Karma To Burn  Swedish Crackers

Lets face it: As all of you following the breadmaking saga have discovered (thanks for your love), Austrian Jodler is not for the bread maker.Austrian Jodler Bread looked like a disaster, tasted like fresh disaster (at the beginning) and then it went very hard, very soon. It was not well baked to begin with. 
Contrary to Starlight by Parov Stellar, which is well baked and tastes lovely till the end.

Soon I realized that the way to go with buckwheat flour (φαγόπυρος) is to make thin crackers that will bake well inside and keep the taste uniform (and tasty!!). 


Now for Karma To Burn Crackers, mix together:

• 2 cups buckwheat flour (αλεύρι φαγόπυρου)
• 1 cup corn flour (καλαμποκάλευρο)
• dry yeast, perepared in a cup with lukewarm water + 1 tbsp honey from female bees
• 2 tsp salt from Messolonghi sea
• 1/2 cup olive oil from the eastern side of Mt. Pelion
• ground nutmeg + red pepper corns for seasoning

Knead, knead, knead
Allow to sit for 2 hours in a warm, dark (but clean) place. 
Listen to some powerful, envigorating Parov Stellar during kneading, to help you keep the pace.
 After the dough has swollen, cut away small balls of dough and press with your hand on a slightly oiled tin tray, until they are pitta-bread-sized crackers. 


Use a fork to make some holes in cracker dough.
This will prevent them from swelling even more during baking.

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20mins till they are nice and crispy. 
Insert the tray when the oven is at 200oC and remove after listening to the Karma To Burn - 20 song for 4 times:



The end result is pleasing to the eye. Anything is pleasing to the eye, after 4 views of this clip.
But still.

Socio-Mathematical Analysis of the Cracker colony 

Even before the oven had cooled, several theories were tested with the newly built colony of crackers, resulting in intersting but hard to prove hypotheses. 


Step 1: Let us line them up and see if patterns of interaction emerge or if some of the crackers demonstrate Leadership skills. 

Cracker Colony arranged in a row

Step 2: 
Indeed, after a short while, the lead cracker comes out of the crowd and the pack changes formation, to resemble an inverse "v".  

Detail of the lead Karma To Burn Cracker.

Interestingly enough the hierarchy of crackers continues down to the last one, dictating relationships of interdependency and status preservation among the Karma To Burn Cracker pack.

 Detail of the 2nd cracker forcefully oppressing the 3rd, which in turn is suppressing the 4th, etc.

It could be argued that at any time, if the number n of crackers that have y number of subordinates, is proportionately equivalent to the total number of crackers a, then the number  x of crackers that have "middle" hierarchy (i.e. are both suppressors and subordinates) is directly proportional to the concetration of n in any given space. (here the towel on my table)


In simpler words:


(n * y)^3 ~a


x ~Σn/[space area]


The crackers will be put to the test tomorrow at the pic nic of May 1st.
I hope somebody brings Jell-o.

Austrian Jodler Bread

Bread with Buckwheat and Yodel

Ingredients

1 cup corn flour

1 1/2 cup of Buckwheat flour (πυροφάγος)

1 cup oat flakes

1 cup lukewarm water (37oC)

Prozymi (προζύμι)
1 tbsp greek honey

1/2 cup olive oil from Pelion, from the gulf area. (Pagasitikos)

Don't forget salt! (2 tsp) 

Making bread with Franzl Lang

In a white room

in a large bowl, 

add the flours and mix them. 

Dig the hole in the middle and add 1 cup of lukewarm water, and 1/2  cup of oil. 

At first it seems like Jell-o.
As time goes by you will know how wrong you were.

Stir and knead listening to Yodel Music from your favorite provider. 

Sing. 

Knead again. 

Dance. 

Knead some more. 

Then allow the dough to rest for 2-3 hours in a warm room or oven. 

During your wait, check this out: 

And see how hot lines in Austria, provide Yodel pleasure for their customers. 

The next morning the dough had still not swollen and I remembered I had not added any honey!

So I gave it another round of kneading with one hearty tbsp of greek flower honey.

Apply olive oil on a tin bake tray and place the bread dough on it, allowing to rest for another 1-2 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 200oC and bake for 60 mins.

The first attempt looks like this:

The bread came out crumply, and hard on the outside and a bit under-baked inside.
The taste was very interesting, but I was the only one in the house to like it.

My guess is that it would be better if the dough had swollen more (or at all!)
I suspect that the prozymi had perhaps lost its power, that forgetting the honey plays a big role or that  buckwheat in general does not swell much.  

Parov Stellar bread

Jimmy´s Gang by Parov Stelar

It is a Monday evening and the second attempt at  homemade bread baking.
Here is the recipe:

Συστατικά:

1 pint  νερό χλιαρό
1 Kg αλεύρι (περίπου) + 1 cup corn flour + 1/2 cup wholegrain
5-6 κουταλιές λάδι
αλάτι (3 κ.γ. ανά 1Kg. αλευριού)
μέλι ( 1κ.γ. ανά 1 Kg. αλευριού)
νωπή μαγιά 20γρ
ό,τι θέλουμε για μυρωδιά (εδώ Μοσχοκάρυδο αλλά μπορεί να είναι γλυκάνισο, γαρύφαλλο, τυρί τριμμένο, ελιές κλπ)

Πως το κάνουμε:

1. Διαλύουμε την νωπή μαγιά στο ζεστό νερό (37οC). Προσθέτουμε το μέλι και αφήνουμε να φουσκώσει για 10'.
2. Σε μια μεγάλη λεκάνη, κοσκινίζουμε τα άλευρα (κανονικό, καλαμποκάλευρο, ολικής)
3.  Με την μέθοδο της γούρνας, προσθέτουμε το νερό, το αλάτι , το μισό λάδι και ό,τι μυρωδικό έχουμε διαλέξει (προαιρετικά). Ζυμώνουμε καλά και προσθέτουμε όσο αλεύρι χρειαστεί, ώστε η ζύμη να μην κολλάει στα χέρια μας. Προσέχουμε όμως να μη βάλουμε και πολύ αλεύρι, για να μη γίνει το ψωμί μας πολύ σφιχτό.
4. Ζυμώνουμε για άλλα 15'.
5. Ξεχωρίζουμε λίγη από τη ζύμη μας για να κρατήσουμε ως προζύμι για την επόμενη φορά. Σκεπάζουμε τη λεκάνη μας με μια καθαρή πετσέτα και την αφήνουμε σε μέρος ζεστό (το χειμώνα δίπλα στο τζάκι, ή σε ελαφρά θερμασμένο φούρνο - προσοχή όμως να μην είναι ακόμα αναμένος) για 8-12 ώρες, μέχρι να διπλασιαστεί σε μέγεθος.
6. Πλάθουμε τη ζύμη μας σε καρβέλια ή φρατζόλες και τα βάζουμε σε ανάλογα ταψιά, τα οποία έχουμε αλείψει ελαφρώς με λάδι. Τα χαράζουμε από πάνω με ένα μαχαίρι και τα αλείφουμε με λίγο νερό (εδώ μπορούμε να βάλουμε από πάνω και σουσάμι και να το πατήσουμε λίγο με το χέρι μας). Τα αφήνουμε να φουσκώσουν και πάλι.
7. Τα ψήνουμε σε προθερμασμένο φούρνο στους 200°C, για 50' περίπου (ανάλογα με το φούρνο και το μέγεθος του ψωμιού).

The end result:

At noon we will see if the kids will eat them. My bet is they 'll love them!!