Tis' the season...Butter Tarts!

I am a huge Butter Tart fan! Butter Tarts have always been a family favorite and my Nana was awesome at making them every Christmas. Christmas for me would not be the same without those syrupy, sweet treats. As I got older, that became my present from her. For as long as she could bake I received a tin of butter tarts each year. That is a very fond memory for me.

I don't think that I have her recipe anywhere...I have flipped through the family's All-Star recipe book that my Mom put together for us. But, this recipe comes close and is really easy to prepare.

I used our Soft White Wheat for the pastry. It is still an Entire-Grain flour, but you wouldn't know it. The pastry is light, tender and flaky....but, it is SO flavourful; beyond anything available at any store.

So, here is the recipe for you that I use from food.com.

http://www.food.com/recipe/award-winning-butter-tarts-14756

For the pastry I don't use a recipe. Here is my description of what I do.

1) A certain amount of Soft White Wheat flour...perhaps 4-5 cups.
2) A pinch of salt
3) A certain amount of lard. I'd say around a cup
4) Ice cold water

I use our Kitchen Aid with the whisk beater. I add the salt to the flour and stir. Then I add the cold lard that I've cut into small pieces.
I start the mixer on medium and let it blend in the lard until it is starting to break down into smaller pieces. The ideal goal with be to have "pea" size pieces of lard in the flour
I then turn the mixer to low and slowly start adding the cold water. I add very little at a time and I let it mix well. Add enough water so that the mix finally comes together into a dough consistency. It will take awhile. Ball up the dough and keep in the fridge until you need it.

Ruiskakut Cookies - Traditional Christmas Favorite

Ruiskakut Cookies

These cookies originated in Finland (one posting I found said they originate in the land of Karelia, which includes parts of Finland and Russia) and as far as I can tell they are a winter/Christmas treat. They are sometimes called Estonian Rye Cookies.

They are mainly made with a whole grain rye flour and are often served as appetizers with a cream cheese spread or fruit preserves. ""

The few recipes that I found were all pretty much the same. I took the simplest one and made it as "100 mile" as possible.

1 cup of softened butter

2/3 cup honey (the original recipe called for granulated sugar)

2 cups whole grain rye flour

1 cup soft wheat flour (Spelt Flour would be a great substitute)

3 tbsp water 

NOTE: I didn't add the water as my dough was still quite soft. Instead I added a touch more flour and let it firm up a bit in the fridge before rolling.

Beat the butter until smooth. Add honey and beat until fluffy. 

Add flours and mix until just combined.

Add water if needed to hold dough together OR knead in additional flour if dough is too soft to roll out. Wrap in plastic and chill if needed.

Roll dough about 1/8" thick. Use a 3" wide scalloped cutter and then a 1" round cutter to create a "wreath".

Pierce all over with a fork. Add red and green decorating sugar crystals if desired.

Bake at 350F for about 8 min. They can become over done quite quickly so check at 7 min.

They are a thin, crisp yet tender cookie with a wonderful earthy flavour from the whole grain flours and honey.

A definite worth while cookie to add to your Christmas traditions!

The above recipe was submitted to me by Deb Krause. She has a beautiful blog entitled Simple Pleasures Deb is also known as @DebTheLocavore on Twitter!

Oatmeal Flax Crisps

Here is a simply wonderful dessert that is full of healthy ingredients. It is actually closer to a candy bar than anything. These are our family's favorite treat now that Cindy's made them a few times. Incredible tasting according to all who've tried! Enjoy.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups Gold Forest Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Gold Forest Golden Flax seeds
1/2 tsp. baking powder

In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; stir in sugar and vanilla and cook for about 2 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in oats, flax seeds and baking powder; mix well. Press firmly into greased 12x8 baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool; cut into bars. Voila.

This is a highly addictive treat that will win you much adulation at the next church or school bake sale...guaranteed.

On a note, Cindy thought that the flax and butter made these "greasy" so she tried it with 2 cups of oats...it just turned into a granola...good, but not a bar. I didn't mind the buttery appearance at all. She wants to try it with Organic Agave syrup and then add some more oats, but to me, it works just fine as is.

Cindy got this recipe from the Canadian Living Cooking Collection recipe book titled "Muffins and Cookies". The 65 tastiest recipes for muffins, cookies, bars and squares.

Oatey Flaxy Cookies

Here's a new recipe from Tesia for her Gold Forest Grains version of the classic Oatmeal Cookie!

