Caesar's Salad

 This Caesar salad recipe comes to us from co-founder Justin’s father, who would make it from scratch as a side to barbecued rib-eye steak. Justin tweaked the classic recipe by adding homemade croutons spiced with rosemary and garlic, which play well with the strong, punchy dressing.

Ingredients

For the Salad & Croutons:

2 hearts Romaine lettuce (younger, lighter-coloured leaves are best)
1/4-1/2 loaf sourdough bread (enough to make around 3 cups of croutons) 
2 tbsp olive oil 
1 tsp garlic salt 
1 tsp dried rosemary leaves 
30g Parmesan, freshly grated 

For the Dressing: 

4-6 fillets of anchovies (tinned is best) 
2 cloves garlic, any green cores removed 
2 egg yolks 
2 tsp Dijon mustard 
1 tbsp red wine vinegar 
Juice of half of a lemon 
1/4 cup olive oil 
1/4 tsp Worcester sauce 
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce

Serves 4-6

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Cut lettuce into 5cm chunks, rinse in a colander, and pat dry. Wrap in a tea towel and put in the crisping drawer of the fridge.
2. With a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, grind the dried rosemary leaves. Cut bread into 2cm cubes and toss with olive oil, garlic salt and ground rosemary. Spread croutons out on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden brown (about 10-15 minutes), turning the baking sheet halfway through.
3. Meanwhile, blend dressing ingredients together with a hand blender, starting with 4 anchovies and 1 tbsp red wine vinegar. Taste and add more to adjust flavour to your liking.
4. Add lettuce to a large (ideally wooden) bowl, pour in the dressing and half the Parmesan cheese. Toss well and add croutons. Season with fresh, coarse black pepper. Serve the remaining Parmesan on the side.

BK Tips

• You can make the croutons in advance, or make extra to use for later. It keeps well in a sealed container for up to 4 weeks.

Celeriac and Chestnut soup

 What you need

• Ca 200g of chestnuts
• A celeriac root
• 2 medium onions
• 1 carrot
• Butter
• Apple juice ca 100ml
• Chicken or vegetable stock ca 400ml
• Salt, pepper
• Ca 150ml cream
• Thyme

Equipment

• Sauce pan
• Blender

How you do it

Prepare the chestnuts

• Put the chestnuts into a bowl and soak in water for ca 1 hour
• With a knife, cut each nut on the flat side
• Preheat the oven to 200C
• Put the nuts into an oven tray and bake for 30min
• Afterwards: let the nuts cool down by removing them from the oven tray.
• Peel the nuts and put aside

Prepare the soup

• Peel the onions, the carrot and the celeriac root and cut it all into small chunks
• In the sauce pan take ca 50g of butter and heat it up. Add the thyme
• When the butter is molten add the onions first and sauté until translucent 
• Then add the carrot and mix well for ca 2 min
• Add the celeriac root and chestnuts
• If necessary add a little butter
• Mix for ca 2 min and add some pepper and salt
• Add the 400ml stock
• When it boils reduce the heat to a simmer, put the lid on and let it cook for ca 30min, stirring occasionally
• Add the apple juice. Bring to the boil and let it cook for 5min.
• Take off the cooker and let it cool down for ca 10min.
• With a handheld blender blend the soup really well so that it is entirely smooth
• Put back on the cooker and heat up until it boils
• Add the cream and cook for another 5min

Mustard Cream sauce, sautéed carrots

 What you need

• Butter, 2x50g (for carrots and for the sauce)
• 3-4 carrots
• 1 table spoon Dijon mustard, 1 table spoon whole grain mustard
• 1 small onion or shallot, 1 garlic clove
• 100ml white wine
• 1 pot of single cream, ca 200ml
• 1 tablespoon of Parmesan (grated)
• Salt, pepper
• Brown sugar (for the carrots)

Equipment

1. 2 pots/sauce pans
2. Whisker
3. Sieve

How you do it

Sauce

• Peel the shallot/onion and garlic and cut thinly
• Put the butter into the sauce pan and turn on the heat.
• When the butter is getting hot (not brown) put the chopped onion/garlic in 
• Add salt, pepper and stir until onions are translucent
• Add the wine and cook/stir until the amount is reduced by about a half
• Add the mustards and stir well
• Add the cream and Parmesan and stir well
• Cook until the sauce starts to thicken - continue to stir

