Real Men Don't Eat Quiche

Real men don't eat quiche. Indeed. This was the title of an article in a girlie magazine of way back when. The idea was reiterated recently in a local beer ad here in South Africa that had it that real men don't drink pink drinks.

The idea probably rides on the macho image of South Africans as serious meat eaters. I tend to agree, but certainly took this magazine article as a challenge. The same sort of challenge that our English language teacher posed to us in class on the subject of essay themes.

He would set us a theme, then add that it stands us free to rather write an essay under the title “My Dog Spot” instead. He offered to then mark such essay accordingly. I often toyed with the idea of writing such essay in addition to the regular set theme, then hand it in, marked as my entry to his challenge. Sadly, I never did. It would have been a great opportunity to write something extraordinary and creative on such an inane subject. A chance to really think up something with a twist.

On a recent upcountry road trip we chanced to stop for lunch in the delightful town of Senekal in the Free State province. It was a balmy day and we were on our way to the stopover at Colesberg, still some distance away. At the bottle store we made enquiries as to a quiet place for a light lunch and was directed to a local coffee shop where we had the most delicious quiche imaginable.

The old magazine article immediately sprung to mind and the idea of a challenge was born. Busting some myths, no less.

Real men don't eat quiche. Yea, right.

So, having taken up the challenge, I did some searching on the internet and found, as usual, a myriad of recipes. There are plenty examples of quiche using various vegetables as well. Having taken bold the step of going outside of manly machismo, I decided to make a classic quiche, just because of the value of the challenge. Perhaps also because it is the festive season and holiday weather here in the Cape. And, after all, it is some form of culinary adventure. The recipe is adapted from several on the internet, with a view of having a classic rich version that is easy to make.

Here is my humble attack on the myth of real men not eating quiche.

Quiche Lorraine a la The Hungry Sailor.

Ingredients

For the crust

1 cup cake flour

1/3 cup real butter or shortening

1/4 teaspoon salt

2-3 dessert spoons water as required.

For the filling

250 ml cream

250 ml full fat cottage cheese

3 large eggs, slightly beaten

Sprig of parsley, chopped

½ of a medium size onion, grated

1 cup bacon, diced

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

Process

We start with the crust. I made this one in an aluminium foil pie dish, as I do not possess a porcelain or stoneware version. Dice and chill the butter. Mix the flour and salt, then rub the butter into the flour. Add just enough water to make it the consistency of dry wall plaster or dry-ish plasticine. It should not be runny at all. Spray the pie dish with a suitable release agent or butter the dish. Line the pie dish with the dough, pressing it down and making sure it has an even thickness all around. Roll it out flat if you want to. Park this in the refrigerator while the oven heats up.

The oven should be heated to 200ºC/400ºF. Bake the cold crust for ten minutes, then remove from the oven. Allow the crust to cool. Remember that it is now very brittle, so don't bump it.

The filling is prepared as follows: Fry the bacon lightly until almost done, then drain on a piece of paper towel. Grate the onion and drain it on some paper towel as well. You don't want too much of the onion water in your filling. If you have reservations of grating the onion, just chop it finely, like I did. The onions go into the filling raw, so you don't want large pieces.

Mix the cottage cheese and cream thoroughly. Add in the eggs. You may beat the cream beforehand till it just goes slightly stiff. Now mix in the onion and parsley and add some nutmeg to taste.

Building the final product is easy. Spread the bacon in the bottom of the crust, then pour in the cream and cheese mix. Sprinkle some grated cheddar cheese on top, along with a whiff of smoked paprika.

Carefully put this assembly into the oven at 180ºC/350ºF. If you think you may have a mishap and break the crust or spill the filling, assemble the quiche on the oven rack itself. It may make your life easier. Use an oven pan under the dish, as it may spill as it cooks. Now bake this for about 20-25 minutes. Allow the quiche to cool down properly before attempting to cut it. It is good when warm, but it will be quite brittle and soft when you take it out of the oven.

This quiche was easy to make, my first one. It is quite tasty and not nearly as rich as one would imagine. Goes well with a fresh garden salad. This dish can be eaten cold as well.

Bon appetit!

Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2015-12-02

The Doldrum Cruise Start

The full implication of the East African doldrums finally came to light today. In a roundabout way too.

But I am getting ahead of the story.

I made my usual phone call for weather info on the satellite phone today. In fact three calls. Of which two gave me sketchy information and one, inadvertently, gave me more useful information.

Us sailors need weather information to plan our passage and course for the next forecast period. On voyages close inshore we get the forecast on the VHF radio at set times, depending on where you are. But out in the ocean one is dependent on phoning a friend to help with this service. It makes life at sea a lot safer.

Today I had two sets of information in which the informants gave me some ideas of their own. The third informant was my wife. She gave me an update on the weather at home and the forecast for the rest of South Africa for the next few days.


Now, you would argue that the information is valid only for the region in question, which would be right. However, it is quite possible to derive a forecast for our whereabouts from the South African forecast.

This is possible because we are north-east of South Africa and close enough that cold fronts passing over the country will affect our weather over here. Cold fronts in this area travel from west to east and lose some of their impetus over the southern African continent.

