Fresh Tomatoes! Two Recipes!

Tomato Sandwich with Sourdough Cornmeal Bread

The tomatoes in our garden took their time ripening this year, but we now have baskets full to enjoy before the late blight knocks them out for good. (A friend and colleague recommends using a copper sulfate to prevent blight, which we'll try next year!)  My favorite way to eat fresh tomatoes is as a simple tomato sandwich.  Brings back memories of watching my Grandmother Wood prepare tomato sandwiches:   thin slices of  Pepperidge Farm white sandwich bread slathered with mayonnaise, topped with thickly sliced tomatoes and an ungodly amount of salt.  I'm almost positive Grandma peeled the tomatoes since she peeled everything (even celery).  Made a mean BLT, too!

The first recipe here is for Sourdough Cornmeal Bread, which isn't as delicate as Pepperidge Farm white bread, but makes a great sandwich bread with a nice, nutty crunch.  Thinly sliced, it's perfect for tomato sandwiches.  Our dear friends (and recent visitors) Rebecca, Tom and the amazing going-on-3 Eleanor enjoyed some of this bread toasted with honey during their visit.  This recipe's for you, Rebecca! :)

The other recipe for fresh tomato slices is adapted from a recipe in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Brenda Waters's Grandmother's Special Sliced Tomatoes. (Grandmas really seem to know their way around tomatoes!)  I hesitate to add anything at all to a nice, fresh tomato slice, but this recipe was too intriguing to pass up--and it's delicious.  A friend who doesn't even like honey (yes we actually have friends who don't like honey!) liked these tomatoes.  Read on for the recipes!

Sourdough Cornmeal Bread for tomato sandwiches

Sourdough Cornmeal Bread
This recipe is adapted from Sunset's A Cookbook of Breads (1974), which I must have picked up at a thrift store ages ago. It requires sourdough starter, which isn't hard to make--just takes about a 3 to 5 day commitment.  Need a sourdough starter recipe? Here are step-by-step instructions from King Arthur flour. Also check out this quick starter recipe from a previous blog post for sourdough English muffins.

1 teaspoon (1/2 package) quick rise yeast
1/2 cup sourdough starter
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup very warm water
1 cup cornmeal (plus extra for sprinkling on dough before baking)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1-2 cups bread flour (you could use all-purpose flour if you want--and could also skip the whole wheat flour.  You'll get a slightly less dense loaf if you do).

Combine the yeast, starter, canola oil, honey, salt, water, cornmeal and whole wheat in a mixing bowl.  Using a wooden spoon (or the dough hook of a mixer), combine well.  Add the white flour, about a 1/2 cup at a time until a stiff dough forms. Knead the dough until it's smooth--by hand (on a floured board) for about 10 minutes or by mixer for about 5.  (Using a mixer will likely cut down on the amount of flour you use overall, making the dough a bit lighter.)

Lightly coat a large bowl with oil and place dough in the bowl, oil top and cover with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel (not terry cloth).  Let rise for about 1 1/2 hours in a warm spot until it doubles in bulk.  Remove from the bowl, folding the dough in on itself a few times and form into a round ball (or boule).  Place a sheet of parchment paper on a flat-sided cookie sheet and sprinkle it with a little corn meal. Place the dough on the sheet and sprinkle a little cornmeal on top.  Cover with the plastic wrap and kitchen towel and let rise for another 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven on a middle rack to preheat as well.  When the oven is preheated and the dough has risen, take a serrated knife and make a few slashes in the top (each about 1/4-1/2 inch deep).  Slide the dough (with parchment) from the cookie sheet onto the baking stone (if you're using a stone) or just put the cookie sheet with dough into the oven.  Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes.  The crust should be nicely browned--almost honey colored.  The crust will be crunchy when first baked, but will soften once it cools. (You can crisp the crust by reheating in the oven if you'd like). You should probably wait until it cools completely to slice it, but I've never been able to wait that long!

Sliced tomatoes with vinegar honey dressing

Sliced Tomatoes with Vinegar and Honey
4 large fresh tomatoes, peeled
2 tablespoon cider vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
kosher salt
Core and slice the tomatoes in 1/2 inch slices.  Place on a plate or platter with a lip (so that the dressing doesn't run off!). Stir the vinegar and honey together in a small microwaveable bowl. Heat for 15 seconds, just to warm the mixture and ensure that it's well combined.  Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and drizzle the vinegar-honey mixture on top.  Serve with the bread to soak up all of those delicious juices!
Serves 4

Sourdough Honey Whole-Wheat English Muffins

This recipe is not a lot of work, but it does require a bit of a commitment, so if you're a commitment-phobe, you might just want to buy a package of whole wheat English muffins and be done with it.

Ah, but where's the fun in that, especially when you can make your own sour dough starter and then cook up a fresh batch of whole wheat English muffins that will have your family and friends saying, "You made these?"

So, bear with me here (or, if you prefer, just go ahead and laugh at me and move on!).  The biggest commitment comes with creating the sour dough starter, which takes three days.  Once you have the starter established, you can keep it going in your fridge and, with a little thinking ahead, can whip up a lovely plate of English muffins that are so much better (and likely better for you) than store bought.

The recipe for the sourdough starter and the English muffins both come from Vegetarian Times.  You'll find more sourdough recipes there, too!

Sourdough Starter

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon quick-rise (not regular) yeast

Use a quart glass jar with a wide mouth.  Stir the flour and yeast together and then add 1 cup of warm water (about 110 degrees).  Place the lid loosely on the jar and let sit a warmish (70+) spot for 12 hours.

Stir the starter and discard half (or, if you're ambitious, use the half you'd toss out to start another jar).  To the remaining starter, add 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup lukewarm water and stir to combine.  Repeat this step every 12 hours for the next three days (72 hours).  (Hey! I said it was a commitment!)

The starter is now ready to use for the English muffin recipe.  Any remaining starter can be put in the refrigerator.  It should be fed and/or used within a week.  To feed the starter, stir it down and then remove half (use this starter in a recipe or discard).  If you have 1 cup of starter left, then stir in 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of warm water and put it back in the fridge.  (If you have 1/2 cup starter left, stir in 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water.)

Sourdough Honey Whole-Wheat English Muffins

The dough for this recipe needs to sit overnight to develop, so it takes a little planning ahead (that is, once you've made the sourdough starter).
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt.
cornmeal for dusting (the finer the cornmeal, the better, but use what you have)

In a large bowl, stir the starter, whole-wheat flour, honey and water until well combined.  Cover loosely and let sit overnight.  This mixture will get very bubbly!

The next day, stir together 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt.  Add this to the whole-wheat dough.  Stir until well combined.  Add more of the remaining 1/2 cup of flour and knead until the dough is no longer sticky.

Roll dough out on a lightly floured board to about 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut out muffins using about a 3-inch round cutter (I used the top of a large, wide glass).  Depending upon the size of your cutter, you should get between 6 and 8 muffins.  Dust tops and bottoms with cornmeal, cover loosely and let sit for about an hour until the muffins are a bit puffy.

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet over high heat for about a minute.  Lightly spray with cooking oil and turn heat down to medium.  Cook muffins about 3 to 5 minutes per side, until they're nicely browned on both sides.  You'll be surprised by how much they rise while they're cooking!  Let cool for about 15 minutes before serving.  Makes between 6 and 8 muffins.