Chicken and Grits - with a loaf of bread, to boot
Yes, we're still eating. Granted, I haven't had much of an appetite since Wednesday morning, but we're still eating.
Being creative in the kitchen helps to focus me. And lawsy knows I need a bit of focus, right now.
Baking bread is the ultimate in calming. There's something about flour and water coming together to create something totally different than either item, alone, that is pretty much a recipe for what we should be doing as a people.
Flour, water, salt, yeast... Four things totally different - they look different, they act different. They come from different places. Each on their own has something to give - and all four of them together create something truly magical. Each offers up itself to become something greater than their individual selves.
I've always maintained that food is the great equalizer. That if we would just sit down together at table and share our different foods, we would be in a better place.
As a kid growing up, our neighborhood was a mini-UN. We had kids from all over the world as our friends and playmates. Directly across the street were Filipinos. At 6 years of age I was eating Lumpia and Pancit and Adobo. How can you possibly hate a group of people who make Lumpia?!?
When Uncle Sam's Yacht Club brought me to The Philippines, I was right at home. I had heard Tagalog being spoken for 13 or so years. It wasn't foreign. I knew the culture and now I got to see where my best friends were from. I got away from Subic Bay and Olongapo City and traveled up to Manila, to Baguio, to really see the country.
In Hong Kong we went way out in the New Territories to the Red China border. We didn't take a tour - we took the Star Ferry to Kowloon, a train to Sheng Shui, and a rickety local bus to the border point. Americans were not allowed in China, but I stuck my foot through the fence at the border. The land on one side of the fence looked just like the land on the other. The people were all the same - it was just a line drawn by someone. Again, the food. Growing up in San Francisco gave me free reign in Chinatown. The one thing I found out was how different the Chinese food in San Francisco was compared to the Chinese food in China. I ate it with gusto because it was just so good. Noodles are noodles - you really don't need to know what's being mixed up with them when it tastes so awesome.
The best omelette I have ever eaten in my life was made by a Malaysian man in Singapore - in a wok on a street corner. He spoke no English but he knew how to take some of the freshest ingredients around and turn them into a fiery-hot plate of feathery-light eggs and vegetables and peppers and herbs. I can still see his gold-toothed smiling face as I swooned while eating. It was seriously one of the greatest things I have ever eaten.
Hearing different languages being spoken as a child piqued my curiosity. It made me wonder what was being said - how they could understand one another using all of those different sounds. And sitting around the table, playing games - mahjong with the Aunties or poker with Uncle Joe - was like sitting around my own house with my own relatives. Everyone talked at once, everyone ate, drank, laughed - it was all the same.
Because we are all the same.
The song from South Pacific plays in my mind a lot.
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
I was lucky. I was eating Lumpia.
And tonight it was Grits. From Adluh in Columbia, South Carolina. Best grits around. Of course, being married to an Italian, we call it polenta. Same thing. Different name. Shrimp and Grits, Polenta and Scampi.
We're all the same.
I added some sweet potatoes left from the other night and floured the chicken in Adluh's Palmetto Dust - "A roasted garlic pepper breader that can be used as a coating for fish, chicken, pork, green tomatoes, pickles or onion rings." It was really good. Even Nonna ate it all!
I made the bread with King Arthur Artisan Bread Flour.
Multi-Grain Bread
Ingredients
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 cup warm water (100° to 115°, approximately)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1/2 cup rye flour
Directions
Combine the yeast with sugar and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Mix the salt with the flour and add to the yeast mixture, a cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1½ to 2 hours.
Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into a round. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Preheat oven to 400°F and let rise until doubled. Bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the top is rapped.
Carefully taught.
Peppers and Tomatoes
The garden spilleth over. Peppers and tomatoes - and eggplants - are coming in at an alarming rate. And cantaloupes are not far behind. Did I mention the green beans?
It's a treasure trove of fun eating.
The challenge has been to keep it new and interesting. Yes, we can eat tomato salad every night for 5 months, but is there something else to do with those luscious red and golden orbs besides Sicilian olive oil and basil? And peppers... How many jars can I can? How much caponata can one family eat in a year?
We've been lucky. We've been able to can a lot of sauce for the coming months and a lot of the other stuff we're canning will find its way into homes other than ours. The garden gods have been on our side. Then there's what to do with the little bit in front of us right now. With tomatoes, a fresh sauce is a quick and easy solution.
