Cookbook Review- Lark: Cooking Against the Grain

Lark: Cooking Against the Grain by John Sundstrom, (head chef of Lark, Seattle) was recently gifted to me by my good friends back in Seattle. Lark first opened its doors in 2003. before then  john sundstrom worked in the acclaimed seattle restaurant: the Dahlia Lounge as well as being head chef at Earth & Ocean in the W hotel, Seattle.  John has been featured on the Food Network’s “Best of“ Show as well as ”Food Nation”. Also John was featured in the PBS original series “Chefs a-field”, which was nominated for a James Beard Award. John was named “Best Chef Northwest” by the James Beard Foundation. john sundstrom obviously knows what's up with food.

 

after working in the food industry for a number of years myself and discovering how hard it can be to run a business, i swore i'd never want to open my own place. while reading this wonderful cookbook i was won over by the romance of running a restaurant, selecting quality ingredients (local and from afar), cooking them with care and then sharing the bounty of great food with others. food with a story. i then began to have second thought sof my own. I've come to my senses since, but the power of this cookbook is still there. every time i open it i see something i missed the last time, its held its place by the bed for some weeks now. most books last a few nights if their lucky! 

 

the book itself is organised into seasons, the pacific northwest is generally a mild climate and lacks a real wintery cold period, much like Ireland. so, John Sundstrom breaks the seasons into three distinct categories: Mist (nov-march), Evergreen (april-july and Bounty (aug-oct). the menu at Lark changes weekly depending on whats available and at its peak from vegetables, foraged food, whole pigs, lamb and cheeses. with this in mind the book is not entirely devoted to staying local. how can you beat real parmigiano reggiano, anyway? some great foods are just worth the air miles.

i was absolutely sold on the book when i came across this recipe with smoked butter, prawns and Brussels sprout leaves. smoked butter? yes! in a sauce? wow. the books recipes are clearly written along with encouragement to mix and match the recipes to your liking and what you have in season at your given time.

i love the emphasis on vegetables as a main ingredient, a trend that is getting stronger as of late in the food world. veg isn't just a second thought on the table, its in the spotlight. just look at this yummy plate of beetroot three ways, cooked, pickled and raw. heaven.

Cookbook Review: Flour Water Salt Yeast: the Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza

it's taken me awhile to write this post. mainly because of all the research and baking i've done with while reading this book! im well on my way to my fourth bread recipe, and i can't wait for the next baking day at home.

i bought Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast: the fundamentals of artisan bread and pizza, after searching for new baking books to read. the name instantly jumped out at me, for obvious reasons! it seems we (the authour and I) were on the same wavelength, as far as titling our projects go! after a a little detective work,  i realized i've actually been to the bakery this book hails from and indulged in their lovely breads. it was serendipty. i bought the book immediately, with baking and a book review in mind. i'm so glad i did.

the concept: 'flour water salt yeast' is highly apt for the art of bread baking, taking a few simple good ingredents with the help of invisible microrganisms and fermentation creates- bread! the alchemy of bread never ceases to amaze. in this book, the recipes rarely stray from the above 4 ingredients, except for the 'Pan au Bacon,' but who can leave out bacon?

Sweet Potato and Pear Pizza

Ken's Artisan Bakery is run by Ken Forkish, who studied at the San Francisco Baking Institute, he also apprenticed with renowned bread baker, Chad Robertson, of Tartine Bakery (san francisco).  Ken opened his doors in 2001, in Portland, Oregon. the bakery specializes in long fermented breads with high hydration content and well rounded flavour. these breads have been adored since they were first baked in the bakery 11 years ago. since then, Ken has opened a pizza spot, there are 4 different pizza base recipes in the book to choose from, and are equally as delicious as the bread recipes.

bread recipes in ths book are wetter than most and require folding, rather than kneading

since getting the book i've read it front to cover and baked three bread recipes - two with commercial yeast  and the other sourdough. being a long time baker myself, i went for a sourdough recipe (Country Brown), and since then, i've been short on time, tried out the simpler recipes (the Saturday White Bread and White Bread with Poolish). every recipe has been memorable and highly addictive.

i love Ken's in-depth writing style and way his book is meant to bring newcomers to the joys of bread baking. by starting small (with one day recipies) and working up to intermediate, then advanced recipes - some taking days to prepare, this book is for everyone wanting to bake bread. the chapters and recipes are written in a timeline from easy to advanced, so you can work your way through the book, like a bread cookery course. after which you should be a bread baking master, there's 19 recipes in all! most of the bread recipes provide handy timelines for the working person to go by, so you don't have to be home the whole day waiting for your bread to rise, like the 'saturday white bread', (which im getting ready to take out the oven as we speak), this bread was developed for days when you need bread fresh bread in a few hours, begining at 9:30 am and finishing the bread at 5:00pm in the evening.

shaping the wet doughs into loaves

the book itself is broken down into four parts. Part 1 being an introduction to bread baking and the tools needed. Part 2 is a collection of 'Basic Bread' recipes, like straight doughs, and breads made with pre-ferments. following onto the more the advanced Part 3: levain bread recipes, with understanding the levain (sourdough) method in hybrid and pure levain breads, as well as making your own sourdough from scratch. Part 4, contains 3 chapters dedicated to the art of pizza and focaccia making, favouring homebaked pizzas baked with a super high heat and pizza stones.

baking with a cast iron dutch oven

when attempting the bread recipes in this book do try and seek out a cast iron dutch oven to bake in. this is a much celebrated method of home bread baking, and is essential to creating a crust with crispy caramel colouring. breads such as these rely on steam captured in ovens to allow the loaf to rise thouroughly in the oven, and gelatinize starches in the crust. it may sound complicated, but in practice the bread does all the work for you! this method has been adopted by many professional bakers and written about in books like, The Bread Builders, and Tartine Bread. everyone should do it! look at the bread you could end up with! it's amazing.

Saturday White Bread

 

the final conclusion is: i'm totally inspired by this book. f you're interested n everything there is to know about bread or want to learn how to make better bread, this is the book for you. the recipes may take some time to finish, but really only involve minutes of actual active time, wth stunning results!