I am not an outdoorsy girl, but the lure of morels can get me into the woods.  Knee high rubber boots, a long sleeve shirt, a hat, and gardening gloves are my armor against ticks and creepy, crawly bugs.  (Oddly enough, the snakes don’t bother me.)  And since I like a party, I don’t go alone.

Eriel and her human mommy, Summer Duggan of www.working-gsd.com, are my party pals.  (Keep your fingers crossed that Eriel has puppies early this summer!)

DAY ONE:

Summer and Eriel lead the way.  If only Eriel could be trained to sniff out morels… 

The weather has been cool, and until recently, too dry for good morel hunting.  That doesn’t stop us though!  Because of the cooler weather, we concentrate on areas that get more sun along the edges of the trees.

A fun teepee that someone built.  But, I digress…

Again, we are looking up hill (makes morels easier to see) and in the sun along the tree line.  This beautiful property makes our foraging trip even more fun.  We had fun, but no luck.

NEXT WEEK:

Our first trip out was a bust, so we waited a week for more favorable conditions and tried again.  By this time, we had several days of rain, the temps were warmer overnight, and the trees were filling out more to hold in the humidty.  If I was a mushroom, I would grow during these conditions.  This warmer weather would also allow us to look deeper into the woods.

Only a few minutes into the trip we spotted ramps.  If you are unsure if you are looking at ramps, break off a bit of the leaf and smell.  Does the odor of garlic and onion smack you in the face?  You’ve got ramps. 

To remove ramps you should dig down to the root.  Save the roots to replant (even in your own garden), and you will be rewarded with them again next year.  Also, don’t take all of them in one area.  The remaining ramps will continue to grow and in the summer will drop seeds for more ramps next year!

Summer is impressed with her giant ramp.  Yummmmm.

Another off topic picture, but I love Jack-in-the-Pulpits.  It’s toxic if you eat it, but it makes me smile to look at.  My Gramma Vera would take me into the woods when I was a little kid to look for these and for Lady’s Slippers.

No morels yet, but we did find these:

and these:EVERYWHERE!  What are these things??  Does anyone know?

Summer has found a foraging stick to help her on our trip.  Notice how we are still concentrating in the sunny areas.  It is only about 65 degrees.  As the weather warms to the 70′s and 80′s we can look more in the shade.

Such an odd season this year.  It’s only the end of April and the ferns are already 3-feet tall!  The nice carpet of dead, wet leaves are good for morels.

Summer and I hiked and hiked, and hiked and hiked ALL the way to the bottom near the creekbed.  Still no morels, and I was pooping out.  It was getting to be too much:  the wafting odor of the ramps we collected was overwhelming, I was itchy, the bugs were flying all over, and my feet were sweaty in my oversized rubber boots. 

We stopped to rest near an area that looked like a good place to live if you were a morel (just like a million other places we looked).  In a last ditch effort Summer swirled her foraging stick around on the hillside and said, “grow little mushrooms, grow.”  It was at that moment that I looked up and to her left about 5 feet…

MORELS!!!!  And, big ones at that.  They averaged 1.5 ounces each. 

Finding them was obviously such a high that we lost our minds and decided to follow the sun all the way up the hill.  I am not a mountain goat!  OMG!!!  Climbing a 70 degree slope for a half mile nearly killed me.  I still shudder at the thought of it.  Actually, I’m willing to do it again to find more yummy treasures.  Are you ready, Summer?

This is an easy recipe for a brioche that is light and airy.  Yet, it still has that rich, buttery taste and dark crust I love.  I recommend using two 8 x 4 loaf pans or two large 7-inch brioche à tête pans.  I save my mini 3-inch brioche à tête pans for another, more cake-like, version of brioche (that recipe at a later date). 

The first time you make this recipe, I suggest you do it over a weekend.  Rushing the risings of the dough will yield a heavy, dense loaf. 

FIRST (make a starter): 

Making a starter allows the flour to hydrate, increasing the dough’s elasticity and reducing the need for kneading.

I use unbleached, all purpose flour and active dry yeast.  If you use bleached flour, bread flour, and/or instant yeast, you may have a different result. 

Combine:  

• 4 fluid ounces (1/2 cup or 120 ml) whole milk, heated to 110 degrees
• 23 grams (2 Tbsp. or 0.8 oz.) active dry yeast
• 60 grams (1/2 cup or 2.1 oz.) all purpose, unbleached flour

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. 

