An Obelios By Any Other Name

Frozen waffles. <shudder>

How about this instead?

I mean, really? Making waffles is not that hard. People have been doing it for thousands of years.

The ubiquitous waffle can be traced back to ancient Greece. The Athenians made tasty (one presumes), flat cakes they called obelios which were cooked between two metal plates over burning embers.

The humble obelios made its way to Europe and in the Middle Ages became the wafer, a very light thin crisp cake baked between wafer irons. The irons were used to produce a variety of different flat, unleavened cakes and were wildly popular. An entire guild was established in 1270 in France to train the vendors who sold them on the street.

Acording to Wikipedia, wafer and waffle share common etymological roots. Wafre is Middle English, adopted from Middle Low German wâfel, with the l changed to r. The Dutch, wafel, was adopted into modern American English as waffle in the 18th century.

The short from the long is that the modern waffle, which we know and love today, is simply a leavened form of wafer.

This recipe is leavened with baking powder.

About 10 minutes before you start, chill the mixing bowl and beaters you will use for the whipped cream in the freezer.

Topping
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 2 Tbs sugar (or other sweetener), to taste
Fresh berries
Powdered sugar

Before you begin making the waffle batter, make the whipped cream. It can be chilled for up to four hours.

Put the cold heavy cream and the vanilla in the chilled mixing bowl.

With a wire whisk or hand beater (or an electric mixer) whip the cream. Start off slowly.

As the cream thickens, you can speed up the whipping. As it gets foamier, start checking the consistency. You want to whip the cream just until it holds a loose peak. You can check this by lifting the beater from the cream and looking at the shape of the peak at the end of the whisk. It should hold a lazy curve.

At this point, add the sugar, sifting it over the cream. Continue to whip just until it holds a soft peak.

Make sure not to over-whip the cream as it will become lumpy and butter-like.
Put the whipped cream in the refrigerator and get to work on the waffles.

Waffles

2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 Tbs sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Heat the waffle iron.

In large bowl, beat eggs with a wire whisk or hand beater until fluffy.

Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth.

Pour slightly less than 3/4 cup batter onto center of hot waffle iron. (Make sure you check your waffle iron's manufacturer's directions for recommended amount of batter as this can vary wildly.)

Close the iron and bake about 5 minutes or until steaming stops. I like to bake the waffles just past the 'golden brown' stage so that they are very crisp on the outside. Carefully remove waffle.

Sprinkle the waffles with the powdered sugar and top with fresh berries and whipped cream.

Most of all, ENJOY!

Waffle irons use different amounts of batter, so you may end up with more or less than six waffles from this recipe.

Hapanleipä - Finnish Sour Rye Bread

"Here is bread, which strengthens man's heart, and therefore is called the staff of Life."
--Matthew Henry

I like baking bread. Of all the cooking and baking I do, the making of bread is the most joyous and gives me the most satisfaction.

Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, going back at least 30,000 years. The making of bread involves community and society and family. In many cultures bread has a significance beyond simple nutrition, and often denotes something necessary and valuable. It is an interesting fact that the word companion comes from the Latin com- "with" + panis "bread".

In Finland, bread is very important and is served at almost every meal. And Finnish bread is a treat. So much more falvourful and full of texture than what Americans commonly think of as bread, the abundance and variety of bread found there can be overwhelming. As I noted previously, it is on my Top Ten Finland List. The most popular (ubiquitous) bread in Finland is ruisleipä (rye bread). It is very different from what most Americans think of rye breads (like German style rye bread) as it lacks the greasy/moist texture.

When I was on exchange in Finland, one of my host mothers made a type of ruisleipä traditional in western Finland, hapanleipä (sour bread). It is one of my most vivid memories of Finland, watching Aira take the sticky rye dough and forming it into round, flat loaves with a hole in the center.

Ruisleipä, or even a close approximation, is hard to come by in the desert southwest. And Finding traditional hapanleipä is impossible. Happily, I love making it and over the years have become pretty good at it.

When you make this bread you need to plan ahead. It takes two days for the dough to sour.

Hapanleipä
3 packages active dry yeast
4 cups warm water, 105°F to 115°F
7 to 9 cups dark rye flour
2 teaspoons salt (optional)
additional rye flour for shaping

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add two cups rye flour and beat to make a smooth mixture. Sprinkle the top of the dough with one cup rye flour.