Gold ForestGrains Oatmeal-Flax Cookies

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup GFG whole grain flour (I used Spelt, but Soft White would also work well)
• 1 ½ cups GFG Traditional Rolled Oats
• 2 Tbsp GFG Golden Flax
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg

Wet Ingredients

• ½ cup honey (I used local honey from Hanneman Honey)
• ¼ cup healthy oil (canola, olive)
• ¼ cup applesauce
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 1 egg (beat with 1 Tbsp water)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Yummy Additions

• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup pecans (walnuts or almonds would work well, too)
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (because, you know…)

Preparation:

1.  In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.

2.  In a medium, bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together. 

3.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Add the raisins, nuts, and other

     additions you like.  If the mixture is too wet, add a bit more flour (I wound up adding

     an extra 2 Tbsp of flour).  If it’s not binding well, you may want to add an egg white.

4.  COOL the mixture for 20 minutes in the fridge.

5.  Preheat the oven to 335 degrees Fahrenheit.

6.  Drop the mixture by teaspoonfuls onto your baking sheet (try lining the sheet with

     parchment paper for easy clean up).  Press down with a fork to ensure even baking.

7.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom of the cookie (mine

     were baked nicely at 15 minutes).

8.  These freeze well, too!

Makes ~2 ½ dozen cookies

Spelt Spaetzle recipe by Paul Shufelt, Blair Lebsack and Tony Le

Here is a tremendous recipe and article from yesterday's Edmonton Sun by Chef Paul Shufelt VP Culinary Century Hospitality. He and Chef Blair Lebsack and Chef Tony Le have come up with what I suspect will be an outstanding dish for Saturday's Slow Food Fundraising Gala...Roots, Shoots and Garden Boots. Stone ground mustard Spelt Spaetzle.

Organic Spelt Spaetzle by Paul Shufelt

Wheat Berry Salad with Pine Nuts - Caroline

A tremendous recipe from one of our great customers, Caroline!


I wanted to send you that awesome recipe made with wheat berries......mmmmmm.....soooooo good! As I said, it's a little bit of effort, but worth every minute spent. I've done various renditions of this recipe (depending on what's in my fridge and pantry),  and it always turns out beautifully, but the best version is always this one - the original.
                                               Wheat Berries Salad with Pine Nuts

(One day prior to making the salad, make preserved lemon - see step one in recipe)

Preserved Lemon
3-4 lemons
1 tbsp coarse kosher or pickling salt

Wheat
1 cup hard wheat berries
1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
1 cup medium or coarse bulgur
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 large, unpeeled garlic cloves

Salad
Juice of 1 large lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 green onions, thinly sliced
3/4 to 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
3-4 large Roma or plum tomatoes
3-4 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1. To quickly prepare preserved lemon, lash sides of washed lemon 6 times, evenly spaced, from just below top to just above bottom. Work coarse salt into slashes. Place in a small wide-mouth preserving jar or ordinary glass measure. Microwave, uncovered, for 1 minute or until skin feels hot. Juice remaining 2-3 lemons; pour over hot whole lemon until just covered. Wedge lemon in jar, if necessary, to keep from floating. Cover and let stand at room temperature for half a day or overnight; then refrigerate.

2. Generously cover wheat berries with cold water in a medium saucepan; add 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until tender, about 45 minutes; drain. Meanwhile, combine bulgur, 1 tsp salt and measured boiling water in a mixing bowl; let stand while berries are cooking.

3. Place pine nuts and unpeeled garlic cloves in a small heavy skillet over low heat. Shake pan frequently for 8-10 minutes or until pine nuts are golden. Watch carefully, as pine nuts burn easily. Cool; then peel and mince garlic.

4. To make salad, stir drained wheat berries into undrained bulgur. Whisk lemon juice with olive oil, garlic and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir dressing into wheat along with green onions and parsley. For best flavour, cover and refrigerate for several hours.

5. When ready to serve, remove a couple sections of preserved lemon. Cut away mushy interior and most of the white; very finely dice remaining yellow peel. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out seedy interior. Dice remaining tomato shells. Stir preserved lemon, mint, tomatoes and pine nuts into salad. Serve in a large bowl.

spelt waffles

We enjoyed my new Waffle Iron this morning. It was a Christmas gift to me by my wife Cindy. One of those gifts that had my name on it, but wasn't really for me! So, for the first time, I hauled it out and came across this recipe for waffles. The only substitutions I made was our fresh milled Spelt Flour and the Vanilla we purchased on our recent trip to Mexico. It is a clear vanilla, organic and aged...wonderful!

