French Country Bread
It's cold outside. in fact, not only is it cold outside, but ice has been falling from the sky since yesterday. Welcome to the mid-Atlantic states. It's a mess out there. Not as bad as upstate New York - or Cleveland - but a mess all the same.
Last night, knowing that today was going to be spent indoors, I decided I needed to warm up the house by baking bread. Searching through recipes, I found one for a French Country Bread. It calls for making a sponge the night before baking, so last night I did just that...
Once upon a time I had a sourdough starter that had to have been older than me. It was an original wild yeast starter. I carried it around for years, feeding it, using it. It was great because I could really make bread whenever I wanted, and back in my youth I did bake a lot more bread than I do today. Part of it was the times, part of it was financial. Baking bread is cheap. I have no idea where it finally ended up, but it really made a great loaf of bread. The one I made last night calls for packaged yeast and would shock the purists, but heck - it's still a homemade loaf of bread, not squishy-white from the grocery store!
This particular bread is made with both whole wheat and white flour and has no oil or fat, so it's basically a use-the-day-you-bake-it bread.
The basic recipe is:
French Country Bread
Sponge:
• 1/2 cup wheat flour
• 1/2 cup bread flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons dark corn syrupCombine the two flours and the yeast in a mixing bowl. Add the water and corn syrup and stir until well blended. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to stand at room temperature overnight.
To prepare the dough:
• 3/4 cup water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• l-1/2 cups bread flourAdd the water, salt and wheat flour to the sponge. Stir in the bread flour, adding an extra tablespoon or two if the dough seems sticky. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
When the first rise is complete, punch the dough down. Shape into a ball or an oval. Flatten slightly. Place on a greased baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover with a kitchen towel and let triple in size - 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Place an empty pie plate on the bottom oven shelf. Preheat the oven and the pan to 425 degrees. Five minutes before adding the bread, carefully pour 1 cup hot water into the pan. Careful here! This causes a big burst of steam!
Sprinkle the loaf with flour, and Using a sharp knife, cut 3 diagonal slashes across the surface of the loaf. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the pan and cool.
The bread is on its first rise right now... More details to follow.....
What a great bread! It has an extremely delicate crumb. Soft and moist, with a great chewy, crusty crust! Perfect for dipping into soup or stew, slathering butter, or making hefty sandwiches. it was incredibly easy to make, too.
I shall be making this, again. And again.
Italian Bread Salad and Tuna and Cannellini Beans
Okay... it's been a bit hot outside. Too hot to do any serious cooking, but never too hot to eat! Even though the A/C is running and the house is comfortable, I just haven't been in the mood for anything too heavy. We decided to do an Italian Bread salad at work this week. We have these REALLY good roasted red tomatoes that are just perfect for anything! Even though I've consumed more than my share of it there, decided I wanted to make it at home, too. It's yummy! The basic recipe is:
- 1 container Roasted Red Tomatoes
- 1 jar Marinated Artichokes
- 1/2 container Perlini Mozzarella
- 2 cups cubed Artisan Italian Bread
Mix tomatoes (undrained) with artichokes (drained) perlini mozzarella (drained) with the cubed Italian bread in an attractive serving bowl. Eat. That's it! No muss, no fuss!
At home, I added red onion and roasted red peppers because, well... I wanted to.
And then Victor made the most yummy Tuna and Cannellini Bean Salad to go along with it! Talk about gastronomic heaven!
- 1 can Tonno tuna packed in oil
- olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup chopped red onion
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 4 tsp chopped fresh sage
- 1 can cannellini bans, drained
Drain oil from tuna into medium bowl. Add enough olive oil to measure 3 tbsp total. Add vinegar. Add onion, parsley and sage. Mix in beans and tuna. Season with salt and pepper.
We served it on thick slices of toasted Italian bread. Damn, it was good! The herbs were fresh from the garden, the bread fresh and lightly toasted... Simple flavors... Ya can't beat it!