Cranberry, Sunflower seeds and Flax Seed Bread

I've been baking bread from the Bread Bible ever since I got it.
There's so many recipes to try but recently I've been playing around with the basic hearth bread recipe (page 305).
What I like about this one is that it has that nice rustic crust I like from artisan bread and because it's a basic recipe, I can use it as a base to try different things.
This is one I've recently finished perfecting and I'm quite happy with this variation.

Toasted slice of bread

You can borrow the book from the library. I found that it was available in both Markham and Toronto.

For this variation, I used half the recipe to create a loaf bread.
I like the loaf bread because I find it easier to cut and it's perfect size for 2 people to eat within 1 week.

Modifications
1. Add 1/3 cup of soaked dried cranberries.
2. Use the water used to soak the dried cranberries as the water the recipe calls for in the dough starter.
3. Add sunflower seeds
4. Add Ground Flaxseeds. (I've done with both whole and ground but I read that it's better to use ground because you can absorb all the benefits Flaxseeds bring vs it going through your system undigested)
5. Baking with La Cloche instead of just straight into the oven.

Method Modifications
In regards to adding the extra ingredients, I added them before the first rise so it has time to meld into the dough.

After Kneading the dough and it's ready, let it rest for 10 mins for the dough to relax.

Then press out the dough into a rectangle.

Do not press too thin or else the seeds and berries will cut right through the dough.

Once it's pressed out, I spread the ground flax seeds all over.

Then sprinkled both cranberries and sunflower seeds to cover the dough. (Picture to the Right)

Once that's done, I rolled it up like a jelly roll.
(Picture below)

Connect the ends to make a donut shape and knead softly a couple of times.








Then proceed as the instructions in the recipe.
You can make a round shape loaf or a loaf
If you wish to make a loaf, then follow the instructions for how to roll a loaf bread

The picture below is my loaf without tucked ends. You can tuck the ends to make it look prettier on the ends.

Baking with la cloche
I've tried both starting with a cold oven and starting with a preheated oven.
Some people say the crust is crisper if you preheat the over.
I do agree but honestly if you're scared of the la cloche cracking, go with the cold oven.
I found the baking time different between cold and preheated to be about 10 mins for my oven. It may very pending on how fast your oven heats up, so please check your break before you turn off the oven.

Cold Oven
If you decide to use a cold oven, place the bread in the la cloche with the top on and turn the oven on to 475 degree F.
Once the oven reaches temperature, start the timer for 10 mins then turn it down to 425.
I lifted the lid after 10 mins and only needed to bake it for an other 5 mins and it was done.

Preheated Oven
The Bread Bible will tell you to preheat the oven with the lid inside. The la cloche instructions will just tell you to preheat the oven.
I tried the Bread Bible method and my la cloche did not crack. This will be up to you for how confident you are with cracking or not.
Preheat to 475 degrees F, lid is optional.
Once it's preheated, place the bread in with both la cloche top and bottom and start the timer for 10 mins.
Turn down the heat to 425 and bake for 15 mins.
Lift the lid and cook for about 10 more mins afterwards. Check your bread as it will vary oven to oven.
Cooking time is very similar and to cold oven start. Really depends on how long it takes for your oven to heat up.

Happy baking

Pesto Chicken Baked in La Cloche

I've been having a lot of fun with the la cloche. I found that baking chicken in the la cloche actually helped keep the chicken moist.

I had left over pesto sauce that we made an other day so I decided to use it on the chicken.
I rubbed the sauce in-between the chicken breast and the skin so it would get to the meat directly.
It's my favourite thing to do when baking a turkey and I'm glad it also works for a chicken.

Pesto Chicken Baked in La Cloche

Makes 1 Chicken, Prep time: 15 mins Cook Time: 40-60mins

Ingredients

• 1 Whole Chicken, washed and dried
• 3 carrots
• 3 sticks of celery
• 1 Onion, quartered and 1 quart cut into 1/8
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• Salt and peper
• 1 Tbsp Pesto sauce

Directions

1. Preheat the over to 375 F.
2. Wash and cut all the veggies
3. Placed the washed and dried chicken onto the la cloche dish.
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and rubbed it in.
5. Use your hand to separate the skin from the breast meat of the chicken. The middle part to separate the 2 halves of the breast will stay but that's ok.
6. Use your hands and rub the pesto sauce on the breast meat under the skin. This will help marinate the meat directly
7. Put a quarter of the onion and half the garlic in the tummy of the chicken.
8. Rub the rest of the garlic along with left over pesto sauce onto rest of the chicken (the legs, wings and back)
9. Sprinkle the veggies around the chicken.
10. Put it in the oven with the lid on top.
11. For a 1.4kg Chicken, I cooked it for 40 mins covered                                                                               and 15 mins uncovered.

Enjoy

How to keep Celery Longer

I don't use celery very often in Chinese cooking and when I do, it's usually just 2-3 stalks at most per dish I make.

So you can imagine if I buy celery, it'll stay in my fridge for a very long time.

However if you just keep it in the fridge, it'll wilt rather fast and become limp. Definitely not ideal if you want to use it in stir fry or even just eat it as is.

To keep celery over a long period of time, put it into water as if you meant to grow it!

If you keep it out of the fridge, over time you will find it sprouting leaves even if it doesn't grow taller.

If you don't want more leaves, then put the celery in the cup of water in the fridge and it will slow down it's growth.

You can revive limp celery this way too!

My husband left half a stalk of celery in the fridge for a week after he cooked with it and it was quite limp by the time I found it in the fridge.

I cut off a bit of the bottom and put it in a cup of water on my counter top.

The first day the celery was all bent over the cup and I had to stand it up against the paper towels.

The second day it had more strength and only the top was curled over.

By the third day it's fully standing up straight on it's own and all ready for me to use whenever I want.

Happy cooking.