Bar Tartine, SF

Drawing influences from Eastern Europe and in particular Hungary, Chef Nick Balla assembles a Californian menu that is spiked paprika, sour cream, savoury seeds and pickles. This meal was interestingly different in a good way. We don’t get much of these Hungarian/Eastern European flavours in our part of the world, so this was a delectable introduction into this spectrum of flavours.

The dining is casual and communal. The plates are all meant to be shared and bread is meant to be enjoyed on its own, slathered with lard, tapenade, dipped and eaten with pickles.

We started with the roasted kale and rye seeds and yoghurt, which was a good start but were quickly distracted by the next dish, the potato flat bread. When you do come, you have to order the potato flat bread, it is ridiculously delicious – fried dough + fried potato, a crunch and squish, then spread some cool tang with sour cream, altogether is very good. The meal continued with pickles, more bread and we finished off the green chili fisherman stew that was surprisingly greener and lighter than I thought it would be and the very heavy handed paprika spiced tripe. All in all, some of the flavours were unfamiliar to me but it was all good in a new exciting way.

What we ordered:
Mangalica Lard with onion and paprika
Assortment of pickles – creamed beets with green horseradish, brine dill pickles, green beans with aspic and herbs

 

 

Potato flat bread with garlic and sour cream


Beef tartare on koji toast with bottarga


Smoked potatoes with ramp mayonnaise


Roasted kale with rye, seeds and yoghurt


Grilled tripe in paprika broth


Green chili fisherman’s stew with collards

Bar Tartine
561 Valencia Street
San Francisco, California

More No Knead - Walnut&Raisin and less ugly!

I’ve fallen in love with this no knead method of making bread. It is no knead and less mess and the crust even crackles when I pull the bread out of oven. And above all of it, it is amazingly simple, anyone can make bread.

The only issue I have with this recipe is the long time that it takes to ferment. It takes planning. The initial fermentation takes 12-18 hours and then 2 hours for the next proof. The initial fermentation is a little tricky to plan and the only time I managed to string together enough hours and to blend my social and bread fermentation schedule was on the weekends. So I’ve been thinking about how I could work the dough into my weekday schedule and I’ve figured out a way of making this bread-work-life balance work. If I wake up 20 minutes earlier on a weekday to mix the dough and to set the fermentation process, I can shape and proof the dough when I get home from work, have a little dinner and pop it in the oven 2 hours later, then volia I’d get fresh bread for the next day! Hurray! Hurray!

Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
½ cup raisins
1¼ teaspoon table salt
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup walnuts
1½ cups water
½ teaspoon instant or active dry yeast
pinch fresh ground pepper
wheat bran, cornmeal or additional flour for dusting

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, raisins, walnuts, salt, cinnamon, yeast, and pepper, mixing thoroughly. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. If it’s not really sticky to the touch, mix in another tablespoon or two of water. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.
2. When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.
3. Place a tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.
4. Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 250 degree Celsius, with a rack in the lower third, and place the covered heavy pot in the center of the rack.
5. Carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.
6. Remove the lid and continue baking until bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more (It took me about 15). Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to gently lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.

My No-knead (+No-Shape) Olive Loaf

I'm guilty of ugly baking!

Olives have been my latest thing. I’ve been tossing it in salads, consuming them on their own and I’ve been trying to make a good olive loaf.

I haven’t had too much success with the olive loaf. My first yoghurt olive bread was a total disaster and it ended up in the bin. The second loaf wasn’t too fantastic either and I’d like to forget about it. So I’ve abandoned the yoghurt olive bread recipe that have embraced a relatively more time consuming and more effortless approach to this. The new approach – the no knead approach. With the help of Jim Lahey’s wisdom and his recipe, I’ve tried this new method and have had moderate success. I baked an ugly shapeless loaf but it tasted much better. Work in progress but one step closer!



Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
About 1 ½ cups roughly chopped pitted olives
¾ teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
1½ cups cool water
Wheat bran, cornmeal, or additional flour for dusting

Method
1. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add water and incorporate by hand or with a wooden spoon or spatula for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Lightly coat the inside of a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest 12 hours at room temperature.

2. Remove the dough from the bowl and fold once or twice. Let the dough rest 15 minutes in the bowl or on the work surface. Next, shape the dough into ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal; place the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with flour. Cover the dough with a cotton towel and let rise 1-2 hours at room temperature, until more than doubled in size.

3. Preheat oven to 250°C. Place the pot in the oven at least 30 minutes prior to baking to preheat. Once the dough has more than doubled in volume, remove the pot from the oven and place the dough in the pot seam side up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes Then remove the lid and bake 15-30 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned.

Bread Therapy

“Push, stretch and fold, push, stretch and fold, push, stretch and fold…” sometimes there is nothing more therapeutic than doing performing a mindless repetitive action that has a constructive end product.

Now I understand why I’ve been warned, “If you start baking bread, you wouldn’t stop!” While pondering over issues that troubled my mind, there was nothing better than kneading dough. Maybe it’s a need to feel in control of something when other things seem beyond your control, but kneading dough, this very tactile activity, is very good for the soul. Not to mention, you can freshly baked bread to consume with a thick spread of nutella or peanut butter if you still feel blue after your own bread therapy session.



Sesame Flatbread
Makes 4 flatbreads

Ingredients:
200 g bread flour
½ tsp sea salt
3 g dry active yeast
170 ml tepid water
1 Tbsp olive oil + a little extra
1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Method:
1. Place flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
2. Dissolve yeast in water. Slowly add water to flour, kneading to bring the dough together.
3. As soon as it comes together, turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth, then cover with a cloth and set aside to rest for 45 minutes.
4. When dough is ready, divide into 4 equal portions and roll out on a floured surface to circles of about 15-20 cm in diameter.
5. Place on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle sesame seeds. Bake in a preheated oven at 230°C for 5-10 minutes. Each bread should partially bubble up and colour slightly yet not be crisp.