Tuesday, October 27, 2009

potato leek soup with no knead whole wheat bread



Today's recipe is really a twofer. Soup and bread. Now who can eat soup without a slab of crusty bread alongside it?? Not me.

For the past two years, I have started making Jim Lahey's no knead bread. I consider it one of those "work smarter, not harder" things. I first saw it in Mark Bittman's column and have been experimenting with variations ever since. Especially now that I am limiting myself to Michigan grown produce and grains, it really fits right in. About the time I first saw this recipe, I also purchased a grain mill for my Kitchen Aid mixer. Now, I must confess, I am not as religious about grinding my own since I found a local couple who not only grow, but grind as well.


And yes, this recipe is found everywhere these days, but I will include it for those of you who haven't stumbled across it yet. I often, do not preheat the oven, just plop the dough in the cast iron casserole and put it in the oven cold, turn on the heat and after the 30 minutes, remove the cover for the remaining 20 minutes my loaves seem to require. Easy peasy.


no knead bread.....

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting (if making whole wheat , use half whole wheat and half white)

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

¼teaspoon instant yeast

1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Makes one 1½-pound loaf. At $3.50 for a five pound bag of organic four, it still only costs $.70 a loaf. I like to make a batch and keep it in the fridge for the entire week, using it for bread, english muffins, and pizza dough as needed.


julia child's potato leek soup...

3-4 cups of diced peeled potatoes (1 lb.) I usually use two to three large baking potatoes.

3 cups thinly sliced leeks, including the tender greens. This usually takes two leeks of substantial size.
water to cover

1 Tablespoon salt

1-2 cloves of garlic (optional)
6 tablespoons heavy cream or 1/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons minced chives or parsley

Simmer vegetables, salt, garlic, and water together, partially covered for 40-50 minutes in a 3-4 quart saucepan. Mash the vegetables into the soup in a blender or food processor or pass through a food mill. Julia did not like the texture of soup pureed in a blender, your call. Adjust salt and pepper. You can stop at this point. When ready to serve, bring soup back to simmering. Then off the heat, stir in the cream or sour cream and top with chopped chives or parsley. It does not get much better than this! Good to freeze the rest for another day!

This soup costs about $3.00 for the entire pot. At the farmers market, leeks are two for a dollar and the potatoes are a dollar a pound or 15 pounds for five dollars.... heck, they keep forever, buy the big basket! Kosher salt is two dollars a box and sour cream and heavy cream each are just over two dollars per container. You will need less than a quarter of the container.



4 comments:

  1. I've been using this recipe for awhile now, too, and wonder if you could elaborate on the English muffin or pizza crust variations? Thanks!

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  2. I'd be happy to make those variations one of my next dishes..... Cheri

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  3. Thanks for this one, Cheri ... it'll be funky and rainy the next few days and this will do just fine! Love the photos. Keep the faith (and the recipes!

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  4. Hey, lady .... I'm wonderding what wonderful concoction you'll best suggesting for us for thanksgiving..... It's comin' up quick, man ... better get those fingers flying on those keys!

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