What do you know about Flax?

Last week, Meg cracked the shell of egg science.  She chooses her eggs carefully, caressing each mottled, brown shell before whacking it against the rim of a bowl.  I like using glass bowls, because their physiology involves lips rather than rims.  

This bird's baked goods are made without eggs.  So there's no cracking in my kitchen, just grinding.  

During my early vegan years, I tried many egg substitutes. 

I used tofu in my cookie recipes, later cleverly named Trilety's Tofuicious Chocolate Chip (and sometimes cranberry) Cookies.  I don't use tofu in baking anymore because it yields a cookie too moist for my taste, and I'd prefer to use ingredients that undergo little to no processing. 

I used beans as a substitute for both eggs and butter.  My pinto-bean brownie recipe is a relic, as the treats were not a hit with friends and family.  Pinto beans can be abused - they can be refried and mashed, but whipping them into a brownie must be humiliating.  They are an autonomous bean and need to have their own plate at the table. 

Finally, I started to use flax seed. This seed, which must appear a monstrous, golden rain drop in the world of Sesame Seeds, is healthy and works superbly as a binder/egg substitute in cookies, cakes, and muffins.  (Admission: I have yet to get flax seed to work in a brownie)  

Here are a few health benefits of flax:

• High in fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, and lignans (the phytochemical believed to be responsible for reducing cholesterol levels in the blood.

• Reduces total blood cholesterol levels and LDL cholesterol.  (I remember that LDL is the Lousy cholesterol and HDL is the Happy cholesterol)

• Clinical trials have been conducted by the National Institute of Health to confirm the health benefits of flax seed.

We source our flax seed from Grain Place Foods, a local processor and grower.

I used to enjoy the curious and sensual experience of baking with eggs.  Eggs are delicate and wet.  You can try to hold the insides of an egg in your hand, but inevitably, the clear glisten of the viscous egg white will find its way between your fingers like spit between thighs, and you know you just have to let it go.  The yellow of a yolk was a shock to the eye, like the molted spring feathers of a gold finch, it seemed a color that could only be produced by a clever machine or an artistic god.  I miss the slick, stick of eggs, but flax is even better.  

The surface of the flax seed is smooth and shiny, so it appears wet but it's quite dry - a surprise that keeps your hands clean.  

This is what flax seed looks like before it's ground.

Flax seed should be ground to be digested by our guts.  Don't be fooled into buying cereals or baked goods that include whole flax seeds, they may pass un-digested through your intestines.  After flax is ground, its form changes to that of a dense powder, like humid sand or mollisol soil.  It's a joy to sift the powdery clumps of ground flax in a properly washed and dried hand.  

Here is what flax seed looks like after its form has been altered by the metal molars of a grinder.

To provide a proper substitute for the coagulating properties of an egg, flax seed needs to clot, and to do that it needs a liquid.  I mix my ground flax with water, maple syrup, or non-dairy milk.

Now you know how this bird gets her cookies to stay together.  I prefer crumbs on my face, and not in the bag/box.  

Eat some flax! It's good for your bowels! 

~ Trilety

What do you know about eggs?

Now that I have quite a bit of experience with baking, I am increasingly interested in how it works. So many people say that baking is a science, which makes me chuckle because I never had a passion for the subject. I was more art and english literature in school and found math and science to be hard and tedious. But! Here I am in the kitchen with my baking powder and soda and vinegar and eggs and all that. And now I like it! 

So, I recently searched 'baking with eggs' online and found some cool factoids to share. Have you ever wondered why the heck we use eggs in baking? (except in our vegan products of course) And by the way, Two Birds uses only locally sourced eggs in all of its classic style baked goods.

The following was taken from www.baking-management.com

~Meg

Why are eggs used in the baking industry? Eggs perform more than 20 different functions, enabling bakers to eliminate the use of additives or additional ingredients. Those functions include the abilities to add color, coagulate, emulsify and add texture to bakery foods. Using eggs in bakery food formulas will simplify bakery foods' ingredient labels.

