From my kitchen

By Liz on April 6, 2016

I’ve been getting acupuncture and massage work about once a month since the beginning of the year. Monte, master acupuncturist and body worker extraordinaire plus a font of knowledge based in Chinese and Eastern practices, encouraged me to try meditation at home. He didn’t actually call it that, he suggested sitting quietly and paying attention to my breath for 5 to 10 minutes. For many years – 20 plus, I have started my day with some quiet time: prayer, stillness, scripture, music – but it is a time of quiet and stillness. So the thought of a meditation focused on my breath was not strange and in fact this is what Monte asks me to do when I rest with the acupuncture. I have been finding the practice to be of value to me in many ways and Monte tells me that my pulse and body are quieter, even when I first arrive after a 40 mile drive!

Walking in the woods with Bear and Auggie is another time of quietness. At least in recent years, I take a moment before heading out the door and consciously leave everything in the house and turn my mind to Bear, Auggie and the feel, sound and look of the woods. My mind sometimes wanders to a coding problem or this or that, but Auggie and Bear and the woods help yank it back to them. I come back to the house refreshed.

I find the same refreshment of mind and body in cooking and working in the kitchen. The nature of using sharp utensils, hot pans and just thinking about what I’m working with becomes a meditation of sorts, or at least tasks that require mindfulness – my full attention. Thoughts of work and life issues are left for the time I spend in the kitchen. I’ve also been thoughtful of how my kitchen looks and works so that it is a joy to me to be there whether it is looking out the window, gathering what is needed for my task or cleaning up. And, like walking in the woods, I am moving. Moving, after a time of sitting – it feels good!

Making bread or crackers or anything involved with working with a dough is especially restful and enjoyable to me … not to mention the anticipation of devouring the fresh made result! About a month ago, I saw information on a bread cookbook that looked interesting:

The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisanal Baking from around the World . I love this book: beautiful photos, interesting stories of the breads and the people who came together to make and teach about each bread and new recipes to try.

The words below, an excerpt from an author review blurb on Amazon, sum up my feelings about the book in beautiful prose by Peter Reinhart:

“…The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook is more than just a book of great recipes—it is an inspirational collection of life lessons and stories about people who, every day, make a difference while making beautiful bread and great food.” —Peter Reinhart, author of Bread Revolution

The first recipe I tried is the cover recipe for Nan-e Barbari, a crispy Persian bread. This recipe is basically a 100% hydration dough as I typically make, but the uniqueness comes from both the shape and a wash of roomal which is a flour-water-sugar-oil paste. The roomal is an ancient technique which makes for a crisp crust without steam. Modern bakery ovens are steam ovens and create crisp crusts with steam. My own oven is not sealed well enough for steam and typically requires baking in a cast iron dutch oven to achieve the very crisp crust. I have come to really love this technique with roomal and a flat dough AND I’m able to bake it on a cast iron platter in my toaster oven. Total success!

Making the roomal. The flour-water-sugar-oil mix is heated until it becomes thick. And while we are here – THAT is an induction burner. As my current electric range/double oven combo limps along, I’ve been giving thought to what to do if/when it fails. I learned about induction and wanted to give it a try, hence the induction burner. It is like cooking on gas without the flame as the heat is able to be set high or low or off immediately. All works much faster and supposedly with less energy consumption than an electric cooktop. I am sold! (Induction Cooking)

To prepare the dough for baking, I grab a small handful of dough … bigger than a golf ball, smaller than a baseball – and spread it with damp hands on a piece of parchment. Next, spread the roomal over the surface of the dough and sprinkle with seeds – I’ve been using a King Arthur Flour “artisan bread topping” mix of seeds.

Meanwhile, I set my small cast iron platter in the toaster oven and let them preheat to 450F.

The bread bakes on the parchment, on the platter for 12-15 minutes.

Puffy, crispy crust …

An airy crumb – Perfect! I use it cut into crispy “soldiers” alongside salad, soup or anything with a broth to sop up. I also split it lengthwise for a thin, crispy sandwich. It has become my favorite way to bake a bit of bread for my day. With my refrigerator dough, the roomal wash and the fast heating toaster oven, I can go from thinking about this bread to enjoying it in about 30 minutes. 30 minutes of quiet time in the kitchen.

And now …

… it is time for a walk in the woods, with the patiently waiting Bear and Auggie.