1T yeast (when I was homebrewing, I would use slurry from the bottom of the fermenter)
1tsp salt (you can go as low as ½tsp, but this is the amount that “tastes right” to me)
Other – an egg, some milk, cheese, ham, etc. they’ll all change the end product, and you’ll need to adjust the liquid to make it right, but you have to do that based on what kinds of flours you use, too.
1-2C water – enough to make the dough right but a little wetter generally works better than too dry. The dough should stick to your hands if you handle it without flouring them first.
Method
Put everything but the water into a stand mixer with a dough hook and add a cup of liquid.
Start the mixer on its lowest speed, and run it until the dough comes together. Add a little liquid if it looks too dry. Don’t panic if it looks too wet, because the flours absorb water, and you’ll almost certainly need to add a little more.
Turn the mixer speed up a notch. The dough should mostly pull clear of the sides of the bowl, forming a shiny ball. If none of it is sticking to the sides, add a bit (maybe a tablespoon) more water at a time.
Once you’ve got a good dough going, turn the mixer up to the third speed. This is where the mixer will start dancing around the counter. You want to go at this speed for maybe five minutes. You might need to add a little more water. I generally do.
Spray the dough (in the mixing bowl) with nonstick cooking spray and cover with a piece of plastic until it has doubled in size.
Prepare a pan or sheet with grease or flour to bake the bread on. Even a nonstick pan needs some flour or grease on it.
Put a little (maybe a tablespoon) of flour on a board or the counter and turn the dough out onto it. Fold the dough over a few times to knock some of the air out of it, then form a loaf. Sprinkle the top with any toppings, slice expansion marks in, and cover loosely with plastic wrap so it can rise again.
When the dough has doubled in size again, pop it in a hot oven. Generally 350-400 is the right temperature range, but I’ve baked in ovens as hot as 700F. Hotter gets done quicker.
Bake until the dough hits 190F internally. 20-40 minutes in a 350-400F oven, depending on the dough, loaf size, and shape. As little as 3 minutes in a blazing hot pizza oven if you’re making flatbread.
Cool on a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes, but 10 is better. Things need time to set and if you cut in too early, the bread can deflate and will look sad. Cut off a slice or six, and enjoy!
Serve with a green salad – we like mango vinaigrette dressing on ours
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients:
6 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp orange oil
Zest of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed gently
2 small dried chiles or ¼ tsp chimayo chile
12-18 olives, sliced (I use leftover ones that aren’t good for snacking anymore)
Salt & black pepper to season
10-12 oz dry angel-hair pasta
¾ lb white fish (cod works), cut into half-inch cubes
4 Tbsp lemon juice
1 heaping Tbsp dry parsley
Directions:
Bring a large pan of water to a boil for the pasta.
Cut the fish into half-inch cubes.
In a large deep pan, put olive oil, zests, garlic, chile, olives and a little black pepper. Turn the flame to the lowest you can for now.
When the water boils, add salt, and put in the pasta. Set the timer for 2 minutes less than the shortest time called for on the box.
When the timer rings, scoop out 1C of the pasta water and turn off the heat.
Turn up the heat (to your normal sauté setting) on the oil, and put in the fish.
Stir the fish for 30 seconds, trying to get a little color on all sides.
Using tongs, transfer the pasta into the pan with the oil and fish. As soon as you have finished transferring all the pasta, turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the burner.
Swish the fish, oil and pasta around for a minute or so, until the fish is cooked.
Add the cup of pasta water, parsley, and lemon juice and give one quick stir or toss.
Serve immediately with tongs. There will be some liquid in the pan, but any leftover pasta will absorb it. If there is no leftover pasta, feel free to spoon it over the plates. A little Parmesan grated over it wouldn’t be wrong, either.