How do eggs add color to bakery foods? Color is enhanced because of the cartenoids present in eggs. Found in the lipid portion of egg yolks, cartenoids give the crusts of bakery foods a golden brown color.

How do eggs coagulate in bakery foods? When eggs are heated or beaten, they turn mixtures from a liquid into a semi-solid or solid state. Coagulation also binds ingredients together, preventing crumbing, and forms the building block structures for bakery foods.

What emulsification properties do eggs have? This ingredient is renowned for its emulsification properties. Egg yolks allow fats to stay dispersed in water and water to stay dispersed in fats. This promotes thickening and product stability.

Does emulsification enhance other features in bakery foods? Yes. Egg products provide a soft texture due to the ingredient's emulsification properties. Eggs coat liquids and fats to give bakery foods a smooth, creamy texture. Lecithin, found in egg yolks, also enhances texture. Lecithin reduces moisture loss, which ensures a soft, tender crumb texture.

Can eggs provide moisture in any other ways? By mixing eggs with cream or milk, bakers can create different types of glazes. These glazes retain the moisture in bakery foods and also bind seeds, crumbs, nuts and other coatings to the bakery foods' crusts.

What other properties do eggs have? Eggs, particularly egg whites, provide foaming properties. Through whipping, eggs incorporate air and foam, which gives volume and structure to bakery foods. Foaming holds bakery foods together and promotes a lighter product with smooth mouthfeel. Eggs produce a larger foam volume than other foaming agents, making it ideal for baking. This is especially ideal for cakes, such as angel food cake, because the aeration provides necessary structure.

Are eggs ideal ingredients for sweet goods? Yes. In applications where there is a high ratio of sugar to water, such as frostings or sweet goods, eggs slow down the crystallization process to give a smooth texture. This is especially true of egg whites. In frostings and glazes, eggs also thicken and create a firm base.

What other bakery foods are ideal for eggs? Eggs work well in nutritional bars because they provide high-quality protein, flavor and richness. Eggs also bind the ingredients and give structure in nutritional bars. Eggs also can be incorporated into gel fillings for sweet goods.

How easy is it to incorporate eggs into bakery foods? It's simple. Eggs are available in many different forms, including whole or separated, plain, enhanced, fortified or blended. Eggs also are accessible as liquid, dried or frozen products.

Are egg products, such as liquid, dried or frozen eggs, as functional and nutritious as shelled eggs? Most egg products offer the same functions and nutrition as shelled eggs. In addition, egg products require less storage space. Egg products are economical, because costs concerning breakage, shipping and handling are eliminated or reduced. If properly stored, egg products retain their quality for several months and provide consistent performance. Salmonella and other bacteria also are destroyed during pasteurization of egg products.

Flavor/Flavour

I made a birthday cake for a birthday girl a few days ago. Yes, these birds have been known to make cakes on occasion, though for me, it's really only for friends and only on birthdays. Birthday cakes are one of the funnest things to make, in my opinion; an not just cakes, but very specifically Birthday cakes. What a great gift, right? They are hand made and lots of time and love are put into them. And well, store-bought cakes are lovely too, I say but you're taking your chances on the contents. It really surprised me when I came to learn that it is normal in the industry to use cake mixes. Is that just me, or is that common knowledge?

The Birthday cake I mentioned above was orange flavor with rich chocolate frosting on top. The great thing about cakes, as well as cookies and muffins, is that once you have a great base recipe down, you can modify and experiment with it. You can add a little more spice or some zest or even fruit in some instances. You can put your own spin on it. I find myself getting more and more creative in this way. I cannot recall making the same cake twice. There are so many great combinations, why repeat?!

And so, when considering our cookies and muffins, these Two Birds apply the same creativity, very intentionally. For example, Curry of Kali muffins combine coconut and dates with curry powder, while Early Grey muffins contain whole milk infused with Earl Grey tea. These flavors seem unusual at first perhaps, but then you find them intriguing so you step out and try one, and pretty soon your favorite blueberry muffin seems a bit plain. Super-fun flavor combinations is something that makes Two Birds baked goods unique and is something we are quite proud of. We dream of baking!

