So here on the farm we have shared meals and take turns cooking. In the winter months, it is quieter and we take a break from making breakfasts and folks fend for themselves in the mornings.  This week we started back up with community breakfast since we are getting back into our busy season. To kick off our first week teammate Laura made an amazing local quiche with a homemade crust that was so yummy we just thought we had to share! Check out the recipe for her spinach, bacon quiche with a potato nutmeg crust below!

Spinach Bacon Quiche

Makes one 9 inch pan
Ingredients:
1/4 lb bacon
2 cups lightly packed baby spinach
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup cheese
1⁄2 tsp black pepper
1 medium onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 quiche crust
Chop the bacon into small pieces and cook in a frying pan. Add in the onions and garlic and continue to
saute. Once everything is cooked, stir in the spinach until it wilts and the water evaporates.
Beat the eggs and milk together with the salt and pepper. Add in the cheese, and the sauteed bacon
mixture.. Pour everything into the quiche crust. Bake a 325 for about an hour, or until nearly firm. Cool
for one hour before serving.
You can also make this a day ahead and either reheat or serve cold. If reheating, slice the quiche while
cool, then reheat for 10 minutes at 375.

Crispy Potato Nutmeg Quiche Crust

Makes one 9 inch pan.
Ingredients:
4 cups potatoes, shredded
1 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
1⁄2 tsp nutmeg
1⁄2 tsp salt
Rinse the shredded potatoes in water and squeeze out the starch until the water runs clear. Squeeze as
much water out of the potatoes as you can. Mix well with the other ingredients, and press into a buttered
9-inch pie pan. Bake at 400 F for 20-30 minutes, or until lightly golden. Add quiche ingredients and
bake at a lower temperature until the quiche is done.

By Laura Killingbeck

Over the years we’ve been making a variety of breads with wild yeasts.  But lately our sourdough starter hasn’t seen a lot of action.  Luckily, this Fall our friend Jen Snyder popped by the farm and gave us a fresh starter and a fresh start at crafting sourdough loaves.  After an afternoon of dough lessons, she set us loose to experiment, and since then the microbes have been thriving.

Below is the master recipe she taught us, along with some of our local variations.  We have been drying lots of local cranberries for use in recipes like these, and this year started making a little bit of acorn flour as well.  Bread recipes are fabulous carriers of all kinds of local dried fruits, nuts, and herbs.  We’ve also been inspired lately by Lu Yoder’s bicycle powered wheat grinder, which he uses to make bread  from local wheat.   

For more in-depth information about sourdough, please see the book Tartine by Elizabeth Pruiett and Chad Robertson.  The following recipe is adapted from Tartine.

Snyder Style Sourdough Master Recipe

This recipe calls for an existing sourdough starter, and it makes two loaves.

Day 1 Starter:

Ingredients:

1 tbs sourdough starter (your “mother” from the fridge)

100 g flour

100 g water

Cover with a cloth, mix well and let develop 8-12 hours at warm room temperature.  The starter is active when you can drop a small amount in water and it floats.

Day 2 Dough:

Ingredients:

200 g active starter

700 g water

1000 g flour

20 g salt

50 g water, divided

Mix the starter and 700 g water together to incorporate.  Add the flour and mix into a shaggy mass.  Its important not to add salt at this stage because it interferes with the way the gluten is forming. 

Cover with a cloth and let rest for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the salt over the dough, and add the water.  Incorporate with your hands.  Cover and let rest 30 minutes.

Every 30 minutes for the next three hours, wet your hand and gently pull the dough up in quarter turns, and then continue to let rest.  If you have anything to add to the dough (spices, nuts, fruits, etc) do so in the beginning of this process, and fold them into the dough.  For dried nuts or dried fruits, reconsitute in water before using.

Next:

Sprinkle some rice flour and wheat flour on a board and put the dough on it.  Split it into two equal portions and let sit 20 minutes.

