I had good luck making Turkish coffee tonight in a new small Egyptian Ibrik. I used a good amount of ground cardamom and a bit more sugar than the last couple of go-rounds. And I did a little longer infusion between letting the foam rise to the top. The coffee was our Indian Mysore ground in the Rocky on its finest setting. I’m brewing it over the gas burner that I use for making Japanese nabe.

Like espresso preparation, Turkish coffee is an art. I’m not yet an artist, but I’m working on it.

Someone on the ultra list asked for a lefse recipe. Here’s the one that my brother and I use – very similar to the version that our Mom made.

(The photos are of ace lefse chef Gillian, from a lefse-making party we did at my brother’s house.)

Lefse Recipe

4 lb potatoes
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups flour

Peel, quarter potatoes and boil until tender. Drain and return to pan over low heat for a few minutes to dry.
Rice potatoes. Add butter, salt & sugar and mash until well mixed. Let cool and then refrigerate until cold.
Heat lefse griddle to 500°.
For each 1/4 of potato mixture, mix in 1/2 cup flour (or less) and divide into 6 balls.
Roll out on baking parchment and transfer, parchment side up, to griddle; the parchment will peel away in a minute or so.
Cook on both sides.

Margarine changed to
butter, six cups changed to four pounds.
Note: try cake flour.

Here’s a great site for lefse-making equipment

- dc

I made a couple of recipes over the weekend from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. The first was the cinnamon roll recipe, which I’ve made once before. I started it Saturday evening, retarded it in the fridge, got up at 5 to allow it to proof in time to bake for breakfast. Used a bit of orange extract in the fondant. A terrific cinnamon roll recipe.

The second was the potato bread with rosemary. I made the biga (a pre-ferment) on Saturday, let it ferment in the fridge overnight, and made the 2 loaves (2 boules) on Sunday afternoon (to go with a southwestern corn chowder). I also added the options 1 ounce of chopped roasted garlic – a nice addition. The potatoes (1 cup, mashed) makes the dough and the bread nice a soft. I proofed one of the loaves in a french banneton and the other on a parchment-covered sheet pan. Before proofing, I misted the sheet pan loave with olive oil. It developed a darker smoother crust and rose somewhat higher in the oven. I’m thinking that the unencumbered sheet pan boule may have risen a bit more during the proofing stage.

It was a definite success. I plan to try it without the garlic and rosemary – I think it’ll make a good potato bread.My goal is to get close to Grace Baking’s potato bread.

- dc