buttermilk-sourdough rye waffles with yogurt, orange flower water, oranges, and pomegranate seeds.

I almost never update this, but here's a waffle recipe I've been working on.

SOURDOUGH RYE WAFFLES
(adapted from a King Arthur recipe)

PREFERMENT
2.5 ounces sourdough culture
3 ounces water
3 ounces rye flour

OVERNIGHT SPONGE
8 ounces bread or AP flour
5 ounces rye flour
3 T sugar
3 cups buttermilk
Preferment from above

WAFFLE OR PANCAKE BATTER
all of the overnight sponge
3 large eggs
2.6 ounces melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
Zest from two oranges.

Two days before, mix preferment. Let sit overnight in a cool/room temperature spot.

The night before mix all ingredients for overnight sponge.

The morning of, add eggs, butter, salt, soda, and zest. Cook according to waffle maker instructions.

rye waffles with orange flower water

These waffles are half-rye, half whole wheat, with a dash of orange flower water. They are fantastic with yogurt, mandarin orange segments and pomegranate seeds.

  

• 3 eggs
• 1½ c. yogurt (you can use buttermilk as well)
• ⅓ c. oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. orange flower water

• 1 c. rye flour
• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking power
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt

Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, combine the dry in another. Mix together, and bake according to yout waffle maker. This made sixteen waffles as pictured above (eight pairs).

seeded rye — returning to bread

As the "Polar Vortex" descends upon Chicago again, I decided that I needed a good, hearty bread for lunches this week. I made Dan Lepard's seeded rye (from Short and Sweet), using anise seeds, coriander, caraway, and lemon zest as its spice; I substituted apple cider for the recommended malt vinegar (which I didn't have), and I added a bit of diastic malt for good measure. The recipe calls for honey or molasses, so I used a very dark buckwheat honey.

The dough is a thick paste, foreign even to someone like myself who has made breads with a lot of rye (and even Vollkornbrot, but the texture is very different with all the rye chops, which are nearly impossible to find). It rose slowly, and baked beautifully:

Making bread is something I've just started again after a hiatus of four or five years — I developped baker's asthma, a common form of occupational asthma, and I've only recently begun baking bread (pastry, quickbreads, and the like are less of a hazard). I haven't worked in a bakery in about five years, and have since started a PhD in literature.

Now that I'm returning to bread, I've been avoiding the phenomenal Bread by Jeffrey Hamelman, partially out of the trauma with which I associate his phenomenal book (the book was an inspiration, and having to leave my career as a baker because my work was literally suffocating me is something I'd never wish on anyone).

And here I am, returning to bread, more careful than ever, and my apartment smells glorious.

bread

I made a Vollkornbrot -- a 100% whole rye bread with sunflower seeds. It's mainly a sourdough with a teeny bit of yeast (which I'll probably omit next time as it was probably not necessary). I used coarse whole rye (70%) and rye chops (30%). It made this one heavy loaf that was baked for about 80 minutes (470ºF for a quarter of an hour, 380º for the rest -- the initial heat helps it get lift since there's so little gluten). I let it rest for 48 hours, and then I cut into it:


It's been a week since I first cut into it and it's now as good as that first slice -- it may even be better. With time the rye gets a full flavor, almost spicy, and the sourdough element keeps its tang.

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On a very different note, the ultimate winter comfort lunch:



It's a grilled cheese of cheddar and sourdough semolina bread (this and the last from Hamelman's Bread) with an cream of tomato soup from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It leaves me with just a few jars of tomatoes from last year's canning madness, but was well worth it.

waffles

This morning I made orange-rye waffles with walnuts. It's based on something I made a while ago, and then re-born out of a basic recipe for waffles (with rye and whole wheat flours and zest and nuts added).

Dry ingredients: 1c. AP flour, ½c. whole wheat, ½c. rye flour, 1 t. b. powder, ½t. soda, zest of one orange and a handful (maybe a cup?) of toasted, chopped walnuts.

Wet ingredients: 3 eggs, 1½ c. buttermilk, ¼c. oil.

Topping: 3 oranges, sectioned, in maple syrup.


It was really good. The (stone ground) rye flour gave it a nice crust and texture.