Red and gold tomatoes blended and strained make for a really tasty sauce with the addition of a bit of basil and oregano from the garden. And just a pinch of salt and pepper. Nothing else is needed.
I poured it over stuffed shells and sausages and baked it off in the oven for 40 minutes.
The peppers have been a bit more challenging, only because Nonna no longer likes spice. If I had my way they would be going in everything. My mother said the first solid food I ate as an infant was a chili bean. I loves my spice! But making two dinners is not a real option most nights. A big tub of fried peppers in olive oil, however, is an option. And they can be added to almost anything.
Since today is Sunday, pasta and homemade bread was an easy dinner idea - and peppers inside of bread would be another way of highlighting these fiery friends.
I made a pretty basic focaccia dough and split it and filled it with sauteed peppers and cheese. Easy to do.
Pepper and Cheese Filled Focaccia
dough
- 1 pkg dry yeast
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- pinch salt
filling
- 1 1/2 cups peppers. chopped, fried in oil, and cooled
- 4 oz cheese, shredded, sliced, or crumbled
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
Add 1 cup lukewarm water to mixer. Add yeast and let proof about 5 minutes. Add flour and and begin mixing. Add oil and continue mixing, adding additional water or flour to form a soft dough. Mix in machine about 5 minutes.
Roll dough into a ball, lightly oil bowl, and place dough in bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled - about 1 1/2-2 hours.
Take dough and form into two equal balls. Cover and let rest about 10 minutes.
Roll each dough ball out to a 9" circle. Place one on a greased cookie sheet (or a bread peel with cornmeal.)
Brush entire top with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Distribute peppers and cheese across top.
Place second dough round on top, pressing out all air bubbles. Pinch ends to seal completely.
Brush top with tomato sauce and cut at least 4 vent holes to allow steam to escape.
Cover and let rise until doubled - about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400°F with baking stone, if using.
Slide dough onto baking stone or place pan in oven.
Bake about 45 minutes.
Let cool before cutting.
Yellow Tomato Bread
Houston. We have tomatoes.
And when life hands you a basket of tomatoes, you get baking.
I needed to bake a loaf of bread tonight for dinner and looking at all of the tomatoes I had brought in, I thought of a bread recipe my mom used to make with tomato juice. I figured I could rework it for fresh tomatoes, so I went for it.
Baking bread really isn't as difficult as people make it out to be - and on hot, humid days, natures outdoor proofing box only makes it easier.
I grabbed three nice and ripe yellow tomatoes, cored them, and put them into the food processor. I let them chop for probably a minute - until they were reduced to a liquid. My tomato juice was ready.
Fresh Tomato Bread
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1 pgk dry yeast
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1 cup tomato juice and pulp from 3 or so fresh tomatoes
- 4 cups flour
- 3 tbsp softened butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
Place yeast, warm water, and sugar in mixing bowl. Let proof about 5 minutes.
Add ginger, juice, salt, 3 cups flour, and butter. With dough hook, mix well, adding more flour to make a soft but not too sticky dough. Mix for about 10 minutes.
Turn dough out to a floured surface and knead a few minutes.
Roll into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover and allow to rise until doubled.
Punch down and form into a round or oblong loaf. Place on a well-floured or corn meal-covered bread peel - if using a baking stone - or onto a floured or corn meal-covered sheet pan and let rise again, until doubled.
Place into a 350°F oven and bake about 45-55 minutes.
It came out with a really soft, tender crumb - perfect for enjoying with bruschetta or toasted with butter and jam.
Take advantage of those fresh tomatoes in the garden!
Scallops, Pesto, Homemade Bread, and Blueberry Pound Cake
Nonna wasn't here for dinner tonight. That means we get to reach back into our creative minds and do some fun things she probably wouldn't like or be able to eat. Her tastes really are changing and while she's never been what one would call and adventurous eater, she's starting to dislike a lot of things she used to love. I kinda figure what the hell - she's 90 and can eat what she wants - but it does make cooking a bit of a challenge, at times.
So with her not here, we get to be a bit silly in our approach to dinner.
