It's always great when you can make a healthier alternative to your favourite treats!  Here is a syrup that you can use with club soda or any sparkling water to make your own homemade ginger ale.  In our humble opinion, Xagave is the best tasting low glycemic sweetner on the planet.  It is available in one gallon or 18oz bottles and is derived from the Agave plant in Central Mexico.  For more information on the health benefits of Xagave click here

The title is a little misleading because mine didn't actually make a 'syrup', it was more of a cordial. This is probably because I used Xagave instead of sugar.

The ingredients are simple:

2 cups of peeled and chopped ginger root

Peel of two lemons (I used a veggie peeler to minimize the amount of pith)

6 cups water

1 cup of Xagave or 2 cups of white sugar

Place the water, ginger and lemon peel in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and allow to steep for 1 hour

(This actually steeped for closer to 2 hours. I got distracted!)

If you like the smell of ginger, you will appreciate how this lovely brew fills the kitchen with its fresh aroma

After steeping the ginger, drain the mixture through a sieve lined with a cheesecloth.

Return the drained juice to the saucepan. Add the sweetner and bring to a boil, whisking regularly.

Reduce heat and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

Had I used sugar, I would have continued to reduce this until it became a nice thick syrup.

But I kept tasting it and even though i was kind of disappointed with the consistency, I was more than happy with the taste!

Cool, then pour into glass jar, bottle or container of your choice. Keep refrigerated.

To make up your ginger ale, pour 2 Tablespoons of syrup over ice and add 8oz of sparkling water, club soda or even tonic water. Throw in a slice or some frozen raspberries and enjoy!

Nope..I didn't dehydrate the onions and bananas at the same time! They were done separately and on different days!

I'm the proud owner of a Garden Master Digital Dehydrator by Nesco/Amercian Harvest. I chose this model because I really liked the following features:

It has a digital thermometer and timer, which means I can set it and walk away because it turns itself off.

The fan is on the top so there is no risk of drips (from food like jerky) getting onto the fan

It can expand up to 20 trays

Because of the rounded shape and the way the air moves through, over and across the trays there is no reason to rotate them.

It came with a free dehydrating cookbook (love that!)

I started with the onions, they were available fairly cheap (89 cents for a 3lb bag) at our local Old Farm Market. As I am growing onions in our veggie garden this year, it was an experiment to see if I will continue to chop and freeze our harvested onions or whether it would be better to dry them and recover some of my highly coveted freezer space. As well, these will become a staple in our emergency food supply pantry.

Onions are an essential ingredient in East Indian cooking, so we always have plenty on hand, both frozen and fresh. It will be interesting to see how well these dehydrated onions work in our regular curry recipes.

WARNING: You must dehydrate onions outside (covered area) or in the garage - otherwise your house will smell like onions for at least a couple of weeks -so will your coat, couch, curtains and critters! Drying them outside might make your neighbours salivate for a few hours - but that's no biggy! I'm sure mine thought we were cooking curry for the masses!!

Peel and wash the onions, remove any soft or rotten bits. Soaking the peeled onions in cold water is supposed to reduce the tears when cutting - yah, not so much!!

I used my Bosch Slicer Shredder attachment to make quick work of slicing the onions, this really helped in keeping the slices uniform, which allows all the trays to dry in the same amount of time

I also used the mesh inserts that came with the dehyrator to line each tray. These are a great way to prevent the onion slices falling through the slats on the trays. (I made a total of 4 trays).

I was able to get them started in the morning and they were completely dry by the time I got home from work.

At this point they can be stored as is (dried slices) or they can be blended or crushed into onion powder.

I left them as dried slices.

I decided not to grind them into powder (because I have a bag of onion powder in my spice cupboard)

Can you believe that 3lbs of onions now fit into this 500ml mason jar?

Onions hydrate easily so it is important to keep these dry. So, if you have any of those little packets of dessicant, drop one in the jar along with the onions.

Another important step is washing the mesh liners and trays thoroughly afterwards to prevent any future foods from tasting like onions!

