Acorns From Field To Table, Part 3: Cooking With Acorn Flour!

This is the third post in a series of how to turn foraged acorns, a near-ubiquitous, totally under-utilized food resource, into delicious food for you and your family. In the first post, we talked about the history behind foraging acorns, how to gather them in the wild (it's not hard, haha) and how to store them until its time to process them (find it here: https://steemit.com/foraging/@slhomestead/acorns-from-field-to-table-part-1-foraging )

In the second post, we shared the long but not intimidating process of sorting, drying, leaching, grinding, and drying the acorns into useable flour. (find it here: https://steemit.com/homesteading/@slhomestead/acorns-from-field-to-table-part-2-processing )

Finally, in this third post, I'll be sharing my recipe for acorn sourdough bread, as well as some links to other fantastic recipes using acorn flour!

The first thing to know about using acorn flour is to know how it tastes, of course. I found this flour to fall slightly to the side of sweet. It reminds me of a mixture of maple and the smell of freshly-fallen oak leaves, in terms of flavor. I know that is a pretty froofy description, but it's really how it tastes! Wild, nutty, and very pleasant.

Also, I like to think of the hot-leach flour that we made this year in the same context that I think of cornmeal. Since acorns lack gluten, like corn, the flour that I made will not make a cohesive dough that holds together without the inclusion of some wheat flour (or similar flour).

So, without further ado, lets get to the first recipe!

Ingredients

3/4 cup sourdough starter (if you don't have any, you can easily make your own! Check out my YouTube series on the process HERE--> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJf5xvt40NPaiODPKPyRu2g5nfqYTQTDw )
1 ½ cups warm, filtered water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup coarse-ground acorn flour
(Note: The amount of flour you need to use varies depending on the day’s humidity. I find that I use far less flour in the summer than I do in the winter.)

Directions

1. Add sourdough starter and filtered water to a large bowl. Mix thoroughly with your hand.

2. Add salt, then flour, one cup at a time, and continue to mix with your hand. The dough should be wet. If it is dry or hard to work with, add more water.

3. Let the dough rest 10 minutes.

4. Wet your hands and knead the dough in the bowl. It may seem counter-intuitive, but whole wheat needs to be kneaded with water, not flour. Trust me on this one! Knead the dough in the bowl for 4 minutes, wetting your hands as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. If it is hard to knead at this point, you’ll want to introduce more water, about a teaspoon at a time, until it is workable. It's okay if it feels slightly “too wet.” It will soak it up, guaranteed.

5. Allow to rest another 5 minutes.

6. Wet your hands again and knead for 4 more minutes. You’ll probably notice that the dough is now smooth, supple, and not as sticky.

7. Form into a round, cover with a towel, and put someplace warm for the next 3-4 hours.

8. The dough should have risen quite a bit during this time. Punch down, then gently shape into a round ball by pulling the edges into the center.

9. Line a large bowl with a linen towel, then dust the dough liberally with flour. Lay the dough in the bowl and put back in the warm place to rise again for at least 2 hours.

10. Preheat your oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.

11. If using a baking sheet, both grease and scatter flour over the surface before gently flipping the bread onto it. If using a pizza stone, dust your pizza peel with flour before turning the bread out onto it.

12. With a sharp, serrated knife, score the top of the bread to allow for expansion during baking.

13. Slide the bread into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

14. Lower the temperature to 425F° and bake another 20 minutes.

Your bread is done if the internal temperature has reached 200F°. You can check with a meat thermometer or use the traditional method of tapping the bottom and listening for a hollow sound. If you can resist the urge, allow the bread to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before slicing so that it can finish internally steaming. Full disclosure: I very rarely do this step. The house is full of breadsmell and I am hungry.

Serve with butter and a fruit preserve.

Once cool, wrap in a towel and store in a cool, dark place. It should stay good for about 4 days.

Here's some other recipes worth checking out!

Acorn Porridge: https://sustainabledish.com/the-acorn-a-never-to-be-forgotten-food/

Stew, Bread, Pancakes: http://www.thepeoplespaths.net/NAIFood/acorns.htm

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Let me know if you give it a shot! I love teaching folks how to make sourdough bread, so don't hesitate to ask any question you might have.

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