I had scallops thawing and went to La Cucina Italiana website for a bit of inspiration. The site is in Italian - I use the Google translate - and one of the first recipes I saw was for an appetizer with a halved scallop and a quail egg on a brioche toast. Earlier today, my sister who knows how much I love eggs on things had posted a picture of a sweet potato hash with a poached egg on top that she made. It had me drooling on my keyboard. When I saw the scallop and quail egg appetizer, I knew I had a great idea for dinner.
I made a loaf of Pepper and Cheese Bread this afternoon and knew a couple of thick slices of that toasted would sit in for the brioche. Whole scallops for halves, poached eggs for quail eggs, and dinner was set. Almost. I wanted something to take the toasted bread up a few notches... Victor's Pistachio Pesto was the clinching ingredient.
It was really simple. I sauteed the scallops in a bit of olive oil and butter, added a splash of white wine, a squeeze of lemon, and a pinch of salt & pepper. They went on top of the toasted bread I liberally spread with homemade pesto. The scallops went on the plate and the egg went on top. I chopped some pistachios for garnish but forgot to use them. Oh well.
The bread was a take on a recipe I've made before.
Pepper Cheese Bread
- 1 pkg active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 1/3 cup cream
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
- 1 or more hot peppers, minced
- 1 egg
Mix yeast with water and cream to proof. In a stand mixer, add half the flour and begin to mix. Slowly add the grated cheese, the peppers, and the rest of the flour, mixing until it all holds together. Continue mixing for about 10 minutes or until a firm, smooth dough is made.
Form into a ball, rub a bowl with oil, coat dough, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rise until doubled.
Punch down, turn out to counter, and form it into a loaf - round, long, or braided.
Place on a baking peel liberally coated with corn meal. Cover, and let rise until doubled.
Preheat oven with baking stone to 375ºF (190°C).
When dough has risen, brush with an egg. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until nicely browned and hollow-sounding when tapped.
Cool on wire rack.
And just because, Victor made dessert - a Blueberry Pound Cake.
Blueberry Pound Cake
- 1 cup butter
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- pinch nutmeg
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups blueberries
- demerara sugar
Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C).
Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Slowly add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in blueberries.
Spread into a standard loaf pan and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
Bake 55-65 minutes. Cool about 15 minutes in pan and then remove to cool completely on rack.
My stomach is smiling!
Pesto Rolls and Rigatoni
I was in the mood for pasta, tonight and pasta, to me, means bread. You need something to sop up the sauce. My go-to breads are generally of the rustic-Italian style. I wanted something a bit different, tonight.
The weather outside is perfect for proofing dough, so I thought a basic white bread turned into pesto rolls would fit my need. Where my rustic Italian loaves are pretty much just flour, water, salt, and yeast, white bread needs a few more ingredients to make it lighter and more tender. Fat and sugar are the two ingredients used for tenderness - eggs and flour are for structure - so a bit of sugar and olive oil were used. I didn't think to take pictures of the dough when it first came out, or even when I formed them, but when I saw what the pan looked like after an hour outside, I grabbed the camera!
They were as good as they looked! Light and airy with a bit of a crusty crust.
This dough makes a really good loaf of sandwich bread and because there's no milk or eggs like many white breads, I'll be able to rework it at Thanksgiving for my great-nephew, Miles! I'm thinking maybe a savory pumpkin roll instead of the rolls I usually make. We shall see - we have a few months to work it out.
In the meantime, here's what I did...
Pesto Rolls
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 pkg (2 1/2 tsp) active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cups flour
Proof yeast in water with sugar.
With mixer on low, add flour and salt, and then drizzle in the oil. Mix with dough hook for about 6-8 minutes or until dough is smooth and silky. You don't want it sticky and you don't want it dry.
Oil top, cover, and let rise about an hour, until doubled.
Place dough on a lightly-floured surface and pat out with hands to a rectangle.
Spread with pesto and roll up from the long end. Slice into individual rolls and place close together on a oiled baking sheet. Cover and allow to proof again, until dounled.
Place in a preheated 350°F oven for about 30 minutes. Brush hot rolls with melted better, if desired.
Here's a simple pesto recipe. Blanching the basil really takes away a lot of the bitterness that some basil can have.
Pesto alla Genovese
- 6 cups loosely packed basil leaves
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup pecorino romano cheese
Soak basil in a large bowl of cold water; let stand 5 minutes. Qquickly blanch and immediately plunge into ice water.Combine nuts and garlic in blender jar and add the olive oil. Purée until nuts are very finely chopped and mixture is creamy. Add salt.