Carrots

• Peel and cut the carrots into ca 2 inch long chunks. Cut them again longways so that you stripes of carrots
• Put the carrots into the pot and cover with water
• Bring to the boil for ca 5-6 minutes
• Remove the carrots and excess water using a sieve. 
• Dry the pot and add the butter and put on the cooker on low heat
• Add a little salt (some people recommend brown sugar) and melt the butter
• Add the cooked carrot stripes and mix well with the molten butter for ca 2 minutes 

Risotto with Peas

 What you need

• 1 cup of arborio rice (or 150g)
• 300g fresh peas
• 200ml fresh chicken stock or 1 cube of chicken stock
• 1 onion, 1 garlic clove 
• Salt, pepper
• 1 medium block of feta cheese, ca 150g
• Water
• Oil
• 150ml or a cup of wine. I also took gin once, which worked nicely.
• Pumpkin seeds for decorating

Equipment

• Saucepan
• Chopping block
• Blender
• Jar/bowl for blending

How you do it

• Peel the onion and garlic and cut them 
• Cut the feta cheese into little cubes
• In a jar, take 1/3 of the peas and a bit of water and purée it with a kitchen blender. Set aside
• Put 3 table spoons of oil in a medium to large sized sauce pan and heat up.
• When the oil is hot add the onions first. Fry them until they are just about to turn brown, then add the garlic for 1 min
• Add the rice and stir for a few minutes, ca 3-4min. 
• Add the wine (or alcohol) and let it evaporate
• Add the chicken stock, or hot water with chicken cube
• Cooking the risotto rice should take ca 20min. During that time, stir frequently and add a little hot water to it each time the liquid in the sauce pan has almost evaporated
• In the last 5min add the chopped feta cheese
• Continue stirring
• After 20min add the rest of the peas and cook for another 3-4 min, continue stirring
• Serve on a plate and you might want to sprinkle some pumpkin seeds over it (or almond slices).

Kohlrabi Slaw

 What you need

• 1 kohlrabi
• 2 carrots 
• 1 leek, 1 onion
• Small pot of double cream and of sour cream/crème fraiche
• 2 teaspoons of mustard
• Salt, pepper

Equipment

• Grater
• Bowl
• Small bowl

How you do it

• Peel the kohlrabi and cut in quarters
• Peel onion and cut it either into rings or into small pieces
• Peel leek and cut into rings
• Peel the carrot
• Use the grater to grate the kohlrabi into the bowl, then the carrots
• Add the sliced/onions and leek
• In a small bowl pour in the double and sour cream. Add the mustard, salt and pepper. 
• Stir well and add to the bowl with the vegetables
• Mix well, cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving

Instead of sour cream, yoghurt might also work. Some recipes recommend mayonnaise,  but I always find it too heavy and fat.

Carrot Cake-Loaf

 Left-over carrots? Why not use them to make a carrot cake.

What you need

• ca 300g carrots
• 200g sugar or brown sugar
• 180g plain flour
• 2 large or 3 medium eggs
• 140ml vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons of baking powder
• pinch of salt
• ground cinnamon
• freshly grated nutmeg
• cardamon powder
• vanilla extract

For the icing I simply use 

• lemon juice
• icing sugar

Equipment

• mixer/blender
• kitchen bowl and mixer
• baking form
• grater
• baking/grease-proof paper

How you do it

• pre-heat the oven to ca 150C
• grease the baking form with butter or oil. Insert the grease-proof/baking foil. It should stick against the form
• peel and grate the carrots, put aside
• put the eggs and sugar in the bowl. If you have a mixer, use a whisker and whip up the eggs/sugar until it gets to a creamy consistency
• add all the other ingredients and continue mixing. The dough may well be a bit liquid, but that's ok.
• pour the content into the baking form. Et voilà put it into the oven.
• Bake for 1h15min (75min)
• take the form out of the oven. you should be able to lift the cake out of the form by lifting the baking paper. transfer the cake to a plate
• in a bowl, sift in the icing sugar. Add the lemon juice. And then whisk it (with an electric/handheld device) to make sure that no lumps are left. You might need to add icing sugar to ensure a thick consistency.
• pour the icing slowly over the cake. You may have to do this in stages, otherwise the whole icing runs off. 