Meg

The Cost of the Co-operative

As a former member of the Nebraska Food Co-operative (NFC) Board of Directors, I am proud to sell our products through the Co-op.  Meg and I supported NFC as consumers before we signed up as producers to sell our baked goods.  While I was not involved in the years of planning for the NFC, I was the sixth person to join the co-op as a consumer-member, and first volunteered on the November delivery day in 2006 when another volunteer and I carried locally raised and freshly processed turkeys to new customers.  The co-op has grown since then.  The evening shift on delivery day now requires at least four or five volunteers to manage transactions, package orders, and hand them off with a smile to the waiting customers.  The morning shift, where items are sorted and distributed, also requires more volunteers than when the co-op began in 2006.  But with growth can sometimes come pain, or at least seams that gape and buttons that tug.

The co-op tried to deliver by bike, but a larger infrastructure is needed to meet the demand of the consumers and the supplies of the producers.  (Photos below taken on 03 July 2008.  Pictured are John Hazuka and James Hermsen)

The President of the NFC Board of Directors recently notified all co-op members, both consumers and producers, that a fee increase of 5% (from 10 to 15%) will be applied to all producers.  The 10% fee for consumer members will remain unchanged.  To provide a quick peek into the challenges of distributing local food, here is an excerpt from the President's email:

As we approach the opening of our next Order Cycle, I wanted to let you know about a change that may affect what you see when you begin putting together your order.  Although this change does not directly affect your fees, it will have an indirect effect as our producer/farmer members make decisions about what they charge for their products.

We have kept our fees low since beginning the NFC in 2006 as a measure of support for our farmers and producers.  So far our income has not been high enough to meet operating expenses over the long term, and we have depended on volunteer labor for our drivers, cashiers, sorters and administrative workers.

Over the next year, we are hoping to meet this challenge with many strategies.  Although we recognize the impact it will have on all of you, one of those strategies must be to increase the percentage that farmers and producers pay to the NFC.  This will help ensure the delivery service we all enjoy continues in spite of labor and equipment maintenance expenses and the rising cost of fuel.

The Board has voted to raise the NFC producer fee to 15% of their sales, before sales tax.  This change will go into effect for our next Order Cycle. . . Our producer/farmer members have been informed of this increase before now so they have had a chance to make changes to their product listings.  If your favorite product has gone up in price, please understand that it is most likely due this increase in NFC fees.

These two birds, along with many other producers, decided to changed prices to reflect the fee increase.  

The local food solution is multifaceted and complex.  Books have been written, dissertations  submitted, and organizations devoted to increasing the distribution of local food.  I could wax pedantic on local food for hours, but I just wanted to provide notification of the price change and encourage you to learn more about the issues and challenges that make eating locally difficult and expensive, as well as joyful and environmentally thoughtful.  

Luckily, if you are in the Omaha/Lincoln area, you can attend a free, four hour workshop on Local Food Systems on April 5.  Shannon Moncure, president of the NFC Board of Directors, will be the featured educator!  

~ Trilety

Take Time to Smell the Muffins

Can you conjure a scent from your past and make it tangible; turning it into a mouthful of memory?  Can you remember the smell of the back of the neck of the first person you loved?  Can you recall the sweet, fleshy scent of the first fresh fig that lingered under your nose as you brought it to your mouth?  Reshaping smells from our past by using olfactory mental imagery is a much more difficult exercise than visual or auditory mental imagery. 

Don't worry though, it just takes practice.

If you want to remember the suffocatingly sweet scent of a hyacinth in winter, or the smell of sex during a state of celibacy, then I suggest adhering to a strict routine of sniffing.  When someone embraces you, steal a sniff of their underarm.  Harvest the everyday smells of your surroundings; the smell of new rain on hot pavement, the smell of oils burned from the skin of a roasted coffee bean, the smell of shampoo that still clings to the lengths of hair that taunt you from the women walking by. 