Slowly add basil to blender and purée just to combine. Add cheese and purée just to combine.
Place in bowl and cover with a thin film of oil.
And then we had the pasta!
This was a clean-out-the-'fridge-and-freezer dish! I had a few sausages and a few meatballs in the freezer, and some olives, mushrooms, and roasted red peppers in the 'fridge. Everything went into the pot with a quart of Victor's homemade sauce.
Dinner was really good!
White Bread
I bake a fair amount of bread but I don't make a lot of sandwich-type breads. The loaves I usually bake tend to be rustic Italian or French-style. No real reason other than I just like the crusty rustic breads.
I thought it would be a nice change to bake off a couple of loaves of sandwich bread just for the hell of it. I do like sandwiches - even if I don't eat them all that often. And we all know that my favorite food - after hot dogs - is toast.
So... armed with Mom's Cook Book, I went to work. I quickly found a recipe that seemed perfect for what I was looking for.
It's a really straightforward recipe that was really easy to put together in the ol' KitchenAid. I used exactly six cups of flour, so do add slowly at the end and use your best judgement. Making the loaves was easy, as well, but it's obvious I need to work on my loaf formation skills. They've gotten a bit rusty since those massive-loaf-production-days in Uncle Sam's Yacht Club. But - it's not all about what they look like - it's about what it tastes like - and I do have to admit it tastes pretty damned good.
It has a soft white-white crumb with a slightly crunchy/chewy crust. I cut the first slice when the bread was still a bit too warm for a proper cutting but the flavor is definitely there. One loaf will be going right into the freezer and the other will be dinner tonight, breakfast and lunch - and probably dinner - tomorrow.
Not bad. Not bad, at all...
Walnut Raisin Bread
It's been snowing now for 24 continuous hours. One of the best snowfalls I've seen in years. Feet and feet of snow - with drifts over 5 feet. It's incredible.
I started shoveling the drive but said hell with it less than a third of the way out. I don't have to be anywhere until Tuesday afternoon. I'll take my time.
Food-wise, we're doing well. Scones for breakfast, meatball sandwiches for lunch, and pork chops for dinner - with a loaf of walnut raisin bread. The bread definitely took the blue ribbon - it's one of the better ones I've made. Really crunchy crust with a perfectly light crumb. Just enough walnuts and golden raisins for sweetness and a bit of extra crunch. I slathered three slices with butter during dinner.
And, because man does not live by bread alone - although there are times when I almost do - we had pork chops with a balsamic reduction for the actual dinner.
Just browned in a skillet, pulled out, added chicken broth and balsamic vinegar, boiled it down a bit, added the chops back in to finish cooking, and then reduced the juices a bit more. Really simple.
Dessert is going to be Pecan Pie, because... what the heck. It's still snowing!
One thing to note about the bread - it needs a starter, so make sure you make the starter the day before you want to make the bread!
Walnut Raisin Bread
starter
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup water 110°
- 1 3/4 cups flour
Sprinkle yeast into the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Stir in flour. Cover bowl with clean towel and leave at room temperature for 2-3 days.
dough
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup water 110°
- 1 cup starter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup rye flour
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Sprinkle yeast into water in mixing bowl. Stir to dissolve. Add starter, flours, and salt.
Mix on low speed with dough hook for about 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Add raisins and walnuts and continue mixing another 5 or so minutes.Knead by hand for a minute or two on a lightly-floured surface to make sure the nuts and raisins are evenly distributed.. Place the dough into a clean bowl and cover with a kitchen towel.
Let rise until doubled – up to 2 hours. Punch dough down and let rest for about 10 minutes before forming the loaf.
Shape the dough into a cylindrical loaf and place on a bread peel generously coated with coarse cornmeal. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise again until doubled – about an hour.
Preheat oven with baking stone to 425°.
Dust loaf with flour and then make three parallel slashes across the top. Slide dough onto stone and bake for about 1 hour.
Replenish starter with about 3/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup water.
Oh... AND... I won the snow pool at work. I said 19".
Italian Wedding Soup and Fresh Bread
The Pope is in town so I thought I'd bake some bread in case he stopped by and wanted to feed the neighborhood, or something. Victor made soup - Italian Wedding Soup - because even though the Pope is from Argentina, his father was born in Italy and his mother's parents were born in Italy - and you know how Italians are around here... if your grandparents, great-grandparents, or great-great-grandparents were born in Italy - you're Italian. End of discussion. We thought Wedding Soup was fitting because he was here for the World Meeting of Families, not to mention we have an abundance of greens in our garden, right now!