Hareng mariné

 What you need

• 5 filets of herring, failing that mackerel will do nicely as well. Make sure you get the filets from a fishmonger rather than the stuff (smoked and spiced) you buy in supermarkets. The filets should be deboned. 
• 2 carrots
• 2 onions
• 1 clove
• A couple of thyme twigs - or take dried thyme
• 2 laurel leaves
• 1 lemon
• 75mg white wine (I actually took gin - don’t know how that works yet)
• 75mg white wine vinegar 
• Salt, peppercorns
• Oil

For serving

• 4 potatoes (cooking ones, not the baking potatoes)
• Spring onions
• Parsley leaves for decoration 

Equipment

• Pate tin
• Saucepan

How you do it

• Peel onions and carrots
• Slice onions into thin rings chop the carrots
• Wash and slice a lemon into thin rings
• Wash and dry the mackerel filets. With a sharp knife, cut the filets into 2 halves alongside. Then cut diagonally into chunks of ca 1 inch (2.5cm) wide
• Put the mackerel chunks into the tin. When the surface is covered slightly salt and pepper them and add half of the lemon rings on top.
• Continue until all of the mackerel/lemon is in the tin
• Add wine/vinegar, onions, carrots, laurel leaves, clove, thyme, peppercorns and salt into the pot and bring to the boil with the lid closed for 10min
• When 10min are over pour the content over the mackerel/lemon chunks in the tin. I usually pour in some oil to make sure all of the fish is covered in the marinade
• Let it cool down after which cover the tin well (the smell) and put in the fridge. It should marinate for at least 3 days. A week apparently is ok, too.

How to serve

• Remove the marinated fish from the fridge. Take the portion you need out of it and put aside. It should get to room temperature
• You need potatoes. Peel them and cut them into 1cm thick rings. You can also use some spring onions for decoration
• Put them into a pot with cold water and a bit of salt
• Bring to the boil and cook for 20min, including the time it takes to boil the water . The potatoes should be soft but not disintegrate.
• Remove the potatoes from the hot water and put on a plate. Immediately, put some of the marinated mackerel with onion rings and carrots over the hot potatoes and add the marinade as per taste.

Key Lime Pie

 There are many different versions of this American classic. Here is one that works for me.

What you need

Filling

• A pot of condensed milk. They usually come in sizes of between 350-400g
• 5 medium or 4 large eggs
• Juice of 4-5 limes

Crust

• 14-15 digestive biscuits
• Ca 140g butter
• Ca 45-50g granulated sugar

Equipment

• Quiche baking form
• Mixer
• Bowl

How you do it

• Preheat the oven to 170C
• Separate the egg yolk from the whites of the eggs and put the yolks into a bowl and set aside (you can use the egg white for something else - it won’t be needed for this cake though)
• Get the juice from the limes and put into a glass
• Grease the baking form
• Crumble the biscuits and add them to a mixer bowl. Add sugar and butter and start mixing until it becomes a dough that you can put into the baking form.
• Make sure the dough covers the baking form evenly. Put into the oven and bake for 10-15min. It should get slightly brown.
• Remove the form from the oven and let it cool down.

Now start preparing the filling:

• With a handheld whisker (electric if available) start whisking the egg yolk in the bowl.
• When it starts changing colour and consistency gradually pour in the condensed milk
• While keep whisking add the lime juice
• Pour the content onto the pre-baked dough in the baking form
• Put into the oven for ca 15-20min. It should not get too brown,
• Remove from oven and let cool down
• When cold enough put into the fridge for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

It can be served with whipped cream or Swedish cream

Apricot Fool

 Picked up from one of Martin Walker’s Bruno books.

What you need

• 8 apricots
• 2 juicy oranges
• Ca 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3-4 table spoons of honey
• 1 litre of yoghurt

Equipment

• Sauce pan
• Bowl

How you do it

• Press the oranges and pour the juice into the sauce pan
• Wash, de-stone and quarter the apricots and add to the sauce pan
• Add the honey and cinnamon sticks
• Bring to the boil and then gently cook it for ca 20min. Stir ever now and then
• Take off the heat and let it cool down.
• Remove the cinnamon sticks
• Pour the content into a bowl
• Then add the yoghurt to it and gently mix
• Put the fool into a container and then refrigerate 

Celery Purée

 What you need

• 1 medium/large Celeriac root
• 200ml whole milk
• 2 Smoked garlic cloves
• 1 small onion
• Salt, pepper
• Ca 10g butter
• Optional 
• Bit of lemon juice
• Chopped parsley for deco