The waffles turned out spectacular! A very successful recipe and a great way to use Gold Forest Spelt Flour!

My camera went missing recently so you'll have to take my word for it that these waffles came out golden brown and perfect! The waffle iron is by Cuisinart as pictured.

kutya (kutia) traditional Ukrainian Christmas dish

For all my Ukrainian heritage friends out there we are making it easier to enjoy a holiday favorite by providing wheat berries at the Strathcona Farmers Market every Saturday from 8-3. 1kg bags to 22.7kg

Traditional Ukrainian sweet grain pudding...a Christmas tradition!
Picture from Ukrainian.ca

Of course many people are now interested in achieving a local rice substitute...wheat berries may be the ticket. Enjoy this easy to prepare dish at any time of the year. The variations on this dish are endless, so use your imagination. The Recipe


Perhaps instead of a sweet grain pudding it is savory...cumin, garlic, roasted onions. Develop your own favorite way to enjoy wheat as a rice replacement and support your local farmers!

potato buckwheat pancakes!

A new recipe from a new friend! http://tripleheartbeat.wordpress.com/

This is a new blog and it looks good so far. I hope that it is a success!

flax quenelles recipe!

This is a nice email I received from a customer of ours that I met at market last weekend...Sorry Angel, but I don't know much about egg substitutions...perhaps somebody out there has a suggestion?

Thanks for the recipe Angel!

Hi John & Cindy, makers of amazing grains!!!!

 

I was just at the market telling John about an amazing recipe I recently discovered.

This recipe was found at a Vipassana meditation retreat, of all places.

The recipe was called Flax Seed Balls, but being a foodie, I prefer to make quenelles!

 

 

The measurements are for raisins, Gold Forest Grains Organic Golden Flax seeds and sunflower seeds, measured at a ratio of 1-2-3 respectively.

(I ended up with about 6 cups, which made a HUGE lot of 'em!)

 

Put these in a bowl with just enough water to cover. Cover bowl and leave on the counter overnight.

 

The next day you can add cinnamon, vanilla, carob, etc. and then blend until smooth. )I used an immersion blender, worked great.)

Some folks might like to add some maple syrup or other sweetener, as they are mildly sweet.

 

Roll into balls or make quenelles, roll in flaked  coconut. EAT! (You probably already know this, but, organic flaked coconut is insanely inexpensive at Earth's General Store!)

You can also freeze them, which is what I did, I eat them semi-frozen. SO delicious AND healthy!

Unfrozen they are very soft which may not be a desirable texture to some.

 

I am going to experiment more with the recipe, I think there are endless possiblilities,  these would make an elegant dessert if they were plated with some berry coulis, whipped cream and a smash of shaved chocolate!

 

While I have your attention; I went to your blog, but didn't know how to comment there, not too computer savvy moi!

It looks very interesting, will visit more often and check out fellow foodie Kevin Kossowan, as reccomended by John.

 

FINALLY!- As I mentioned today, I am currently lacto vegetarian, and wonder if you can reccomend a way to make your wonderful pancake mix sans eggs? Do you think I could use coconut or almond milk?

 

Grazie mille!!

 

Angel

focaccia bread with our Soft White Wheat Flour!

Blogger and cook extraordinaire Get Cooking's Kathryn made a wonderful looking Focaccia Bread with our white wheat flour. This is not white flour, but a flour milled from Soft White Wheat. Extremely tasty, especially when milled fresh...this variety of whole wheat flour is definitely our most flavourful flour. It is not as high in protein as our Hard Red Spring Wheat flour so is probably not your best bet for traditional loaves of bread, but it makes wonderful cakes, cookies, muffins and obviously....Focaccia!

crepes with strawberry maple sauce

I made some lovely crepes this morning with our Soft White Wheat flour. It was a little trickier to make crepes using an entire grain flour, but I got it working and they tasted amazing if I do say so myself.

Here's what I did:
Crepe Recipe:
1 cup soft white wheat flour (you can sift it if you prefer)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup melted butter or less if you prefer

Just mix all the ingredients. It should be a runny consistency, unlike pancake batter which is thick. Heat the frying pan to medium low and add some butter. When the griddle is hot apply the batter and then tilt the frying pan around to spread the batter thinly. Let the crepe cook until the edges appear cooked and then flip it and brown the other side. Easy!