We decided to stay out here in 'burbia instead of trekking into the city. I just couldn't imagine dealing with the crowds, barricades, security checkpoints, and all that. Even after a fun and uplifting day, I imagine I would be a cranky guy trying to get my SEPTA train back home, tonight.
And speaking of home... the garden has gone crazy! We planted lots of fall greens and they are really coming through! Tomorrow night I'm cooking up New Zealand Spinach, and some of the beets are looking like they're almost ready. Fun, indeed!
The bread, today, was my favorite Pane Pugliese. I have been making this bread for nigh on 35 years. It really is one of my favorite breads and it never - ever - fails. I try to keep a biga on hand for those almost-spur-of-of-the-moment loaves of bread since it needs to be made a day in advance. This was concept-to-table in 4 hours.
And while the dough was rising, Victor was making soup.
This is such a great soup. Victor also made fresh chicken stock from the bird I roasted the other night so it is really homemade!
Italian Wedding Soup
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 cup onion, minced
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 large egg
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
Soup
- 3 qts chicken broth
- 1 lb escarole, chopped
- 2 large eggs
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Make meat balls: Mix all ingredients together and form into very small meat balls- about the size of a prize shooting marble. Place on a sheet pan off to the side.
Make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the meatballs and escarole and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the escarole is tender – about 10 minutes.
To add the egg: Whisk the eggs to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Slowly drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a large fork to form thin stands of egg.
Ladle into bowls and add additional grated cheese and a drizzle of good-quality olive oil.
The soup is deeply satisfying and made all the better with crusty bread. And... there's enough left over for lunch, tomorrow.
'Tis a good day, indeed!
Milk Bread and Daisy Organic Flour
Finally a recipe from Bon Appetit that I feel like making! The magazine has changed too much for me. I don't like the layout, the photography, or the lack of page numbers. I get that I'm not the demographic, anymore, but...
So... as I was perusing the September issue, I found a recipe for Milk Bread. I do love my bread and I love baking new recipes, so this one was a natural. And since I have 10 pounds of Daisy Heritage Lancaster Red Wheat Flour in the pantry, this seemed like the perfect place to start.
I've bought Daisy Flour in the past, but this is the first of the Lancaster Red that I've bought. It doesn't get much more local - it's grown and milled just 50 miles from us. And it is awesome flour!
My 'everyday' flour is Antimo Caputo "00" from Italy.Yes, I use imported Italian flour for everyday use. I've reached that age and point in life where it just doesn't make sense not to. I like how it feels, tastes, and bakes. End of discussion.
The Lancaster Red also has its roots in Italy. It was brought over to the US from Genoa in the early 1800s. It is hearty without being heavy. Local, heritage, and organic. It doesn't get much better.
Back to those rolls...
I followed the recipe pretty much as written but when it came to putting the dough into "Six Jumbo Muffin Tins" I had enough dough for 12. I have no idea the size of the tins they were using, but these rolls are huge as it it - a double amount would be a loaf of bread!
Size or no, they came out fantastic!
They were light-textured, rich in flavor, and had a great, chewy crust! Everything I like in a loaf of bread!
I don't often make breads with milk, but this one shall be a keeper, for sure! They worked on every level.
Because the recipe is available all over the web, I'll go ahead and reprint here, as well...
Kindred Milk Bread
- 5 1/3 cups bread flour, divided, plus more for surface (Kindred uses King Arthur)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup mild honey (such as wildflower or alfalfa)
- 3 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder (such as Alba)
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast (from about 3 envelopes)
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 3 large eggs, divided
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
- Nonstick vegetable oil spray
- Flaky sea salt (optional, but shouldn't be)
Cook ⅓ cup flour and 1 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a thick paste forms (almost like a roux but looser), about 5 minutes. Add cream and honey and cook, whisking to blend, until honey dissolves.
Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and add milk powder, yeast, kosher salt, 2 eggs, and 5 cups flour. Knead on medium speed until dough is smooth, about 5 minutes. Add butter, a piece at a time, fully incorporating into dough before adding the next piece, until dough is smooth, shiny, and elastic, about 4 minutes.