It will look like this after 30 seconds of mixing.  Cover it with plastic wrap and let sit for 60 minutes.

After one hour the starter will look like this.

NEXT (make the dough):

Brioche gets its flavor and texture from large quantities of eggs and butter.  Fat, in both the butter and yolks, can coat the flour and create a dough that doesn’t create enough gluten.  Therefore, it is important that you follow the steps below in the proper order.

Add:

• 480 grams (4 cups or 16.1 oz.) all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt
• 56 grams (1/4 cup or 2 oz.) granulated sugar

to the proofed starter.  Stir to combine.

Then add:

• 8 large eggs

One at a time, until they are incorporated into the dough.  At this point the dough looks more like a cake batter than a bread dough.

Finally, add:

• 227 grams (8 ounces or 2 sticks) butter, room temperature, cut into 16 pieces

Into the dough until it is completely incorporated. 

The dough will look like this when the butter is completely incorporated.  Notice how the dough has lighted slightly in color.  Some air in the dough is good, but too much air and the final bread will be white (not the traditional yellow color) and not very flavorful.

RISE #1:

The slow first rise will allow the flour to hydrate fully, will chill the butter, will develop more flavors, and most importantly, will “knead” the dough for you–one molecule at a time.

Transfer the dough to a well-greased bowl.  The dough will be very wet and batter-like.  Cover it with greased parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 18 hours and up to 24 hours.

The dough will have nearly tripled in volume when it has risen sufficiently. 

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Using a bench scraper, fold the dough onto itself from all four sides.  Don’t punch the dough down; folding the dough onto itself will develop more gluten and move the yeast around.  Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces.

Working with one piece at a time, fold the ends under, forming a smooth ball.  These balls trap air in the dough and lines up the protien molecules, creating a lighter loaf.

Place eight dough ballsin a buttered 8×4-inch loaf pan. OR…

Place one ball in the bottom of a greased brioche à tête pan, place 6 other balls around, and one final ball on top (total of 8 balls).

SECOND RISE:

Cover the pans with greased parchment paper and let rise…

until the dough is 1-inch above the tops of the pan.  This can take as little as 3 hours and as much as 8 hours. 

FINISH AND BAKE:

 While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees for at least one hour.  This will eliminate any cold spots in the oven and the bread will bake more evenly.

Whisk one egg thoroughly.Brush it over the bread.  This will create a dark, shiny loaf.

Bake the loaves in the preheated oven until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees, about 35 minutes.

Let the loaves cool in their pans for 20 minutes.  Because the bread is rich and buttery, it needs more time in the pans to set up.

Remove the bread from their pans and let cool on a wire rack.

TO LARDER BRIOCHE:

Wrap a completely cooled loaf in plastic wrap and then in a layer of foil.  Label and freeze for up to two months.  Let it thaw in the refrigerator before cutting and serving.

OTHER USES FOR BRIOCHE:

pressed crust for fish

french toast

bread pudding

Did you experience any troubles when making brioche?

It seems only fitting that my first “blog-class” is about buttermaking. Why make your own butter when the grocery stores are loaded with butter from no less than five manufacturers? Control, my friend, control.

INGREDIENTS:
The only ingredient needed to make butter is cream.

Cream is nothing more than the fat that rises to the top of non-homogenized milk.  Homogenization forces the milk’s cream through teeny tiny holes at high pressure reducing the size of the fat to a point that the cream holds in suspension within the milk. (Homogenization and pasteurization are not the same thing.) 

Nearly 100% of milk sold in grocery stores is homogenized.  It’s no wonder most people don’t know where cream comes from.  I’m lucky enough, however, to have access to a Solway, Minnesota, dairy that does not homogenize their milk–Blackstar Dairy.
If you have access to unhomogenized milk, you will be able to collect the cream the same way our grandparents did. 

First, pour the unhomogenized milk in a wide bowl and refrigerate overnight. Cream is lighter than the milk and will rise to the top of the bowl. 

Notice the more opaque cream starting to rise to the top (lower right hand corner of picture).

After 24 hours take a spoon and scoop the cream from the top.  I store mine in a sanitized canning jar and pour the remaining skimmed milk into a clean gallon container.

OR…

you can just go to the grocery store and buy a quart of heavy cream.  NOTE:  One quart of cream will yield a scant pound of butter and about 1-1/2 cups of buttermilk.

Be sure to read the labels when you buy cream!  In the past few years I’ve noticed that most cream is enhanced with carrageenan, a thickener made from a red seaweed.  It makes a lovely Irish pudding, but I don’t want it in my cream. That’s cheating!! 

