Fast Yeast Bread

I don’t know why I don’t make fresh bread every day. I really should with a recipe like this one for Fastest Yeast Bread from Mark Bittman. You can literally make the dough and bake the bread within 1 hour, although I think it tastes better the longer you let it rise. This isn’t the world’s best bread, but it sure beats what you get at the grocery store. And you can make it every day, without having to quit your job! Here’s the recipe.

Fastest Yeast Bread

From How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.

• 3 cups (about 14 ounces) bread or all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm water (1¼ cups if you omit the olive oil), plus more if necessary
• ¼ cup olive oil (optional)
• Coarse salt to taste (optional)
• one tablespoon of minced fresh herbs–such as parsley, dill or sage–for variety (optional)

Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a food processor. Add the water all at once, with the machine on; add the olive oil and continue to mix, about 30 seconds total with the food processor. Add water by the tablespoon if necessary, until a ball forms. (I usually do need to do this, but it requires no more than an additional tablespoon or two of water.)

Shape the dough into a flat round, adding only enough flour to allow you to handle the dough. Let rise in the warmest place in your kitchen, covered, while you preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Brush the loaf with water, sprinkle it with coarse salt if you like, and bake for 15 minutes. I usually bake it on a preheated pizza stone. Lower the heat to 350 degrees and continue baking until done–the crust will be golden and crisp–about 30 to 45 minutes more.

Serve warm with butter or jam. This bread also makes good toast or even sandwiches.

No-knead Cheese Bread

Cover via Amazon

My baking project for this weekend was no-knead cheese bread from Jim Lahey’s My Bread cookbook. This is basically the no-knead bread recipe with chunks of any firm or semi-firm cheese mixed into the dough. I used asiago cheese.

The no-knead process takes a long time, but most of that time is allowing the dough to rise on the kitchen counter. Not a lot of work is required, which is just the way I like it. For the second rise, you must wrap the dough in a dish towel generously dusted with flour, cornmeal or bran. I learned  this time that it is not a bright idea to use a terrycloth towel. The sticky dough really adheres to all those little threads, and it’s hard to flip it into the preheated dutch oven for baking. It seems obvious now, but not when I pulled the towel out of the pile in the closet. Anyway, it is a good practice to note and learn from one’s mistakes.

Regardless, once the bread got into the oven and started baking, something primal started happening in my kitchen. The odor of the baking bread and melting cheese — words can’t do it justice, but within minutes I was salivating and ready to tear that loaf apart with my bare hands and bury my face in it. I did manage to restrain myself long enough to let the loaf finish baking and cool down, but it was hard, I tell you. What was also hard was getting the loaf out of super-hot dutch oven and onto the wire rack to cool, as the melted cheese had leaked out and acted as an adhesive, but with the help of a spatula and knife, I managed the feat.

Once the bread cooled enough to touch, I cut off a couple of pieces and dug in. This bread is officially one of my favorite breads. It combines the two things I love most in the world. It’s like a grilled cheese sandwich baked into a loaf of bread. Fan-freaking-tastic. Make this as soon as you are able.

Here’s a nice post on Macheesmo that includes the full recipe.

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Gazpacho + French Bread

Well, I haven’t been keeping up with my goal of posting daily entries on this blog, have I? The truth is that I haven’t been inspired to write. I’m doing a lot of cooking, but I’m either making tried-and-true recipes that I’ve already blogged about or I’m trying new projects but I don’t feel like posting the recipes for various reasons. Anyway, here’s a sample of what I’ve been cooking lately.

This past week, I made a lot of good stuff, including — after a stop at a roadside vegetable stand — gazpacho. It’s nice to have cucumbers and tomatoes again. Gazpacho is great with lots of garnishes. Try avocado, red onion or homemade croutons. Here is my recipe.

As part of my effort to reduce the amount of packaged foods I buy, I have taken to making my own bread. I have found that Mark Bittman’s recipes (in How to Cook Everything) offer the best compromise on flavor and effort. His recipes all use the food processor — I don’t have a standing mixer — so kneading time is minimal. I made this beautiful French loaf in just one day. This is the kind of bread you can make every day, if you like.

(Photos are courtesy of my husband. He posts them here.)

I may not be posting as much, but I hope you’ll keep checking in.

Dutch Baby & Focaccia

A genuine Dutch Baby.

For Sunday breakfast yesterday, I made a Dutch baby. This is a kind of pancake that is cooked in the oven so it puffs up like a giant popover. Once you take it out of the oven, it deflates quickly, but it is very light and sweet, delicious with powdered sugar and fresh strawberries. I’ve made something like this before, but I didn’t realize then that its real name was Dutch baby.