A couple of days later, I dried some banana chips and a couple of kiwis that were getting ripe in the fruit bowl.

These took about 6 hours at 130 degrees and cost about 45 cents in electricity use.

I make the banana chips every couple of weeks and we eat them for snacks, in our packed lunches and picnics. I also regulary dry pears and apples for the same purpose.

This is the first time I have made kiwi chips, they were pretty sour once bitten into...which my son loved!

This is a great way to store fruit and veg. Especially when you can get large quantities on sale. The perfect way to stock up on your Emergency Food Supply!

(Extra note, I made up 3 trays of banana chips which used about 11 bananas. I save the peels, pop them in a bag and keep them in the freezer. When I am ready to plant my tomato starts in the garden, I dig deep and put one peel under each tomato plant, as they break down they provide nourishment to the growing plant).

Do you have any favourite dehydrated foods or recipes?

Making Sourdough Rye Bread

Rye was brought into this world for sourdough breads! With it's genius for fermentation, it makes a super sourdough starter, much better for both wheat and rye sourdough breads than any wheat starter we have used. We use this sort of starter for better flavour and for it's conditioning effect rather than to make the bread rise-yeast does that_ so the sourdough starter is easy to store and maintain. No doubt it passes through stages when in has plenty of leavening power, but none of our recipes depend on that.

The recipe we like is from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. It makes a wonderful pungent mixture that give the bread a bright, tangy flavour with a substantial texture. Interesting enough, the small amounts of milk and yeast were necessary and we found that if we left them out, that mysteriously enough the bread didn't taste as good or have the same consistency. We have put the starter mixture in our New Recipe section of our website right here. Rye Sourdough Starter

Rye has a talent for fermentation. Rye sourdough starters have a long tradition: not only do they impart unequaled fragrance and a savory tang to the finished bread but they also condition the dough. Without them, rye dough , particularly whole grain rye dough, tends to be alkaline. The acid quality of a sourdough, and also it's fermenting organisms, keep the bread from being wet and gummy. Rye recipe without sourdoughs usually include some acid ingredient to achieve the same effect, like vinegar or lemon juice.

Mixing and Kneading Rye Doughs: To mix a rye-wheat dough, always add the heaviest flour first, so in this case use the rye flour first. Work in the remaining rye flour by hand until you have a smooth dough and knead it well. If you are using a Bosch Machine do the same. Add the rye flour first and slowly add the wheat flour until the bowl starts to clean. If your dough gets too dry you can add a little more water but stay with the machine as it could unbalance some of the older Bosch machines. (Shouldn't be a problem with a Universal Plus)

If kneading by hand, it has been our experience that you will only use about 2/3 of the liquid in the bread so save back about 1/3 of the water in a separate bowl. As you are kneading the bread, wet your hands and the table from it as you work. Use the water more generously the first ten minutes because during this period the dough should get soft (but not sticky).

By hand or by machine, the trick is to get a dough that is soft and smooth, before the dough gets unreasonably sticky. Rye like any whole-grain flour, will vary in the amount of liquid it absorbs. Watch the character fo the dough rather than trying to get the exact amounts of flour into it. The larger the proportion of rye to wheat in a recipe, the more liquid it will take to get the dough to come together. A 100% rye dough requires a lot less flour than a wheat-rye dough.

Proofing Rye Doughs: Rye has a knack for fermenting, and if you want to prevent the dough from getting away from you, make them cool--about 72 degrees F. to 80 degrees F. In other words, don't let them proof in the oven, which is much hotter. To help control the fermentation, before you shape rye dough either let it rise twice at room temperature, or once in a warm place, but not TWICE in a warm place (90 Degrees F.) Deflate the dough when your gentle wet finger makes a 1/2 inch hole that does not fill in. Try not to let the dough go so long that is sighs deeply around the fingerpoke.

Because rye ferments so enthusiastically, I don't really recommend making it the "fast way" with extra yeast. If you want to hurry your rye bread, give it just one rise in a very warm place.. The gluten in all rye breads, is fragile, and may tear when handled. To help overcome this problem, while shaping the loaves, use a little water rather than oil to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and the table.