4-6 spring onions, chopped finely, green bits and all
1C chicos
1 qt chicken stock (use vegetable stock if you want a vegan dish)
400ml can coconut milk
1 leek, trimmed, finely sliced, and rinsed
1 clove garlic
small handful small yellow potatoes, or one large white potato
⅓ bag roasted green chiles from the market, peeled, seeded and frozen, then chopped finely
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp corn flour
2 Tbsp potato flakes
1 can (15 oz) sweet corn, with juice
Directions
Sauté onions in a skillet with a little oil, 6-8 minutes, until they’ve gone a bit brown, past translucent
Put chicos, chicken stock, and coconut milk into crock pot and get it warming on high
Add onions to crock pot
Sauté leek and garlic in a little oil, until leek is translucent, and add to crock pot
Cut potatoes into 1cm cubes and sauté in a little oil until soft, then add to pot
Sauté chopped green chiles in a little oil in skillet, and add to pot
When pot comes to a boil (over 90 minutes with my crock pot), add corn flour and potato flakes, stirring well
After a few minutes, add corn and liquid from can and stir well
Taste and season with salt as needed
If you like your chowder thicker, put in a stick blender into the pot and blend some of the soup up
Serve and enjoy
Notes on ingredients
Chicos are corn, roasted on the cob in an horno, and then dried. They keep pretty much forever, and add a nice smoky flavor to food.
Green chiles are sold at farmers markets in New Mexico in the fall, roasted right there at the market. They’re typically sold in sandwich bags or quart ziploc bags. We buy the mildest ones available, bring them home and peel, seed, and freeze them into freezer bags (one per bag from the market). A third of one of those bags is enough in this recipe for us, but don’t let me tell you how spicy to make your food. If you must use canned, one of the small cans is probably a good starting place.
The simplest way I know of to get all the dirt out of leeks is to cut off the fine roots, thinly slice the leek, then put it in a bowl and rinse it with water. But if you’ve got a better suggestion, have at it! I didn’t use the green part of the leek in this recipe, as it was already plenty onion-y, but again, you’re welcome to use it all if you want.
If you want a little added protein in this, adding bacon would be a fine idea. I would use about a pound of bacon, chopped up and sautéed. Or a can of spam if that works for you.
My sweetie and I went for a hike this morning. The weather was perfect, and we had a great time.
We headed over to trailhead 3 in the Eldorado Community Preserve, which is four-thousand acres of open space running along Galisteo Creek down toward Lamy, between Ojo de la Vaca Road and US 285.
Among the views were:
Looking southwest to the Ortiz Mountains.
Looking east, with I-25 snaking up towards Glorieta
The Apache Canyon Railroad Bridge, where the A. T. & SF railroad crosses Galisteo Creek, and which is marked in yellow on the map at the top of this page.
We hiked for a total of nearly three miles, due to taking a wrong turn and having to double-back, and got up to 7200 feet in altitude (we started around 6840 feet). It took us a little over 2 hours, with plenty of stops, and it was beautiful weather for a hike this morning.
Made these after all our stuff was packed for our move to Santa Fe. All you need is a knife & cutting board, a cast iron skillet, and one tin of spice. And the recipe cleaned up the food we had left in the fridge.
Ingredients
2 pork chops
1 Honeycrisp Apple
12 seedless grapes
½ tbsp Chinese five spice
½ tsp flour
Directions
Core apple, and chop it up. Leave the skin on if you’re lazy.
Chop the grapes into halves or quarters.
Simmer apples and grapes with a little water until they go mushy. About 15 minutes. You’re making a quick applesauce.
Add the Chinese five spice and continue to simmer until you have a nice sauce. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl (or ziploc bag)
Use the (warm) sauce to marinate the pork chops for about 15 minutes.
Put the sauce and chops into the skillet and cook about 7 minutes per side on low heat. Add a little water if the sauce looks to be drying up.
Remove the chops from the sauce and plate. Make a pan gravy using a little water and flour.
Pairs nicely with grits if you have them. Also takes about the same total amount of time to cook as quick grits.
Our house finches are a source of amusement most mornings.
They’re nesting, so often the female is inside the birdhouse, while the male is out standing guard, keeping an eye out for other birds or predators.
And sometimes he sits and sings to us. He can be pretty loud some mornings.
They’ve also learned a few tricks this year, like the fact that the ant trap above the hummingbird feeder is a good source of water, and sometimes a tasty ant snack. And if I don’t screw the feeder together quite straight, they can even get a drink of sugar-water from the feeder. I figure that’s okay, since we don’t have a lot of hummingbirds competing with them this year.
