![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It has been rather warm the past few days (temps in the 20’s C, which isn’t warm at all by California standards, but still quite warm for here, where we still had snow in the yard not three weeks ago), and today I am feeling especially drained as a result. It didn’t help that I finally got to the baking I had hoped to do on the weekend, so it got warm in the kitchen. However I think it was worth it, since I now have a bunch of yummy bread pockets to put in the freezer, and have available as road food when Thorvald arrives here from Avacal next month and we go on adventures.
The bread dough was started on the weekend. I had had a couple of couch surfers from Friday night to Saturday morning (one Australian/Polish gentleman from Perth, who sounded like my step dad, but looked like my uncle Bubzy (no real surprise on either point), and his friend Adam, who is a Polish man who actually lives in Poland). I had no idea if they would want anything for breakfast, but since I got up before they came up stairs in the morning I decided to put some oatmeal in the rice cooker—if they weren’t interested I could always bake with it later. So I used three cups of oats, 1/4 cup of powdered milk, 6 cups of water, and a dash of salt (and a bit of butter?), and let it cook while I went and had my morning muesli and checked email. When they got up they weren’t interested in oatmeal, but by then I was hungry again, so I had a small bowl full. They continued on their way some time later, and I put some flour in a bowl with some yeast and two cups of hot water, then added all of the left over oatmeal, some butter, and enough flour to make a good bread dough. This was a big enough batch that towards the end I broke it into three bits of dough and kneaded each on its own till it was no longer sticky, then combined them back together. I had lots to do with the rest of the day, so I put the dough into a buttered bowl, covered it with a damp cloth, and put it into the fridge till later.
Later turned out to be not that day, not the next day, but the day after that. These things happen when one is busy. (I did take the cloth out on Sunday evening, wet it down, wrung it out, and put it back on the dough, but I am not certain it really needed it, it was still damp. Perhaps because I had put the bag of kale and the bag of spinach on top of the bowl, since they happened to fit there, and don’t weigh enough to be a problem.
So today after work (and after spending a few minutes curled up with a book and a bowl of popcorn) I made the filling for the pockets:
* Put some water in a pot and set it on the stove to heat
* Get out the food processor and get it ready to grate some veg
* Now that the water is boiling put in the steaming tray and the contents of one bag of kale
* While the kale cooks grate the stems from three small heads of broccoli and two carrots and put them into the big mixing bowl.
* Use a hand-knife to cut the broccoli flowers into bite-sized bits and add them to the mixing bowl
* Put one packet of alfalfa sprouts on the cutting board and roughly chop that, too, and put it into the bowl.
* Change the food processor to the chopping blade
* Take the now cooked kale and put it into the food processor and set the contents of a bag of spinach (200 g) into the steaming pot to cook.
*While the spinach cooks give the kale a few pulses to get it started chopping and add 1/2 cup of almond meal and one small package of fresh cheese (minus the couple of bites that I tasted, for quality control), some pepper, onion powder, salt, garlic salt, nutmeg, coriander powder and leaves.
* Add the cooked spinach to the food processor with the kale etc., and process till it is smooth.
* While the green sauce cools a bit chop a small bag of Jerusalem artichoke, two small zucchini and add them to the bowl
* Cut a small packet of feta cheese into small bits and add it to the bowl.
* Pour the green sauce over the veg and cheese and mix well.
* Then wash everything up and clean the counter in preparation for making the bread pockets.
* Turn the oven on to 160 C to pre-heat
* Take 1/4 cup of dough at a time and roll out to thin ovals
* Place 3/4 cups of filling on a dough oval, fold the dough in half over the filling, pinch the edges shut (like a pasty) and set on a baking pan to rise.
* Butter the tops of each pocket and let them rest while washing up again, then bake.
There was exactly enough filling to make 16 pockets, and eight of them fit nicely on one baking sheet. I baked them till just turning golden brown, pulling them out to butter their tops again at about 3/4 of the way to done, and, of course, I buttered the tops again when they came out of the oven. I let them cool completely before freezing.
The bread dough was started on the weekend. I had had a couple of couch surfers from Friday night to Saturday morning (one Australian/Polish gentleman from Perth, who sounded like my step dad, but looked like my uncle Bubzy (no real surprise on either point), and his friend Adam, who is a Polish man who actually lives in Poland). I had no idea if they would want anything for breakfast, but since I got up before they came up stairs in the morning I decided to put some oatmeal in the rice cooker—if they weren’t interested I could always bake with it later. So I used three cups of oats, 1/4 cup of powdered milk, 6 cups of water, and a dash of salt (and a bit of butter?), and let it cook while I went and had my morning muesli and checked email. When they got up they weren’t interested in oatmeal, but by then I was hungry again, so I had a small bowl full. They continued on their way some time later, and I put some flour in a bowl with some yeast and two cups of hot water, then added all of the left over oatmeal, some butter, and enough flour to make a good bread dough. This was a big enough batch that towards the end I broke it into three bits of dough and kneaded each on its own till it was no longer sticky, then combined them back together. I had lots to do with the rest of the day, so I put the dough into a buttered bowl, covered it with a damp cloth, and put it into the fridge till later.
Later turned out to be not that day, not the next day, but the day after that. These things happen when one is busy. (I did take the cloth out on Sunday evening, wet it down, wrung it out, and put it back on the dough, but I am not certain it really needed it, it was still damp. Perhaps because I had put the bag of kale and the bag of spinach on top of the bowl, since they happened to fit there, and don’t weigh enough to be a problem.
So today after work (and after spending a few minutes curled up with a book and a bowl of popcorn) I made the filling for the pockets:
* Put some water in a pot and set it on the stove to heat
* Get out the food processor and get it ready to grate some veg
* Now that the water is boiling put in the steaming tray and the contents of one bag of kale
* While the kale cooks grate the stems from three small heads of broccoli and two carrots and put them into the big mixing bowl.
* Use a hand-knife to cut the broccoli flowers into bite-sized bits and add them to the mixing bowl
* Put one packet of alfalfa sprouts on the cutting board and roughly chop that, too, and put it into the bowl.
* Change the food processor to the chopping blade
* Take the now cooked kale and put it into the food processor and set the contents of a bag of spinach (200 g) into the steaming pot to cook.
*While the spinach cooks give the kale a few pulses to get it started chopping and add 1/2 cup of almond meal and one small package of fresh cheese (minus the couple of bites that I tasted, for quality control), some pepper, onion powder, salt, garlic salt, nutmeg, coriander powder and leaves.
* Add the cooked spinach to the food processor with the kale etc., and process till it is smooth.
* While the green sauce cools a bit chop a small bag of Jerusalem artichoke, two small zucchini and add them to the bowl
* Cut a small packet of feta cheese into small bits and add it to the bowl.
* Pour the green sauce over the veg and cheese and mix well.
* Then wash everything up and clean the counter in preparation for making the bread pockets.
* Turn the oven on to 160 C to pre-heat
* Take 1/4 cup of dough at a time and roll out to thin ovals
* Place 3/4 cups of filling on a dough oval, fold the dough in half over the filling, pinch the edges shut (like a pasty) and set on a baking pan to rise.
* Butter the tops of each pocket and let them rest while washing up again, then bake.
There was exactly enough filling to make 16 pockets, and eight of them fit nicely on one baking sheet. I baked them till just turning golden brown, pulling them out to butter their tops again at about 3/4 of the way to done, and, of course, I buttered the tops again when they came out of the oven. I let them cool completely before freezing.