Verterkake

Quite randomly, yet another Scandinavian loaf this week…

Start off by proofing 2 3/4 teaspoons of yeast in 2/3 of a cup of warm milk. After a few minutes, stir this into 1 cup of dark rye flour. In a separate bowl, combine 7/8 of a cup of Guinness (standing in for verterol, the apparently non-alcoholic dark Norwegian beer that I’d never heard of but that gives this bread its name), 2 teaspoons of salt, 1/4 of a cup of sugar, 3/4 of a teaspoon of black pepper, and 3/4 of a teaspoon of mace. Let both sit for about 20 minutes (until the yeast/flour mixture looks like it’s starting to rise).

Then, pour the Guinness mixture into the yeast mixture, and also add 1/3 of a cup of light corn syrup. Stir in another cup of rye flour followed by 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, and get to kneading. Now, I’ll be honest: normally I quite like the challenge of doughs that are difficult to knead, but this week I was feeling pretty lazy. So I was rather delighted to find this an extremely pliant, workable dough to handle (and one that, thanks to the Guinness that hadn't quite come up to room temperature, was pleasantly cool as well). Anyway, knead a little bit less flour than usual into this one; we’ll want it to remain a little moist and sticky. After kneading put in a greased bowl, cover, and set aside for the

First rising (1 hour and 45 minutes)
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Exciting election, no? I have to admit, I can't believe that it's been less than a week...it somehow feels like ages ago. Anyway, I went to vote early in the morning before heading in for work, and was almost disappointed that I didn't have to wait in line at all (not that Illinois was even remotely close enough for there to be extra voter enthusiasm, I suppose). Also, as much fun as it was to get to vote in person, I rather wish I hadn't had to change my registration away from Maine, though...it's hard to get too worked up about, say, who the next county coroner is going to be when you've never heard of any of the people running.

Also, more selfishly, now that the election is over, I think I just lost 90% of the sites I would visit to waste time on the Internet. I mean, I guess for the next little bit there's still this and that, but then what?
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Punch the dough down, and then shape into a ball. Flatten slightly and put on a greased cookie sheet, then cover and set aside for the

Second rising (1 hour and 15 minutes)
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So, this weekend I went to another concert at the Krannert: a performance of the Brandenburg concertos.

The good: Well, I'm pretty sure just about everybody reading this blog already knows how much I like Bach...at his worst I think he's rather mechanical but still good to listen to, but at his best he's transcendent, in a Clockwork Universe sort of way. And while the Brandenburg concertos aren't my favorite Bach pieces, they're pretty high up on the list. Also, I continue to be floored by the acoustics in the Krannert Center's main performance space. Notes just ring out so well...even though I had less-than-ideal seats (below and to the back of the solo violin), so that some instruments sounded much softer than they should have, the clarity was astounding. Which would have been particularly awesome in the second concerto if not for

The bad: I'm afraid the piccolo trumpet player wasn't really up to the part in that second concerto (no real intended slight there...I mean, the piece was specifically written for a true virtuoso of the time and is (apparently) considered to be one of the hardest trumpet parts written). Or else he was just having an off night. Which is too bad; he played most of the piece magnificently, but missed and squeaked on enough notes that I spend most of the first and third movements thinking more about whether he was about to miss a note than about the notes he was actually playing. So that was a bit distracting...but not nearly as distracting as the middle-aged German couple, sitting immediately behind me, who felt the need to comment on every little aspect of the performance. And while I appreciated the opportunity to check just how much of German 101 I did and did not remember, I think the concert might have been more enjoyable without the constant chatter.
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Brush the dough with warm water, and use an especially sharp knife to cut a cross into the top of the dough. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

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Tasting Verdict: Delicious (if, as in the above photo, not quite as symmetrical as I might like!) Fresh out of the oven this was one of the better breads I've made in a little while (the smell was strikingly similar to that of rice pudding, actually), and for lunch today was still quite good spread with just a bit of butter. Other than with butter, or perhaps some jam, though, I can't really imagine this would go well with too many other things lunch-wise. We'll see how it holds up over the rest of the week.