Baking Rye Breads: For centuries, earthy, traditional rye breads have been baked in brick ovens with high initial heat and then a long bake at descending temperatures. Much of the appleal of these classic breads develops in the oven, so proper baking makes a big difference with old-fashioned rye sourdoughs. Whatever kind of rye bread you make, though, be sure to bake it thoroughly--underbaked rye leaves a wet-pinky-woolly taste on the back of your front teeth. Quite unpleasant! In my opinion, nothing is worse than gummy bread!

With high temperatures in the oven, the problem of temperature fluctuations when the thermostat comes on and off, is intensified. The bake is much better in aoven that can hold a steady, even heat. Using quarry tiles or a pizza stone that is pre-heated in a very hot oven is a good way to control this as well. Many times to keep the doughs from splitting as it bakes, the tops are slashed and or water is place in a pan on the bottom rack to keep the moisture in the oven as it bakes.

If you wish to give your rye sourdough a pretty, shiny dark crust, you can paint your loaf with a glaze 1 minute before it comes out of the oven. being sure to cover all the exposed surface. For a darker, shinier crust, brush on the glaze during the baking period as well--about halfway through or so, but not before that.

Glaze:

1/4 cup cold water, 1/2 tsp. cornstarch, 1 tsp. honey or molasses. Mix together and cook on stove for 5 min. until clear

Here's one of the recipes from Laurels's Kitchen Bread Books called "Roberta's Sourdough Rye Bread"

HOW TO MAKE GOOD SOURDOUGH BREAD Sour dough Bread dates back long before the 19th and 20th century. Many traditional European rye breads are made with this method. Sourdough gives a special sour flavour to bread that cannot be obtained in any other way. It can be added to any bread recipe, but is especially great in pumpernickel, rye, or sourdough breads. I once had an older gentleman come into our store and tell us how his mother in Europe, always took a piece off the dough she was making and put it in a warm spot to let it sour and dry out. To use it she would just put it in warm water or milk to mix it in. We are going to talk in today's blog about the different ways you can make sourdough breads. First a few ground rules for Sourdough Starters. Make a starter about three days ahead. At your first baking, save some starter for the next baking. Store undisturbed in the fridge in an airtight non-metal container. Replenish as instructed in the recipe before using. Bring it to room temperature before using in the next bread. Simple Starter --Made from Dough--Save 1 cup piece of bread dough from previous bread. Brush with oil and place in a glass bowl and cover with plastic. Let rise at room temperature. Punch down a few times a day, for a number of days (until the dough has a sour smell). Use this in your bread recipe. If you are not ready to bake sourdough bread, the starter will keep in the fridge for several months. but bring it back to room temperature before using. After you have used the starter in the dough mixture, save another 1 cup of dough and sour it as you did previously for future sourdough baking. Sourdough Starter -Made from Scratch (from Eat More Whole Grains) Peel, dice and cook until very well done, two medium sized potatoes in 3 cups of water. Cool and puress in the blender to make 3 cups of mixture. Add 2 cups flour; stir well. Mix in 1 Tbsp. sugar. Place in a glass container and cover with plastic wrap. A clear glass gallon jug or bowl allows you to see the bubbles from the outside. Each day feed it with a pinch of sugar and 1/3 cup flour (I use whole wheat or rye flour) When the bubbles are about 1 inch thick, it is ready to use. Mine is often ready in 3 days. Save half the starter for future use. Repeat the above process by stirring in 1 1/2 cups warm water, 1 Tbsp. sugar and 2 cups flour. You can feed this for a few days again as above. Use the other 2 cups of the starter in your bread recipe today. Please note that sourdough starter does not take the place of yeast. It is added to give flavour and texture to the bread If you are making whole grain bread, than use whole grain flours in the starter. If you are making white breads than use white flour. How to Store the Sourdough Starter: Place in a non-metal air tight container in the fridge. It will keep much longer than anyone would think--we have used ours after as much as two months of total neglect, and fournd it sleepy but still alive. A black, watery liquid will usually collect on the top. Don't panic, it is merely oxidation, like potatoes turning dark aftery they are cut. Just stir the black stuff back into the brew. If your sourdough starter has been dormant in the fridge and you are in doubt as to whether to use it or not, breing it to room temperature and double its volume with flour and water. Allow it to sit out a room temperature, stirring twice daily, until it bubbles up. Stir, and take a whiff--if the fragrance pleases you, it will certainly be good in the bread. Normally, Sour dough starter can be kept in the fridge up to 10 days or in the freezer much longer. Bring it to room temperature before adding to the next batch of bread. To Use the Sourdough Starter: When you want to use the sourdough starter in dough, always let it come to room temperature and give it a chance to bubble up, if it will ---allow the better part of a day. Replace what you remove with fresh flour and water before refrigeratin the sour again. For example , if you take out 3/4 cup, mix in 3/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup water, maintaining the pancake-batter consistency Try one of our sourdough recipes in the Recipe section of our website.  Sourdough French Bread Recipe "Extra Sour" Sourdough Breads: To produce bread that has an even greater sour flavour, try one of these tricks. Replace 1 cup of tow of the water with buttermilk or Replace a cup of water with sauerkraut juice