 The cream on the far left is from Blackstar Dairy (ingredients: cream). The one in the middle is Kemps Old Fashioned Heavy Cream (ingredients: cream and carrageenan). The small carton is Kemps heavy whipping cream UHT (ingredients: heavy cream, carrageenan, mono and diglycerides and polysorbate 80). It’s obvious that you will get the best results from the Blackstar Dairy cream.

Checking the label for the words “ultra-pasteurized” or “UHT” is another important consideration when buying your cream.  In the photo above the cream on the far right is UHT (ultra-high temperature).  To keep it simple, pasteurization heats cream/milk to kill bad bacteria.  UHT pasteurization heats cream for 2 seconds at 280 degrees thereby prolonging the shelf life for up to 12 months (depending on packaging).  Unfortunately, UHT destroys the protein structure and takes away most of the flavor.  Unless you are going into space why would you subject your dairy to this process?  If you’ve ever had trouble whipping cream, it was probably UHT.

FINALLY, THE BUTTER PROCESS:

Tips for buttermaking success–keep it cold and keep it clean.

These are butter paddles and make the task easier.  They aren’t necessary, but if you have some soak them in ice water for at least 30 minutes before starting.  This will keep them from sticking to the butter.

Pour your cream into a cold bowl and start whipping it on medium speed.

The butter will go from soft peaks…

To stiff peaks…

It will then start to collapse, and the butter fat will start to separate…

Finally, the butter will start to separate from the milk.  Continue to whip for another minute.

It should look like this when it is ready for the next stage. 

Place a cheesecloth-lined strainer over a clean bowl.  Tip the contents of the mixer bowl into it.  The buttermilk will drain into the bowl leaving the butter behind.

Buttermilk, at first, is not sour, and it is full of protein.  During my grandma’s time it was considered a health drink.  In fact, Gramma would drink it after working in her garden.  I guess it was her Gatorade.  I store my buttermilk in the fridge and use it in making pancakes and biscuits.

Put the drained butter into a cold, clean bowl and whip for another minute to expel even more buttermilk.  Remove and drain as before. 

Place the butter in a bowl of very cold water and knead it to force out excess buttermilk.  It is really important to keep your tools, i.e. your hands or the wooden butter paddles, very cold.  If you work the butter too much with warm hands it will liquify. 

When the water turns cloudy, drain and repeat the kneading process at least two more times until the water runs clear.  It is important to note that any buttermilk left in the butter will sour and quickly spoil the butter.

Weigh the butter into 4 ounce, 8 ounce or 1 pound slabs.  This is a 4 ounce (one stick) piece of butter.  Smaller amounts are easier to work with.

You can work the butter with the chilled, soaked butter paddles or your cold hands. 

HOWEVER…

I like salted butter, so I sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of pickling salt over a 4 ounce slab and then mix it in thoroughly.  Salt will keep the butter fresh for two to three weeks in the fridge; unsalted butter will need to be used in a few days.

TO LARDER BUTTER:

Wrap it well in parchment or waxed paper.  Store the wrapped butter in a sealed container (you could use a ziptop bag) and keep in the fridge. 

Butter also freezes well.  Wrap the wrapped butter (does that make sense?) in foil, then place in your sealed container.  Label and keep for up to 9 months…if it lasts that long.

THINGS TO DO WITH HOMEMADE BUTTER (I plan on doing a ”blog-class” for each one of the items listed.  Now, if I can just figure out how to turn them into links…):

compound butter

ghee or clarified butter

brioche

Gramma’s sugar cookies

Fish Beurre Meuniere

puff pastry

Did you have any other butter questions?  Did you have any problems when making butter?

When it comes to my views on food, I love to be on a soap box. And, now I have a way to share those views with others–my first blog. It has taken me a while to make the blogging decision, but Ross has been great at helping me take the first steps.

By definition, a larder is a place where food is stored such as a cellar or pantry. My Grandma Edna had a HUGE fruit cellar, several freezers, and a dry goods pantry full of home-preserved and store-bought goods. It is for that reason I name this blog “Edna’s Larder”.

The goal of my blog is to create a larder that works into my family’s busy life. Along the way I will try old school methods of preserving, eat a lot of fresh local foods, and find the best quality products from around the world to fill out my larder. I will be posting all types of recipes with a heavy emphasis on technique. It’s going to be an adventure, and I can hardly wait to see what happens.