So today I learned that a strong cold front passed over Cape Town two days ago, passing over the eastern part of the country by today and tomorrow. This means that the south Indian ocean high that sits near us will be pushed north to give us the doldrums. Then the same high pressure system will move south again as the front passes, giving us back our wind.

To conclude this very heavy essay on weather, I forecast a northerly to north-easterly wind of around twenty knots two or three days hence. In support of this, our wind started coming back today with a light air of around five knot out of the north-east and the barometer dropped by one hectopascal and stayed steady.

Ocean weather systems 101, I guess. Only time will tell whether I am right.

We made a few turns on our path the last few days in in our quest for optimal speed and progress. This had a positive reslut that we picked up a current of around one knot, helping us along, whereas before we had none. Thank heavens for small mercies.

In addition we are now on an ocean cruise. We re-budgeted our food and fuel and found that we could live quite long waiting for the wind to come without having to motor like mad to get to a fast food joint.

Today was wash day, tomorrow boat cleaning day. And so we shall keep ourselves out of mischief.

The pineapple vinegar is fermenting merrily in the bath and we are making attempts at fishing. My guess is that we won't catch anything at the speed we are going at present, though. Hopefully the situation will soon change for the better.

Today was also baking day. We haven't had fresh bread for a few days now after the last of the store-bought bread ran out. It was nice to have a slice of warm bread with real butter for a change. It appears that I have now come to an understanding with the oven and the two loaves came out nicely baked with a thick caramelised crust and a fluffy, elastic crumb. Not too bad for an off-the-cuff recipe.

We also have some reasonably fresh flour of French origin and type '00'. This is not readily obtainable where I live, so I had to make do with what I have. A whole new learning experience, using a different flour than the ones I am used to, in addition to a new brand of instant yeast. Life in the galley gets quite interesting as well!


We were able to relax our strict regime today and watched some movies. This may become part of the daily routine by the looks of it. Good entertainment and not too taxing on the mind.

A voyage with a difference, this oceanic cruise. Quite a positive experience.

My first and hopefully not the last.



Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2014-07-06

Home Baked Bread: A High Fibre Loaf

At last I am back in my favourite kitchen. Home. After two months away and many culinary adventures later, I am back in my own homely little kitchen.

The words do have a cosy ring to it, much like the Mole's place in The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Your own place has this feeling of home.

Having been away for so long, I had this primordial urge for proper bread. I crossed a mental hurdle just before my departure on the last voyage, so the missus hasn't tasted the version of bread I now bake. I purchased a copy of Peter Reinhart's book The Bread Baker's Apprentice some time ago and studied it. You have to open and study the book.

Which means reading intensively several times. Especially the part about what happens when you start mixing flour, water, salt and yeast. I had ample chance to experiment on the voyage, mostly successfully and often very successfully. The challah I made on board could be the best loaf I made to date. I shall certainly strive to top that one.

This time around I decided on a plain and simple loaf. Light Wheat Bread is the heading in the book. The recipe in the book requires whole wheat flour. I do not have flour with crushed wheat, so I used brown bread flour instead. The flours that I use are whole grain, stone ground, unbleached, non-GMO anyway, with the brown bread flour having ample wheat husks to give the loaf a rustic coarseness. Long words to describe decent, old fashioned coarse flour.

I followed the recipe reasonably to the point. I had to use whole milk instead of the three dessert spoons milk powder prescribed in the book. Otherwise the mix is easy and the directions for decision points are clear and easily understandable.

Here at home it is high summer now, with temperatures in the late twenties and early thirties Celcius. There is some mercy, though, in that we have the famous Cape Doctor. The south easterly trade winds, funneling into a near gale over the local Hottentot's Holland mountain range and across False Bay almost every day, cooling us down a bit.


Needless to say, the high temperatures make for very short rising and proofing times. You need to pay attention to the happenings inside the proofing box. Perhaps this fast proofing also makes for less flavour, but that one I shall test when I have space in the refrigerator for a large blob of dough and overnight proofing.

Ingredients for two medium sized loaves

2 ½ cups white bread flour
1 ½ cups brown bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 dessert spoons brown sugar
¼ cup whole milk
1 ½ teaspoons (10g) instant yeast
2 dessert spoons vegetable fat (shortening)
1 ¼ cups water at room temperature

Process

Stir together the dry ingredients, then add the water until the dough becomes sticky. Allow five to ten minutes for the dough to develop gluten, then rub in the shortening. The version of shortening that I use is quite hard, so I have to really let it thaw, then rub it into the dough.

Mix the dough thoroughly and make sure that it is reasonably soft and elastic. Knead this until the dough is satiny. Do a window pane test, as Peter Reinhart describes it. Stretch a piece of the dough so it thins out and becomes translucent. The dough should hold this easily. If not, he dough is too dry or too soft. You will know. Add flour or water as needed, knead it in and check again.



When the dough is ready, pat it with some cooking oil against drying out, then cover it and allow to rise for an hour or three. In my case an hour and twenty minutes was sufficient time for the dough to triple in volume.

Knead it down and shape it as required. I divided the dough into two equal pieces, shaped them and popped them into rectangular bread tins. This was covered with a damp cloth and allowed to proof until the dough was standing above the rims of the bread tins. This took about twenty minutes in the conditions prevailing in my kitchen.