For my Sunday afternoon baking project, I made rosemary focaccia. I love focaccia and will eat it for breakfast, sandwiches, snacks, anytime. It’s like pizza without all the stuff. The recipe I tried was from Cooks Illustrated and called for a potato. I’m not sure it was the best recipe for focaccia out there, and I would like to experiment with other takes on it before committing to a go-to recipe.

Fresh, Fast Bread, Lemon Curd & Artichokes

It was a big cooking day yesterday. I spent almost the whole afternoon in the kitchen, including a jaunt to the grocery store.

Sunday afternoons I usually have more freedom and leisure time than any other day of the week, so that’s when I like to do my “fun” cooking. Recently, my husband discovered lime curd at the farmers market, which he has been eating on his morning toast. I figured I could make him some — lemon curd, actually. Since it’s nothing more than a very thick custard, it was very easy to make, although it did require a lot of stirring. The end result was delicious, though, and will keep for about a week in the fridge. It works as a spread for toast and muffins, a pie filling, perhaps a base for ice cream? Hmmm.

I also made another Mark Bittman bread recipe, this time for fastest yeast bread, which rises and is ready to bake in just an hour or so. I actually let it rise the whole afternoon, which I’m sure improved the end result. The bread was a big hit at dinner. Unlike my previous loaves, this one is fine-crumbed and soft; it would be a good bread for toasting or sandwiches.

Finally, yesterday I experimented for the first — and quite possibly the last — time with whole artichokes. Let me say up front that artichokes are not one of my favorite ingredients, even pickled and in a jar. But with all the work that was required of stripping the leaves, cutting out the tough parts (of which I missed many) and getting out that ridiculous choke, I just didn’t believe the effort would be worth it. For me, it wasn’t, and I probably won’t be making artichokes again.

Dinner was poached chicken with the homemade bread and spring vegetables including the artichokes, spring onions and spinach. The chicken, which was poached with the vegetables, was light, moist and very flavorful.

Ummm, Homemade Bread

I’m getting addicted to making my own bread.

I can’t believe how intimidated I used to be by the thought of baking bread. I thought it was all kneading and finicky messing about with yeast and hot water. But thanks to the No Knead Bread recipe, plus a couple of good recipes by Mark Bittman that make judicious use of the food processor, I’ve found that making bread is not time-consuming at all. Most of the time, the dough is tucked into a corner of the kitchen or refrigerator, doing its thing. Then bake for 40 minutes or so and voila!

I am trying not to buy bread as much, but I didn’t realize that making my own bread would be so satisfying. The results may not be as pretty or consistent as the bakery’s, but they are delicious. I’m inspired to tear off a hunk of bread to spread with apple butter for my breakfast, or to break off a chunk to pair with some cheese for a mid-afternoon snack. Does it taste so much better because it’s homemade or because I made it?

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No-knead Bread and Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yesterday I made chicken tortilla soup in the slow cooker. For a change of pace, I threw in some of the collards and kale I had on hand, even though it wasn’t called for in the recipe. I find that if I can get the vegetables into the main dish, we tend to eat more of them than if I make them as a side dish. My husband liked the soup enough to take this photo of it.

I also made the famous no-knead bread using the recipe in Jim Lahey’s My Bread. Actually, this bread takes 2 days to make, if you account for the rising time, but it is essentially a hands-off recipe (hence the “no-knead” in the title). The most difficult part, I found, was transferring the extremely sticky dough to the tea towel for the second rise and then into the preheated dutch oven. The bread is very flavorful, dense, chewy and slightly sour. It’s true what they say: Homemade bread does taste better than anything you can buy at the store.

This recipe is easy enough to give me the confidence to try more breads. My Bread provides several variations on the basic recipe. One of my cooking goals right now is to bake more of my own bread, and I’m sure this book will be a big help.

Here is Mark Bittman’s original recipe for Lahey’s No-Knead Bread, if you want to try to make it yourself.

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Easy Whole-Wheat Bread

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been making the whole-wheat bread from Mark Bittman’s book Food Matters. I’m not much of a bread baker, and truth to tell, I feel a little anxious about the mysterious process of proofing, kneading and rising.

Bittman promised that this loaf of bread is “almost no work,” and he was right. No proofing or kneading was required, just 18-24 hours of rising time. The final result was a dark, dense loaf that is very tasty warm with a pat of butter. I would definitely make this bread again, perhaps experimenting with other whole grains.

Homemade Pizza Is Easy — Really

Homemade Three-Cheese Pizza with Fresh Basil

Dear Mark Bittman, I have to apologize for having doubted you and not believing that it really is as easy as you say it is to make your own pizza dough. For a long time I have resisted because I believed that making all doughs is difficult. But I finally broke down and tried your pizza dough recipe, and not only was it incredibly easy, but it was also the most delicious pizza I have ever made. (My husband agrees.) It was better by far than any store-bought pizza dough, even the frozen unbaked dough from the local co-op. I will never go back to store-bought now.

