Pear Galette

Galettes are quicker and easier than traditional tarts plus they have a wonderful rustic charm to them (especially when they aren't perfectly formed.) This pear tart is a delicious way to finish off a fall meal.

Crust

3/4 cup Partially Sifted Flour
2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup cold milk

Filling

4 pears, peeled & sliced
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Mix together the flour and sugar. Cut in the butter until the the dough looks like oatmeal. Add just enough milk that you can work with the dough. Be careful not to over mix though: you'll get a tough crust. Roll out the dough into a flat circle on a piece of parchment paper and chill while you prepare the filling.

For the filling, mix together the pears, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and ginger. Mound it onto the middle of the crust and fold up the edges to make a couple inches of crust. 

Bake the galette for about 1 hour at 350F. Serve with a drizzle of honey. 

Cranberry Yogurt Cake

We are huddling indoors today with fragrant coffee, some favourite reads and this tasty treat. This cake is great to make in the fall when fresh cranberries are abundant. You can find the Slate River Dairy Yogurt (along with our flour) at the Thunder Bay Country Market Saturdays 8-1. You can also find a similar mug to ours at the market from the Urban Farmchick at Moss Cottage.

Topping:

1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries

Cake:

1 3/4 cups Partially Sifted Flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
zest of an orange
1/2 cup melted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup Slate River Diary yogurt

Preheat oven to 350F. In a small saucepan, melt the brown sugar and butter together for the topping. Once melted, pour into the bottom of a greased cake pan and add the cranberries on top. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the cake. Create a well in the middle and add the melted butter, eggs and yogurt. Mix the batter just until moist - a few lumps is quite alright. 

Pour the batter on top of the cranberries and smooth the top. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Once done, allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes before flipping. P.S. The "topping" that is stuck to the bottom of the cake pan is pretty tasty on a spoon!

Baguette II

A couple of people have requested the recipe we used at the Baking with Local Flour workshop we did a few weeks ago. Here it is! This baguette recipe is by far my favourite though it takes a lot more time than the other one we have on the website. We used ours today to make BLTs. Thanks Sandy Acres Farm for the bacon!!

It was far too nice out today to have lunch inside.

Levi always deconstructs his sandwiches.

1. Combine the starter (poolish) and allow to sit at room temperature overnight
- PS Flour -  100g
- Water - 100g
- Yeast - 0.5g

2. Mix your dough, knead for 1-2 minutes and allow to rise for 12-24 hours in a coolish place.
- Starter
- PS Flour - 375g
- Water - 225g
- Yeast - 1g
- Salt - 10g

3. Split the dough into 3 equal parts. Form each part into a square, fold it over into thirds like an envelope sealing the edges in. Fold the dough again. Roll it out into the desired length and allow to rise for
1-2 hours seam side down.

4. Preheat oven to 425F. Using a very sharp knife, score 3 diagonal lines into each loaf and bake for 25 minutes.

5. Baguettes only stay fresh for about a day. Freeze , gift or gorge on the extras. You can also use stale baguettes for croutons, French toast, bread crumbs or even slice it very thinly and toast for baguette chips.

Adapted from “Deconstructing the Baguette”
http://www.sallybernstein.com/food/single-articles/baguette.htm

Soft Pretzels with Beer Cheese Dip

We had soft pretzels and cheese beer dip at a restaurant last night and I was thinking about it all morning. These ones taste even better even though they’re not nearly as pretty - I really need to work on my pretzel shaping skills! The best part is the crunch of the sea salt alongside the fluffy middle. Pairing the pretzel with a classic cheese beer dip is a must!

Pretzels

4 cup Partially Sifted Flour
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
1 ½ cups warm water

¼ cup baking soda
large pot of water
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
coarse sea salt

Sift together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add in the melted butter and water. Knead for 3 minutes. Set the dough aside to rise until doubled in sized – about 1-2 hours.

Once raised, punch down the dough and split into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece into a long rope, twist the ends together like a twist tie and fold the ends in half back towards the bottom of the pretzel. It took me a couple to figure it out but after it was easy. Let the pretzels rise on a parchment lined baking sheet for about half an hour.

Boil the water and baking soda together. Once boiling, drop in the pretzels one at a time for a minute flipping half way through. Place them back onto the parchment. Once they’re boiled, whisk together the egg yolk and tablespoon of water. Slather the pretzels (hopefully yours are prettier than mine after being boiled!) with the egg wash and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes or until they’re golden.

Beer Cheese Dip

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp minced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp Partially Sifted Flour
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a combination of old gouda from Thunder Oak and gruyère)
½ cup beer
¼ cup milk
pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and sauté the onions until soft. Add in the garlic, pepper and flour and cook for 3-4 minutes being sure to always stir. Add in your flour, beer and milk and keep stirring until it is wonderfully gooey. If you’re planning on serving the dip cool you might need to add a bit more milk.

Bagels

This recipe graciously came from a customer. Bagels may be a bit of work but they are worth it. We gobbled one up with yogurt cheese from Slate River Dairy and homemade jam which was pretty darn amazing.

6 cups Partially Sifted Flour
½ tbsp yeast
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsps sugar
1 tbsp oil, plus extra for coating dough
2 cups warm water
2 tbsp sugar for poaching

Mix together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the oil to the water and mix it into the flour mixture. It will be tough but that’s exactly what we’re looking for. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, roll into a ball and coat with a bit more oil. Allow the dough to rise for 1-2 hours.

Once the dough is raised, split it into 15 separate pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and use a bit of water to help seal the edges. Place the bagels on parchment lined baking sheets and allow them to rise for half an hour or so.

Boil a large pot of water with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Once roaring, poach each bagel for a minute flipping them halfway through. Once they’re all boiled, bake them for 20 minutes at 425°F.