August - 365 Project

Whew - this 365 project is quite an undertaking.  I'm definitely behind and I've come to terms with the fact that I'll always be behind.  Also, I used to take tons of pictures of a subject, choose the best one, and then take another tons of pictures on another subject, and continue that process for each day of the month.  Too much work!  So, I'm just using all the pictures I've taken of a subject (as long as they're half decent) and using them.  I actually enjoy seeing the variations on a single subject, so I like the change for more than one reason. 

Since I had so many photos to show at once (an entire month), I created a powerpoint and uploaded it to SlideShare.

August

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100% Whole Grain Maple Oatmeal Bread

 The bread of the month for October is Whole Grain Maple Oatmeal Bread.  This is an extremely dense, moist bread.

I cut the recipe in half and I got one loaf out of it, so the amounts listed below will allow you to make 2 loaves.  According to the recipe variations, you can also make muffins with this same recipe. 

 

Ingredients
5 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 T granulated yeast (or two packets)
1 T kosher salt
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup  neutral-flavored oil
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 T water)
Raw sugar

Directions

1. Whisk the flour, oats, wheat germ, yeast, salt, vital wheat gluten, and cinnamon together in a 5-quart bowl or lidded container
2. Add the liquid ingredients and mix without kneading using a wooden spoon
3. Cover (not airtight), an allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and flattens on top (about 2 hours)
4. The dough can be used immediately or refrigerated in a lidded (not airtight) container and used over the next 7 days
5. On baking day, lightly grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan
6. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a canteloupe-sized piece of dough and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go
7. Elongate the ball into an oval and place it into the loaf pan - you want to get the loaf pan about three-quarters full.  
8. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow the loaf to rest and rise for 1 hour and 45 minutes (60 minutes if you are using fresh, unrefrigerated dough)
9. Preheat the oven to 375F five minutes before baking time
10. Just before placing in the oven, paint the top of the crust with the egg wash using a pastry brush and sprinkle it with sugar
11. Slide the loaf on a rack near the middle of the oven
12. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until richly browned and firm
13. Remove the bread from the pan and allow to cool on a rack before slicing and eating

Muffin Alternative

1. Instead of placing one large ball into a loaf pan, create small, golf ball-sized   balls of dough and place them in a greased muffin tin
2. Allow them to rest for 40 minutes (20 minutes if dough is unrefrigerated)
3. Preheat oven to 375
4. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar before placing the muffin tin in the oven
5. Bake for about 20 minutes

Flamenco

Floreo

Who would have thought, in the little town of Selinsgrove, I would be able to take Flamenco lessons?  Two new stores have opened up downtown by the same owner - Peppers and Post and Lintel. Post and Lintel has a great variety of class offerings: drawing, glass blowing, jewelery making, and  flamenc (as well as a few others).   So, I'm taking the flamenco classes. 

A Bit of History on Flamenco
Flamenco originated with the gypsies in Andalusia (southern Spain).  It is believed that between 800AD and 900AD there was an exodus of a group of people from the Untouchables caste from the Punjabi region of India.  Apparently, there were two major routes of migration for these people.  The first route took them across Asia and the European continent.  The second major route took them down across North Africa and into southern Spain.  So, although the dance originated with the gypsy people, its influences include Indian, Andalusian, African, Jewish, and Arabic and have added helped to its evolution as an art form.

Flamenco Music
Originally, the music consisted of only singing (cante) and hand-claps (palmas).  The guitar, which is such a fundamental part of flamenco now, was an influence of the Arabic Oud.  Flamenco music uses the major scale, minor scale, and Phyrgian mode where the third note in the scale is sharpened.  The music consists of the rhythms of 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and unique to flamenco, 12 beat rhythms.

Flamenco Dance
Flamenco is an earthy dance.  The focus is internal and it is expresses strength, defiance, and passion.  As I am learning it, the dance requires a combination of body movement, intricate foot-work, arm movement, and hand movement (floreo).  As I am learning each move, I have to learn it in parts.  I first learn the foot and body movement.  Then I add the arms.  Finally, I add the hand movement, which is the hardest to incorporate for me.

I've embedded two videos.
This video shows the improvisational style of flamenco with the footwork combined with arm movement and floreo.  This is more traditional of flamenco in general.  You learn basic (or not so basic) steps and then you can begin to string them together.


This is a video of the Sevillanas dance.  It is the only choreographed dance in flamenco, mainly because it is more of a traditional dance found in Sevilla.  The dance has several coplas (verses) which you will see clearly defined by the pause in dancing.