Coat a large bowl with nonstick spray and transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
If making rolls, lightly coat a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan with nonstick spray. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and divide into 6 pieces. Divide each piece into 4 smaller pieces (you should have 24 total). They don’t need to be exact; just eyeball it. Place 4 pieces of dough side-by-side in each muffin cup.
If making a loaf, lightly coat a 9x5" loaf pan with nonstick spray. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and divide into 6 pieces. Nestle pieces side-by-side to create 2 rows down length of pan.
If making split-top buns, lightly coat two 13x9" baking dishes with nonstick spray. Divide dough into 12 pieces and shape each into a 4"-long log. Place 6 logs in a row down length of each dish.
Let shaped dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size (dough should be just puffing over top of pan), about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375°. Beat remaining egg with 1 tsp. water in a small bowl to blend. Brush top of dough with egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt, if desired. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until bread is deep golden brown, starting to pull away from the sides of the pan, and is baked through, 25–35 minutes for rolls, 50–60 minutes for loaf, or 30–40 minutes for buns.
f making buns, slice each bun down the middle deep enough to create a split-top. Let milk bread cool slightly in pan on a wire rack before turning out; let cool completely.
Do Ahead: Bread can be baked 5 days ahead; store tightly wrapped at room temperature.
These will also make great burger buns. Maybe there will be a Last Hurrah BBQ before the snow falls!
Around here, anything is possible...
Spaghetti and a Loaf of Bread
Sunday easy livin'...
We took a trip down to West Chester to pick up some seasonal items to plant in the new vegetable garden. Our timing probably could have been better - it's still hot and we're off on to the West Coast on Thursday - but when ya have a new toy, ya gotta play.
We have several different greens, beets, and garlic in the ground. The garlic will just set there over the winter. The beets and greens are definite fall crops. Beets. This should be interesting because Victor has always disliked beets - well... of the canned variety, anyway. I'm thinking a roasted beet soup when it's cooler. And a way to can them without pickling... We shall see.
In the meantime, we're setting up a sprinkler so Donna - our Nonna-sitter - can just turn a faucet while we're gone.
I was off work early on Saturday, so I made a biga - an Italian starter for bread - and baked fresh bread on Sunday after we got back.
Biga
- 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (or 1/10 package fresh yeast)
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 1/4 cup water (room temperature)
- 3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Stir the yeast into the warm water and let stand until creamy – about 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining water and then the flour, one cup at a time.
Mix with the paddle attachment on the mixer at the lowest speed about 2 minutes.
Remove to a slightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise at cool room temperature for 6 to 24 hours. The starter will triple in volume and still be wet and sticky when ready. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
While that was sitting on the counter, I made a pot of sauce.
No recipe. It just has all sorts of stuff in it - onions, garlic, roasted red peppers, ground beef, roasted eggplant, fresh and canned tomatoes...
Ya just make this stuff. Really. Throw things in a pot, let it all simmer, and serve it over spaghetti. Really.
And then the bread.
The Pane Pugliese really is one of my favorite rustic Italian breads. Crusty crust, light, tender crumb. Bake some! The recipe comes from my favorite Italian Bread Book, The Italian Baker by Carol Field. Buy a copy - you will not be sorry!
Pane Pugliese
adapted from The Italian Baker by Carol Field
- 1 packet dry yeast (or 1/2 package fresh yeast)
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 3 cups water; room temp
- 1 cup biga
- 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp salt
Proof the yeast in the warm water. Add 1 1/2 c water and the biga, mix till blended. Add flour and salt, mix till dough comes together and pulls off the sides of the bowl. Knead 3-5 minutes in a mixer, longer by hand. Dough will be very soft and elastic. Let rise about 3 hours, shape into 2 small round loaves or 1 big flattish one. If you have baking stones, place loaves on baking peel or on baking sheets sprinkled corn meal. Let rise about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 450°, and 10 minutes before baking flour the loaf tops and dimple them with your fingers. Bake 50-60 minutes for big loaves, 30-35 minutes for small. Tap the loaves to test for doneness (hollow=done) and cool on a rack.
Pane al Pistacchio
One of my go-to books for Italian breads is Carol Field's The Italian Baker. I have had her book for probably 30 years and it's still one of the best books out there for making rustic Italian breads. The recipes are all easily adaptable and if you make bread on any sort of regular basis, you can easily play with them and get outstanding results every time.