Cover tightly and let stand in a warm place for 24 hours. It will ferment and sour.

On day two, add two cups of the rye flour, stir, and let stand another 24 hours. The dough will now have a sour aroma.


Stir in the salt and final amount of flour, but do not exceed nine cups. It is very important to not put in too much flour. This dough is unlike most bread doughs people are used to as it needs to remain very moist, almost drop cookie-dough moist.

Knead (in a heavy-duty mixer if you have one) for 30 minutes. The dough should be very sticky.

Using wet hands, shape dough into a ball and place in the bowl again. Sprinkle with enough additional flour to make the top of the dough dry. Let rise about one and 1/2 hours in a warm place.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and divide into two parts. Cover two baking sheets with baking parchment (or lightly grease them) and coat the sheets with dark rye flour.

Shape each half into a round loaf about eight inches in diameter. Make a hole in the center of each loaf and carefully pull the hole until it is about two inches in diameter. With hands dipped in water, smooth out the edges and top of each loaf.

Using a fork, poke holes in the tops of the loves, making the distribution of holes as even as you can.

Brush loaves generously with water and sprinkle with a generous coating of rye flour.

Place the loaves in a warm place until they have flattened out, spread apart, and the tops start to crackle a little.

Place a large, deep pan (like a casserole dish or a jelly roll pan) on the bottom rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Fill the pan with boiling water and bake the loaves for one hour or until firm.

This is the hardest step, especially if you have not baked with dark rye before. Without experience, it is easy to misjudge when the bread has baked as they already start out a dark brown colour. Baked not long enough and the center will be unbaked and gooey. Baked too long and the bottoms will burn.

Wrap baked loaves in towels to soften. As tempting as it is, it is best not to cut these loaves right away. They actually slice best the day after they are baked. I very rarely make it that long.

This makes two respectable sized loaves.

The loaves will keep refrigerated for several months. They also freeze well. This bread rarely goes bad and I have never seen it mildew, but it will dry out. Finns claim that this is good for your teeth.

This bread is good for you. It is higher in fiber than many common types of bread and has a remarkably strong flavor. It can be eaten plain with a meal, or topped with cheese, cold cuts, or smoked fish.

Enjoy!

Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese

There is something to be said for comfort food.

And there's a particular nostalgic element to macaroni and cheese - both within our American culture and on an individual level.

Macaroni and cheese has a long culinary history. According to James L. Matterer of Godecookery.com, a cheese and pasta casserole known as Makerouns was recorded in an English cookbook in the 14th century. It was an upper-class dish in Italy up until the 18th century. And Thomas Jefferson served it at the White House.

Much to our detriment, we have taken the noble macaroni and cheese and relegated it to packaged versions that are hollow echoes of the real cheesy goodness of homemade. But there is hope. Homemade macaroni and cheese is easy. Really. And oh so much better than the boxed stuff.

To completely misquote Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, "Macaroni without real cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye."


Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup unsifted flour
1 tsp powdered mustard
2 1/2 cups milk (room temperature)
3 cups coarsely grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs finely grated yellow onion
1/2 lbs elbow macaroni, cooked and drained

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

The first step in making delicious homemade cheese sauce is to prepare a roux. This is the thickening agent and despite the fancy French name is very simple. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Blend in the flour and mustard until you have a well-mixed paste-like consistency. It will have a light, golden colour. Now slowly add the milk, stirring constantly. You want the butter/flour mix to complete dissolve into the milk to get a smooth, homogeneous blend. Cook, stirring constantly until the roux has thickened and bubbles.

Now mix in 2 cups of the grated cheese, the salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and onion.

Taste for salt and add more if needed. Cook and stir until the cheese completely melts and you have a smooth sauce.

Remove from heat and mix in macaroni.

Turn this cheesy mixture into a buttered casserole dish. With the variety of shapes and sizes of baking dishes, there is really no perfect dish for this. My family really enjoys the crusty, golden top and so I usually use a large, shallow pan to get as much surface area as possible. But any dish 2-quart or above will work.

Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake, uncovered, about 1/2 hour until bubbly and lightly browned.

And...tada! You have deluxe macaroni and cheese! No box required!

This is a great dish to serve with steamed green vegetables. It is hearty and filling and, in the great tradition of comfort food, it will elevate your mood and make you feel happy.

This will comfortably serve six as part of a complete meal or four as a stand-alone dish.

Enjoy!