Bread Made with Milk and Dairy Products

Milk is not a necessity in breadmaking, and the traditional breads of Europe attaine their impressive spectrum of distinguished flavours and textures without it.  Europeans save the butter and cheese to put on top.  But on this side of the world, bakers have generally welcomed the contributions milk makes to the quality of the dough, and to the bread it becomes.  In this post I will explain some ways you can use dairy products to make loaves that are more nutritious, long-lasting, lighter, and more interesting.

On the nutrition score, adding milk to bread significantly increases its protein and mineral content.  Milk also improves bread's keeping quality and makes the crumb texture tender as well.  Loaves made with milk have a subtle sweetness, as close, delicate texture, and a richly coloured crust.  Whole wheat breads with milk taste softer, less wheaty, than those mixed with water.

Doughs made with milk tend to be a trifle sticky, but even so, when used properly, milk makes life easier for the baker because it increases the length of time that dough will take to rise to be ready to shape and bake, giving more leeway in timing.  In addition, yeast is stimulated by milk, and one of milk''s proteins, casein, strengthens the gluten so the bread can rise higher.  The dough enhancer that we use in all our breads has whey powder in it which also does the same thing.  It is important, though, to scald fresh milk because that protects the dough from two other milk proteins that would otherwise inhibit it's rise.

Pasturized milk has been heated already, it''s true, but this low-temperature process is not enough to denature the gluten-weakening proteins.  When you scald milk, skin forming on top signals that it has reached the required temperature:  it is then ready to cool and use in your bread.  (Scalding is not so important when the proportion of milk to other liquids in the recipe is half or less)

FRESH MILK BREAD RECIPE

Dry Milk:  Supermarket powdered milk is produced by a low-temperature process to protect it's flavour, and it is not ideal  to use in baking, at least in sizable amounts, unlessit is first reconstituted and scalded.  As with fresh milk, though, it the proportion of powdered milk used is small, no more than 1/2 cup non-instant powdered milk to a 4 loaf batch of bread, usually the affect on the bread is not detrimental.

I get and use the non-stant skim milk powder on our yearly whole sale orders with our grains.  It stores much longer (2 to 5 years) than instant skim milk powders, cost less, and is less likely to rancid like its's Low Fat and Whole Powdered Milk counterparts.

Yogurt and Buttermilk -- Add a rich flavour and tenderness.  As with fresh milk, you will want to keep the quantity you use below half the amount of liquid in the recipe.  The other liquid will usually be water.   I have found, in fact, that this works out in other respects: too much yogurt makes the bread taste yogurty (rather than marvelous), and too much buttermilk makes it so tender that the dough can just fall apart.  How much is too much?  It depends on your yogurt, but 1/3 cup per loaf is a good amount.  Buttermilk is subtler, and can make up as much as half the liquid in any bread.