Today, I took her Walnut Bread and turned it into a Pistachio Bread.
I love baking bread on hot, humid days. The weather is perfect for proofing bread outdoors - Mother Nature's Perfect Proofing Box. Since I've been day-dreaming about Sicily, I thought a loaf of bread with pistachios was in order. Sicily has some excellent pistachios - grown mostly in the volcanic soil around Mount Etna. They don't export many, but I can pretend my California nuts are their Sicilian cousins...
The recipe is pretty straightforward. There are no starters - biga - in this bread, so you can get it done start-to-finish in just a couple of hours.
A couple of things to note... When chopping the nuts, I used a food processor and made them fairly fine, but made sure there were still some chunks. Also, after the first rise, you take the dough out of the bowl and form it into a ring without punching it down or kneading it. The dough is also just a tad sticky. Resist the urge to add more flour.
The end result is outstanding!
This is the dough right out of the mixer, ready for the first rise. Note the chunks of pistachio.
It's then formed into a ring on a cornmeal-sprinkled bread peel and left to rise, again, until doubled.
And here it is right out of the oven.
Half of this is going into the freezer.
It's actually quite a quick recipe. Most of the time is waiting for it to rise - and on nice, hot, humid days, it does it quite quickly.
Pistachio Bread
adapted from Carol Field's The Italian Baker
- 2 cups roasted, unsalted pistachios
- 2 1/2 tsp or 1 package active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup cane syrup or honey
- 1 1/3 cups warm water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Chop them to coarse crumb in a food processor.Stir the yeast and cane syrup or honey into water in a large mixing bowl; let stand until foamy.
Combine the flour, salt and pistachios and stir into the yeast mixture. Mix until the dough looks brownish and coarse. Knead for 8-10 minutes. The dough should be soft, moist and fairly dense, but easy to work, although not elastic.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover tightly and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. WITHOUT PUNCHING IT DOWN OR KNEADING IT, shape it gently into a log and join the end to make a ring.
Place on a cornmeal-dusted bread peel. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Pre-heat the oven with baking stone to 400° F. Slide bread onto stone and bake for 10 minutes; reduce the heat to 350° F and bake 40 minutes longer.
If you don't have a peel and baking stone, you can place the loaf on a cornmeal-dusted sheet pan, let it rise, and then place the pan in the oven to bake.
But I really do recommend getting a peel and stone. They're not that expensive and they really do make for a better loaf of bread!
Sunday Dinner
Spring has finally sprung.
Sunny, 80°, chirping birds, and a dog running through the sprinkler... It doesn't get much better. Except for dinner, that is.
Even though summer means tomatoes, the sunny skies meant a bit of a tomato salad. Victor got our tomato plants into the ground, today - along with 8 pepper plants - so... in a few months we'll be making these with our home-grown.
In the meantime, it's store-bought. I don't buy a lot of store-bought tomatoes. They're usually pretty flat-tasting. But now and again I'll find a couple that seem okay. I know... picky, picky, picky... What can I say?!?
These were actually okay. Combined with fresh mozzarella and basil, and dressed with our stash of Sicilian olive oil and aged balsamic, they passed muster.
For dinner, Victor made focaccia and baked ravioli.
He doctored up a jar of his homemade sauce with a pound of ground beef and made a really meaty ragu. he took jumbo ravioli out of the freezer and placed them in the dish, covered them with sauce, and baked them for about 40 minutes.
Excellent!
And then the focaccia.
Victor makes a basic focaccia with a recipe he originally found in Better Homes and Gardens. He plays with it when he's of a mind, but the basic works just fine.
Better Homes and Gardens Dough
Ingredients
- 2-3/4 to 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pkg. active dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup warm water (120 degrees F to 130 degrees F)
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil or olive oil
Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl combine 1-1/4 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt; add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Lightly grease a large bowl; place dough in bowl and cover with a damp towel (make sure the towel does not touch the dough). Let dough rise in a warm place until double in size (30 minutes).
3. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 16×12-inch rectangle. Place in a greased 16x12x1-inch baking pan. Let rise 20 minutes.
4. Top with toppings of choice and bake at 375° about 25 minutes.
He brushed it with some thinned sauce and baked it off. Simple perfection.