The World's Best Rye Bread

Here's another great bread recipe from friends who love baking with Palouse Heritage landrace grain flours. This rye bread brings a deliciously enticing flavor that all fans of rye bread will love and appreciate. The recipe features Palouse Heritage Rosen Rye and Crimson Turkey. Enjoy!

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World's Best Rye Bread

• 1 7/8 cups water

• 3 cups Palouse Heritage Crimson Turkey flour*

• 2 cups Palouse Heritage Rosen Rye flour

• 4 Tbsp sugar

• 1 Tbsp dark brown sugar

• 2 Tbsp dry milk

• 2 tsp salt

• 3 Tbsp vital wheat gluten

• 2 Tbsp butter

• 2 tsp active dry yeast

• 2 oz unsalted sunflower seeds

The loaf in these photos was made using the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Breadmaker.

*Our flours are currently only available for wholesale buyers. If you are a wholesale buyer interested in using our flour, please contact us.

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread using Turkey Red and Sonoran Gold

Some dear friends of Palouse Heritage, Danny and Shirley, love baking their own bread at home. They've been experimenting with our Palouse Heritage landrace grain flours and have made some remarkably delicious baked goods. A favorite is their Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread made with our Turkey Red and Sonoran Gold flours. YUMMY!!! 

Danny and Shirley were kind enough to share their recipe. We highly recommend you give it a try. You won't regret it!

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Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Turkey Red and Sonoran Gold

Made using the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Breadmaker

• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup bananas, ripe and mashed
• 1 cup Turkey Red whole wheat flour*
• 1 cup Sonoran Gold whole wheat flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

When machine beeps, add:

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• LIGHT Crust Control recommend using the "Cake Course"

* Turkey Red flour may not currently be available in our online store. If it is not, contact us to request a sample.

Steins, Vines & Grinds: Washington's Story of Craft Beer, Wine, and Coffee

The Washington State History Museum's long-awaited exhibit on the region's remarkable beverage heritage opened on January 20, 2017 as "Steins, Vines & Grinds: Washington's Story of Craft Beer, Wine, and Coffee." Over one hundred guests attended the opening festivities that featured opening remarks by Washington State Historical Society Executive Director Jennifer Kilmer and Ryan Pennington of Chateau Ste. Michelle, one of the exhibit's principal sponsors. 

I (Richard) serve as vice-president of the state historical society and museums so was also on hand to enjoy the fellowship and samples. Author Robert Foxcurran also attended from Seattle and presented me with a copy of his new book, "Songs Upon the Rivers," which is an extensive history of the mixed blood French and Indian Metis who were among the founders of Hudson's Bay Company posts at Ft. Vancouver, Ft. Colville, and Ft. Walla Walla. 

It was truly a wonderful event celebrating our love of beverages here in the northwest! Here are some photos from the night.
 

Ryan Pennington, Chateau Ste. Michelle Director of Communications; Richard Scheuerman, WSHS Vice-President; Jennifer Kilmer, WSHS Executive Director

Robert Foxcurran, author of "Songs Upon the Rivers: The Buried History of the French-Speaking Canadiens and Metis"

Winter Sheaves and Celebration

Although holiday decorations and winter cold seem far removed from the affairs of summer harvest, in pre-industrial times life remained busy year-round as families needed to tend livestock and carry on other important chores. Considerable threshing of grain sheaves, for example, took place during winter as the brittle stalks that had been stored in barns since harvest were strewn about the covered threshing floor, or even on ice outside, to be struck with wooden flails in order to separate the golden kernels from the heads. To be sure, the winter time pace of labor was less intense than other seasons, and many agrarian traditions were associated with shortest days of the year.

Scandinavian farmers customarily saved the last harvest cuttings for the ceremonial “Yule Sheaf” (Norwegian Julenek, Swedish Julkarve) of oats or other grain which was suspended from a pole or barn roof during Christmas week and New Year as a blessing to the birds and goodwill offering for a favorable growing season. This tradition continued among some families in eighteenth century America as described in verse by Ohio poet Phoebe Cary’s “The Christmas Sheaf”:  

"And bid the children fetch," he said,
"The last ripe sheaf of wheat,
And set it on the roof o’erhead
That the birds may come and eat.

And this we do for His dear sake,
The Master kind and good,
Who of the loaves He blest and brake
Fed all the multitude."

As children we were always presented with a sack containing peanuts and an orange after the annual church Christmas program in our hometown of Endicott—a tradition that continues to this day. Only later did I learn that in ancient times oranges commonly symbolized the sun while acorns and other nuts were also given during the week of the winter solstice (December 21) to celebrate the return of longer days and life’s renewal. 

