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masterofmidgetsAaaaah, this day. I headed into the kitchen pretty much the second I got up this morning, and I'm finally out...just right now. First it was the weekly bread project; then it was dinner; then it was PIE for tomorrow's desert outing. Plus laundry and recipe logging and washing my hair and the Euro qualifying matches (yay Spain!). I am well and truly exhausted. But that's okay, because I have wonderful things to eat! And since I love you all very much, I'm sharing some recipes with you.
Italian Rosemary Potato Bread - The Bread Baker's Apprentice
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup biga*
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground (optional)
1 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped rosemary
4 tablespoons coarsely chopped roasted garlic (optional but VERY GOOD)
cornmeal for dusting
olive oil for brushing
Directions:
1. Remove biga from refrigerator 1 hour before you plan to make bread. Cut it into about 10 pieces with a pastry cutter or serrated knife. Cover and let sit for one hour or so.
2. Stir together flour, salt, black pepper, and yeast in a mixing bowl.
3. Add biga, mashed potatoes, oil, rosemary, and water. Stir with a large spoon for one minute or until the ingredients form a ball.
4. Sprinkle flour on counter and knead dough for approximately ten minutes, adding more flour if needed, or until soft and supple, tacky but not sticky.
5. (optional) Flatten dough and spread garlic over top. Gather into a ball and knead for one minute.
6. Lightly oil large bowl and place dough in it, turning the dough to make sure the top is covered in oil. Cover and let rise for two hours, or until doubled in bulk.
7. Punch down dough in bowl. Divide into 2 equal pieces. Shape each into a ball. Line sheet pan with baking parchment and dust with cornmeal. Mist dough with spray oil.
8. Cover and let rise 1-2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
10. Lightly brush loaves with olive oil. Bake for twenty minutes, then turn the pan 180 degrees and return to oven. Bake for approx 35-40 minutes total.
*Biga:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon yeast
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons room temp/warm water
(since the recipe only calls for 1 1/4 cup, I cut this recipe in half when I made it, using 1 1/4 cup flour and a little more than 1/3 cup water. Worked fine)
Stir together flour and yeast in bowl. Add water, stirring until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball. Knead on floured counter for 4-6 minutes or until soft and pliable. Oil bowl, cover and let rise 2-4 hours. Knead lightly, return to bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Notes from Me: While I was at my grandpa's girlfriend's yesterday, we ended up looking through one of her baking books and I found this recipe. Since I love rosemary and I've wanted to try a potato bread for awhile, I thought it would be fun to try. And it was! It was also a fuck ton of work. Maybe I'm just really lazy, but I'm not crazy about recipes where I have to do a bunch of work before I can do any of the work. On the other hand...doing a pre-ferment really makes a difference. This bread was awesome. The closest I've ever gotten to that crusty artisan bread crust everyone loves so much, and tender and chewy and garlicky and just great. So, it was definitely worth the effort, even if I probably won't be making it that often because of the big time commitment. Also, I need to work on my shaping skills.
Idiot-Proof Pie Crust - my grandfather's girlfriend M, who got it from my great-aunt E
Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into cup
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 3/4 solid vegetable shortening (not refrigerated, do not use oil, lard, margarine or butter)
1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
1 large egg
1/2 cup water
Makes 2 double crust pies and one single crust pie.
Directions:
1. Put flour, salt and sugar in bowl and mix well with a fork.
2. Add shortening and cut in with a fork or pastry cutter until crumbly.
3. In small bowl, beat together water, vinegar and egg.
4. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients, stirring until all are moistened.
5. Divide dough into 5 equal portions and shape each into a flat round patty, ready for rolling.
6. Wrap in plastic or wax paper and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.
7. When ready to roll, lightly flour both sides of dough and place on lightly floured board or pastry cloth. Follow recipe instructions for filling/baking.
Notes from Me: I've been wanting to make a pie for awhile, but I've put it off because pastry is intimidating and I didn't want to try without a good recipe for the crust. Well, M swears by this recipe. She says she loves using it because it is so resilient - you can overbeat it, knead it, reroll it, freeze it, whatever, and it still comes out flaky and delicious. It did seem easy to work with, a lot easier than I was expecting. We're taking the pies with us tomorrow, so I haven't tried them yet, but they look properly like pies. And the extra bits I had left and made into pie cookies...mostly burned because I left them in too long, but the not totally burned ones were pretty flaky and good. This is not the most helpful commentary ever, I guess. But I did take a picture for you all!
