oceantheorem | We make incredible food of incredibleness because we are incredible people in an incredible world

Okay, Rhinebeck was amazing, and I need to make a post filled with lots of pretty pictures of awesome things.

But first, Jim and I made an incredible dinner tonight almost by accident, and I wanted to record it so we can recreate it in the future.

We found SimplyRecipes.com a while back and one of the first recipes we tried out was their Beef & Beer Stew. It turned out fabulous the first time we made it and got... successively worse every time we tried to make it again. So we finally stopped making stew. Jim decided this week that we'd try a new stew recipe to see if we could get something tasty with a different approach. He picked out a recipe for rabbit stew, though alas, we could not find any bunny meat. We used beef instead (recipe below).

I went gluten free for a month a while ago, thinking gluten might be the cause of a host of abdominal problems I've been having over the last year and a half. The results were tenuous, and my doctor was adamant that gluten was safe, so over the last several weeks I've been slowly (and a bit distrustfully) introducing gluten back into my diet. First I stopped reading labels, then I started eating pasta, and finally I started to approach bread again.

I'm not sure how it came up in conversation, but a week or so ago a friend mentioned Artisanal Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, an article she'd read on the internet ages ago. She said it made a great recipe and I should try it. So I did.

This is what I did:
Mix 3 cups lukewarm water with 1.5 tbsp fast-rise yeast. Stir. Add in 6.5 cups whole wheat flour and 1.5 tbsp salt. Stir. Let rise covered (but not sealed) at room temp for 2 hours. Refridgerate overnight.
Remove from fridge, pull out approximately 1/3 of dough (1 pound?? I have no idea how big the chunks were). Shape into vaguely loaf-shaped lump and let "rest" at room temp for 40 minutes. Bake at 450 for 30ish minutes.
(Except I didn't let it rest for 40 minutes the first time, because I wanted bread NOW and I didn't think it was important.)

The first three breads (from the same initial batch of dough) were a bit... dense. They were good (and Jim could find no criticism with them, which is odd for him, but the man doesn't like bacon, so sometimes his opinion has to be discounted), but I really wasn't satisfied.

A call with my friend SG from high school set me on a better path. Whole wheat flour, it turns out, contains a different amount of gluten from "regular" white flour or bread flour (go figure), and that has a profound effect on the bread product. White flour has more gluten, which allows the bread to rise more, which creates a fluffier and less dense bread. The resting phase is apparently also crucial to the final product. SG suggested mixing half whole wheat flour with half white flour or bread flour and slightly increasing the amount of water. And also not skipping the resting period.

So I mixed up a new batch (without cleaning the bowl after the first batch, since apparently that can enhance the flavor of subsequent batches). I added 3 cups of lukewarm water to 1.5 tbsp fast-rise yeast. I added in 3 cups whole wheat flour and 3 cups all-purpose flour and about 1 tbsp salt. I stirred. I let it rise for 2 hours and OMG IT ALMOST ESCAPED THE BOWL YEAH I'LL SAY THE WHITE FLOUR MADE A DIFFERENCE WHOA. I pushed it back from the edges of the bowl and put it in the refridgerator - for two days I think, though the amount of time shouldn't matter.

I got home tonight and a stew was simmering on the stove. Jim had gotten dinner started (mmmmm, I'm so keeping this guy). I pulled out the bread bowl, tore out a large chunk (it didn't want to tear off - the increase in gluten definitely made a difference in the tensile strength of the dough...), plopped it on a piece of parchment paper, and let it rest for just over 20 minutes. I put it in the oven and let it bake for just over 25 minutes at just under 450 while the stew finished simmering. When I pulled it out of the oven, it was perfect.

Happily, at exactly that same moment, the stew was also perfectly ready to eat.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs beef, cut into chunks
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp butter
10 oz baby bella mushrooms, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1 large parsnip, chopped
1 quart turkey broth (can substitute chicken broth)
1 cup sherry or white wine
2 tbsp thyme
2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp rosemary
2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 loaf fresh bread, preferably homemade

Directions:

Add olive oil, butter, and turkey/chicken broth to a large pot, and slowly bring to a boil while chopping everything that needs chopping. Add the beef, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, celery, onions, and parsnip as you finish chopping them. Add the wine and all the spices except the parsley. Cover, bring to a gentle boil, and cook for 60-90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add parsley about 5 minutes before serving. Serve with fresh bread, which is best dipped in olive oil with black pepper sprinkled on top. Best with a good seasonal ale or glass of red wine.

Also at exactly that same moment, I put a batch of pumpkin muffins in the oven. I think we have achieved domestic bliss this evening.

Edit: Yes, and I did keep that coupon, because it told me to, and also I am hoping to win a raffle that will eventually be held somewhere on the internets. But more about that in the Rhinebeck post!

Second edit: muffin picture!