Having experimented with bagel recipes for a couple weeks, I’ve brought together the best suggestions, along with some hard learned lessons for making bagels. Separate from the recipe, I have also decided that the traditional shape is a legacy and not one I feel compelled to observe. Hence, I make "Bagel Flats".

My recipe and the directions below are more detailed than most I have authored. This is in part because I have found I need every step. After a few near misses, the keys are

1. the slow rise created by the small amount of yeast and high amount of flour
2. the generous use of oil on both the pan, brushed on the dough, and the parchment
3. applying the toppings and then flipping the dough "bottom side up" for the first 5 minutes of baking

So, without further ramblings, here is my recipe for Bagel Flats …

Base Ingredients

• 4 c bread flour (scoop and scrape measure method, not sifted)
• 10 oz water (warm)
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 Tbs honey
• 1 egg

Additional Ingredients

• 1/2 c wheat germ
• 1/4 c flax meal
• 1 c spent grain (completely optional)

Prep & Cooking Ingredients

• 1/2 c oil (prefer peanut but canola will work)
• 12 c boiling water
• 2 Tbs sugar

Finishing Ingredients

• sunflower seeds (dry roasted will add a savory flavor vs. plain)
  other options include poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion flakes, etc.
• 4 Tbs corn meal

Directions

• in a large mixer with a dough hook, combine 8 ounces of the warm water, with the honey and yeast. Briefly stir with a spoon or spatula to dissolve the honey and mix in the yeast
• let sit for approximately 5 minutes
• add the egg, salt and the "additional ingredients" and start the dough hook on low (first or second setting)
• start to add the flour (it will take longer and longer to incorporate each subsequent cup) – from time to time, it may help to briefly change the mixer speed to release the dough from the hook and/or scrape the bowl
• as needed, drizzle in the remaining 2 ounces of water, a teaspoon at a time
• once all of the flour is added, continue to mix for 5 more minutes, varying the speed to fling the dough off the hook – this period is to kneed the dough and develop the gluten
• place the dough in a lightly oiled a bowl and cover with plastic wrap; place in a warm area until dough doubles in size
• turn the dough out on a large lightly floured board; punch down and start to form a rectangle 3/4 inch thick
• cut dough into 12 equal parts; 6 to 7 inches long – this should yield bars between 2-1/2 and 3 inches wide
• oil two cooking sheets and place bars with at least 1 inch space between
• brush the tops with oil
• cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area for 20 minutes
• prepare two baking sheets with parchment and brush oil on the parchment; preheat oven to 400 degrees
• in a large pot, bring 12 cups of water with 2 tablespoons of sugar to a boil
• boil the dough pieces, 3 at a time, for 2 minutes then turn them over and cook an addition 1 minute
• using a large slotted spatula or scoop, remove the dough and place on the oiled parchment
• sprinkle any "finishing ingredient" on one side, pat gently to seat, then flip the dough over and dust with corn meal
• place cooking sheets in oven for 5 minutes
• remove; flip dough over to reveal the topping; return to the over; bake and additional 20 minutes until golden in color
• when done baking, remove from pan and place on cooling racks and let sit until room temperature

This bread used the basic strait dough method I previously described. The recipe diverges from the herb bread by first omitting the 2 tablespoons of herbs and adding about 4-6 table spoons of sun dried tomatoes diced very fine with about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (or in my case, I just threw those together in a food processor and pulsed until they were chopped enough). The baking time was very close to 40 minutes at 375 on a cast iron griddle pan.

Thanks to Nicole for the suggestion of drying all the extra grape tomatoes that were left over this season!

