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Baker finds whole grains add whole lot of flavor

By Kim Davaz

Whole-grain baking is an excellent way to introduce new grains into your diet, whether for health reasons or to try new flavors. If you’re used to baking with wheat flour, these other grains may feel similar in the bag, but they taste and react differently. You can’t just substitute teff or amaranth flour for wheat flour, any more than you can interchange white flour for whole-wheat flour and expect to get the same results.

Pastry chef Kim Boyce has done the hard experimenting part, and with Amy Scattergood has written “Good to the Grain: Baking With Whole-Grain Flours.”

After the introduction, Boyce gives her basic techniques, tools (her favorite: hands) and ingredients, including an interesting take on saving money (parchment paper is too expensive but you should pick up a particular dough scraper the next time you’re in Paris).

Whole-grain flours are fairly easy to find prepackaged in a grocery store (in one, they were with the baking supplies; in another, by the organic foods) or in the bulk section. I didn’t find every kind of flour, but enough to experiment. If you can’t find what you need, ask. They may be able to get it for you. If all else fails, Boyce has listed sources, including Bob’s Red Mill in Milwaukie, Ore.

Recipes are arranged by type of flour and follow a format of mixing wet ingredients into dry. The recipes are on the longer side, with lots of explanations that can border on the is-that-really-necessary for someone with kitchen experience, but can be of invaluable help to a novice baker.

Boyce likes to bake on two sheets at a time, rotating them halfway through. My oven had no obvious hot spots, and I have enough chances to burn myself while cooking anyway to bother with switching the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back in mid-bake. It seems easier to just bake one sheet at a time and leave it alone, but do what works for your oven and pickiness level.

“Good to the Grain” is a worthy introduction to baking that goes beyond white flour.

The Rhubarb Tarts on the cover are found in “Corn Flour.” Boyce shapes them by hand, but a rolling pin works, too. The dough can be used to make a very fine cookie, crisp with a slight bit of cornmeal grittiness. I loved them.

The cornmeal pastry is ideal for blueberry or plum tarts, too, when their seasons come around.

I cheated on the rhubarb, omitting the hibiscus to be spared yet another trip to the store. And you might want to consider replacing the last 2 cups of chopped rhubarb with sliced strawberries.

Since you’ll not be using all of the whipping cream for the dough, whip the bit leftover with a teaspoon of sugar to serve with the tarts.

Rhubarb Tarts

Dry mix:

• 1 cup corn flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup fine cornmeal
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Wet mix:

• 4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 batch Rhubarb Hibiscus compote (recipe follows)

To make the dough, sift the dry ingredients into the bowl of a standing mixer, pouring back into the bowl any bits of grains or other ingredients that may remain in the sifter.

Attach the bowl and add the paddle to the standing mixer. Add the butter, turn the mixer speed to low (so the flour doesn’t go flying out of the bowl) and mix to break up the butter. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the butter is as coarse as cornmeal. Add the heavy cream and the egg yolks and mix until combined. The dough will appear crumbly, but when squeezed between your fingers it will become one mass. This dough is best shaped right after making, as it hardens when refrigerated. If the dough is chilled first, let it come to room temperature before shaping.

To shape the tarts, divide the dough into 10 equal pieces. Lightly flour a work surface. Grab one piece of dough and, using the heel of your hand, flatten the dough into a rough circle. Continue flattening until the circle is approximately 5 inches in diameter and of even thickness. If at any time the dough is sticking, flour the work surface and the dough. For an elegant finish, gently flatten the outer edge in a downward fashion, making it thinner than the rest of the dough.

Spoon 1/4 cup of the rhubarb compote into the center of the dough. Fold the edge of the dough toward the compote and up, to created a ruffled edge. Continue until an irregularly shaped ruffling happens. (Keep in mind that this is a rustic, handmade tart, so it shouldn’t look like a machine made it.)

Slide a bench scraper or metal spatula underneath the tart and transfer it to a plate or baking sheet. Continue with the remaining dough. Slide the shaped tarts into the freezer to rest and harden for at least 1 hour, or up to 2 weeks if wrapped tightly in plastic.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Transfer the tarts onto the baking sheets.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the edges of the tarts are brown and the rhubarb is bubbling and thick.

The tarts can be eaten warm or at room temperature. They can also be wrapped tightly in plastic and kept for up to 2 days.

Rhubarb Hibiscus Compote

• 2 pounds rhubarb stalks
• 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 8 dried hibiscus flowers

Rinse off the rhubarb stalks and trim off the very ends. Unless the stalks are very slender, cut them in half lengthwise. Cut the rhubarb on the diagonal in 3/4-inch chunks. You’ll have about 6 cups of rhubarb; set aside 2 cups and put the remaining 4 cups into a medium heavy-bottomed pot (with about a 5-quart capacity.)

Add the brown sugar and hibiscus flowers to the pot, give the mixture a few stirs, cover, and turn the heat to medium-low. (It’s important to begin slowly so the rhubarb warms up and begins to release its liquid.) Cook the rhubarb mixture for about 15 minutes, covered, until the mixture is saucy.

Remove the cover and increase the heat to medium. Cook for 15 to 17 minutes, stirring continuously, until the rhubarb is completely broken down and thick enough that a spoon leaves a trail at the bottom of the pan.

Add the remaining rhubarb chunks to the pot and stir to combine.

Immediately pour the compote out onto a large plate or baking dish to cool. When the compote is cooled completely, remove the hibiscus flowers, squeezing any juice from them into the compote, and discard. The compote will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Kim Davaz writes a biweekly cookbook review column for The Register-Guard.

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