Pop the loaves into a pre-heated oven at 230ºC/450ºF, spray a fine mist of water into the oven, leave to bake for five minutes, then spray water again. Turn the oven down to 190ºC/375ºF after ten minutes and bake the loaves for another thirty minutes. If you made thinner loaves, the baking time will be less, so do check on the baking progress towards the end.

These loaves had a decent oven spring and sprung to one and a half times their starting volume again in the oven. The crust was crisp and chewy, with a wonderful soft and springy crumb. The vegetable fat I use for shortening makes for a much slower drying-out rate, so the loaves last a bit longer than overnight.



However, if you have hungry teenagers or sailors around when the loaves come out the oven, I doubt that you will have to worry about the storage life of the loaves...

And remember, use real butter.


This blog post also linked to
Yeastspotting!


Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2013-12-14

Day 43: Last Sourdough Twists In The Caribbean

Today is the last day of the long legs of our voyage. We are sailing past the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean at the time of writing this.

In weather that is very hot and humid, the only respite from the heat being the breeze caused by our moving through the air. There is literally no wind to speak of. Not even the famous zephyrs that the Vaal dam sailors in inland South Africa know so well.



My last watch will be tonight from 00h00 to 03h00. During this time my last baking efforts for this voyage will come into fruition when the loaves are baked. This will be the last use of the oven before decommissioning prior to handover. The refrigerator is almost empty, ditto for the freezer.
Slowly but surely we are packing away all loose personal items and getting everything in order to clean up and hand over the boat.

This period in the voyage always comes with some nostalgia. You are now handing over your child, which you so very carefully looked after and nursed through sickness and health, to some foreigner.
Enough of nostalgia. Hungry sailors also need to eat. So we turn again to the age old staple:

Sourdough bread.

This time around I decided on a similar dough than the challah I made earlier on the voyage. As this is the last baking of the voyage and we still have a night sail to Tortola, I decided to make two loaves. Hopefully they will last long enough!



The dough is again quite soft. I started with the last of my sourdough, ditching about half of it as the gluten in the flour was already consumed. Half a cup of white bread flour was fed to this, along with enough water to make it just runny.

After leaving this starter to ferment for six hours, I mixed in the rest of the ingredients, barring two cups of flour and the currants. This quite soft, almost runny dough was left for another seven hours to ferment before the next mixing and kneading.

The last ferment was left for five odd hours before final shaping and proofing. Final proof was four hours.


Shaping was done by making four long snakes and twisting them in pairs, as opposed to the three stranded braid of a challah. The loaves were cut on top to facilitate even oven spring, and basted with some whisked egg white.


These were baked at 230ºC/450ºF for twenty minutes. The oven was turned down to 190ºC/375ºF after twenty minutes and the loaves turned back to front to facilitate even baking in the small oven.



Ingredients

For the starter

½ cup sourdough
½  cup white bread flour
Mix and allow to ferment for at least six hours

For the main ferment

All the starter as above
2 cups brown bread flour
3 cups white bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 eggs
1 egg yolk (The white is kept aside for the basting)
4 dessert spoons brown sugar
1-2 dessert spoon vegetable fat
2 cups water

Mix all the above thoroughly. The consistency should be almost runny, too runny to knead. Cover and allow to ferment until double in volume. This took some seven hour in my case.





For the last ferment

All of the above
1 cup white bread flour
1 cup brown bread flour
½ cup blackcurrants

Mix all of the above thoroughly. The dough should now be still soft, but foldable if not kneadable. Fold for ten to fifteen minutes until the dough is satiny and quite elastic. It should not be sticky any more.

Pat with some cooking oil against drying out, cover and put aside to ferment until double in volume.
Take the dough out, turn out onto a floured kneading board to rest for fifteen minutes, then divide into two loaves and do final shaping. Try not to degas the dough. I opted for a twisted format, so there was quite a bit of handling of the dough.

Allow the shaped loaves to ferment at least another hour before baking. They should be at least 1½ time their original volume.

Baste with beaten egg white, slice the tops to facilitate even oven spring, then pop them into the oven. Bake for twenty minutes at 230ºC/450ºF, then turn the oven down to 190ºC/375ºF. Turn the loaves back to front to facilitate even baking and bake them for at least another twenty minutes. Check for through baking. The loaves should make a hollow sound and should be reasonably crisp on the outside.

Remove the loaves from the oven and turn out onto a cooling rack. Allow at least forty minutes for these to cool before slicing them. Don't worry, they will still be warm!


Well, as you may have noticed, I wrote most of this before the loaves went into the oven. This is where the twister became a real twister. The dough rose beyond comprehension and I had to do the shaping much sooner than anticipated. The dough was quite soft still, too soft, in fact.

But I did not heed any warning.

So it appears that the dough has morphed into something alien. Or is the proper word “mutated”? Whatever the case, the dough dripped through the oven grid between popping the loaves into the oven and the end of oven spring. Much like something escaping from one of the lesser known planets in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Perhaps I should write Peter Reinhart about this alien effect. Or perhaps just send him a link to this blog post...

The two loaves became one in the oven, restricting the air flow and thus the proper baking. The shapes of  the loaves were completely lost, but the taste remained.

There is a lesson in here somewhere, I think.

But then I got hungry.

Fresh bread is always wonderful.

