grapefruit marmalade & something to spread it on

I was honestly afraid that canning season had gone forever when it turned cold.  There was a distinct lack of any brightly coloured fruit on the trees in my neighborhood, and I was squintingly-skeptical of all the fruit in stores since I was fairly certain it was imported.  I did know that it was citrus season, as there's an overabundance of citrus trees on my street, but what could I do with citrus other than nomnomnom and juice?  How wrong was I.

It all started with a google search, for grapefruit preserves.  I came upon one recipe that really intrigued me -- a rhubarb and grapefruit jam that you bet your pants I'll make later -- and a vague idea that I loved: spicy marmalade.  Of course, the first thing I had on hand was grapefruit, and while I love them dearly, I didn't know how well they would hold up to preserving.  I had some organic grapefruit, of the yellow skinned yellow fleshed variety, from a friend's tree that I cut up for marmalade.  I used this recipe as a base, I love the beautiful, thin strips of orange rind in the marmalade, and thought that decreasing the amount of pith in the recipe would decrease bitterness.

The marmalade was delicious, but intensely bitter when I crunched on the rinds.  It has either mellowed since I canned it, or is improved by the presence of bread and butter, because I had it for breakfast this morning and just wanted more.  To be honest, I was a little disappointed when I first tasted it -- I was looking for more of the floral, citrusy flavour of a grapefruit and less of the bitterness -- but now I love it.  I made a variant on it a few days later removing the rind (so it would technically be a jam/jelly?) and adding vanilla bean.  Yum.



With all this marmalade about in my house, I needed something to spread it on.  So I busted out this bread recipe from Smitten Kitchen, my trusty KitchenAid, and my new USA bread pans and got to work.  I made some alterations to the recipe, using whey from my strained yogurt as the liquid, adding a little extra sugar to make up for the tartness of the whey, increasing the milk powder, and adding some vital wheat gluten.  I don't usually buy high quality flour or bread flour -- maybe I should invest in some? -- so sometimes adding a little extra wheat gluten is necessary to achieve a good rise.



I've tried this recipe a few times now and never has the bread turned out as glorious as it did this time.  The ingredient additions really improved the texture of the bread, and I could tell this even when I was kneading it (this might be attributed to a more thorough attitude towards kneading, but I've made another loaf since this one and went back to the original measurements and the bread wasn't quite as perfect), as the dough was smooth, supple, and without the coarseness I was expecting from the whole wheat.  I was careful and took all day on this loaf: I let it really double in size for the first rise, and after I put it in the bread pan I made sure it crested the rim beautifully before putting it in the oven.  All the hard work paid off because my bread was light, fluffy, and wonderful except for one thing: THE HUGE HOLE DOWN THE CENTRE OF THE LOAF.



Yes, after all that hard work, I underbaked my bread.  But you know what?  Bread with a hole in it is perfect for navy eggs/eggs in a basket/toad in the hole &c.

Grapefruit Marmalade
makes two half-pints and a little left over

900 g. grapefruit segments and rind*
2 1/2 cups sugar (or more to taste)
4 cups water

Peel your grapefruit however you see fit -- whether by supreme-ing them or failing that as I did and just peeling and pulling away the pith -- and make sure to separate as much of the pith and membrane from each segment as possible.  Put the fruit itself in one bowl, pith and white membranes in another, and reserve the rind.  Separate as much of the pith as possible from the rind so you end up with really beautiful, thin segments of rind like you see here, and then slice your rind as thick or thin as you like. I chose thin, spaghetti like strips, and I love the way they curl around the jar, but they are a bit cumbersome to eat.  Next time I'll be trying more bite-sized pieces.

Once your fruit and rind weighs approximately 900g (I think I ended up with 954g), add the 4 cups of water and set the fruit to a strong simmer in a non-reactive pan (I almost always use my dutch oven for this).  Add sugar conservatively, I added 2 cups at first, and added a quarter cup at a time until I reached the sweetness I wanted.  (At this point you should start getting your jars, lids, and rings ready.  Keep the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes to sterilize them and get them up to jam temperature, and simmer the rings for 10 minutes to activate the seals. The rings don't need much, just keep them on hand.  Want more thorough instructions?  Check out Food in Jars or a canning book such as the Ball Blue Book.)

NOTE: This is where my method differs from other marmalade methods, although you'll find similar things out on the tubes.

Simmer your mixture until it reaches 218 F.  At this point, my marmalade set, so go ahead and take the pot off the heat and get your jars ready to fill.  I always put a dish towel, and often one of my silpat mats, down on the counter before putting the jars on there.  Ladle marmalade into your jars until you have only 1/4" headspace left, and add lids and rings.  Process for 5 minutes.

While your jars are processing, eat the little bit left over on some bread with butter. Enjoy!


Light Wheat Bread, adapted from Smitten Kitchen
makes one two-pound loaf

2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (high-gluten flour)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tbs honey (or sugar, molasses, or other sweetener)
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 tbs powdered milk
1 tbs active-dry yeast
2 tbs unsalted butter, room temperture (or shortening)
1 1/4 cups whey, warmed (if you use water, reduce the amount of sweetener)

Stir together flours, salt, and powdered milk (also the sugar, if you're using it, and instant yeast, if you're using that) in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer.  Next add the softened butter and combine the flour mixture.  Dissolve, as best you can, your honey in your warmed liquid, and add the active-dry yeast to proof it (I always proof mine, some say you don't need to, but I always do).  Once the yeast has proofed, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until a ball forms.  The dough should be soft and supple, and especially in an electric mixer you should have no dry ingredients left on the bottom of the bowl (scrape your bowl and keep mixing first).  If you need, add in a few more tablespoons of water/whey (I almost always do, but am not quite comfortable adjusting the liquid measurement yet) as a looser dough is almost always better than a stiff one.

Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes (6-10 on medium-low in a mixer), using bread or wheat flour to keep your surface non-stick if you knead by hand. Try to add as little extra dry ingredients to the dough as possible, as this will stiffen up the dough.  You want the dough to be firm, smooth, and supple, and to pass the windowpane test.  (Here Deb suggests using a thermometer to check the temperature also, but I have never done so, too lazy I guess.)  Transfer your dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover in plastic wrap.  Ferment at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (it takes at least 2 in this cold weather for me), or until the dough has doubled in size.

After the first fermentation/rising, take the dough out of the bowl and gently press it into a rectangle about 6" wide and 8-10" long.  It should be about 3/4" thick, but mine is often thicker because I don't go the whole hog on length.  I basically just make sure the pane fits inside my bread pan when rolled up.  Roll the dough up lengthwise (i.e. so it fits in your bread pan, mine's 8" by 5", so I shoot for a log no longer than 8") and transfer it to your bread pan.  Allow to ferment a second time for another 1  to 1 1/2 hours, although mine went for 2 hours to get a good rise.  You want the bread to crest over the pan but not be falling everywhere.

Preheat your oven to 350 F, and put the oven rack in the middle shelf with a cookie sheet or baking tray on it.  Put your bread pan in the middle of the baking tray, and bake for 30 minutes. Rotate your pan 180 degrees and finish the baking for at least 15-30 minutes. It's worth taking an internal temperature if you're new to bread making, and your bread should register 190 F in the center and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Turn the bread out of the loaf pan immediately and allow to cool for at least 2 hours before cutting.  If you're bad, cut into it early and enjoy it with butter and marmalade!  Or nutella. Or just butter. Or vegemite. Yum.