Old World Style Black Bread

I made this recipe a lot during my crazed fruit ad berry days of the 70’s. There was a little market up the street that sold bulk flours, hard to find dried fruits and spices and all the nuts you could carry. It was fun while it lasted as I explored the world of bread baking. My two mainstay recipe books were the Tasajara Bread book and the Sunset Cookbook of Breads. Both books are still around, though I would have a seriously hard time justifying $99 for a new copy of the Sunset, as I paid $1.50 for mine in 1970.

One of the secrets that great bakers will use in their brownie recipes is to save the extras from their cake baking efforts, they trim edges or domes from a squared cake or a round. These pieces are allowed to sit and get stale and then ground into course crumbs which are incorporated into the next batch of brownies. This Black Bread is similar, the recipe makes one large loaf, as you finish the loaf, save the heels and other trimmings so that you can toast the crumbs to add to your next batch.

Two other items to note. The original recipe calls for Postum. (Developed by C W Post of cereal fame in 1895) Sadly this product has been discontinued by Kraft Foods. The reason Postum is so good is that it is actually a toasted wheat product. It was touted as a substitute for coffee, though it really had a different flavor than coffee. Being grain based this was the ideal flavoring and coloring agent for a bread that you wanted to come out really dark.

There are a few recipes for postum floating around the internet, but it takes several hours to make so you will probably just want to use instant expresso or cocoa as a substitute

Garee (California) said:(From Cooks.com)
So here is your recipe altered for next time:
5 cups wheat bran (moderately ground in coffee grinder/Hodgson Mill)
4 cups bulgar wheat (ground moderately in coffee grinder/Bob's Red Mill/could probably use wheat berries)
2 cups coarse ground corn meal (Bob's Red Mill)
1 cup molasses (unsulfhured/Grandma's)

Mix these together by rubbing the molasses into the grain and then bake in a 275 degree oven for 2 or 3 hours until it is dark, but not burnt. Be sure to stir and turn it often as it bakes.

Thank you again for your HOMEMADE POSTUM recipe.

Or you could buy the remaining jar for sale on Amazon for a mere $150.00 (yeah right!)
http://www.amazon.com/Postum-Original-8-oz/dp/B0004JR8SE

(not an affiliate link)

So here we go: Remember recipes are guidelines (Training wheels so to speak) you may have to adjust this according to your tastes. Also, yeast is very finicky; some days it does and some days it doesn’t, so the rising times are merely guesses, your mileage may vary.

3 teaspoons Postum or substitute instant expresso coffee
2 cups hot water
4 tablespoons dark molasses
2 cups fine bread crumbs toasted until dark (this is where you will use the heels and pieces in future batches)
3 packages of yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cups rye flour
1/4 cup melted butter or other shortening
2 teaspoons of salt
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon postum or instant coffee mixed with water for a brush on coloring of the finished loaf.

I have seen several recipes on the internet with many additions to this basic recipe including carrots, onions, caraway and fennel seed, let your tastes be your guide.

Rye flour has no glutenous properties so it is the white flour that carries this mixture and enables it to rise. Since there is so little flour you need to be patient while it rises, as it will take some time.

First you need to soften the toasted crumbs. Mix the instant coffee or Postum in a large bowl with the molasses and bread crumbs. Let this sit for 20 minutes or so until the crumbs are totally soft. While you are waiting for the crumbs to soften, dissolve the the yeast and sugar in the 1/2 cup of water.

Now that the crumbs are softened you can stir in the rye flour and ginger to the crumbs mixture. Next add the yeast filled water and stir this until thoroughly mixed. It will resemble a thick paste.

Now take the white flour and spread it onto your counter or breadboard (until I bought my butcher block I used a simple piece of 3/4 inch maple plywood). Pour the flour directly on the board in a large circle and scrape the rye /crumbs mixture onto the top of the flour. This is a little tricky, you want to keep your hands covered in flour as you begin to knead the flour into the rye paste. It will soon form into a silky dough. You may need to add a bit more flour to get the consistency that you want.

This whole process could also be done in a larger mixer like a kitchen aid, where you would simply add the white flour to the mixing bowl until the dough comes away from the side of the bowl. Now it is time to let the mixture rise and develop. I usually put the loaf back into the bowl with a tiny amount of oil to prevent sticking and let this sit for an hour or so to rise. This develops the gluten so that when you shape your loaf it will rise again more easily.

When it has risen you want to turn it back onto the board and shape your loaf. You can shape it in a round ball or a longer loaf depending on how you intend to serve it. After you shape the loaf and turn it onto a cookie sheet that has been sprinkled lightly with corn-meal to prevent sticking. Once again cover the loaf with a dry dish towel and set it in a warm place for an hour or so to rise. I usually set the breadboard directly on top of the oven while I pre-heat the oven.