A few years ago I practiced the art of grilling steak outdoors. Now, with the new kitchen, I am revisiting steak but as an indoor sport. Here is what I have thus far …

Ruth’s Chris, the restaurant chain, is renowned for their steaks and more than one home cook has taken to reproducing the cooking results. Here is the simplest description I have found:

Broiling steak in a Wolf stove

We use NY strips from Costco. I rub on Costco’s steak seasoning mix and let the steaks sit for at least an hour beforehand in the fridge. Heat butter in a cast-iron skillet on the Wolf’s range top (medium high), add the steak(s), searing around 3 minutes per side. Flip once more and finish under the infrared broiler (I think I do use the second rack, actually) for about 4 minutes and then let the steak “sit” unheated in the skillet for a couple more minutes before serving. Perfect medium rare steak with crust! No need to leave the door ajar while broiling in the Wolf range’s oven.

source: chowhound board

This is pretty accurate and the process can work with any stove. If you don’t have an infrared broiler, one commenter suggests setting the oven to 350 degrees.

I took a #8 cast iron pan and heated it to medium high and quickly melted about 1TBS of butter. I used cheap cut of meat* about 11oz and 1-1/4″ thick. I seared it in the pan for about 2-3 minutes a side and as instructed above, flipped it back to the first side before popping the entire pan in the oven. The (infrared) broiler was already hot and the pan was on the middle rack. I left it in for about 4-5 minutes. I then removed it and left it in the pan for another 4 minutes and onto the plate. It was medium rare in the middle and medium at the edges. The next time I do it I will leave it in the oven for 7-10 minutes and will also try using a 350 degree oven at some point so I have a method that will work in other kitchens.

* cheap cut of meat = I took a 3-1/2 lb boneless chuck roast that was about 2-1/2″ thick. I cut it in half and the cut each half butterfly style to I had 4 steaks, each a little over an inch thick. I then liberally salted all sides with kosher salt, stacked them up and wrapped them in some butcher’s paper and put them back into the refrigerator. I then froze all but one which I used after 12 hours. You don’t need much more than a couple of hours in contact with the salt but I wanted to experiment with time to see if it would work to prep the meat at breakfast and cook it at dinner.

I tried the hip new “no kneed bread” method and I have to say “no thanks”. I have a heavy duty mixer with a dough hook so it’s not like I’d have to do all that laborious kneading of my parent’s generation so “why not” do the traditional bread making method ?

Making bread the traditional way yields consistent, delicious, and visually compelling results. More important to me is the fact you can see and feel the dough at enough stages to correct for little errors. In the end, you get a well deserved reward.

For my part, I watched Alton Brown and used his measures. However, I followed a line that falls somewhere between what he calls the “strait dough method” and making a “sponge”. In my kitchen, I’ve been growing – yes growing is the right term here – growing a starter using a little dry yeast, some flour, a teaspoon of cane sugar and water. I let if out doors uncovered on a warm day and was rewarded with a frothy yeasty container of “starter”. I hope, over time, that the starter will evolve into a sourdough starter.

Anyway, I start by putting all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and adding about 2-4 ounces of the starter. I compensate for the extra liquid as best I can but this is where the traditional method starts to shine. It’s very easy to see if the dough is a bit too wet or a bit two dry so "adjustments are easy. Odds are good, with my process, the dough will be a bit wet. I suggest adding flour in single tablespoon increments or even less. It won’t take much flour to go from too wet to too dry.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz bread flour (that’s a bit more than 3 cups)
• 8 oz water
• 2-4 oz of the starter
• 1 TBSP cane sugar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1-2 tsp of a combination of thyme and/or rosemary (optional)
• 1 tsp oil (optional)

I combine all of the ingredients in the mixer with a dough hook using the lowest setting. If the dough is a little wet then I add a tablespoon or less of flour and let it mix some more. This entire stage is about 5 minutes long. I cover the mixing bowl with a towel for about 20 minutes.