And remember, use real butter.




This blog post also linked to Yeastspotting!

Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2013-11-06

Day 37: Laid Back Boule

The wind at last dropped us. This after sailing continuously for over sixteen days, running the motors only to charge the batteries.

I had the 03h00 to 06h00 watch this morning, which saw the last of the wind disappearing. We are now about 450 miles from Barbados, three days' worth of sailing. At this time of year we are almost into hurricane season still. The weather certainly looks ominous enough. Real Halloween stuff, in tune with the date.


But not to worry, we have weather info at the end of a telephone call. I still like to observe the cloud and wind patterns, though. It is like being really at sea and understanding your environment. A telephone call does not impart understanding, it is a short cut. To me, far better to make observations and an associated prediction, then confirm your predictions via the telephone. One lives closer to your environment in this fashion.

The sky was quite clear this morning, hardly a cloud in the sky. This is tropical holiday weather. Clear, sunny skies in the morning, with some thunderclouds building in the afternoon, making for very romantic sunsets. Pity we are not on holiday with our loved ones. But is still a blessing to live through these experiences.

I had clear sights of the sun and horizon, so I decided to forego the dead reckoning adjustment from the previous set of dead reckoning data. Proper sun shots, taken with care provide better data than a rushed sun shot through a hazy cloud. Which is what I managed to do after writing the blog post yesterday.

This paid off in that I got a proper fix with 12 nm difference to the GPS. In fact, my dead reckoning position and the final fix basically bracketed the GPS fix. QED.

Having made dinner last night, today is my day off. I had the two twilight watches today, sunrise and sunset. It carries a message to relax and take it easy.

But it was also baking day again. I decided to make a real rustic loaf in boule shape. Heavy with coarse brown bread flour, this serves as a proper meal. I normally have mine with butter only. Real butter. There is no substitute for the taste of real butter.

This loaf has just the basic ingredients of water, flour, salt, fat and yeast. Nothing else. The caraway seeds on top counts for garnish only. I decided to go the full hog with this loaf, making the dough on the dry side and having three sets of proofing. These are the first rise, then the second rise after kneading it down, followed by the final proofing after shaping.

This loaf was also allowed more time for final proofing than the previous ones I made on this voyage. Just for the learning experience. The loaf responded well and rose to double the original size. The oven in this case was set to 230ºC /450ºF for the first fifteen minutes, then turned down to 190ºC /375ºF for another forty minutes. I found on the previous occasions that similar loaves did not caramelise enough on top and the crumb seemed a bit doughy to my taste, so I am upping the baking regime this time. Perhaps this one may over-bake a bit, which is manageable, I reasoned. Just check for status towards the end, I argued.



Ingredients


2 ½ cups unbleached stone ground white bread flour

2 ½ cups unbleached stone ground brown bread flour

10 g ( 1 sachet) instant yeast

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 dessert spoon vegetable fat

2 cups water

2 teaspoons caraway seeds for garnish

Some flour for dusting the kneading board and the baking sheet

1 dessert spoon cooking oil for patting


Process


Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly, then add one cup of the water. Mix through, then add the rest of the water until the dough has a knead-able consistency on the dry side. Allow this dough to rest for five minutes, then add the vegetable fat. Mix through, then turn out on a well-floured kneading board. Knead until the dough is quite elastic and satiny, then form into a flat ball. The dough should keep this shape quite easily. Pat the dough with oil against drying out and set to rise for at least an hour, but mostly until doubled in volume.

Turn the dough out on a floured kneading board and allow to rest for five minutes. Knead it back to the original volume, form into a ball and set to rise until doubled in volume again. Turn this dough out on the kneading board, allow to rest, then shape into the final shape without degassing the ball.


I chose a boule shape, for the rustic character of the intended loaf. This one is supposed to be a real artisan loaf, so I went with the traditional shape too.


Spread the caraway seeds on top, making sure that they stick. I had to press them down a bit. Allow this final shaped loaf to proof for another thirty minutes, then turn on the oven. I allowed about eight minutes for the oven to heat up. Make some cuts on top to allow for oven spring. I went for the traditional square pattern on the round boule, but any cuts will do. Just make sure that they are just through the crust, not too deep. The loaf may deflate.

Pop this loaf into the oven at 230ºC /450ºF. Allow to bake for fifteen minutes, then turn the oven down to 190ºC /375ºF. For another forty five minutes. Turn the loaf around after twenty minutes to allow for even baking on all sides.


Check for baking status: the loaf should be crisp on the outside with a hollow sound when tapped. After the loaf is fully baked, remove it from the oven and turn out on a cooling rack. Cool for at least forty minutes, this one is quite thick and will take longer to cool.


Then slice and enjoy. Remember, again: Use real butter!

　


PS – I had to wait until my night watch-keeping slot before having a taste of this one. It came out beautifully spongy and dense without being heavy. The crust was nice and chewy. And the taste was quite sweet, in spite of not having any sugar in the mix. A result of allowing sufficient proofing time and long enough rest after baking?


You tell me.

　


This blog post also linked to Yeastspotting!

　


Authored by Johan Zietsman



Last updated on 2013-10-31

Day 33: A Sourdough Loaf And Good Navigation

I like it when a plan comes together.

