Chicken Soup and Ciabatta

Tonight's dinner was brought to you by a magazine ad for an Italian Soup.  I looked at it and realized I had a chicken, a package of tortellini, and a better grasp of Italian cooking than the folks who came up with the ad.

I follow guidelines for certain soups, as when I make Mulligatawny, but really...  soup is throwing stuff in a pot.  It ain't brain surgery and it ain't difficult.

Canned and packaged soups rely on chemicals and flavor-enhancers for taste.  Unfortunately, a lot of people only relate to the trickery that food manufacturers use in their products and feel underwhelmed when they make things at home - not understanding that real food without additives tastes different - and better.  It becomes a retraining of the taste buds to learn how good individual foods taste and how well different foods blend together.

That being said, soup is still throwing stuff into a pot.  As much or as little as you like.

Bread - and baking - takes a bit more science.

I've actually never made a ciabatta bread before and was glad my first attempt was from a trusted source. I used a recipe from The Italian Baker by Carol Field. The dough is quite unlike most bread doughs and she stresses several times not to succumb and add more flour than called for.  It was good advice that I'm sure I would not have followed from other cook books.  But I've been baking breads from her book for years and know when to pay attention.

The dough is quite wet and sticky so it does not translate to making by hand.  Use a mixer.  And really resist adding more flour.  Really.

The biga needs to set out for 12 hours, so start the day before you want the bread.

Ciabatta Bread

for biga:

• 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup water at room temp
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in water, add the flour and form a sticky dough. Leave it covered at room temperature for 16 to 24 hours.

for the final dough:

• 3 tbsp warm milk
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup biga
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tbsp salt

Using a mixer, stir the yeast in the milk and let it stand for a couple of minutes in the bowl. Add the water, oil, the biga, and mix to incorporate, dissolving the biga in the liquid. Add the flour and salt, and mix at low speed for a couple of minutes. Change to the dough hook and knead 2 minutes at low speed, and 2 minutes at medium speed. Finish kneading by hand on a well-floured surface, but adding as little extra flour as possible.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and leave at room temperature for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Divide the dough, which will be very soft and bubbly, in two equal pieces. Place each half on a well floured piece of parchment paper, and shape each as a cylinder, keeping the seam side down. Stretch it gently to give the ciabatta overall shape (a rectangle of 10 x 4 inches), and use the tip of your fingers to make deep dimples all over the dough. Cover with a damp towel and let them rise for about 1 1/2  hours - not quite doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 425° with a baking stone. Right before placing the dough in, dust the stone with cornmeal. Gently roll the breads from the parchment onto the stone. Bake until the breads are golden brown, about 25 minutes, spraying them with water a few times during the first 10 minutes. Cool on racks.

I made chicken salad sandwiches with one of the loaves.  You can get quite a few meals with a chicken and a bit of flour...

by Tim Dineen

Beef Soup and Beer Bread

Last night was chicken soup and cornbread   Tonight is beef soup and beer bread.  With this %$@#& cold I have, the only thing that remotely sounds good is soup.  I can throw stuff in a pot and walk away.  Anything else is just too much of an effort.

It's not that I'm sick-sick, just snotty and tired.  And Victor has started with a scratchy throat, too.  This is just not the way to start the Storm of the Century.

The soup had a bit of everything in it:

• beef
• Mexican chorizo sausage
• canned tomatoes
• beef broth
• fresh longhorn peppers
• onions
• garlic
• great northern beans
• pinto beans
• black beans
• pink beans
• pimentos
• canned green chilis
• carrots
• salt & pepper

The combination of ingredients added all the herbs and spices it needed.  I didn't add anything.  It was mildly spicy and really rich.  I let it boil for a while to reduce a bit.

The beer bread was my old standby.  And I used up my last bottle of beer!  Time to get more before the end of the world hits Sunday night.

This is truly one of the easiest breads to make - and it really does taste good.

Quick Beer Bread

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 12 oz beer
• Melted butter

Mix and put into a 4″ x 8″ bread pan.  Top with melted butter.  Bake at 350° about 1 hour.

At least we're eating well... I have at least one more day of trying to get over this damned cold before returning to work...

Time for a cup of tea...

by Tim Dineen

Homemade Bread and Soup

The weather was juuuuust cool enough yesterday to warrant a pot of soup and a loaf of bread.  Every season has its food benefits, but Fall has soups and stews - some of my favorite things.  Soups around here are clean-out-the-refrigerator meals, for the most part.  While I do have a few soups that call for specific ingredients, they usually are concoctions of what is in the house.  They're fun, because they're never quite the same from batch to batch.

I strained that big batch of pumpkin puree and had close to a quart of pumpkin juice left. (I drained it overnight in a cheesecloth-lined colander.) That went into the broth right off the bat.  Along with some beef, beef broth, carrots, rice, black and white barley, celery, beans, tomatoes, cauliflower, garlic, spinach, yellow hominy, and pasta.  I added a bit of French herbs, salt, and pepper.

It came out great.

And then we had a great loaf of bread...

It's a really easy James Beard recipe I've used for years.  And years.  Really versatile, I braided this loaf and added the sesame seeds.

James Beard French-Style 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
• 3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
• 1 egg white, mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

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 long, French bread-style loaf. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal but not buttered. Slash the tops of the loaf diagonally in two or three places, and brush with the egg wash. Place in a cold oven, set the temperature at 400°, and bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the top is rapped.

It takes no time at all to make and always is a hit!

I see a lot more of this in our future...

by Tim Dineen