My favorite recipes - Meet Michelle Hubert, Diamond

Jana Mathia | Mar 17, 20110

For the Huberts, baking is a family affair, especially when it comes to baking in their outdoor hearth. Michelle makes the dough for bread or pizza and Michael oversees the hearth. Their children, Alahna, 10; Christian, 9; William, 6, and Emalee, 2, help by topping the pizza and everyone gets to enjoy the finished product.

Michelle loves to bake and has worked to expand her knowledge and skill. She has never baked professionally, but has taken correspondence courses and taught herself to scale recipes so she can make larger volumes.

They really enjoy using the hearth during the warmer months of the year. Compared to bread from a conventional oven, the bread cooked in the hearth has a different flavor and texture.

Her passion for baking started when she was a child. One summer she started baking cookies, making four to five batches a day, and has just kept baking even since.

Michelle grew up in Kansas City, Mo.

Michael is a country boy from Metaline Falls, near the Canadian border, and enjoys being outdoors and working with his hands. He was attending Brigham Young University when he and Michelle met on-line. They wrote back and forth for a year before meeting.

When Alahna was a baby, they moved to Washington while Mike attended Eastern Washington University. During that time they lived in Chewelah. They moved to Pullman for Mike to pursue his masters degree at Washington State University. Then they lived in Indiana for three years while he finished his doctorate degree in applied linguistics at Purdue.

They came back to Whitman County in August, 2008, when Mike joined the staff at WSU as an assistant professor.

When it came to finding a home, they knew they wanted something with four bedrooms, with at least two acres and a shop, outside of a town. They were able to find just that in Diamond.

“This is a perfect property for us,” Michelle said. They like the nearby towns, schools, their church and have found the people in the Diamond area very welcoming.

“The whole area they’re like that,” she said.

Mike has three more years to fulfill his contract and get tenure. At home he enjoys being outdoors, making things, working on cars and taking care of their property.

“Mike is very handy,” Michelle said. In addition to the hearth, he has made bunk beds, the kitchen table, benches and a deck.

Michelle makes blankets on a knitting loom. She is looking into ways to take her baking to the next level by getting a job that would let her bake professionally.

The whole family likes to play the Wii and go four-wheeling in the Mt. Spokane area where Mike’s family lives. Mike likes to help his parents out, including butchering and processing their yaks.

Michelle’s parents also live in the Spokane area.

With the welcoming neighbors and friends and joy they find indoors and out, they plan to stay in this area as long as they can. While here, they enjoy sharing their hearth-baked breads with friends and spending family time together.

Recipes:

Hearty Country Bread

This is great bread. It has a fairly thick and chewy crust and a tender, glossy crumb. Made in a regular oven it is good, but in the hearth oven it tastes heavenly.

For the sponge:

1/2 tsp. instant yeast

1 cup water, room temperature

1 cup (5 oz.) bread flour

1 cup (5.5 oz.) whole-wheat flour

For the dough:

3 1/2 cup (17.5 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 cup (1 3/4 oz.) rye flour

1 1/3 cup water, room temperature, plus more if needed

2 Tbsp. honey

2 tsp. salt

Sponge: Stir the yeast into the water in a medium bowl until dissolved. Mix in the flours with a rubber spatula to create a stiff, wet dough. Cover with plastic wrap and sit at room temperature at least 5 hours, preferably overnight.

Dough: Mix the flours, water, honey and sponge in the bowl of a standing mixer with a rubber spatula. Attach the dough hook and knead dough at the lowest speed until the dough is smooth, about 15 minutes, adding the salt during the final few minutes. If the dough looks dry after the salt is added, add water in 1 Tbsp. increments every 30 seconds until a smooth consistency is reached. Transfer the dough to a very lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise until tripled in size, at least 2 hours.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Dust the top of the dough and your hands with flour. Lightly press the dough into a round by folding the edges of the dough into the middle from the top, right, bottom and left sequentially, then gathering it loosely together. Transfer the dough, smooth side down, to a colander or basket lined with heavily floured muslin or linen. Cover loosely with a large sheet of aluminum foil; let the dough rise until almost doubled in size, at least 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position. Adjust the other rack to the lowest position and place a small empty baking pan on it. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Do not burn yourself.

Cover a peel or the back of a large baking sheet with a large sheet of parchment paper. Invert the dough onto the peel and remove the muslin. Use the single-edged razor blade or a very sharp knife to cut a large X about 1/2 inch deep into the top of the dough. With scissors, trim the excess parchment around the dough.

Slide the dough, still on the parchment, from the peel onto the stone without burning your arms; remove the peel with a quick backward jerk.

