sourdough, take 3

Another exciting loaf over at 1026! This one was for Ted Marsh's birthday
party on Monday night. Baked in the morning before my shift at the MoMA,
the warm bread survived several bumpy miles shoved into my bike pannier,
a few sweaty hours in my locker at work, a ride on CalTrain and a few more
miles on bike before arriving only slightly blemished at the dinner table in
Millbrae. It was so delicious, and went perfectly with Suzanne's dinner of
fish cooked with fresh zucchini and tomatoes. Happy birthday, Ted!

Unfortunately, I didn't remember to document the latter half of the bread
making. The first half is as follows:

1 c tapioca starch
1/2 c sorghum flour
1/2 brown rice flour
2 T sweet rice flour
2 T flax seed meal
1 t salt
2 t xanthan gum
2 c starter

I didn't write down how much water I had to add. Assume 1/2 c

These stewed together overnight, and in the morning, I assume I did the
following:

Add:
1 T sugar

Mix thoroughly, cover dough in oil, let it rise in a pan of your choice. Cut
some slashes in the top of the loaf to help it expand more easily.

After it's risen at least 1 hour, start to heat the oven to 450. Put the bread
right in the oven, with a small bowl of water to keep the oven steamy. The
bread will continue to rise as the oven comes up to temperature.

I took out my loaf about 50 minutes later.


Then there was dessert last night:

Strawberry and Chocolate Rainbow cookies, Vegan and Gluten Free

Mix up twice, one batch for each flavor:

1/2 c tapioca starch
1/4 c garfava flour
1/4 c white rice flour
1/4 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/4 t xanthan gum

for the strawberry layer:

1/2 sugar (ended up being a little too sweet, 1/4 c next time)
1/2 c canola oil
1 t vanilla extract
2 T flax seed meal
1/2 c pureed strawberries
a few drops of pink or red food coloring, if you are so inclined

for the chocolate layer:

1/4 c sugar
1/2 c canola oil (a little too wet, 1/4 c next time)
1 t vanilla
2 T flax seed meal
1/2 c chocolate ganache (any melted chocolate will do)

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix up your batches and spread thinly onto well-oiled cookies sheets.
Bake for 12 minutes or so, until the sheet cake is not too sticky on top.

Let cool in the fridge. The chocolate layer ended up so crumbly that I
scraped all of it onto some wax paper and pressed it down into a denser
sheet that stuck together.

Spread the top of one layer with strawberry puree (jam will work too)
and invert the other layer onto it (wax paper heavily employed here).
Put a pan on top and weight it down in the fridge while you do other fun
things, like wash dishes.

After a while, take the cake back out and pour melted chocolate evenly
over the top. Spread thinly with a spatula and allow to solidify in the fridge.
Then flip the cake and repeat on the other side. When all the chocolate is solid,
slice up into 1.5" x .75" cookies. Serve chilled.