Equipment 

• Large Saucepan
• Small milk pan
• Kitchen blender

How you do it

• Peel and chop the onion
• Peel the garlic cloves and quarter them
• Peel the celeriac and cut them into thumb sized chunks
• Heat up the saucepan with the butter
• Add the onions and stir until they start to get translucent
• Add the chopped celeriac and garlic. Stir well to cover them in butter. Add salt, pepper, stir again
• Put the lid on and cook for 5 min
• In the meantime heat up the milk
• After the 5 min, add the warm and hot milk, stir and close the lid again. Cook for 10 min. Stir occasionally.
• After 10min, take the pan from the cooker. Use a blender carefully to turn the cooked celeriac into a smooth paste. 
• You might add a bit of lemon juice acc to taste.
• Put on a plate and sprinkle with a bit of parsley

Chicken Paprika

 My mum used to make 'Paprika Schnitzel' which I loved. Here is a variation on the theme - with chicken.

What you need

• salt, pepper a bit of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of oil/olive oil
• 1 red pepper
• 1 can of tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons or more of sweet paprika
• 4 chicken fillets or legs
• 1 onion, 1 clove garlic
• flat parsley
• 1 litre water/chicken stock
• 50mg flour
• 1 cup of milk

Equipment

• casserole pot
• plate
• 1 cup

How you do it

• wash and dry the chicken pieces with a paper/kitchen towel. Then salt and pepper the chicken fillets/legs.
• chop the onion, garlic and red pepper 
• put the oil in the pot and heat until the oil is really hot (it will steam a little bit)
• put the chicken pieces in and cook until brown on all sides
• lift the meat out of the pot and put on a plate
• add the chopped onion first and fry until just brown
• add garlic and red pepper as well as the red paprika, salt, pepper and sugar
• stir and cook for ca 2 min. Then add the tomatoes from the can including the juice
• stir and cook for ca 2min then add the water/stock
• bring to the boil, and then put the chicken fillets/legs back into the pot. At this stage the meat should just be covered by the liquid
• Cook for 40min on medium heat with the lid on. Stir occasionally to avoid burning
• In the meantime, 
• chop the parsley. 
• add the salt and pepper
• Put the flour in a cup and slowly add the milk. Stir, e.g. with a fork until you get a smooth liquid/paste.
• When the 40min are over, gradually pour the milk/flour mix into the pot - and stir while doing so. The sauce should thicken a bit.
• Add more red paprika/salt/pepper/sugar acc to taste
• Then add the parsley and cook for another 5 min.

This dish goes well with plain rice or small elbow shaped noodles (think of classical macaroni)

Fig and Honey Spread

 Could be useful for, say, baking a duck.

What you need

• 8 figs
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of water
• tablespoon of butter
• cinnamon

Equipment

• small sauce pan
• blender

How you do it

• wash the figs and cut off the stem and bottom bit. 
• Quarter the figs and put them into the pan
• add the honey, water and cinnamon to the pan and heat it up. Small, medium heat
• cook for 30min
• take the pan from the stove and add the butter. Let it cool down a bit
• use the kitchen blender to produce a smooth paste/liquid
• let it cool down completely
• put it into an airtight container and then into the fridge

Orzo with Shrimp

 What you need

• 1 cup orzo pasta
• salt, pepper
• olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• a handful of green beans - or petit poids 
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• parmesan cheese
• a good 20 shrimps, raw
• parsley

Equipment

• saute pan

How you do it

• peel the leek, garlic and onion
• wash leek/green beans and parsley
• chop the onions and leek, cut the beans into halves, chop the parsley. Slice the garlic cloves
• rinse and wash the shrimp
• in the saute pan cover the bottom with a thin layer of olive oil. Heat up.
• When hot, add the orzo, chopped/sliced onion, garlic and leek
• stir and cook ca 3-4 min until the onions start getting translucent
• add the wine and stir for a few minutes. Most of the alcohol should evaporate
• add the chicken stock and cook all for ca 10min
• add the green beans and shrimps and cook for 5-6 min
• add the grated parmesan and parsley and stir well
• service immediately

Vinaigrette Magique

 Here is another one from France Inter

What you need

• soja sauce
• balsamic vinegar
• red wine vinegar
• olive oil

Equipment

Container with a lid

How you do it

The proportions for this vinaigrette are 1:1:1:2 (oil), e.g.

