When I cooked yesterday’s chicken, I had tonight’s dinner in mind. I knew I was going to make salads – I just wasn’t sure what was going to be in (or on) them.
Cold chicken started me thinking about ham. Victor had boiled some eggs, so A Cobb-type salad was formulating. And then some ravioli, or tortellini, or something…
I settled on perline pasta mixed with a red pepper and eggplant dip I had in the cabinet. Quick and easy pasta salad.
The bread was a take on the no-knead breads I’ve been making for a while. I finally got a copy of the actual book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day. (It was a freebie using Zoom Panel points.)
Fun.
There was a recipe for a rustic bread using whole wheat and rye flour. Since I just happened to have both in the cabinet, I made a half-batch of the dough last night. When I got home today, I formed the loaf, put it outside into Mother Nature’s proofing box, and in 30 minutes it was in the oven!
Half-Batch Rustic Bread
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
- 1-1/2 tbsp yeast (1 packet)
- 3/4 tbsp kosher salt salt
- 3 cups flour
- 1/4 cup rye flour
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
Mix all ingredients. Let proof about 2 hours.
Refrigerate. (Dough is ready at this point but handles better when chilled.)
Preheat oven to 450°.
Form grapefruit-sized ball of dough into loaf.
Let rise about 30 minutes.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Cool before slicing.
It was pretty good!