Salsa from the Garden

Inspired or, rather, instructed by textual bulldog, I decided to make chunky salsa with the Early Girl and Better Boy tomatoes in my little strip of garden. The pepper was given to me by another gardener, and boy, is it hot: I touched just the tip of my finger to the tip of my tongue and got a mouthful of fire. I diced just a little bit of the yellow pepper into the salsa. We'll see how spicy it is after it has set a spell.

Beware the fire!

Pugliese // Peter Reinhart, The Bread Baker's Apprentice

My quest for hole-y bread made from wet dough continues with this pugliese. The difference between this bread and others I've made is the inclusion of semolina flour in a ratio of about 1/1 with regular (King Arthur) bread flour. I've gotten a little more used to handling wetter dough -- dusting it with flour and giving it quick flips -- and I'm pleased with the results. The loaf pictured above has a more ciabatta-like shape (oblong), whereas the second loaf is closer to square. I slashed one and not the other.

These loaves were baked sequentially on my pizza stone. Reinhart recommends lots of steam in the oven and I did put a pan of water in, but I doubt it had much effect.

The bread itself is soft and has a yellowish color not so evident in the photos. A very nice bread.

Pretzel Bread // cdiggz on The Fresh Loaf

Recipe is in the comment thread under "Amish Soft Pretzel." I was looking for a new pretzel recipe to try, as I wasn't satisfied with the bagels-in-pretzel-shape that I ended up with a few days ago. I also wanted to try pretzel bread, where you have a pretzel-type sheen, texture and flavor, but in a roll or loaf. (A similar product can be seen at the Two Bites in Suburbia blog.)

Reading around, it seemed clear that the baking soda dip was crucial. I'd tried it in the past, but at that time I was under the impression that the water had to be boiling. This recipe, which was ideal for experimentation because of the low yield, simply calls for hot water in the dip.

Process: Mix ingredients, knead, allow to rise in warm kitchen; cut in two, shape into rough rolls on an oiled board (the dough was too sticky for much handling, despite having added some extra bread flour). Float each roll in the hot soda wash for about thirty seconds (I put each roll in bottom-up, then flipped halfway through the count) and transfer to cookie sheet. Slash an X in the top of each one. Bake for about 20 minutes (I thought maybe longer, but they were a good color already).

I had to let these sit a bit while the oven finished heating, and they spread and rose a bit more -- perhaps the reason that the slashes are so close in color to the crust.


Results: I forgot to sprinkle these with salt or seeds, but even so, they taste much more like pretzel than any bread I've attempted before. The soda wash definitely made a difference. The rolls aren't exactly shiny -- I imagine that I need a moist oven for that -- but there is a deep brown color and, more importantly, a characteristically sharp flavor on the crust, making this my new go-to for pretzel products.

Pretzels from Bagel Recipe // King Arthur Flour Baking Book

 

I wanted pretzels but I didn't have time to search through the recipes, so I went with the KAF suggestion to use the bagel recipe. Results: chewy like a bagel...but tastes like a bagel, not especially pretzel-y. Will look for something more specific next time.

I put in just a bit of old dough.

Chickpeas, Soyrizo, Spinach // The Minimalist

Today, a supper recipe. 

I prepared a meal of sauteed chickpeas with soyrizo and spinach, slightly adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe at the New York Times in the article "A Dinner Date With India and Spain."

As advertised, very easy, very tasty. I'd like to try it with real chorizo sometime too, for comparison.

One starts by sauteeing the chickpeas until golden and adding the soyrizo ...

then removes the chickpeas and soyrizo, sautees the spinach with the sherry till soft...

adds it all together,

tops with bread crumbs and pops the pan under the broiler to produce a colorful and delicious dish. Highly recommended!