Yogurt--gives the bread tenderness, a fine texture, and a unique richness of flavour that is fuller and tangier than the taste you get from buttermilk.  Be most particular about the freshness of the yogurt you use in baking: a lot of fellow travellers can set up housekeeping in a batch of yogurt, and some of them make the bread taste weird.  Using your own yogurt that you have made yourself ( we use the Yogourmet for ours) and are particular about protecting our culture from outside influences. 

It is especially important that the cultured products you use in bread taste fresh, because if the flavour is off, likely enough the culprit is alive and active, and quite capable of sabotaging your bread dough. 

YOGURT BREAD RECIPE

I will talk more about buttermilk and yogurt in my next post as well as adding cottage cheese, butter, and regular cheese to your homemade breads.

Making Bread Without Salt

Who these days hasn't heard about the dangers of too much salt?  Is there one among us who can down even a small bag of pretzels (much less potato chips) without a nervous twitch, a pang of guilt?  But BREAD is not a salty food, so why this post?

All true, and unless you are on a sodium-restricted diet--or are one of the people who actually prefer bread without added salt--bread is one of the last places you would want to cut back; a little salt goes a long way in bread, not only transforming the flavour but strengthening the dough to make a lighter loaf.  Even so, it can be done, and the saltless bread that tastes so blah at first gradually begins to taste just right if you are persistent and dedicated to re-educating your palate to a saltless regime. 

 RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM

And so if it is saltless loaves you want, tasty and light as they can be, I offer in this post some hints and also some really excellent recipes.  Other bread can be made without added salt, following these guidelines as well.  In general look for a recipe with a lot of flavour interest:  the ryese and the sourdoughs for example, will be most successful.  Most of our recipes call for 2 Tbsp. of salt for a 4 loaf batch of bread: such breads do not depend wholly on salt for their flavour, but the ones that do call for a more are apt to need it.

If you are on a salt-restricted diet and have made an honest but futile attempt to get to like saltless bread, try using just 1 Tbsp. for the 4 loaf batch which is only 1/2 tsp. per loaf--a third of what would be in a store-bought loaf of bread.  Unless you eat a whole loaf in a day, you won't be getting a lot of salt from it.

When you make bread without salt in a Bosch Universal Plus you will find that the dough with clean the side of the bowl at first but after a few minutes of kneading it will separate and stick to the sides of the bowl.  With all your power, resist the temptation of adding more flour.  This will not make the dough any different but will make the bread heavier.  After the 8 to 10 min. of kneading for your whole grain bread, oil your hands and scrape the dough hook onto the counter and shape your loaves as usual.  Salt free bread dough will also rise much quicker than regular bread dough, so watch it carefully to make sure that it doesn't overferment.  To help control the fermentation (rising time), try making the dough with cool rather than warm water and letting it rise a room temperature rather than using the oven to incubate the rising loaves.  Keep the dough on the stiff side, and more important, don't let the shaped loaves rise too long in the pan, but put them in the oven a little before you think they are ready; otherwise they can collapse.

Though saltless bread rises faster, it will never be so high as the same bread made with salt.  Since denser loaves are more flavourful, this is a natural compensation for the absence of salt.  Nonetheless, you do want the bread to rise, so be sure to knead your dough as well as you can if your are making the bread dough manually, letting the gluten develop as much strength as possible.  If kneading is difficult for you and making saltless bread important to your health, if would be worth investing in a Bosch Universal Plus kneading machine to do the muscle work for you.

Incidently, making rolls out of all or part of the dough has special advantages when you bake salt-free.  Rolls can rise longer than loaves without the danger of falling, and the increased crust area give extra flavour and appeal--especially when poppy or sesame seeds add their cheery zest. 