1 tablespoon each for the soja sauce and vinegars, 2 tablespoons for the olive oil

• put the ingredients into the container
• close the lid (haha)
• shake well

Orange Cake with Olive Oil

 Attention, ce cake signé @zanazanamuest une petite bombe 💣💥 qui ne vous laissera pas indemne... 

☄️LA RECETTE☄️

Ingrédients
2 oranges moyennes ou 3 petites non traitées
250 g de farine
180 g de sucre de canne 
3 œufs
15 cl d'une bonne huile d'olive
1 pincée de sel
1 sachet de poudre à lever
1 sachet de sucre vanillé (facultatif)

Préchauffer le four à 180°C. 

What you need

• 2 medium sized or 3 small oranges (blood oranges) - bio because we use the zest
• 250g plain flour
• 180g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 150ml olive oil
• pinch of salt
• baking powder - 1 sachet is probably at least 1 teaspoon. May take 2
• vanilla sugar

Equipment

• 2 bowls
• Mixer
• rectangular cake form
• spatula

How you do it

• preheat the oven to 180C (fan)
• grate the zest of the oranges into one bowl. Then slice the oranges, juice them and add the juice to the zest. Mix well, so that the aroma gets well absorbed
• in the mixing bowl add the sugar and the eggs and mix at high speed until it becomes really thick and almost white
• add to the egg/sugar mix the orange/zest juice and mix at high speed again
• add the flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar. Again mix well. It should all be a smooth paste
• add the olive oil to the mix and mix well at medium to high speed for a few minutes
• use olive oil to grease the baking form
• then sprinkle some sugar to coat the greased form with it. All the way around.
• pour the dough mix into the baking form 
• put into the oven for ca 40min.

Käsekuchen a la Gisela (cheesecake)

 A recipe from my friend Martin in Hamburg. 

What you need

For the dough (see also the other recipe for "Muerbeteig")

• 1 egg
• baking powder 1 teaspoon
• 75g sugar
• lemon zest
• 100g butter
• 200g plain flour

For the filling

• 750g frommage frais *
• 3 tablespoons of cornflour or potato flour 
• 75g butter
• 150g sugar
• 1 lemon
• 5 eggs
• raisins, mix dried fruits or canned tangerines (optional)

Equipment

• baking form/spring form
• bowls and kitchen mixer

* fromage frais is not easy to come by in the UK. Although I haven't tried it yet, I would imagine it might work with "Philadelphia" cheese, mascarpone, ricotta or maybe even plain and simple sour cream.

How you do it

Dough

• melt the butter and let it cool down
• put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well until it turns into a smooth paste
• put in the fridge for ca 1 hour

Filling

• preheat the oven to ca 180-190C (fan)
• take the dough out of the fridge
• butter the form. I sometime use semolina to sprinkle onto the surface - it helps to prevent the dough from sticking to the surface
• spread the dough into the form covering bottom and the sides

• separate egg yolk and white from the eggs and put the egg white into a bowl with 50g of the sugar
• whip/beat the egg white until it is stiff. put the bowl aside
• in another bowl, put the rest of the filling ingredients into the bowl and mix well for several minutes (ca 10min at low speed).
• gently lift the egg white under the mix and stir gently
• (optional): if you want to add any dried or canned fruits, put them directly onto the dough before pouring in the filling
• once done, gently pour the content into the form, make sure it gets evenly spread
• put into the oven and bake for 45-55min.

Muerbeteig German Pastry Dough

 What you need

• 1 egg
• 100g granulated sugar
• 200g butter (soft)
• 300g plain white flour
• A sprinkle of cinnamon
• Grease/semolina for dusting the baking form

Equipment

• Bowl
• Baking form, e.g. a quiche baking form

How you do it

• Measure out the ingredients & put them all into a bowl
• Preheat the oven to 200C/400F
• Mix the egg, flour, butter, sugar mix until you get a smooth paste
• Grease & dust the baking form
• Spread the dough evenly into the baking form 
• Once in, take a fork and pinch the raw dough a bit across the form
• Bake for 10-15min

Let the dough cool down before adding any filling.