The famous line from the original A-team television series. Today, for me, it is pertinent at last.

My navigation studies are paying off. Methods proposed in the text book and applied as suggested has now started to pay off. The differences between my fixes and the associated GPS fixes are now into single figures. A statistical trend, at last. I shall certainly work hard at keeping it in a converging phase.

It does take some decent concentration and judgement on boat speed and effective direction. Course made good over a twenty-four hour period. The ships chart plotter will give it to you, but that sort of defeats the object of the exercise, does it not? So far, I am getting used to judging the boat speed from the condition of the wake and so on. The effect of the current is very difficult to guess, but the statistical method of applying a correction to the next DR position using the previous fix' data helps a lot.



You get lies, damn lies and then statistics, goes the tongue-in-cheek adage. Well, in my case statistical methods have helped me. And I have come across the same statistical methods in active and adaptable control system theory. Talk of cross pollination and integration of knowledge areas.

Today was also baking day. The loaf of choice was a sourdough loaf. This is actually quite challenging, as we have over 32ºC/86ºF weather with a relative humidity of a tad over 70%. This makes for interesting side effects when mixing the dough. Add to this the building of the starter and the proofing and you easily end up with a runny dough.


Today I had exactly such a runny mess after the first phase of building the starter. Then I realised that I used brown bread flour instead of white bread flour. This all happened in the dead of night on my watch. Quite handy when you have to work watches and you are in a baking mood. Both require you to be awake at odd hours.


The yeast did not like the coarser flour with the added fiber  but nevertheless ate away merrily at the available starch. This morning, after coming off watch, I realized my mistake and fed the starter again, this time with the proper flour. I got an immediate response and the starter doubled in volume in three hours. Not bad for a wild yeast.



I proceeded to feed the starter one more time, basically making up the final mix. This included some wild onions seeds ( Nigella sativa) and salt. I also added a the vegetable fat after allowing five odd minutes for the dough to develop gluten. This dough was quite wet, but just dry enough to knead, rather than fold.


It is quite difficult to judge the water content when working like this, so I judge by the handling qualities of the dough. I add water or flour until I have a consistency that I like and know.

After kneading the dough until it became satiny and quite elastic, the dough was patted with a thin layer of cooking oil, covered and put aside to rise. My "proofing bin" on board is the bottom of the cupboard in the galley. At least the temperature there is stable and perhaps less than 30ºC. The dough rose to double the volume in just over 90 minutes.

This was shaped and left to rest in the cold oven for half an hour for final proofing. This dough sagged a bit in the heat, but did increase in volume. Perhaps I shall have to look into making a drier dough next time around. This loaf was dabbed with egg white and a sprinkling of grated cheese before baking. Baking at 190ºC/350ºF for 45 minutes produced a crispy loaf nicely baked through. There were some uneven fermentation holes, which is what I strive for when baking with sourdough. The crust was nice and crisp with some elasticity and chewiness, while the crumb was quite spongy. There was just a hint of sourness, which is heartening, as I battled to get a less sour product from my efforts. This one came out the way I intended.


Ingredients

Making the starter


½ cup sourdough mush

1 ½ cup white bread flour

1 cup water


Mix thoroughly and allow to ferment at least six hours. You need to see many bubbles as the mix ferments.

Building the starter

Use all of the above and add another 1 ½ cup of flour and ½ cup of water. The mixture should just not be runny. Allow this to ferment until at least double the volume. In the conditions aboard here just off the Amazon river delta, this took just three hours.



Final mix

Use all of the product you made, then add the following:

2 cups white bread flour

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon wild onion seeds

1 dessert spoon vegetable fat

yolk of one egg

1-2 cups water on standby

Mix this lot thoroughly, adding water to make the dough just mixable, then allow to rest for five minutes. Now mix in the vegetable fat and start kneading. Add water or flour in small quantities as required to adjust the consistency. I know that the tyro bakers out there will balk at this, but we are in a rather primitive environment baking equipment-wise.

Knead the dough until it gets satiny and elastic, pat with some cooking oil, cover and set to final rise. This lot doubled in volume in 90 minutes.

Turn out the dough on a kneading board and allow to rest for five minutes. Now shape the dough into the final shape, trying not to degas the dough. At this stage I dabbed some egg white on top and sprinkled some grated cheese on top of that.

The final proofing for this loaf was half an hour plus the time it took for the oven to heat up. Baking at 190ºC/350ºF for 45 minutes produced the loaf as described.


Allow the loaf to cool for at least half an hour. This one was on the flat side, so it cooled perhaps a bit faster than a thick loaf would.

And use real butter.

　

　


This blog post also linked to Yeastspotting!

Authored by Johan Zietsman


Last updated on 2013-10-27

Day 31: Hamburgers After A Month At Sea

We are now almost on the equator, having crossed the 1º south latitude line. However, we shall only cross the equator sometime tomorrow, as we are sailing more west than north.

My navigation studies are beginning to cast a light on my open ocean dead reckoning woes. In fact, just today I came across a statistical technique to compensate for some of the inaccuracies in the dead reckoning calculations.

The technique uses a method of calculating the differences between the dead reckoning and fix of the previous day or period, then use that as a sort of per definition "leeway" to adjust the subsequent dead reckoning position. You still end up with an error, but now it is smaller than at first.

