works of wanderlust

Tag: recipe

  • Honey Brown Sourdough (Part One)

    I’ve been thinking about beer breads a lot lately.

    Since the start of the pandemic lockdown, I’ve been the family baker. Nearly one hundred and fifty loaves of sourdough of varying shape and quality have emerged from our oven in the last year.

    I’ve tried numerous flour blends to mix up our sandwich loaf selection.

    I’ve attempted sweet breads with sugar and cinnamon mixed in for fun and fancy.

    I’ve added cheeses or herbs to create savoury side loaves to accompany larger meals.

    Yet, somehow, I’ve never dabbled in diverting anything but the dry ingredients.

    Bread and beer have a long, entwined history. Some have rightly noted that bread and beer are essentially equivalent food stuffs: grains, water, yeast in combination and fermented. My fitness-focused friends who avoid carbs at all costs often remind me that beer is just liquid bread, after all.

    Then, does it make sense to make bread with beer as an ingredient?

    Ingredients for a beer-based sourdough set out on a countertop.

    My experiment began this morning as I cracked open a can of lager shortly after 8am.

    And as I write this, the following ingredients are hydrating in a bowl on my countertop:

    1 can (326g) Sleeman Honey Brown Lager
    38g of warm water (to set the desired hydration)
    500g white bread flour
    12g salt
    250g of active sourdough starter

    This is me experimenting, please note. As I write and post this I don’t know how it will turn out and I’ll link to Part Two (hopefully tomorrow… sourdough is a multi-day process) with some notes and photos on my success or failure.

    As this is an experiment, my plan is to try a couple different loaves with a couple very different beers. Also, I’m sticking with 100% white flour (y’know, to control the variables in this deeply precise countertop research project) which I hope will let the beer flavours stand out. The first beer is a simple, medium amber lager, a honey brown from a Canadian large batch brewery. For a second attempt, I’m looking to try a darker beer, likely a Guinness to see how that affects the colour and taste.

    The dough now mixed will take a couple hours to properly hydrate and develop the gluten on the counter. I’m going to lean on a shorter fermentation period because, again, I do want the beer flavours to stand out over the general “sour” flavours, so I’ll be looking to have this in the fridge for some of today and then do an overnight final proof before baking tomorrow morning.

    And then, voila! Beer bread? Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion.

    Or should I say.. con-glut-ion!

  • Recipe: Cast Iron Campfire Waffles

    Even far from an electrical socket, when I wake up in the woods I still have a few morning rituals. I need my hot cup of coffee brewed in one of a variety of ways: steeped, perked, or filtered. I usually try to eat a piece of fruit to start my day off right. And then I set out to cook a hearty breakfast for myself and the family.

    Recently, and thanks to an amazing find at one of our local camping shops, that hearty breakfast has included fresh campfire waffles.

    Yes, waffles. Over the campfire.

    The easiest way to do set yourself up for campfire waffle success is by prepping some of your ingredients at home first.

    In a plastic zip bag at home mix:

    2 cups of flour
    2 tablespoons of sugar
    4 teaspoons of baking powder
    1 teaspoon of salt

    In a bowl at your campsite mix:

    1 bag of dry ingredients (as above)
    2 eggs
    1/3 cup of vegetable oil
    1 1/2 cups of milk

    Also, pack some extra oil for cooking and for caring for your waffle iron.

    My waffle iron needs about five minutes to heat up over a cooking fire after you’ve oiled it. Having a grate or other surface to rest your iron on is useful.

    When the iron is smoking hot (yes… literally smoking) open the iron wide (using heat-proof mitts) and add 1/3 cup of your waffle batter to one center of the grill plate. Close. Flip (and I do a gentle whirl to spread the batter out inside.) And return to the heat.

    Add a bit more oil to the iron between waffles.

    Figuring out when the waffle is done cooking without that handy beep of an electric iron is as much an art as a skill. Added to the complexity is that you’re cooking over a fire with irregular temperatures. Look for less steam. Look for visible doneness at the edges. Get a feel for the time it takes and be prepared to over/undercook your first couple waffles.

    Then… serve. Hot. Add fruit. Syrup. Whatever you like.

  • Gaige’s Famous Inside-Out Grilled Cheese

    Some day I’ll dig into my second-favourite cooking topic after cast iron, and write some posts about sourdough bread.

    In the meantime, know that my classic sandwich loaf sourdough serves as the base for a mouthwatering recipe that blurs my passion for cast iron cooking with fresh bread and delicious lunch foods.

    It’s a simple hack for your grilled cheese, but add a bit of grated cheddar to the buttered outsides of a classic grilled cheese sandwhich (bread, butter, cheese and heat.)

    2 slices of sourdough bread
    1 tablespoon of butter or margarine
    1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese

    Grill as normal. (My normal is on a hot-hot cast iron griddle.)

    If you’ve got a soft spot for fried cheese, the crisp exterior of your sandwhich will warm your heart (and probably clog your arteries … did I mention that this is a sometimes food?)

  • Saturday Chocolate Chip Pancakes

    My twenty inch cast iron grill pan sees service at least once a week (when we’re home, that is) on Saturday mornings as a pancake making workstation.

    For at least a decade our family tradition is a fresh batch of these simple breakfast treats.

    1 1/3 cups of all purpose flour
    3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
    1 tablespoon of baking powder
    1 egg
    3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
    1 teaspoon of vanilla
    1 1/2 cups of white milk
    1/2 cup chocolate chips

    The flour, sugar, and baking powder get mixed together in a medium bowl.

    The egg is whisked in a 2 cup measuring cup, then I add the oil, vanilla and milk and mix again.

    The wet and dry are combined, mixed lightly, populated with the chocolate chips, and let to sit for about 10 minutes to hydrate.

    Batter is poured in 1/4 cup portions onto a hot cast iron grill pan and cooked to desired doneness.

    We serve it all up with maple syrup and a hot cup of coffee.