Pour two cups hot tap water into the heated pan on the bottom rack, being careful to avoid the steam which will turn your arms nice and red.

Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the bottom of the bread reads 210 degrees and the crust is very dark brown, 35-40 minutes, turning the bread around after 25 minutes if it is not browning evenly.

Remember not to burn your arms.

Turn the oven off, open the door and let the bread remain in the oven 10 minutes longer.

Remove, then cool to room temperature, before slicing, about 2 hours.

To crisp the crust, place the cooled bread in a 450 degrees oven for 10 minutes.

Basic muffin recipe

This is a base for any and all of your muffin creations.

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1 cup minus 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

2 lg. eggs

1 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt (or buttermilk or sour cream, diluted with milk—only in a pinch)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in half of the dry mixture. Beat in 1/3 of yogurt or substitution. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with the yogurt, until incorporated. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray or line with paper cupcake liners. Divide batter even between cups. Bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Cool in pans 5 minutes and serve warm or cool completely on wire racks. Store at room temperature up to two days.

Variations:

Lemon blueberry: 1 tsp. lemon or orange zest, 1 1/2 cup blueberries, tossed with 1 Tbsp. flour. Stir in zest and fold in the blueberries before dividing batter into pans.

Cranberry-walnut-orange: 1 tsp. grated orange zest, 1 1/2 cup chopped, dried cranberries, 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped coarsely. Stir in zest and fold in berries and nuts right before dividing the batter into pans.

Banana-walnut: 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, substitute 1 cup brown sugar for the white sugar, 1 1/2 cup finely diced bananas, 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped. Stir the nutmeg into the dry ingredients and fold the bananas and nuts in right before dividing the batter into pans.

Lemon Poppy Seed: 3 Tbsp. poppy seeds, 1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice. Stir the poppy seeds into the dry ingredients. Cream the zest with the butter and sugar. Make a lemon syrup by heating the sugar and lemon juice in a small pot until sugar dissolves, 3-4 minutes. Brush syrup on the warm muffins before serving.

French Toast Casserole

1 loaf French or Italian bread, torn in 1 inch pieces

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

8 lg. eggs

2 1/2 cup whole milk (not lighter milk)

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cup packed brown sugar

3 Tbsp. light corn syrup

2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped coarsely

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spread the bread out on 2 baking sheets and bake 25 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time, until crisp and golden brown. Coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with the Tbsp. butter. Pack the dried bread. Whisk eggs together then stir in milk, cream, vanilla, sugar and spices. Pour the egg mixture over the bread evenly and press plastic wrap onto the surface. Weigh down with items in the fridge to keep the bread submerged. Refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours, up to 24 hours.

For the topping, stir butter, brown sugar and corn syrup together until smooth, then stir in the nuts; store in a closed container in the refrigerator until ready to bake the casserole.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Crumble topping evenly over casserole, place on the baking sheet and bake until puffed and golden brown. Let rest 5 minutes before serving to cool slightly.

Etouffee

(shrimp or crawfish)

My mother’s family is all Cajun. I think this is, if not the easiest, then pretty close to the easiest and fastest Cajun main dish you will ever find anywhere. Serve over steamed rice with a green salad and buttered French bread.

2 lg. onions, chopped small

1 lg. bell pepper, chopped small

1 stalk celery, chopped small

2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine

1 regular size can cream of mushroom soup

1 regular size can cream of celery soup

1 can rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies)

2 lbs. raw shrimp or cooked crawfish, shelled and *deveined (can clean the night before), seasoned to taste with salt, black pepper, cayenne and paprika

In large pot, melt butter then add onions, bell peppers, celery and garlic. Sauté until onions are clear. Add can of rotel (or 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 small can diced green chilies) and simmer 30 minutes. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t burn. Add soups and shrimp or crawfish and cook another 30 minutes, stirring more frequently to keep from burning. Serve over steamed rice.

*Leave about an hour of prep time to devein 2 lb. of medium-sized shrimp.

To devein raw fish first remove the shell.

Hold the shrimp in one hand and grip the feet with the fingers of your other hand and pull them off.

Next remove the shell from the shrimp’s back.

Then, using a long, thin-tined fork, slip one tine gently into the small hole at the large end of the shrimp and run it along the “spine” of the shrimp all the way to the other end.

Rinse if necessary, but usually the “intestine” of the shrimp comes out pretty easily.

If you do not devein the shrimp, you will get a gritty feel on your teeth when you eat them (that is the sand they have ingested) and they won’t taste appetizing.