This for dead reckoning. There is also an iterative method where one obtains a fix starting from an assumed position, i.e. the dead reckoning position. Then use the fix so obtained as an updated dead reckoning assumed position for a next iteration. This method will also converge mathematically and provide a more precise fix, according to the author. I shall certainly make use of this technique.

The text book also sets out a method to obtain UTC from such observations to set your navigation clock to the correct time. The book is Emergency Navigation, Second Edition by David Burch. I have an electronic copy. The book is well worth reading for anyone planning a long distance voyage and planning to cross oceans.

As an interesting aside, the author of the book proposes that a backup sextant should be part of the emergency navigation equipment. He then continues by suggesting a cheap plastic sextant by brand name. Which, incidentally, is the exact instrument that I am using as my main navigational instrument. It seems ironic, but my results are quite accurate and precise due to the rigorous procedure I follow and the multiple readings that I take. This procedure averages out most of the operator induced and instrument errors.


Chalk up one for perseverance.

After studying the methods in this book and dutifully applying them, my navigational error went from double figures yesterday to a single mile today. The calmer sea also helped, but it pays to understand the type and origin of the errors in the data are that you are dealing with.

The tropical weather has now turned upon us with a fury. I sit almost in a puddle of sweat, in spite of the open windows in the saloon an the breeze blowing through. It has become very humid during the afternoon.

Today we have been at sea for just over a month. Five weeks, to be more accurate. The crew decided it was time for a hamburger. Hamburger Friday, so to speak.

So we made hamburgers for dinner. Complete with the requisite juicy sauces. In this case it was a tomato relish made from a can of tomatoes, and a cheesy mushroom sauce. The mushroom sauce was areal home-grown version using rehydrated dried shitake mushrooms in a home made white sauce. The sauce was augmented with some grated cheese.

A wonderful dinner. The skipper and I each had two, for which we were rewarded on short notice with that overindulgence bloated feeling. Luckily the sea is still a bit bumpy, so the food soon settled and the feeling went away.

We used freshly baked rolls for the hamburgers. Baked today from one of my standard mixed flour recipes.



Hamburger Rolls Ingredients

2 cups stone ground unbleached brown bread flour

2 ½ cups stone ground unbleached white bread flour

2 dessert spoons sugar

3 dessert spoons milk powder. Not coffee creamer, please. Pretty please.

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 dessert spoon vegetable fat or shortening

1-2 cups water

10 gram (1 sachet) instant yeast

some cooking oil for patting the dough.



Procedure

Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly. Mix in half of the water, then add a little at a time until the dough has the right consistency. It should be quite soft and pliable, but not sticky and runny. Allow the dough to rest and the gluten to form. Five minutes should do it. Now add the vegetable fat or shortening and mix thoroughly. Turn the dough out on a kneading board and continue by folding and pressing the dough flat. Continue this for ten minutes. The dough should become satiny and nice and elastic.

Pat the dough with some oil against drying out, cover and leave to rise for 1 – 1 ½ hours. The dough should double in volume during this time. Turn the dough out on a floured kneading board and knead down to the original volume. Allow to rise for another hour or until doubled in volume again.


Turn it out on a floured kneading board an commence to shape the dough into the final shape. Here we divided the dough into twelve balls and left them to rise while the oven heated up. We have an ambient temperature of over 30ºC, so the rising went fast.

Bake the rolls at 190ºC/ 350ºF for twenty minutes. We have a small oven on board, so the baking was done in two batches. Turn the rolls out on a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least twenty minutes. The rolls cool faster than a loaf because they are thinner than a loaf.


And remember to use real butter.

Please. Again.


These rolls came out quite soft, with a well developed spongy crumb and a few large fermentation holes. As dinner rolls should be. Or hamburger rolls.


Bon appetit!

　

　

This post also linked to Yeastspotting!

　

Authored by Johan Zietsman

　

Last updated on 2013-10-25 

Day 19: Sunday Sourdough Loaf

At last the wind came. We still have a cloudy sky, but now we have about 13 knots of wind over the quarter, meaning we are sailing.

A peaceful and quiet Sunday afternoon. I am alone on watch, Everyone else is taking a lie-in, leaving me with some me-time. Normally we would have a game of rummy or the Monopoly Deal card game going, but today seems to be unanimously declared a rest day.

I was able to get some decent sun sights this morning just before noon. These reduced to a fix which was about 10 miles away from the GPS at the time. Persistence pays after all, I guess. The trick is not to let the inaccuracies get into your ego. Eckhart Tolle in the Power of Now has a point after all. Don't get dejected.

I also baked the first sourdough loaf of the voyage. The starter was described in my previous blog post. The final dough was mixed and kneaded last night at around 23h00 and left to rise overnight.

This morning I checked the status and found that the dough had risen to about double the volume, but was sagging too much to my preference. So I added half a cup of flour and folded this into the dough. The dough was too soft to knead, so I just folded it many times. The soft dough makes a very nice loaf, but, being almost runny, I am dearly missing a proofing basket on board. A proofing basket of sorts or a baking tin would help to keep the shape.


The new mix was left to rise for another two hours after shaping before I popped it into the oven preheated to 210ºC . The loaf was baked for forty minutes, being turned around 180 degrees after twenty minutes. The oven on the boat is quite small and the loaf on the large side, so it tends to bake more on the one side.