Floreo photo used under Creative Commons license from http://www.flickr.com/photos/lievensoete/3020988541/ .

Banana Bread

A few years ago, I tried about 6 or 7 different banana bread recipes.  I wanted to find the best recipe.  I forget where I found this recipe, probably online, but the intense banana taste in this bread made it the winner.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
1.  In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt - set aside.
2.  Mash 2 bananas with a fork.
3.  Whisk remaining bananas and sugar together for a good 3 minutes.
4.  Add melted butter, eggs, and vanilla - beat well.
5.  Mix in dry ingredients - don't overblend.
6.  Fold in mashed bananas.
7.  Pour mixture into a buttered and floured bread pan and rap the pan on the counter to get out the air bubbles.
8.  Bake at 350 for about 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Pancakes

I have never made pancakes before this past weekend.  I feel fairly capable in the kitchen, but pancakes always seemed like a mystery to me.  How can you tell they are ready to be flipped?  How do you flip them?  With the help of my "former Uncle Bill's Pancakes House employee" boyfriend, I have finally made a pancake.  They were also pancakes made with special flour mix made in Jamie's hometown of McPherson, Kansas. (so I'm documenting the experience). 

 The mix made wonderful pancakes.  The batter was thick and the pancakes were dense yet fluffy.  I had all my pancake questions answered :)

 
How do you know when pancakes are ready to be flipped?
Well, I learned there are two ways.  If the batter is thinner, you can judge it just by the bubbles that form on the top of the pancake.  If, however, the batter is thicker, you cannot wait long enough to see a lot of bubbles form, or your pancake will be overcooked.  So, you also need to look for drying along the outer rim of the pancake.

How do you flip a pancake?
I'm not quite sure why I was a bit intimidated by it.  I think I was equating it to flipping an egg without breaking the yoke.  Definitely not that hard.
 

Pumpkin Chip Muffins

Delicious!  I have yet to taste a more delicious muffin (read: dessert disguised as a muffin).  So, naturally, I make them at least once every year :)

Ingredients
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet choc. chips

Directions
1.  In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkins, and oil until smooth
2.  Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
3.  Add to the pumpkin mixture and mix well.
4.  Fold in the chocolate chips.
5.  Fill paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full.
6.  Bake for 16-20 minutes at 400F
7.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

From My Bookshelf

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

This title has graced my "must read" list since high school.  It took the decision by my book group to finally force me to pick it up and read it from cover to cover, and I was actually surprised to discover how much I enjoyed the story.  I also happened to be in the middle of reading Atlas Shrugged when I picked it up in order to finish it in time for our discussion group.  It turned out to be a nice balance to the sometimes heavy-handed economic philosophy preached by Rand.

Interestingly, the novel was written in only 93 sittings.  In the novel, Steinbeck chronicles the forced exodus of the Joad family from their family farm in Oklahoma to the supposed "promised land" of California.  The entire family (grandparents, children, spouses, siblings, etc.) makes the arduous journey in one car.  Upon arriving in California they find jobs almost impossible to come by, unsanitary living conditions, unlivable wages, and the threat of starvation facing them daily.

Interspersed through the novel are chapters called "interchapters."  These chapters break from the main storyline and paint a picture of a situation/place/issue.  The leader of our discussion explained that the interchapters serve as the Greek chorus.  In Greek plays, the Greek chorus always "offered a variety of background and summary information to help the audience follow the performance."  For example, the first interchapter  takes a look at a used-car lot and the shady business practices of the salesmen.  The dialogue and narrative are blended in a way that is typical of American writing and has (I learned) been compared to jazz.  I found these interchapters to be my favorite part of the book.  They have almost a rhythmic, lyrical quality that I enjoyed (even though the content was depressing).

Steinbeck was uniquely prepared to write this book.  He was a reporter and wrote on the conditions of the labor camps.  He drove along Rt 66 from New York to California and saw the families migrating.  His first-hand experience is apparent and he decidedly succeeds in engaging the reader's emotions and creating a visceral reaction to the trials of these families.  Grapes of Wrath was referred to by FDR, it created a series of Senate inquiries into the conditions of the camps, and spurred Eleanor Roosevelt to actually visit the camps. 

Steinbeck stated that, "I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied ... I tried to write this book the way lives are being lived not the way books are written."  He certainly succeeded.  I was in a constant state of shock at how anyone could survive the conditions that the Joads face in their daily lives and how people could treat their fellow humans with such indignity and malice.

The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but kerosene is sprayed.  And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quicklime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure, and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath.  In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.