The final step is to take the last coffee/postum mixture and paint the outside of the loaf for a good coloring before you put the loaf into a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. The HOT oven for the initial 15 minutes will give you the maximum chance of good rise when the loaf goes into the oven. After that you want to turn the oven down to 325 for the next 30 minutes or so that it will take to finish it.

This bread is excellent with cheese, breakfast eggs or salads. You could even make it in a round shape cut a top circle and scoop it out for an edible spinach dip bowl. Remember to save the pieces for the next batch. These can go into the freezer and last a long time between batches.

Enjoy,
Michael Brown

All About Private Cooking Lessons

If you have ever found yourself dreaming of what it would be like to be a culinary whiz and impress your friends and family members with your knowledge of coveted cooking secrets, you may have considered taking private cooking lessons at one time or another.

Private cooking lessons have become increasingly popular in recent times thanks to the well known cooking programs that are being aired on cable television each and every day. Television cooking shows are showing ordinary people how to create extraordinary meals quickly and easily.

If you would like to have a private cooking lesson, the first step is to find yourself a chef that offers lessons either in home or out of the home. You can do this a few different ways.

If you know anyone that has taken a private cooking lesson before, you can ask them to tell you about their experience and ask for a referral. Be sure to ask them the pros and cons of using the chef that they chose so that you can make an informed decision as to whether or not you would like to hire that person.

The internet can be a very useful tool when it comes to locating a chef that offers private lessons. From the comfort of your home, you can fire up your web browser and perform a search for private cooking lessons in your local town or city. You may also be able to read reviews of the chef and learn about the experiences of others.

You also have the trusty yellow pages that you can turn to. Your local phone book is a great resource and can be extremely helpful and easy to use.

If you are lucky, you may be able to find a chef that will travel to your home and allow you to take the lesson using your very own cooking utensils and kitchen. This is particularly lovely because it allows you to learn in your own environment, which boosts confidence and shows you that you are able to create delicious meals at home!

Not all chefs will offer in home lessons, so you may have to travel in order to get your private cooking lessons. One of the benefits of commuting to your lesson is that there is a very high likely hood that you will be using the chef or school's utensils. This typically will ensure that you will have everything necessary to complete a lesson, while if you were taking the lesson at home, you may not have an item or two.

Whether you decide to have the lesson at a school or in your own home, you are sure to learn a few new things. It may take some time and effort before you are able to whip things up at the blink of an eye, but with a bit of determination, anyone can learn to cook! It won't be long and you may just find that your friends and family will be coming to you for culinary advice!



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The Hands on Cooking Class, How to Become a Cook

The journey of becoming a good cook usually begins with a hands on cooking class. For me growing up in a family of 8 kids, the journey started early. After so many years of simply being in the way in the kitchen I was finally given a job to keep me in one place. As time went on each of us kids were taught at least one recipe that we could put together for a family meal and soon we had a cooking team that was responsible for one meal each week.

Learning to cook was fascinating; I was always amazed at my mother's ability to walk into the kitchen, look in the refrigerator pull out something for the entree and then an hour or so later have a meal on the table. She never seemed at a loss to figure out what ingredient went well with another. I rarely if ever saw her use a cook book, and when I did she would simply scan the ingredients, head for the cupboard and start putting things together.

The process of becoming a good cook is like that, learning to know your ingredients and quantities so well that you are able to select your main entree and build your meal around it. The best way to learn is through hands on cooking.

I started working in a professional kitchen as a dishwasher, when I was 14. My first cooking tasks were of course peeling potatoes. I graduated to peeling and deveining shrimp and eventually boning trout. As time went on I was given a knife and taught how to use it to cut vegetables for soups. Finally I was given an opportunity to actually make a soup. What a thrill that was!

As I had discovered at home, so I discovered in the restaurant kitchen; cooking is a formula or rather a bunch of them. A good cook or chef does not use recipes, or at least use recipes the way they are usually intended. The recipe is simply a guideline or springboard to get the process of cooking started. By learning a set of formulas and techniques a good cook can substitute different taste combinations and textures to get completely different meals out of that same boring breast of chicken.

Fortunately for me I had some very good trainers who were patient enough to explain the basics to me as I went along. The best advice that I got came from a chef who told me to get very close to anyone I saw who knew more than I did.
There is really no mystery to cooking. Once those you learn the fundamentals.

It starts with learning enough of the fundamentals to be able to know what to do with the ingredients, to change them to suit your tastes. Along the way you will need knife skills, and some kitchen tools. Next you need to know about methods of cooking, like saute, bake, braise, grilling and frying. As you learn the techniques you will begin to acquire a knowledge of the properties of certain ingredients. Learning how to combine things to get different results will lead you into learning about the whole world of herbs and spices.

The knowledge I have described used to be locked up in the heads of a few chef's. They would only share it with a few of their trusted employee's in a hands on cooking class. Today we live in an age of instant communication; we no longer have to wait or spend years looking through cookbooks and experimenting to learn how to do these things. They are available at the click of a mouse. See the video below.