This loaf was made with some wild onion seeds, some real onion, grated, and some grated cheese. The onion is grated, rather than chopped in order to get it fine enough.

Take care with the amount of water. The onion is quite juicy and will add more water than you may think, making the dough too soft. I had to add some flour after the first rise to get the dough stable enough to shape. You add the onion at the main mix and the cheese just before shaping, Otherwise the cheese gets broken into vey fine bits and you lose the texture.

The vegetable fat I use goes by the brand name Holsum in South Africa. I believe that one can also use the stuff that is sold as original margarine.

The other part of the story here is that this method will get the yeast part of the sourdough growing fast and furious, while the slower acting lactobaccilli will be left behind. This has the effect of making the end result less sour.

I have had the occasion where the loaf came out quite sour. While this is good on the odd occasion, not everyone likes a very sour bread.

This loaf and flavours by request from the skipper on the grounds of having had such a loaf on a previous trip. I feel honoured, I have a fan!

Ingredients

For the starter

½ cup sourdough mother

1 cup stone ground brown bread flour

1 cup stone ground white bread flour

1 cup water

For the main dough

1 ½ cup stone ground white bread flour

1 cup brown bread flour

1 teaspoon wild onion seeds ( koolonj/ Nigella Sativa)

½ onion, grated

½ cup grated cheese

1 ½ teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons sugar

1 dessert spoon vegetable fat

about ½ cup water

Process

For the starter

Mix the lot and leave to ferment for six hours. The starter will increase in volume, but not necessarily double. The critical point here is to ensure that the mix is thoroughly fermenting. Mine had large bubbles.

For the main dough

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Rub in the vegetable fat and then the grated onion. Add the starter to this and mix thoroughly. Add a little water at a time so that you end up with a soft dough that you can almost knead. Fold the dough and press down, then fold again, keep on doing this until the dough is elastic and satiny.

Now flatten the dough, sprinkle some of the grated cheese on one third, then fold the dough to cover the cheese. Continue with this until you have folded all the cheese into the dough. Pat the dough with some cooking oil to prevent drying out, then store it in a cool place to rise. Here you need to have at least double the volume before proceeding to shaping and baking.

After the dough has risen, shape it into the required shape. Take care not to degas the dough, else you will end up with a flat, hard loaf. Allow two hours of proofing time before baking this loaf in an oven preheated to 230ºC. I checked the loaf after twenty minutes and turned it to allow even baking on all sides. Then I allowed another twenty minutes of baking before switching the oven off.


The loaf was left in the closed oven to develop flavour and to cool slowly. After another ten minutes I turned the loaf out on a cooling rack for final cooling. Leave the loaf to cool for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer. During this time the steam evaporates and the elasticity comes to the crumb.

Remember to use real butter.

Bon appetit!



This blog post also linked to Yeastspotting!

Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2013-10-13

Day 18: Some Sun And A Sourdough Starter

Today the weather cleared for the afternoon and we actually saw some sun. The first welcome heat in a long while. I was beginning to feel like Samuel Coleridge Taylor's Ancient Mariner:

“ The Sun now rose upon the right
Out of the sea came he
Still hid in mist, and on the left
Went down into the sea.”

Quite to the point, I would venture. We are, after all, sailing more or less in a northern direction, if a bit skewed to the west. I never could figure how the peots of old received theeir muse, until I actually crossed an ocean. Combine that with Eckhard Tolle's The Power of Now and you have a life's lesson in understanding your universe.

Andd I mean the psychological one specifically. I have carried on at length about the external influences in normal urban and well developed environment. Today I had yet another clear moment, so to speak, about these influences. The absence of the city's  overload of input data gives one some time to deal with your inner self and your ego.

According to Tolle the ego is the center and origin of all fears. Having to deal with Nature out here allows an elegant transition ninto the acceptance of what is, and dealing with it psychologically. That, is to observe the ego and yet not to yield to the prompts from the ego. In that way one gets some rest, as the ego then subsides and goes to rest.

The cloudy weather is specifically a case in point. There is clearly no way to influence the weather to change. So, you need to change your outlook and just accept it. And live in the Now.

I started a sourdough loaf today. This time around I am following a different approach. The mother sourdough was in the fridge, so I took it out and simply stirred it up and fed it half a cup of the intended flour, with a little water to make it runny. Then I made the starter using half of the flour for the intended loaf. This was left to develop and grow for seven hours. Basically the starter needs to double in volume before the next step. Nice and slow, nothing hurried here.

Much like Eckardt Tolle proposes.

The next step would be to make up the final mix dough. This will be later tonight. After kneading, the dough will be left in the bottom of the cupboard to rise. I am planning for at least eight hours' worth of rise time, but we need to wait and see. Again going with the flow.

I have had success with this approach in the past. The cool weather actually helps a bit here, since the rise time will be slower, giving more time for flavour to develop through enzyme action. I am also following the general direction given by Peter Reinhart in his book The Bread Baker's Apprentice for the basic sourdough loaf. Except that this one will have some real onion and cheese as well as some wild onion seeds (Koolonj /Nigella Sativa).