Left is mixed berry pie, right is cherry pie. They aren't the prettiest pies in the world, for sure, but hopefully they taste all right? I don't know, I'm more worried about the filling right now, I really just winged that. We'll see tomorrow, I guess.
Italian Rosemary Potato Bread - The Bread Baker's Apprentice
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup biga*
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground (optional)
1 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped rosemary
4 tablespoons coarsely chopped roasted garlic (optional but VERY GOOD)
cornmeal for dusting
olive oil for brushing
Directions:
1. Remove biga from refrigerator 1 hour before you plan to make bread. Cut it into about 10 pieces with a pastry cutter or serrated knife. Cover and let sit for one hour or so.
2. Stir together flour, salt, black pepper, and yeast in a mixing bowl.
3. Add biga, mashed potatoes, oil, rosemary, and water. Stir with a large spoon for one minute or until the ingredients form a ball.
4. Sprinkle flour on counter and knead dough for approximately ten minutes, adding more flour if needed, or until soft and supple, tacky but not sticky.
5. (optional) Flatten dough and spread garlic over top. Gather into a ball and knead for one minute.
6. Lightly oil large bowl and place dough in it, turning the dough to make sure the top is covered in oil. Cover and let rise for two hours, or until doubled in bulk.
7. Punch down dough in bowl. Divide into 2 equal pieces. Shape each into a ball. Line sheet pan with baking parchment and dust with cornmeal. Mist dough with spray oil.
8. Cover and let rise 1-2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
10. Lightly brush loaves with olive oil. Bake for twenty minutes, then turn the pan 180 degrees and return to oven. Bake for approx 35-40 minutes total.
*Biga:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon yeast
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons room temp/warm water
(since the recipe only calls for 1 1/4 cup, I cut this recipe in half when I made it, using 1 1/4 cup flour and a little more than 1/3 cup water. Worked fine)
Stir together flour and yeast in bowl. Add water, stirring until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball. Knead on floured counter for 4-6 minutes or until soft and pliable. Oil bowl, cover and let rise 2-4 hours. Knead lightly, return to bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Notes from Me: While I was at my grandpa's girlfriend's yesterday, we ended up looking through one of her baking books and I found this recipe. Since I love rosemary and I've wanted to try a potato bread for awhile, I thought it would be fun to try. And it was! It was also a fuck ton of work. Maybe I'm just really lazy, but I'm not crazy about recipes where I have to do a bunch of work before I can do any of the work. On the other hand...doing a pre-ferment really makes a difference. This bread was awesome. The closest I've ever gotten to that crusty artisan bread crust everyone loves so much, and tender and chewy and garlicky and just great. So, it was definitely worth the effort, even if I probably won't be making it that often because of the big time commitment. Also, I need to work on my shaping skills.
Idiot-Proof Pie Crust - my grandfather's girlfriend M, who got it from my great-aunt E
Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into cup
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 3/4 solid vegetable shortening (not refrigerated, do not use oil, lard, margarine or butter)
1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
1 large egg
1/2 cup water
Makes 2 double crust pies and one single crust pie.
Directions:
1. Put flour, salt and sugar in bowl and mix well with a fork.
2. Add shortening and cut in with a fork or pastry cutter until crumbly.
3. In small bowl, beat together water, vinegar and egg.
4. Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients, stirring until all are moistened.
5. Divide dough into 5 equal portions and shape each into a flat round patty, ready for rolling.
6. Wrap in plastic or wax paper and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.
7. When ready to roll, lightly flour both sides of dough and place on lightly floured board or pastry cloth. Follow recipe instructions for filling/baking.
Notes from Me: I've been wanting to make a pie for awhile, but I've put it off because pastry is intimidating and I didn't want to try without a good recipe for the crust. Well, M swears by this recipe. She says she loves using it because it is so resilient - you can overbeat it, knead it, reroll it, freeze it, whatever, and it still comes out flaky and delicious. It did seem easy to work with, a lot easier than I was expecting. We're taking the pies with us tomorrow, so I haven't tried them yet, but they look properly like pies. And the extra bits I had left and made into pie cookies...mostly burned because I left them in too long, but the not totally burned ones were pretty flaky and good. This is not the most helpful commentary ever, I guess. But I did take a picture for you all!
Left is mixed berry pie, right is cherry pie. They aren't the prettiest pies in the world, for sure, but hopefully they taste all right? I don't know, I'm more worried about the filling right now, I really just winged that. We'll see tomorrow, I guess.