SALT FREE WONDER LOAVES RECIPE

MAKING BREADSTICKS AND PRETZELS

If you can give up a small wad of your dough when you are shaping your loaves, any kid from the toddlers stage on up will love making a shape to bake, be inordinately proud of the result---and delighted to eat it too.  When baking such works of art, keep in mind that the tiny thin parts will tend to burn, while large lumps take much longer to bake.  You can shield small parts with foil once they brown, to protect them from burning.

Even when they can't have a direct part in the process, grade schoolers are thrilled to come home to your bready rendering of their initials, or a favorite animal you've softly sculptured and baked especially for them.  On a more mundan and practical level, the manageablilty of small soft-crusty breads makes life easier for very young ones whose tiny hands are relatively new to the eating game.  (Eaters who have been at it for many years also appreciate breadstick, incidentally, especially alongside a hearty soup)

You can make 12 soft foot-long breadsticks out of a loaf's worth of dough.  You can use just about any type of bread dough you like, be it whole wheat, rye, multi-grain or sour-dough.  Rolled in sesame or poppy seeds, they provide a chewy, toothsome accent to a light meal.  If sesame and poppy seeds are getting to ho-hum, try caraway or fennel, or, more daring, whole cumin seeds, spicy-hot.  You could also add herbs like chopped basil  and/or spices like a little curry to get a different flavour. 

To shape, divide the dough for one loaf, into 12 parts, form balls, and roll into snakes.  You now can roll the snakes in the seeds if you wish or if you want shiny sticks, paint them with an eggwhite wash (one egg white whipped with a Tbsp. of water)  and sprinkle the seeds on them.  Place side by side on a greased cookie sheet, allowing room for them to double in girth.   Let rise until a gentle touch makes an indentation that fills in slowly;  bake at 325° F until lightly brown, usually about 1/2 hr., preferably not near the bottom of the oven.  Let them cool somewhat before removing them from the sheet. For crisper breadsticks, roll them thinner and bake a very low heat for as long as an hours. 

I have included a recipe for making pretzels in the recipe link below, however like the breadsticks you can make them from any type of bread dough you like.  For Pretzels we will just make a longer snake (18") and tie into a loose bow with a criss-cross and them brush with an eggwhite and water wash and sprinkle with coarse salt.  These are also baked long and slow until they get nice and crisp.  Neither the breadsticks nor the pretzels are hard to be adverturesome and try them.

Pretzels and Bagels and Pita Bread Recipes

Chapathis or Roti Bread

These wheaten breads are served all over India, particularly in the North--but they can be enjoyed anywhere in the world. For best flavor, make the dough with fresh ground flour and give it some time to itself before it is cooked; but if need be, the breads can be prepared with whatever whole grain flour you have, and very quickly. Even considering their perhaps unfamiliar shape, they are the best fast bread I know.

Serve with curries or with peanut butter and honey or cheese and tomato or simply butter. Super!

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole wheat flour (450g)
• 1 tsp salt (5.5g)
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (350ml)

Useful Equipment

• rolling pin
• griddle
• long thick oven mitts
• dish towel OR long-handled tongs that are not sharp

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Slowly add the water, working it into the flour until the dough comes together. It should not be wet, but it should be soft. You can make it slightly stiff at first, then add water as required while you work the dough. Knead until very soft and silky, about 20 minutes. If possible let the dough rest at room temperature for 4 hours or overnight: if you are in a hurry, make the chapthis right away.

Pinch the dough into about 12 balls, golf-ball size. Keep them covered with a damp cloth while you first round each one smooth, and then, one at a time, flatten them with a rolling pin on a floured board, making them approximately 7 inches across. Don't roll the pin off the edge of the round or the chapathi's rim will get too thin. Shape them all, and stack with a little flour and waxed paper in between. When you have only a couple to go, heat the griddle. It should be about pancake hot, a medium-high heat. If it is too hot, the chapathis will burn, but if too low, they won't puff up. Best of all is to work together with a friend, one rolling and the other baking.

Keep an inverted bowl over the uncooked breads while you back them one by one so that they do not dry out.