Fold the dough on four sides into a round package and turn the seam down.  Build surface tension by pulling the ball towards yourself from different angles in a round sphere.  Line a round colander with cloth, sprinkle rice flour over it, and put the sphere inside.  Let rest 3-4 hours.

Bake in the covered combo oven at 450 F for 20 minutes.  Uncover the combo oven and bake another 20 minutes.  (Total baking time is 40 minutes.)

Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Snyder Style Sourdough

Wheat Bread with Cranberries and Pecans

This recipe calls for an existing sourdough starter, and it makes two loaves.

Day 1 Starter:

Ingredients:

1 tbs sourdough starter (your “mother” from the fridge)

100 g flour

100 g water

Cover with a cloth, mix well and let develop 8-12 hours at warm room temperature.  The starter is active when you can drop a small amount in water and it floats.

Day 2 Dough:

Ingredients:

200 g active starter

700 g water

500 g all purpose flour

500 g whole wheat flour

20 g salt

50 g water, divided

1 cup chopped pecans, soaked in water, then drained

1 cup chopped cranberries, soaked in water, then drained

Mix the starter and 700 g water together to incorporate.  Add the flour and mix into a shaggy mass.  Its important not to add salt at this stage because it interferes with the way the gluten is forming. 

Cover with a cloth and let rest for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the salt over the dough, and add the water.  Incorporate with your hands.  Fold in in the cransberries and pecans.  Cover and let rest 30 minutes.

Every 30 minutes for the next three hours, wet your hand and gently pull the dough up in quarter turns, and then continue to let rest.  If you have anything to add to the dough (spices, nuts, fruits, etc) do so in the beginning of this process, and fold them into the dough.  For dried nuts or dried fruits, reconsitute in water before using.

Next:

Sprinkle some rice flour and wheat flour on a board and put the dough on it.  Split it into two equal portions and let sit 20 minutes. 

Fold the dough on four sides into a round package and turn the seam down.  Build surface tension by pulling the ball towards yourself from different angles in a round sphere.  Line a round colander with cloth, sprinkle rice flour over it, and put the sphere inside.  Let rest 3-4 hours.

Bake in the covered combo oven at 450 F for 20 minutes.  Uncover the combo oven and bake another 20 minutes.  (Total baking time is 40 minutes.)

Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Snyder Style Sourdough

Acorn Wheat Bread

This recipe calls for an existing sourdough starter, and it makes two loaves.

Day 1 Starter:

Ingredients:

1 tbs sourdough starter (your “mother” from the fridge)

100 g flour

100 g water

Cover with a cloth, mix well and let develop 8-12 hours at warm room temperature.  The starter is active when you can drop a small amount in water and it floats.

Day 2 Dough:

Ingredients:

200 g active starter

700 g water

500 g  all purpose flour

450 g wheat flour

50 g acorn flour

20 g salt

50 g water, divided

Mix the starter and 700 g water together to incorporate.  Add the flour and mix into a shaggy mass.  Its important not to add salt at this stage because it interferes with the way the gluten is forming. 

Cover with a cloth and let rest for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the salt over the dough, and add the water.  Incorporate with your hands.  Cover and let rest 30 minutes.

Every 30 minutes for the next three hours, wet your hand and gently pull the dough up in quarter turns, and then continue to let rest.  If you have anything to add to the dough (spices, nuts, fruits, etc) do so in the beginning of this process, and fold them into the dough.  For dried nuts or dried fruits, reconsitute in water before using.

Next:

Sprinkle some rice flour and wheat flour on a board and put the dough on it.  Split it into two equal portions and let sit 20 minutes.

Fold the dough on four sides into a round package and turn the seam down.  Build surface tension by pulling the ball towards yourself from different angles in a round sphere.  Line a round colander with cloth, sprinkle rice flour over it, and put the sphere inside.  Let rest 3-4 hours.

Bake in the covered combo oven at 450 F for 20 minutes.  Uncover the combo oven and bake another 20 minutes.  (Total baking time is 40 minutes.)

Remove and cool on a wire rack.