But the best way to improve your olfaction is to let the scents of our baked goods saturate your senses.  Let the sweet heat of the Curry of Kali and Sweet Bombay muffins weave their way through the hairs in your nose the way the water once slipped around what used to be the seven islands of Bombay.  Break apart an Early Grey muffin and remember the Sunday morning you spent in bed with tea, the paper, and a long-legged companion.  Sniff the surface of a Chai Love You cookie, careful not to snort a quick cloud of cinnamon and cardamom into your nose, and picture Christmas Eve in front of the fireplace that you were sure was Santa's portal.   And when you want to remember the heat of summer as you are cool in spring, then let the Ginger Blue muffin raise your temperature so your skin looks like it has just been kissed by hard lips.

Oh, and if you don't know the accepted method of smelling, follow Jason's lead:

~ Trilety

Spring Changes

Mmmmmm. Good weather makes us feel so happy. Fresh air and sunshine, blue skies and no coats. It's a happy 50 degree day. The weather is a sign of spring. With it comes the desire to be in it. Outdoor fairs and concerts, walks in the park, bike trails, laying in the grass, camping, swimming, and also... outdoor markets like the Omaha Farmers Market.

I have to say that even a few months ago I was excited and raring to go on the whole Farmers Market goal. I was ready to hit it! But now? Um... as the time gets close I am unsure; both of us are unsure. What would we be getting out of it? Would it be more effort than reward? Sure, it would be great to slap it on our resume per se, but what else? The more I think about these things the less I am certain that we should do this.

Well, actually at this point we are not unsure, we made a decision to cancel our Farmers Market aspirations this year. That being said, it's not as if we won't move forward. We are still learning the ins and outs. We are getting the hang of baking for customers other than our friends. We learning how to organize and juggle and are figuring out what will be best with both of our schedules. We are remembering that it's okay to take things slow, not rush, not get stressed or in over our heads. These are just a few of our thoughts.

That being said, we're going to focus on finding a commercial kitchen space in which to bake for customers outside of the Nebraska Food Co-op. That seems like a better step overall. An approved kitchen allows us to sell to anyone we please and allows us to follow our own schedule, rather than a pre-planned schedule like the Farmers Market or Co-op. It would also enable us to reach a wider range of people. We could do a lot more marketing.

So I'll put it out there... does anyone know of an approved commercial kitchen space in Omaha that could be rented by the day??

Music to Bake to

While cruising Kanesville Kollectibles with a friend from Seattle, I thumbed a couple David Carroll Orchestra albums called Dance to Stay Young and Music Makes Me Want to Dance!  If music can keep us young and make us want to dance, I figured there is also music that makes me want to bake!

The right choice of music, like the right outfit, is crucial to producing tasty muffins and cookies.  I attended a party a year ago and met a girl who brought bread pudding.  She was dressed like the iconic, cocktail-party-hosting, 1950's housewife; low heels, a swelling skirt, fitted blouse, and hair that appeared to be comprised not of strands but of slick plastic.  As the glide of her arms entered the oven, I asked "Do you also wear those clothes when you bake?"

"Of course," she replied, "what you wear in the kitchen can affect the outcome of your dessert."

I admitted that I usually wore a wife-beater and boy-shorts, and she looked aghast and suggested I try wearing a dress.  (Now that I'm a Bird, I wear appropriate clothing and an apron while baking).

Music is the accessory to the perfect outfit.  It'd be appropriate if I listened to the bands Sugar and Archers of Loaf as I baked, but I haven't really settled into what type of music I listen to while stirring batter and dropping dough.  It must be upbeat.  It must make my hips spin like a whisk.  It must make me smile.  Some days find me baking to Erykah Badu, Etta James, Prince, King Khan & BBQ Show, or Galactic, but since my friend left his newly purchased, used albums here, I will be baking this week to . . . .

Maybe Meg will share her "Best to Bake to Hits," but until then, what do you bake to?

~ Trilety