Make two or three deep angled slashes on the top of the dough to allow proper expansion. Place in preheated oven and immediately and quickly spray sides and bottom of oven with a fine mist of cold water. Turn oven down to 375. Spray two more times every three minutes and then do not open oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove loaves from pan and bake directly on oven rack for additional five to seven minutes. Cool on racks. May be frozen after completely cooled. Altitude Adjustment: This is a sturdy bread that bakes well to high altitudes. You may need to adjust baking times by a few minutes but do not change temperature. As with any bread recipe the amounts of flour may need to be increased or decreased slightly depending more on humidity and temperature than altitude. |
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There are hundreds of recipes available for the
bread baker ranging from the simplest white pan bread to the more complicated free form
loaves. Boules, baguettes, batards, white, rye, wheat, spelt, and a thousand other
variations. From our ongoing experimentation we've come to love this large crusty
sourdough loaf. If you don't have a sourdough starter you may either purchase one from a
specialty store, with instructions included on how to revive it, or you can make your own.
I started ours in San Francisco in 1996, and have successfully transplanted it to the
mountains in New Mexico, as well as to Pennsylvania and Oregon. Each year it becomes
stronger and more complex in flavor. We use it to bake a dozen different kids of breads as
well as sourdough pancakes and even a chocolate sourdough cake. Everyone who has
successfully started their own sourdough has a "correct" way. This one works for
us.