Next, I use the mixer on medium speed with the dough hook to perform the necessary kneading. This takes about 10 minutes. As Alton Brown points out, if the dough hangs on tight to the dough hook, turn up the speed for a moment to fling the dough back out to the side of the bowl. Next, I take a nonstick pot with lid – big enough to take the dough and still allow it to double in size. I spray or rub a little vegetable oil on the bottom and side of the pot and drop the dough in. I push the dough down relatively even in the bottom so it’s easy to judge when the dough has doubled in size. The temperature in the house can be highly variable so I stick a large cast iron pan in bottom rack of my oven and turn on the heat low for about 1 minute then turn it off. This will hold enough warm air to let the dough rise in the oven. Alton uses warm water but the cast iron pan works for me and since the pot with the dough is covered, I have not experienced any drying out of the dough while it rises.

After about 2 hours, I check the dough and leave it longer if it has not reached about double its original size. Once it has risen enough, I take the pot out. Here is where the non-stick pot works great. I dust the top of the dough with a little flour and then “swish” the dough around until it releases from the sides of the pot and the flour starts to fall around the edges. then, a light flick, and I can get the dough to roll over enough to dust the other side. Now I use my knuckles and punch down the dough and fold it over on itself a couple times. I then remove the dough and roll the edges under to form a nice smooth top. It can now go onto a baking peel but I’ve been using old bread pans so the resulting loaf can be used easily for sandwiches. I elongate the dough ball and place it in the bread pan. It needs to sit in a warm place (like the oven trick again) for about an hour.

I bake a full sized loaf pan at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Most of my recent loaves have been done at 40 minutes. I follow Alton’s suggestion and stick a small digital probe thermometer in the bottom of the loaf to check if it’s done. Ideally, it should be about 200 degrees but below 212 degrees – as Alton points out, if it goes over 212 degrees it means all the moisture is gone and it will dry out.

It starts with a few ripe tomatoes …. well, more than a few …. well, A WHOLE DARN TRASH CAN OF THEM !

Now that the tomatoes are ripening faster than anyone could pick them and the commercial growers are only interested in the green ones (so they can gas them, ship them, and they’ll arrive un-bruised and ready for sale), it’s time for me to work on my tomato sauce / spaghetti sauce / tomato pesto recipe.

It starts with 6-8 plastic grocery bags that I stuff in my pocket before taking Zen for the morning walk. Once we arrive at the end of the field, Zen hangs out for about 15 minutes while I pick out just the best of the ripe red tomatoes. to be honest, if I were a little less picky (bad pun) the whole ordeal would last no more than 5 minutes because there are THAT MANY tomatoes passed over by the commercial pickers. One the bags are over flowing, I set them at the end of a row or off to the side and Zen and I head back. Later, I take the lawn mower over with a kitchen waste basket and fill it to the brim and then stuff the rest of the bags anywhere I can. Note: I made the mistake on the first day of filling two kitchen bins and it took me forever to process them all. I vowed, "never again". Now I am more critical of the tomatoes I choose to the point that i pass over literally hundreds of "left to rot" fruit.

Once back at the farmhouse, the labor begins. I wash all of the tomatoes in the sink – they just fit. Then I cut out the core, quarter them and run them through a food processer on batches; making tomato puree. This gets bagged in 1 gallon bags and frozen for later this fall and winter when I have time.

I’ve taken two of the 1-gallon purees and started to create my recipes. The first batch was turned into a lemon – tomato – basil pesto. It is amazing and crisp and refreshing. It will go great over linguine (al dente of course). The second batch was a more traditional tomato pesto with onion, garlic, basil, and course ground white and black pepper. I balance the tomatoes with a combination of raw cane sugar and sea salt to adjust for any variation in the concentration of tomato flavor. As you can see in the last frames, I cook the sauce down until it is so thick you push it around in the pan and it stays.

The cooking down process is simplified greatly with the chuck wagon sized cast iron pan. This one is 15" across and the combination of 360 cubic inches of volume and 175 square inches of surface area allows me to turn the heat to high for the first 30 minutes with very little attention on my part. The last 30 minutes requires less heat and more attention as the liquid evaporates and the sauce thickens quickly.