Almond Cake A l'Orange

 Apparently, this recipe hails from Mallorca. But I picked it up from the German news magazine Der Spiegel. As per usual I did it a bit differently (the icing)

What you need

• 6 eggs
• 150g sugar granulated
• 1 orange
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 pinch of salt
• icing sugar
• 200g ground almonds

Equipment

• 3 bowls
• kitchen mixer and blender with whisks
• grater
• juicer
• mug
• spring baking form
• aluminium foil
• brush
• sprinkler for icing sugar

How you do it

• preheat the oven to ca 170-180C
• assemble and grease the baking form and sprinkle ground almonds evenly on the inside. 
• put the ground almonds into a bowl. Add the cinnamon. Then using a grater grate the skin of the orange into the ground almonds. Be sure that you only grate the orange coloured - not the white - part of the skin. Mix well, best to do it manually using a whisk.
• take the eggs and separate yolk and egg white into 2 separate bowls. 
• to the egg yolk add half of the sugar (75g) and, using a blender or mixer, whisk it for ca 5min until it looks bright and is creamy
• pour the almond/orange zest/cinnamon mix into the bowl with the yolk sugar mix and manually mix well. It should have paste like consistency.
• clean the whisk of the mixer thoroughly - no egg yolk/sugar should be left on it. In the second bowl, add a pinch of salt to the egg white and whisk it for 5 min. When it starts to stiffen pour the sugar in slowly. The egg white should stiffen noticeably. You'll notice when the whisking will leave little "cones" in the egg white. 
• mix the egg white/sugar carefully into the bowl with the almond/egg yolk mix. I usually use a large spoon and carefully lift and stir so that it becomes a smooth paste.
• pour this paste into the baking form and smoothen it up on the top
• bake for 50min
• after ca 25min (when the top starts to turn brown), take the form briefly out of the oven and cover with an aluminium foil. Put it back into the oven and back for 20min. For the last 5min, remove the foil from the form.
• remove the form from the oven. Carefully separate the cake from the edge of the form with a knife.
• after a few minutes you can "open" the spring form

Icing

• juice the orange and pour into a mug
• add icing sugar to the juice while stirring (with a fork e.g.). Keep adding icing sugar until the juice/sugar mix turns into a thick-ish paste.
• slowly put the sugar/juice mix on the top of the cake and, using the brush distribute evenly over the surface
• using an icing sugar sprinkler add icing sugar on top.

Sourdough Bread

 There is one thing you need to get started with sourdough breadmaking: patience. Unlike breads using baker's yeast and or dried, instant yeast, sourdough takes a lot longer. 

What confused me for a long time was different terminologies being used to describe sourdough and at what stage what form of sourdough is to be used. From what I learnt you can divide this into 3 different types

1. liquid sourdough starter. Typically, this is the sourdough starter you build from scratch. It usually is a 50/50 mix between rye flour and water. To get a proper sourdough started you should fill 100g flour and 100 g water into a container, mix well. Then each day you should check the mixture and add a tablespoon water and a tablespoon rye flour to it. The whole mix should start to bubble between day 3 and 5. WARNING: this is the tricky part of sourdough baking and it can easily go wrong. If after 7 days it still doesn't froth, smell fruity and sour and shows bubbles, chances are it went wrong. It should certainly not smell foul. But once you have it (best done in summer when temperatures are up) then you can keep this sourdough starter for a long while. Best keep it in the fridge. And "feed" the dough 50/50 rye flour/water every 2-3 weeks. Also, I'd like to clean the container when I feed the dough.
2. solid/firm/stiff sourdough. For many breads this is the starter dough of choice. It is fairly simple to produce. I usually do this:
1. take ca 100g of the liquid sourdough
2. add 80g rye flour and 20g of water
3. mix well and knead it, so that it forms a firm/elastic dough
4. it usually pays to have a firm/stiff/solid starter sourdough ready a few days before you actually make bread. Like the liquid sourdough you can keep it in a container in the fridge. The stiff dough is good to last for 7-10 days. After that it usually dries up too much and is of less use
3. levain. This is the French expression of sourdough base. The exact composition of the levain will depend on the kind of bread you will be making. Below I will show a recipe called 'rye sourdough'. The levain is the starter dough for the *actual* bread we will be making.

I put together a little video to show you how I prepare a levain from a stiff sourdough. And the second part shows how to prepare a stiff sourdough from a liquid one.

Rye Sourdough

My way of making rye sourdough is based on a book called 'Advanced Bread and Pastry Baking'. It does not give exact measurements. Rather, it provides you with a formula to build your own recipe and quantity of bread. 

