2013 Thus Far: Hardy Winter Wheat Bread

-This is going to be one of those rather uninspired posts where I moan and make lists. Fair warning.-

2013 To-Do List

1. Buy a house. See this post. 

2. Find a new job. Right at the end of December I was let go from my job, which means I'm sustaining myself off of savings that I have been hoarding for a home down payment, some income from writing, and my husband's wages. You can bet I champagne'd myself into oblivion on New Years. I'll write another post on this whole staying at home all day thing later, but as of right now I see this as an opportunity to find the right job that'll make me happy.

I've just never been let go before and this whole thing is sorta scaring the crap out of me. I've also learned that one of the government requirements to sign up for unemployment is, apparently, shame. Oh, and judgment. It's in the fine print, I believe.

How am I filling time now? Lots of volunteering at other amazing nonprofits, writing, cooking, and catching up on a few books I have meant to read. Oh, and job hunting. (Probably should put that at the top of the list, right?) We're still looking for a house as owning is actually the cheaper option right now and we're still in a darn good place to do so.

Yay being money smart.

3. Plan a seriously slamming book tour. The Book comes out this Fall, and should be available for pre-order this March. My book partner and I plan to do lots of cheese tasting classes, speak at a few conferences about cheese and book writing, do some tastings at restaurants, and a few awesome giveaways, not to mention some radio and hopefully TV spots. It'll be a whirlwind month in October and I cannot wait. 

There will be a call later on this year. When we have a greater bearing on what the book tour will be we'll ask you guys for help. Want us to come to your city and do a restaurant event or cheese class? We'd love to if you think we can get a good crowd to attend. Plus, Steph and I would love to meet fellow curd nerds and mac fanatics. 

-The readers get what the readers want.-

4. Beef Bourguignon. For four years this has been on my to-do list. Four years. And somehow it still gets away from me. WTF? 

Beef, onions, wine and go. Garrett, get off Craigslist and get yourself into the kitchen. You can spend a few bucks on good beef and a cheap bottle of wine. Things aren't that tight (yet)!

5. Land more freelance writing gigs. It's so easy to become complacent and let the proposal writing sort of flitter away under current, more demanding projects and commitments. I recently just sent out a flurry of proposals due to my recent unemployment and I'm kinda irked with myself that it took a major event like that to kick my butt into gear.

Also, I'm sending them to people who I generally assume will either A) ignore me, or B) devour me alive for being so naive as to crawl to their throne and beg for opportunities as non-famous writers are wont to do. Given, the worst that happens is they give me a resounding, "Ha ha, no. Now get out of my office. Who let you in here anyways?" or I hear nothing back at all and that is infinitely worse because hearing nothing causes you to either berate yourself as a rather pathetic noob not deserving notice or, like me, you think they obviously lost the first e-mail so you send a few million follow-ups. 

There is always the chance of, C) they say yes. Option C doesn't happen nearly often enough. I blame the economy and rise of the internet with its stupid bloggers (I know, shut up) for quietly assassinating the publishing world and killing all the writing jobs that existed when I was a child. 

6. Take some refresher courses in bread baking. My skills aren't up to snuff anymore.

I used to bake bread all the time in college. Olive and onion loves, wheat bread, chocolate bread, braided loaves of challah, crackly boules laced with garlic... I did it all. Yet, for the last nine years I just stopped, with the only recent bread making being the flatbread I did every day at my baking externship.  

I've had Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Zoë François and Jeff Hertzberg on my shelf for a while now. It's been patiently sitting there like a dog with a ball in its mouth waiting for me to come around and give it some attention. I have time on my hands now, so I finally gave it a run.

Summarily, it's a fabulous book. It makes homemade bread making a lot quicker and more accessible so for those of you who have nearly zero time on your hands this is a great resource that actually does what it claims. The recipes are easy and forgiving so if you botch it up by letting it rise too long, forgetting about it, or you have a tendency to mis-measure then you're still going to get great results.

After cutting my teeth on some of the beginner recipes I went ahead and developed a pretty simple winter wheat bread based off the basic boule: lots of whole wheat flour, some salt, and ground up cocoa nibs and cardamom pods. It's a dense, earthy loaf that posseses a tinge of bitterness that you can grit your teeth on. When you smell it baking it reminds me of the smell of the air when I used to pass by wheat fields when I visited family in Kansas. Smear that bastard boule with butter and a snowfall of good salt and you are in for a lovely treat that pairs well with chai tea.

While I still want to take some classes to polish my skills this book is a fabulous start for the meantime. My winter boule isn't in the book but if you make it and like it then I promise you that this is a book you need on your shelf.

Now, back to the grind of resume writing and cover letter development. Ugh. Pray for me.

Garrett out.

Hardy Winter Wheat Bread
Makes 4 1-pound loaves
This recipe uses ground cardamom and cocoa, but if you have a spice grinder then use whole pods and cocoa nibs for better flavor.

2 packets of yeast (use whatever yeast you choose)
3 cups lukewarm water
4 1/2 cups of 100% whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
cornmeal

1. Place the water, salt and yeast in a large bowl, tupperware, or pot with a lid but that isn't airtight (the lid can be just ajar if need be to accomplish this). I do mean big. Mix together the flours, cardamom, and cocoa in a bowl and dump it all in at once. Mix with a spoon until it all comes together. You don't need to knead. Just bring it together until it's uniform.

2. Cover with the lid (not airtight) and allow to rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Then pop it in the fridge to rest overnight or for at least 3 hours.

4. Cut off a grapefruit sized chunk and form it into a ball, the rest can be stored for up to a week (you should get about 4 loaves). The best way to do this is to grab some dough from the top and pull it to the bottom. The ball will become smooth-ish and the bottom will look like a top-knot of sorts. Place the ball down on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal and allow it to rest and rise for 40 minutes.

5. 20 minutes before baking preheat the oven to 450F with a baking sheet or pizza slab inside it.

6. With a quick jerking motion slide the risen ball of dough onto the hot pan in the oven. On the lower oven rack place a roasting pan with some hot water (this will help you achieve a crackly crust). Bake for 30 minutes. Rest bread on a wire rack until cool to the touch.

Other Recipes That Don't Suck
Honey Wheat Bread - Two Peas and Their Pod
Tangzhong Wholemeal Loaf - Christine's Recipes
No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread - Leite's Culinaria