If your griddle is not well-seasoned, put a thin film of oil on it to keep each chapathi from sticking. The chapathis leave flour on the griddle that will burn, so wipe if off as you go along. You will use the dish towel for pressing on the chapathi to encourage them to puff up, and if it is white it stays cooler, form it into a smooth wad that is easy to hold.

Place the first chapathi on the hot griddle and let it sit there for one second, then turn it over. Use the cloth to apply gentle but firm pressure to the top of the cooking chapathi. Concentrate most of your pressing on the area just inside, but not on, the edge. Press down hard, but don't let the cloth stick to the dough. The object is to help the chapathi form steam pockets: ideally it puffs up like a balloon, filled with its own steam. At first the bread may blister in just a few places. By pressing, you can enlarge these small bubbles. Turn the chapathis over as soon as the bottom browns lightly. It won't brown evenly, especially if it has made the steam pockets, but will be a pretty pattern of brown and beige. It is done when it is browned nicely on both sides, with no wet-pinkish areas.

If you have a gas stove that has a high flame, you could try a second cooking method that works better for some people. Instead of pressing the dough on the griddle, let the chapathi cook a few seconds on each side to set the surfaces, and then with tongs pick up the chapathi and hold it over the high open flame. If you are deft, it will ballon without burning.

These wonderful breads are best served immediatly, but you can wrap them in towels and keep them warm in the oven until it is time to eat; don't let them dry out though.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL: In India, even the youngest cook can make chapathis, but we who did not learn these skills at our mother's knee will have some experimenting to do before we get the knack. Protect your hands with mitts and your arms with long sleeves, and go slowly at first.

Specialty Breads- Whole Wheat Pocket Bread (Pitas)

In the last few years these nifty little breads have become a staple item, and they are available nearly everywhere. A balloon of crisp-soft bread, they are good for filling with anything to make a sandwich, whether it is in the traditional falafel and sliced cucumbers, or more mundane things like soyspread and sprouts. Pita is tasty and doesn't get soggy, and futhermore, as our favorite grand-daughter points out--"Grandma it didn't fall apart"

Almost any plain bread dough can be used to make these, but I will attach our favorite whole wheat pita bread recipe at the bottom, which has been very reliable for us. With the Bosch Universal Plus doing the kneading it usually is done in less than 45 min. If making it by hand you can add twice the years and warmer water and have them on the table in about 2 1/2 hours. (Still faster than making regular bread)

Shaping : Once the dough has been kneaded the rolling, shaping and resting are easy. I like to roll them into about a 5" circle on a floured counter. Do not use oil when rolling pitas as they don't like to be stretched. You then pick them up and turn them over and set them on a dry tea towel. Once I have done a few I cover them with another dry towel. The turn over is important as well. In fact one of our customers remarked that she watched them making pitas in an outdoor oven in Turkey and they did the same thing; rolled them, flipped them on the the resting surface and then when placing on the baking surface we flip them again.

The trick for making good pitas is in getting the baking just right. The breads actually cook inside from the steam they generate as they puff in the oven, so they don't brown much on the top. Depending on your oven, it may take a little experimentation to adjust the heat and paraphernalia to make sure that the pockets get enough bottom heat that they puff, but not so much that they burn.

Baking: If you have a gas stove, you can bake pita on the floor of the oven or on a heavy cookie sheet (not non-stick) on the oven floor. Preheat the cookie sheet along with the oven. Electric stoves are trickier. It's best to heat the oven from the bottom only (don't turn on the broiler). If both elements come on when heating up, try shielding the baking pocket breads from top heat by putting another cookie sheet on the very top rack under the top element. A well-heated oven stone (pizza stone) or tiles can give the immediate bottom heat that is the secret of puffy pockets.