Strawberry Maple Sauce
3 cups frozen organic strawberries
1/2 - 1 cup organic maple syrup
Sugar to taste (if you like)
1/2 cup water

Boil the strawberries, water and sugar until the berries are soft. Mash them with a fork and reduce the sauce until you get the thickness you prefer. Add the Maple Syrup. Done. Easy!

We filled the crepes with a spoon full of organic Strawberry Yogurt and rolled the crepes on the plates and then drizzled (ok, poured) the strawberry maple sauce over the top. You could also add some icing sugar for fancy decoration, but we couldn't wait to do that. We also cooked up some Side Pork from Irvings Farm Fresh...yummm!

yorkshire pudding recipes baby!

My absolute favorite baking project...even better than pancakes, is yorkshire's from a smoky hot oven. Crisp, golden brown and savory I can't think of anything that tastes better when drizzled with a nice roast gravy. But...don't forget to keep some extras in the fridge and then in the morning cut them open, fill with whipped cream and then sprinkle with powdered sugar....oh my.

Here is where I got my recipe for yorkshires. I have been using this recipe for a couple years now. It is the first one...Maggie's. Yorkshire Pudding Recipe 
It is from the Canada B&B Hosts website.

I have found that the key to puffy Yorkshire's is to make sure that the ingredients are indeed room temperature. Really get that muffin tin hot too. So hot that it is smoky and the batter sizzles and spatters as you pour it in. Get the batter in the tins as quick as you can and shut the oven door...don't peek until they're done...keep the oven hot.

Ok, so here's the plan...go to City Market or Strathcona Market on Saturday. Buy a nice pork roast from Serben's Free Range or First Nature Farms and some Flour from us. Then go get some potatoes. Oh yes, if you need some really fresh and completely flavourful cooking oil, go see Mighty Trio Organics. Then, after a wonderful afternoon at the farmers market you will have your Sunday roast pork dinner all lined up. I can taste it now.

Enjoy!!!

bread night

I noticed that we were low on bread yesterday so I decided to bake a loaf. I must tell you that this recipe and methodology is the simplest way to bake bread I have ever come across. I mean when somebody says that they baked bread the image comes to mind of an exhaustive day of kneading, rising and baking. I decided to bake a loaf at around 6:30 and it was out of the oven by 8:30. Most of this two hour time in preparing the bread was spent sitting on the couch watching The Nature of Things on boxee.

Now granted, this is not the artisan bread that we are accustomed to eating from places like Bon Ton Bakery, Dauphine Bakery & Bistro or even Avenue Homesteader's latest creation, but it is a nice tasting and healthful loaf of bread that is great for sandwiches and toast. It is easy to make because if I can do it...it is easy. 

1.5 cups of milk in a sauce pan heated to around 100 degrees. Add 2 tsp of yeast and 2 Tblsp of honey once it gets to temperature. Stir in the yeast and honey till well mixed and set it aside while you prepare the other ingredients. It will begin to bubble and foam within 10-15 minutes.
In our Kitchen Aid mixer I place 4 cups of flour.
Get ready:
2 tsp of salt (don't add the salt to the flour just yet.)
1/4 cup of oil. We use organic olive oil but melted butter works too or whatever.

Now that the yeast mixture is working away there should be a layer of foam on top. Turn on the mixer with the bread hook attachment and add the milk/yeast/honey to the flour. Then add the oil. Once it has mixed a bit you can slowly add the salt.

I let the mixer knead the dough for around 10 minutes or so. While it is working I grease/flour a bread pan.
Once the dough is kneaded it will be very elastic feeling and slightly moist to the touch. Shape it to the bread pan and place the pan in a warm spot with a light kitchen towel over top. I flour the top of the loaf so it doesn't stick to the towel. We place the pan on the floor in front of the wood stove where it is nice a cozy. Last night I let it raise like that for about an hour. You can let it go as long as you like I suppose. Pop it in a 375 degree oven for 45 mins and the picture is what you should end up with.

bread recipe and comment

I received the nicest email the other day from Sherri, one of our new customers. She is working on some self-sustainable projects for her family including baking and here is what she has to say about our wheat and how she uses it. Enjoy!

John,

I have emailed this to you so that you can put it on your blog wherever you think it should go.  



