Triss says that this has honey and nuts baked into it.
1 cup boiling water
2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp butter
2 Tbls. active dry yeast
1 cup warm milk or nut milk
4 cups whole wheat flour or white wheat flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp rolled oats
In heatproof bowl, pour boiling water over oats; let stand until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Stir in honey and butter.
Meanwhile, in large bowl, sprinkle yeast over milk; let stand until frothy, about 10 minutes. Stir in oat mixture and the nuts. Stir in most of the flour, and salt, to form sticky dough.
Turn out onto floured surface. Knead, dusting with as much of the remaining flour as necessary to prevent sticking, until smooth and elastic, about 12 minutes.
Place in greased bowl, turning to grease all over. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise in warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Punch down dough; divide in half. Form each half into a loaf. Put into 2 greased 8x4 inch loaf pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Brush loaves with egg; sprinkle with oats. Bake in 375°F oven for 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer to racks; let cool.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Nut Milk
Real milk, butter, and cheese are mentioned in Redwall, so I have no qualms in using them. However, in all of the later books, it's always called greensap milk. I don't know what that would be, exactly, I think it's just a term used to indicate that it's not mammal milk. So I've gone with something that makes sense to me and is historically justified, which is nut milk.
Almond milk seems to be the most common in medieval recipes, but I've heard of other types of nut milk as well. I've even heard of oat milk, which I will try to make sometime with this method, using whole oat groats.
The nuts you can use are almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, walnuts, and pecans. The first three are the more popular choices because they're not as bitter.
For a much prettier and more detailed tutorial on how to make almond milk, go here. The recipe there also tells you about using sweeteners and spices in the milk.
Now here's my more basic recipe. You can use any of the nuts above, as stated. For simplicity I'm just going to say almonds the whole time.
This makes about 6 cups.
1.5 cups raw almonds
water
Blanch the almonds if desired. The skins make it taste slightly bitter, but I don't usually blanch them because I'll be using the milk in recipes that use honey, so the bitterness doesn't come through.
To blanch them, boil about 2 cups of water. Pour in the almonds. Boil for about 3 minutes, then strain out the water and let the almonds cool. Rub off the skins by hand.
Cover almonds in water and let soak for at least 4 hours. When they are soft, strain off the water and place almonds in a blender. Add 1 1/2 cups of fresh water. Blend until they have formed a smooth-looking puree. Add 2 1/2 more cups of water and continue blending until it is smooth and frothy, 2-3 minutes.
At this point you can strain the milk. If you are planning on drinking it straight, it's more palatable to be strained. For use in recipes, it doesn't have to be strained.
Place 3-4 layers of cheesecloth in a fine mesh strainer, over a bowl. Pour the almond milk through. When most of the liquid has gone through, bundle the cheesecloth and squeeze out the last bit of liquid. You can dry the almond meal that remains, which can be used as almond flour.
Almond milk seems to be the most common in medieval recipes, but I've heard of other types of nut milk as well. I've even heard of oat milk, which I will try to make sometime with this method, using whole oat groats.
The nuts you can use are almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, walnuts, and pecans. The first three are the more popular choices because they're not as bitter.
For a much prettier and more detailed tutorial on how to make almond milk, go here. The recipe there also tells you about using sweeteners and spices in the milk.
Now here's my more basic recipe. You can use any of the nuts above, as stated. For simplicity I'm just going to say almonds the whole time.
This makes about 6 cups.
1.5 cups raw almonds
water
Blanch the almonds if desired. The skins make it taste slightly bitter, but I don't usually blanch them because I'll be using the milk in recipes that use honey, so the bitterness doesn't come through.
To blanch them, boil about 2 cups of water. Pour in the almonds. Boil for about 3 minutes, then strain out the water and let the almonds cool. Rub off the skins by hand.
Cover almonds in water and let soak for at least 4 hours. When they are soft, strain off the water and place almonds in a blender. Add 1 1/2 cups of fresh water. Blend until they have formed a smooth-looking puree. Add 2 1/2 more cups of water and continue blending until it is smooth and frothy, 2-3 minutes.
At this point you can strain the milk. If you are planning on drinking it straight, it's more palatable to be strained. For use in recipes, it doesn't have to be strained.
Place 3-4 layers of cheesecloth in a fine mesh strainer, over a bowl. Pour the almond milk through. When most of the liquid has gone through, bundle the cheesecloth and squeeze out the last bit of liquid. You can dry the almond meal that remains, which can be used as almond flour.
Pear Pudding
1/4 c corn flour or corn starch
1/4 c chopped raw nuts
2 c milk, cream, buttermilk, or nut milk
3 pears, cored and finely diced
1/4 c honey
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp ginger
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg
Mix the corn flour, nuts, milk, pears, and honey in saucepan and bring slowly to low boil. Boil, stirring for 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Can be served warm or chilled.
Corn flour is a more finely milled version of corn meal. It's not the same as corn starch, though I believe in England, corn starch is called corn flour. Either one can be used in this recipe. I wouldn't using suggest corn meal because it is too coarse and strongly-flavored for a pudding. You can use masa harina.
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