Bake your own biodynamic bread

Home cooking with your own or local produce is one of the best things you can do to lower your food miles and maintain your own good health. And making your own staple foods, such as bread, is really satisfying.

I’ve always liked baking bread, and have tried many different methods and recipes. I think I’ve found my favourite one so far in Jim Lahey’s no knead bread. Lahey is a New York baker who makes Italian style breads, and is encouraging everyone to bake his bread at home. He has published his basic recipe on his website, sullivanstreetbakery.com. It is also available in his book My Bread, by Jim Lahey with Rick Flaste, (W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2009), which also includes many other great recipes.

I use Demeter’s biodynamic bakers bread to make Lahey’s no knead rustic Italian loaf, as it is really strong … and biodynamic.

The recipe is very simple, and there’s hardly any faffing about with the dough, but a friendly warning: you need to plan ahead, as the first rise takes 18 hours. If I want to put bread on the table at 1 pm Sunday, I have to mix my dough by 2 pm Saturday.

You will also need a large heavy ovenproof pot with a lid, like a Dutch oven (or a French oven if you prefer … is there a difference?).

This is good food. You can tear it apart with your teeth like a medieval peasant, or be posh and dip it in organic extra virgin olive oil.

Sian’s Sensational Stinging Nettle Pie

This recipe can be adapted to almost any combination of vegetables and/or cheese. If using eggplant, slice and salt both sides of eggplant first. All non-green vegetables should be sautéed first. Experiment with different combinations of fresh and dried herbs.

For best results, cook the pie in a baking dish, cast iron or scanpan that can be used on the stove as well.

(Makes up to 9 large serves)

Ingredients

2 medium onions, chopped

1 bulb garlic, finely chopped

large bunch cavolo nero (Italian black cabbage) / kale/ silverbeet or two bunches spinach, chopped

8 eggs

300g feta cheese

large bunch fresh, young nettle tips, stalks removed and chopped

6 sheets filo pastry

100g butter

1tsp paprika

olive oil

3 large handfuls mushrooms, roughly chopped (optional)

large bunch fresh herbs, eg parsley, chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 160˚C. Melt butter in a pan - do not let butter brown!

Pour off butter and reserve for glazing.

Chef’s tip: to make garlic cloves easier to peel, crush with flat part of knife blade

Sauté onions, garlic and mushrooms, add oil as required. Using the same pan not only saves dishes but adds more flavour to the finished baked pie.

Place green vegetables and fresh parsley in a large mixing bowl.

Mix eggs in medium sized bowl and add paprika.

Chef’s tip: broken eggshell pieces can be removed using half a clean eggshell.

Add feta cheese, including liquid, to eggs and paprika.

Add liquid ingredients to chopped greens, sautéed vegetables and nettle.

Add extra olive oil to mixture if too dry.

With dry hands, spread two layers filo pastry across bottom of pan or baking dish.

Chef’s tip: handle pastry with dry hands. Two sheets of filo pastry are less likely to tear than one.

Spread half mixture evenly across pastry.

Add next two layers pastry opposite direction, and brush with reserved butter.

Add remaining mixture, fold in pastry and brush with butter.

Add top layer pastry.

Tuck in sides and brush with butter.

Bake in preheated oven at 160˚C for up to one hour.

When lightly browned, turn off oven and leave pie in oven until cool. Leaving the pie to cool inside the oven adds more flavour to the pie.

Reheat before serving.

Keeps well covered in fridge for up to several days. This pie is good served hot or cold and holds its shape, once cooked, for lunches.

- All images and recipe information intellectual property of Sian Bennett, August 2009.