I am sure Mark Bittman won’t mind if I reprint his pizza dough recipe from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner because I am also going to urge you to go out and buy that book or any one of his other excellent books. Bittman really is an advocate for simple, delicious home cooking, and his recipes are all very accessible and adaptable. I did adapt the recipe just slightly to use RapidRise yeast.

Easy Food Processor Pizza Dough

Yields: enough dough to make 2 10-inch pizzas
Time to make: ~1 hour 30 minutes, mostly rising time

• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed
• 1 package or 2 tsp. RapidRise highly active yeast or instant yeast
• 2 tsp. coarse salt
• 1 cup hot (not boiling) water
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• food processor

Combine the flour, yeast and salt in the food processor. With the metal blade inserted [updated], turn the machine on and pour the water and the oil in through the feed tube. Process for about 30 seconds, until the dough forms a slightly sticky ball. Add up to ¼ cup more water, a little at a time, if needed.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for a few seconds to form a smooth, round dough ball. Put the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until the dough doubles in size, 1-2 hours. (You can also let it rise more slowly in the refrigerator, 6-8 hours.)

Form the dough into a ball and divide into 2 pieces. Roll each piece into a round ball. If you are not using the dough right away, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it; it can be defrosted in a covered bowl or in the refrigerator. Place on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle with a little flour and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rest until puffed slighly, about 20 minutes. Proceed with making pizza (see below).

How you want to top your pizza is up to you. I think homemade pizza tastes better if you use a light hand with the sauce and toppings, because then the crust doesn’t get too soggy. (You can also skip the sauce altogether and make a “white” pizza.) I have been experimenting with sauces beyond just traditional pizza sauce, such as pesto and even barbecue sauce. As for toppings, I like to choose one or two cooked vegetables, some fresh herbs and a mixture of shredded cheeses. But it is your pizza, and you should put whatever you like on it.

Here is how to finish cooking the pizza:

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
2. Oil a baking sheet or pizza sheet.
3. Roll out the dough on the baking sheet. I have found that the easiest way to do this is by stretching and patting it with my hands, and crimping the ends to make a crust. I don’t worry too much about it being a perfect square or circle. If the dough starts to tear, let it rest for a few minutes before stretching again.
4. Add the toppings (except for fresh herbs).
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese melts and the crust browns. If using fresh herbs, add them only for the last couple of minutes of baking time.

Of course, now that you have homemade pizza dough, you can use it for much more than just pizza. I plan to try making calzones, breadsticks, foccacia and even rolls. With dough this easy to make, there’s no reason not to always have a little on hand.

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Skillet Cornbread: A Better Way to Make Cornbread

Making cornbread in a cast iron skillet.

I am a big fan of cornbread. This is a bread that’s hard for even anti-bakers like me to mess up. It comes together quickly, it can usually be made with whatever’s on hand (as long as you have cornmeal, and why don’t you?), and it’s appropriate for any meal or even a snack.

I usually make cornbread in a cake pan with equal parts cornmeal and flour. This makes a crumbly, lighter, bread-like cornbread that takes well to add-ins like chiles or cheese. But sometimes you want something different.

For Thanksgiving this year, I tried making cornbread the true Southern way, in a cast iron skillet. My trusty Le Creuset cast iron skillet was up to the task (one of the best investments I have made in pans). I also wanted a richer flavor befitting a special meal, so I greased the pan with bacon grease rather than oil, and I used a higher proportion of cornmeal to flour. The result was a dense, rich-tasting, cake-like cornbread that was among the best I have ever tasted. Cut into wedges fresh out of the oven, it was so moist it didn’t even need butter. I froze the leftovers and toasted them for breakfast this morning with a small pat of butter. Delicious.

Almost any way you make cornbread is a good way, I’ve found. But try out this method if you have some leftover bacon grease on hand. One thing I know for sure: I will only make cornbread in a cast iron skillet from now on.

Skillet Cornbread

Time to make: ~45 minutes plus time to cool
Yields: 8 servings

What you need:

• bacon fat
• ½ cup flour
• 1½ cups cornmeal
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 lg. eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
• cast-iron skillet

1. Coat the inside of the skillet with the bacon fat (or substitute a neutral oil).
2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees with the skillet inside.
3. Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and gently stir in the eggs and buttermilk.
5. Add the butter.
6. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry untl barely moistened.
7. Remove the skillet from the oven and pour in the batter.
8. Bake 25-35 minutes, until golden-brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Let rest a few minutes (up to 1 hour) before serving.