Suesspleena Before and After Flipping

Like families of many cultural backgrounds, ours has also long observed festive Christmas Eve dinners. A favorite entrée is the wide, paper thin Suesspleena egg batter pancakes and accompanying hot Schnitzel fruit soup of raisins, apples, peaches, and other flavorful “pieces” for which it is named, which is mixed with cream just before serving. When our beloved cousin Al first married into our clan many years ago, he led the procession around the holiday buffet and assumed the bowl of steaming brown was gravy, so proceeded to cover his mashed potatoes with it. We’ve never let him forget.

These pancakes remain an important part of Maslenitsa, Eastern Orthodoxy’s “Butter (or Crepe) Week,” celebrated now in the spring during Lent but observed in ancient times during mid-winter. Our German ancestors in Russia were known to stack them into layers spread with jam for a delicious treat, and the “4-3-2-1” recipe handed down to us remains a holiday staple. It calls for 4 eggs, 3 cups of milk, 2 cups of flour, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. We also add a dash of salt and fry them on a hot buttered skillet. Don’t worry if the first one or two are ruined as you gauge the proper temperature and master the flipping technique. After all, there is an old Russian saying that basically translates, “The first blina (pancake) is a disaster”!

We now LOVE making family Suesspleena meals using our Palouse Heritage Sonoran Gold flour. Not only is it more authentic than the modern flour you'd buy in the grocery store today, but it delivers a naturally sweet, nutty-tasting flavor. Delicious!

Farro & Cannellini Bean Soup (Italian-Tuscany)

Farro Wheat

Among the Northwest’s earliest Italian immigrants who arrived in the 1870s were the families of Seattle’s George Colello, and Pasquale Sturno and Joseph Tachi of the Walla Walla Valley. Colello was among the first Puget Sound vegetable farmers to supply Pike Place Market, founded by fellow Italian Joe Desimone. Although the farro wheat listed here is often marketed as a specific heirloom variety, the Italian term may also refer to the ancient grains einkorn and emmer. Our European friends say the olive oil is essential!

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FARRO & CANNELLINI BEAN SOUP (ITALIAN-TUSCANY)

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 cups chicken broth         

1 quart water

6 sage leaves             

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons salt            

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 lb. dried Cannellini or white navy beans

2 onions coarsely chopped

8 carrots cut into half-inch pieces

1 lb. kale leaves coarsely chopped

1 cup farro/emmer    

1 smoked ham hock

3 garlic cloves finely chopped    

Cover beans and ham with water in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand 1 hour. Drain beans in colander and rinse. Cook onion with oil 4 to 5 minutes in an 8-quart pot over low heat; stir occasionally until softened. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Add beans, broth, water, ham hock, and seasonings. Simmer uncovered about 1 hour until beans are tender. Shred ham hock and add to soup. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.

Chicken & Barley Soup (Canadian—New Brunswick

“Hudson Bay” White Lammas Wheat

French Canadians were early Palouse Country explorers and many settled in the Walla Walla area (“Frenchtown”) and Oregon’s Willamette Valley were retired workers for the Hudson’s Bay Company at Ft. Vancouver and other posts maintained by “The Honorable Company” throughout the Pacific Northwest. HBC Governor Sir George Simpson personally brought the region’s first commercially raised grains— English White Lammas, on his first personal inspection of Columbia Department operations in 1825. 

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Chicken & Barley Soup (Canadian—New Brunswick)

½ teaspoon pepper

1 cup carrots sliced

1 bay leaf

½ cup celery chopped

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons fresh parsley cut

½ lbs. chicken 

10 ounces frozen peas

2 quarts water

 ½ lb. mushrooms sliced

½ cup pearl barley  

2 tsp poultry seasoning

1 med onion chopped

Combine chicken, water, barley, onion, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, paprika, and bay leaf in large kettle and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer approximately 1 hour until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from broth. Cook chicken, remove meat from bones and dice. Add carrots, celery, and mushrooms to broth. Cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Return diced chicken to soup mixture with peas and parsley; cook until heated through.

Barley & Potato Soup (Volga German)

This wholesome soup and related variations have been winter mainstays in homes like ours across the Pacific Northwest for generations. The presence of allspice is a nod to American influence as the Old World flavorings most commonly used for this dish in the were dill, parsley, and pepper. The recipe is from Evelyn Reich of Colfax, a lifelong Palouse Country resident.

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Barley & Potato Soup (Volga German Gashta-Katofel Sopa) 

• 2 quarts vegetable stock
• 4 whole allspice
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• sour cream

• 1 cup pearl barley
• 3 medium potatoes peeled and diced
• 2 celery stalks diced
• 1 large onion diced
• 1 carrot grated
• 4 strips bacon, beef soup bone, or ham hock

Boil barley and spices in water for two hours. Add 4 cubed potatoes, celery, onion, and carrot, and simmer an additional hour until vegetables and barley are tender. Fry bacon until crisp and add with drippings to the soup, or add soup bone to mixture. Place a dollop of sour cream to each bowl just before serving.