I have now mastered baking amazing bread with your organic hard red wheat and I have to say that your wheat produces the best bread I have ever tasted!  I have been milling wheat and baking bread for about 3 years and nothing I have made in that time compares to what what I have made with Gold Forest Grains organic red wheat.  The texture, flavour, and "tooth"  of the bread are excellent.  The fragrance of the organic red wheat during milling is unparalleled and the rise is superb.  A gorgeous product in every way.  Thank you!

For those interested, here is the recipe that I use (from a mother of 14!) that is fast and easy, involving only one rise.  It makes 4 large loaves.

5 cups very warm water (120 degrees)
2/3 cup oil (I use canola)
2/3 cup honey or sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
2 large eggs
8 cups freshly milled organic hard red wheat from Gold Forest Grains (+ an additional 4-6 cups to add after initial mixing)
1/4 c yeast



Put ingredients into mixer in order listed including only 8 cups of the flour at first.  Mix until blended well, then slowly add enough of the remaining flour to have the dough begin to pull away from the sides of your mixer bowl.  It should look a bit sticky.  Knead for 14 minutes in mixer.  Immediately shape dough and place into greased pans.  Allow loaves to rise in a barely warm oven.  I use the oven light to just take the chill off the oven.  When loaves have doubled, turn oven on to 320 degrees.  Leave loaves in oven while oven is coming up to temp.  Set timer for approximately 40-45 minutes as soon as you turn your oven on and bake until tops are golden brown and loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove loaves from pans and allow to cool on cooling racks.  

Thanks once again, John for producing such a fabulous product.  I love Gold Forest Grains Organic Red Wheat and will never go back to what I was using before.

Sherri



Sherri's recipe is interesting from the standpoint that there are eggs included. It is basically the same recipe that we use along with the methodology minus the eggs. I think I'll try hers though just to see. We always seem to have a lot of eggs in our fridge...good chickens. 

THE best donut recipe ever!

Came across this recipe while looking to make a treat on a windy wintery day and wow! I used our whole grain, regular flour made with hard red spring wheat. While the recipe called for all-purpose refined flour, the donuts turned out excellent with our flour. I ran out of milk so I used water and mixed in some yogurt to make "milk" substitute.

My digital camera is currently m.i.a. so you'll just have to take my word for it that these baked donuts made from whole grain, whole wheat, unsifted flour turned out light and fluffy and taste amazing. The pile that I made this afternoon is quickly disappearing as I type. Here is the recipe...I made sure to heed the warning about overcooking.

rye pancakes

I am the self-proclaimed King of Pancakes. I mean I adore pancakes and I make them all the time. Now that we are living in a house and are together again I will go back to my tradition of making pancakes or crepes at least once per weekend and usually twice. Sometimes we even have pancakes for supper mid-week. Over the years, I have perfected pancake recipes and cooking methods so that I get perfect hotcakes every time...light and fluffy golden brown.

This past week we milled a batch of rye flour for a customer and I had a bunch left over so I decided to try making rye pancakes and rye crepes. They turned out tremendous! Cindy said that they were the best pancakes she had ever eaten. We have never made pancakes out of rye before and I have never heard of them up until now. So, I present to you, in their world premiere...the Rye Pancake!

They taste different from a regular wheat pancake...a little nutty flavoured perhaps. Definitely more of rich, grain taste. They are not dark or heavily textured as Rye Bread is, on the contrary they are very light and fragile. Fully cooked, theysimply melt on the tongue drenched in buttery sweetness. You can see in the photo

 that the batter has a light colour, with little flecks of darkness that is purely rye.

The rye grain does not contain the protein and gluten of a wheat so the rye pancake does not fluff up as much as the wheat will. Still though they were light and fluffy enough and the complete opposite of chewy. Simply delightful.





My recipe is simple but I do it with feel instead of measuring cups and it doesn't need to be precise anyway.

1 cup of flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 egg (very important...keep the egg count low for pancakes)
1-2 cups milk
pinch of salt
2 tbsp of sugar

I mix the dry ingredients together and then add the wet. The final pancake product is determined by the thickness of your batter. A thicker batter will puff up and have a great degree of volume while the opposite is true of a thin batter. It should be thicker than runny crepe batter, but thinner than muffin batter. You can see in the picture what a perfect pancake batter looks like.

Cooking a thick pancake batter is a little trickier than thin. The heat should be medium to medium-high. Too high and the outside will burn and the inside will still be runny. Keeping the heat lower is better than too high. Take your time making pancakes. True gourmet pancakes take time, like all great food. I mean these are not common, ordinary griddle cakes!