Life provides an abundance of side-projects, interests, work, and love. Explore the alter ego at bread.blog for bread-related things and troubleshooting that sourdough starter and loaf. Enzymes and pH do matter.
For diving deeper into food, currently reading, highlighting, shifting, and practicing with these books: Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, The Natural Way of Farming by Masanobu Fukuoka, Staying Healthy with the Seasons by Elson M. Haas, The Yoga of Herbs by Dr. David Frawley, Herbarium by Caz Hildebrand. In connecting to scarcity and abundance as an expression of the land and her cycles and how our cooking can be truly reflective, I wandered on visionary food writer Patience Gray. As I evolve with new observations, I test it to patternings of the body, spirit, and mind, the small details down to the oil we should be using do matter. The many ways to nurture the whole are person specific. I explore and share these findings at karenman.substack.com.
Stories are told and can modify our perceptions of the world. Are we comforted by, encaptured by, constrained by, or blinded by them? Reflections on grandmother’s cooking, soup, and learning spanish while living and working in Lima: here.
Life’s love affair, 粥, From Fuchsia Dunlop’s Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China:
When not making or eating congee, always have old bananas waiting for another expression of life. I’m not one to enjoy bananas with any number of spots.
Banana Bread, for the decadent palette
170g butter or ghee, room temp
75-100g unrefined sugar
100g whole eggs
44g whole milk*
270g unbleached, unbromated all-purpose flour*
5g baking powder
4g ground cinnamon
3 overripe bananas, mashed
Pinch of salt
Cream butter or ghee, sugar, salt, and cinnamon with a paddle. When creamy and pale in color, add eggs. Add sifted dry ingredients in stages, alternating with bananas and milk. If using nuts, add last. Bake for 45-55 minutes in a greased loaf pan at 350°F. (Optional: add ½ cup chopped nuts of your choice.)
* For gluten-free option, replace with half almond flour and half buckwheat flour and add additional 44g milk.
Banana Bread, without eggs or dairy
230 g whole wheat flour (1 3/4 cups)
53g coconut sugar (1/4 cup)
2 tsp ground flax seeds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1/4 tsp black pepper
Pinch of mineral salt
75g olive oil or coconut oil, melted (1/3 cup)
350-410g mashed overripe bananas (1 1/2-1 3/4 cups)
60-75g non-dairy milk, if needed (1/4-1/3 cup)
100g chopped pecans, toasted, optional (1/2 cup)
The amount of bananas and liquid vary depending on how many bananas you have and how thirsty the grains may be. Mixture should be like a thick pancake consistency. Bake in greased pan, loaf, mini loaf, muffins…whatever size nourishes.
If wanting to use discarded starter in recipe, refer to uses for masa madre on bread.blog.
I’ve made pizza for as long as I’ve known how and lately even more enjoyable, thanks to Gozney. The oven really makes for much of the difference. Also, a major glamping upgrade. Sierra Estes for ceramic mugs.
70% strong flour
30% whole wheat
10-15% levain, 100% hydration
65-75% water, cold*
2.5% salt
2-4% olive oil**
Mix together flours, levain, water, and olive oil. Autolyse for 30 minutes.
Add salt with a small amount of reserved water. Distribute well and wait 30 minutes before beginning folds.
Bulk fermentation: 3-4 hours with 4-6 folds, every 30 min
Notes:
* Alter hydration for your flour’s absorption as it differs with every wheat and climate.
** Use less olive oil for fattier and lower gluten grains, like einkorn.
I’ve made this with all the fold combinations, even needing to leave the house for 2 hours and refrigerating the dough and coming back to finish the folds, taken the dough to accupuncture with me, finished the bulk fermentation but didn’t have time to divide so divided hours later…
from The Art of Baking: Oxheart
Thank you team at Ttweak for capturing this journey in a short film.
CHERPUMPLE
She is an engineering-feat that a skillful baker must also have. Cherry, pumpkin, and apple pie held delicately in layers of yellow cake and just enough frosting.
CHINESE PANCAKE
This was the type of pancake I grew up with. It was always more flavorful when made at home than when ordered in a restaurant. I’m not sure why anyone would skimp on the green onions. This was one thing that I loved that my grandmother didn’t make, so I learned from another person’s grandmother. I would go after school or after swim practice for lessons. I didn’t know it then, but these gifts were heirlooms.
FIG TART
My parents have a fig tree and some summers we had an abundance of figs. Most would get eaten fresh and as I learned how to create more things, fruit tarts became my canvas for seasonal expression.
BLACK BEAN TEMPEH
I support the traditions that use time and fermentation to unlock nutrients, make foods more easily digestible, and allow for a study of transformation. Tempeh is not something I grew up with, but for someone that chooses to eat a more plant-based diet, during fermentation, the bacteria Klebsilla sp. helps produce vitamin B12. I got the initial spores from Culture for Health, but have since cultivated my own.
HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY WHIT, 2020
Occasionally I make cakes, preferably for young humans whose parents would really much more enjoy it. I prefer to spend more time sourcing ingredients rather than decorating and finding ways to make cake a more balanced experience of the human wholeness, with less sugar, less fat, less eggs, more intention, more mindfulness, more time.
HERBAL GOMASIO
1 cup organic sesame seeds (grind half)
1/2 cup dried herbs
1/8 cup organic hemp seeds
1/8 cup organic milk thistle seeds (or more herbs)
1 Tbsp. Himalayan pink salt
Karen Man 