The interseting part here is that almost all of the preparation is happening in the middle of the night to coincide with my watchkeeping duties. This is part of the beauty of using a slow fermenting yeast. It takes a long time between stages of development of the dough.And the effort in the active parts is really not that much.

 The resulting loaf is quite worth the effort and the planning that goes into the production. But the best part is in the eating. On this trip I actually have to take turns with Bianca, our lady crew member, to have the first end crust bit of the loaf. Luckil;y the rest of the crew are not partial to that specific piece. To me, the first crusty slice is the best part of the bread. And the crust must be crisp and chewy. Lately my efforts seem to bear fruit in that the crust comes out a beautiful brown colour and is quite crisp.

Hmmmm...

Watch the next blog post for the finale.

Our fishing efforts took a turn for the better today. Perhaps in a roundabout way, I should add. Just as the sun came out. All three of the fishermen lost a lure to violent takes, to the great mirth of the fourth crew member.

Yet another lesson in just going with the flow and gracefully accepting laughter from a female spectator.

Talk about dented male egos!



Authored by Johan Zietsman


Last updated on 2013-10-12

 

 

Thursday Baking

Third time lucky. An old English adage. Perhaps this time expressed with a hint of sarcasm.

We are now about two and a half days' sail away from the Atlantic island of St Helena and still we are having weather like we are in Cape Town, cold and reasonably miserable. Not what you would expect in this area. Like I said, third time lucky.

I managed to get some sun sights done today. Two sets, in fact. Through thick clouds, even though it took me almost ten minutes to get sufficient view of the sun to get three sights. This in an effort to get past the dead reckoning inaccuracies that plagued my navigation calculations to now.

My faith in my calculations were restored after finding that my first set of readings reduced to a fix quite closer to where the GPS would put us. The interesting point of these sights is that they give lines of position that cross as a result of taking them a few minutes apart. I shall look into that one of these days when the sun is out and the sea is calmer.

I am now over my sinus infection and can feel the positive vibe returning. That feverish, hangover-like feeling when your body is battling an bacterial infection is gone. Thank heavens for small mercies.

Today I rose from my bed feeling in a creative mood again, so I baked another loaf of bread. It was about time and would be the last baking before we arrive at St Helena. I made a loaf of mixed white bread and brown bread flour, adding a little sugar to help the fermentation and some caraway seeds for flavour.

The dough was made on the soft side and swallowed about a third of a cup of flour from the kneading board. This one was turned out on the kneading board and given ten minutes of rest. Then it was kneaded lightly and shaped by folding gently.

The loaf was then left for forty minutes to rest and have a second rise. The oven was brought to a low temperature, the loaf inserted and baked for forty five minutes. Then I doused the flame and left the loaf in the closed oven for another twenty minutes before turning it out on to a cooling rack for another twenty minutes.

This loaf came out the best of all my baking experiments to date. It had a nicely caramelised and crisp crust with a fluffy and slightly sweet tasting crumb. The sweet taste actually does not adequately describe the taste. It was actually quite complex, with flavours developing as you were chewing from the enzymes in your mouth. A wonderful result indeed.

I use measures by volume as we have no scales on board for weighing ingredients. My cup is one of the coffee mugs. The teaspoon is on the large side, but not quite a dessert spoon size. The vegetable fat comes in a small block from which I cut a slice. The volume of the slice is an estimation, but not too far off.

Don't add more water, the dough will be too soft. This one swallowed another third of a cup of flour during kneading before it got less sticky. It was still too soft to knead, so I just folded it for eight minutes or so.

Ingredients

2 ½ cups stone ground whole wheat white bread flour

2 cups stone ground whole wheat brown bread flour

2 cups water

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons vegetable fat

3 teaspoons sugar

10 grams (1 sachet) instant yeast

1 dessert spoon caraway seeds for the dough

1 teaspoon caraway seeds for garnish

1 dessert spoon cooking oil for covering during rise

Process

Mix all the flour, salt, caraway seeds and sugar thoroughly, then rub the fat into the flour mix. Add to this the yeast and ix through before adding the water all at once. Mix the dough thoroughly, ensuring that all the flour is taken up into the mix.

Turn this soft dough out on to a floured kneading board and fold for ten minutes. The dough will swallow some more flour from the kneading board and will get drier as a result. Take care not to allow too much flour into the dough in this fashion, else you will end up with a dough on the dry side.

Pat the dough with the cooking oil, cover and leave to rise until doubled in volume. This took an hour for my batch of dough. Turn the risen dough gently out on to a floured kneading board and leave to rest for ten minutes. Gently knead the dough by pressing and folding. I used this technique to fold the dough into the required shape and ended with an elongated blob with the seam side up. The seam was twisted into little points as a decoration instead of hiding the seam at the bottom of the loaf.

Sprinkle the last caraway seeds on top and leave to rise for another forty five minutes. Make diagonal cuts on top of the loaf to allow for even oven spring. Heat the oven to 200ºC/390ºF and bake for forty five minutes. Douse the flame and leave the loaf in the oven for another twenty minutes, then turn it out on a cooling rack for another twenty minutes. This will allow the steam inside the loaf to dissipate and the crumb to develop properly.

And, again, remember to use pure butter...

Bon appetit!

This blog post also linked to Yeastspotting!

Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2013-10-03