As explained above, using a stiff sourdough, you will first produce a levain (fermented sourdough). This should rest at room temperature (ca 21C) for between 12h-16h. So a good thing to do the night before.

The levain will then be the basis for the final dough, which will be processed and baked on the same day.

Ingredients

Levain

• stiff sourdough
• rye flour
• strong white wheat flour
• water

Final Dough

• levain (from above)
• rye flour 
• strong white flour
• yeast
• salt
• caraway seeds
• ascorbic acid/vitamin C powder
• water

Equipment

• mixing bowl for the levain
• kitchen scale
• a good kitchen mixer with a kneading hook
• a cast iron casserole to bake in (sometimes referred to as Dutch oven)
• a proving basket
• flour and semolina for dusting
• a good scraper
• patience and time

Formula

The following is based on producing 4 loafs. For a single household that's far too much. Therefore, you can scale the quantities down taking the stiff sourdough volume as a reference base for the levain. And likewise the levain volume as a reference base for the final dough.

Levain Volumes Calculator

• Scaling factor x = <weight of your stiff sourdough> / 293 gram

The formula then reads (measure the water in weight, not in litres/millilitres !)

• strong white bread: 348g * scaling_factor  = resulting weight for strong white flour
• rye (dark or medium): 18g * scaling_factor = resulting weight for rye flour
• water: 183g * scaling_factor = resulting weight for water 

Example:

Weight stiff sourdough = 152.9 g

Scaling factor = 152.9/293 = ca 0.52

Resulting weights:

• strong white: 348 * 0.52 = 180.9g (181g)
• rye flour: 18 * 0.52 = 9.3g (9.4g)
• water: 155 * 0.52 = 95.1g (95.2g)

Final Dough Volumes Calculator

• scaling factor x = <weight of levain>/842gram

Formula for the final dough

• strong white bread: 842g * scaling factor x(the same weight as the levain!)
• rye flour (medium): 1263g * scaling factor x
• water: 1533g * scaling factor x
• yeast (dried) 3g * scaling factor x
• salt 53g * scaling factor x

Example

Levain 428g. Scaling factor x = 428g/842g = 0.50 (0.51)

• strong white: 428g (same as levain)
• medium rye: 1263g * 0.5/0.51 = 642g
• water: 1533g * 0.5/0.51 = 781.8g 
• yeast 3g * 0.5/0.51 = 1.5g
• salt 53g * 0.5/0.51 = ca 27g

Additional: 

one tablespoon of caraway seeds and one tablespoon of ascorbic acid/vitamin C powder

How you do it

Well done you for getting that far!

Stage one: prepare the levain

Based on the formula above and the notes about the stiff sourdough, mix the levain for the quantities you calculated. The examples given above are for 2 medium sized loafs - as a guideline.

The levain should be stored at room temperature (ca 20C) and covered for between 12-16 hours.

Stage two: prepare the final dough

Based on the weight for the levain calculate the weight for the ingredients of the final dough. If you have dried yeast, it pays to prep the yeast with 2-3 tablespoons of lukewarm water with a bit of sugar for ca 10-15min before mixing it in with the rest.

• Basically, pour all the ingredients - except for the caraway seeds - into a kitchen mixer bowl. NOTE: water should be handwarm!
• insert the kneading hook for the mixer and run for 3 min at lowest speed
• after 3 min, increase speed to next higher level and let it knead for 8 more minutes
• after that add the caraway seeds to the dough and mix for another 2 min at same speed

Remove the bowl from the mixer and remove/clean the hook. Cover the bowl

Stage three: first fermentation 2 hours

Let the dough rest for 2 hours/covered. If you have a temperature regulated proving box set it to ca 21C.

Stage four: first fold

Remove the dough from the bowl onto a clean surface (table/board). Stretch the dough to the right & fold. Stretch the dough towards you and fold. Then stretch to the left/fold, stretch away from you and fold.