Pita breads like a very hot oven. I usually turn it up to 450°F. If you have a Convection oven use the Convection Bake Cycle. I have found that pita's also like lots of hot air. You can bake them on a stone as mentioned, a cookie sheet but my real preference is a wire cooling rack that has a close grid so the edges don't fall over. These let lots of air through and give the required bottom heat to get a good puff to the pitas. Again when we pick them off the resting towel, flip them over again onto the baking rack or stone, or cookie sheet. They bake in about 3 to 4 min. so don't turn your back. In fact I use to tell the cooking class customers that it was the most exciting thing to do in our city, to come in and watch the pitas rise and bake. They will actually blow up into little cushions right before your eyes.

The baked pitas should be slightly browned on the top. You can open one up and check to see if the insides are done. They will be moist, but shouldn't look shiny-wet. If you think they need a little more time, you can bake them a bit more on the top rack while the next batch bake on the bottom of the oven. Don't let them get crisp, though, or brown, because they will break when you fill them. The steam inside them bakes them extremely fast, and they will stay soft and flexible when cool.

These are very fast and fairly easy and are definitely worth trying for the great result and taste they have.

WHOLE WHEAT PITA BREAD RECIPE

How to Make Your Own Bagels

Each kind of specialty bread is special in it's own way and quite different from all the other; what they have in common is that they are all good eating,

Bagels should be found in the dictionary under fun, but according to Webster (who probably liked his with a shmear) a bagel is "a hard bread roll made of yeast dough twisted into a small doughnutlike shape, cooked in simmering water, then baked." The bagel is the only bread product that is boiled before it is baked. That's what gives the bagel its unique texture and the crust its characteristic shine.

Legend has it that in 1683 in Vienna, Austria, a local Jewish baker wanted to thank the king of Poland for protecting his countrymen from Turkish invaders. He made a special hard roll in the shape of a riding stirrup-Bugel in German - commemorating the king's favorite pastime and giving the bagel its distinct shape.

Over the many years the bagel was perfected in the bakeries of the Eastern European countries and brought to North Amercia with the immigrants in the early 1900's. In modern times, prepackaged bagels first became available in grocery stores in the 1950's. With the introduction of frozen bagels in the 1960's, consumers had access to bagels even if they didn't live near a bagel bakery.

Bagels can be made from just about any bread dough. For years we have shown how to make them from the same old bread dough (SOBD) that we make with our Bosch Universal Plus from the basic bread recipe. I have however, provided some recipes below for you to follow for making just bagels.

Whole Grain Bagel Recipe

While kneading the dough start a large pot of water to boil on the stove with 1/4 cup of brown sugar in it. The bagel dough needs to be kneaded as much as the regular bread dough (longer if using whole wheat) From the risen dough you can make three large balls that you can let rest for about 10 min. Take each ball and with oiled hands and counter cut into baseball size pieces and shape into a ball ( I get approx. 4 out of each ball so I cut the larger ball into quarters) I shape the balls by rolling under your cupped hand. Let the ball rest again briefly and then flatten each ball with your hands and poke your thumb through their middles, twirling each new bagel on your thumb to enlarge the hole until the hole is about 1 1/2" in diameter. If you don't make the whole big enough it will disappear when you go to boil the bagels. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Let each bagel rest for about 5 to 10 min. to let them rise just a bit and then place them in the boiling water. Cook only 2 or 3 at a time. The bagels will sink, then rise in a few seconds--if they don't sink, they rested too long. No harm done, just turn over so that both sides get wet. After a minute in the water, remove them with a slotted spoon and place them an inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at once for about 35 minutes, turning the bagel over at the halfway point if they haven't browned evenly.

Fancy Bagels: You can add extras to the bagels once they are boiled and before they are baked. You can sprinkle them with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sauteed minced onion, (with or without garlic), or caraway seeds. I like to brushed the boiled bagels on the top, with 1/2 beaten egg and 2 Tbsp. of water and then sprinkle the chosen garnish. You can also just dip the wet bagel fresh from the boiling water into the seeds to coat one side. The wash makes an ungarnished bagel shiny and pretty though so you can use that even on the ungarnished ones. You can also make different flavoured bread doughs into bagels, like rye, whole grain, herbed and cheese. Be imaginative!!

Whole Wheat Bagel Recipe