Place the dough back into the bowl. Cover it up and let rest for 30min

Stage five: final fermentation

• After 30min, remove the dough from the bowl onto a clean surface. And fold it as explained above.
• depending on the quantity of dough you may divide the dough into the number of loafs you want to bake.
• prepare the proving basket by dusting it with flour and semolina. Make sure the flour/semolina goes into the groves of the basket
• dust your hands and the dough with flour and then gently grab the dough at the bottom with both hands and spin until you get a nicely formed spherical shape (boule). Place it into the proving basket upside down. If you do an oblong shaped (baguette like) load roll the dough on the surface and then place into an oblong proving basket.
• cover the proving basket and let the dough rest for 1 1/2 hours

Stage six: baking

• preheat the oven to 250C
• prepare the ironcast/emerald casserole by rubbing oil on the inside. Then dust it evenly with flour and semolina
• prepare a spray bottle with water
• when the 1 1/2 hours final fermentation is over and the oven reached the temperature put the dough carefully from the proving basket into the casserole. Do it upside down, i.e. turn over the proving basket over the casserole pot and drop the dough gently into it.
• you can carve the top of the dough gently 
• when you place the pot with the dough into the preheated oven, take the water spray bottle and spray a good few time. You should see some steam showing. Close the oven door
• Bake for 10min at that temperature
• after 10min, open the oven door for ca 10s. Close the oven door again and reduce the temperature to 220C.
• Bake for 25min
• After that take out the pot. Put on a heat resistent surface and drop the loaf on that. Put the loaf back into the pot, but this time with the bottom of the loaf facing up
• Bake for another 7min
• Take it out of the oven.

The loaf should cool down for at least 2 hours. (It will stay warm)

Questions:

Why use yeast as well as sourdough?

Breads consisting of rye flour, particularly those that are mainly made of rye flour, don't rise that well. If you use a bread using only strong white flour, sourdough only works well. In Germany, mixed breads (wheat/rye) usually contain a mix of sourdough and yeast. 

Why use semolina for dusting?

Yes, it seems rather strange, doesn't it. But in the course I took on bread baking they said it doesn't burn as flour does. Therefore, dusting the Dutch oven (casserole/pot) with semolina ensures that you don't burn the surface of the bread (too much)

Why use a water spray?

This is essential for the first few minutes of the dough in the oven. Essentially, as the temperature in the bread rises, the germs inside start becoming more active, continue fermenting etc. Humidity helps with this, and so adding water helps this initial in-the-oven-fermentation process. The effect of this is that gas bubbles will form in the bread (CO2 - a side product of fermentation) and it pushes the dough apart increasing the volume. This is known as "the jump". 

Once it's getting too hot, the germs will be destroyed, fermentation arrested and the bread dough won't expand any further. 

Baked rice with leeks and white beans

 A dish I have taken from my favourite recipe online service: food at the New York Times! As usual I made some small adjustments to their original recipe. So here it is

What you need

• 1 lemon
• 2 cups of long grain rice (e.g. basmati)
• 3 long/larger leeks
• flakes of almonds
• 1 lemon
• white beans (2 cans - or cook them yourself)
• salt, pepper, chilli flakes
• parmesan
• flat leaf parsley 
• ca 1 litre water
• a small stock cube (vegetable or chicken)

Equipment

• roasting pan
• aluminium foil

How you do it

• preheat the oven to 200C (ca 400F)
• wash and chop the herbs
• wash, peel and cut the leeks. Cut them into ca 1cm thick disks.
• sprinkle the leeks evenly over the pan surface area
• take the juice from 1/2 lemon and sprinkle over it. Cut the rest into slices and place them evenly between the leeks
• put some chilli flakes, salt and pepper over it as well as the almond flakes
• sprinkle some olive oil over it. It would be great if I had an oil spray can to get that evenly distributed - but c'est la vie. 
• put the pan into the oven and roast it for ca 20min
• just before the end of the 20min bring the water to the boil so that it is ready when you pull out the pan from the oven
• after 20min, the almonds and leeks should have browned a little and you need to pull out the pan and place it on a heat resistant surface
• take the rice and sprinkle it evenly over the leeks/almonds
• do the same with the white beans
• grate some fresh parmesan over it
• pour the water over it. Make sure the water submerges all of your ingredients (the rice will expand)
• cover the pan with an aluminium foil and place the pan back into the oven
• bake it for ca 20-22min
• finally:
• pull out the pan and remove the foil
• add your herbs of choice and mix well under the baked rice
• put the pan back into the oven for another 10-12 min so that the rice on the surface gets a bit crispy

Once it's pulled out you may add some additional fresh herbs. I think that adding parmesan on top of the dish is worth it and adds a nice flavour.

Instead of just using water I also thought that maybe adding a glass of white wine might add a nice flavour to it.