Artisan Bread

I love to bake bread.  I like to be able to devote an entire weekend to starting the biga, letting it ferment, rise....bake....you get the picture.  But, I don't always have an entire weekend to baby-sit dough.  About a year ago, I bought the book, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day", even though it goes against every grain of the fiber of my being.  This book basically says you can dump all the bread ingredients in a bowl, leave it on the counter for 2 hours and refrigerate the entire batch, and cut pieces off as you need them.  What?? No kneading (which, by the way, I find incredibly satisfying and stress-relieving)??  No separating the sugar and the salt??  Needless to say, I bought the book, read it, thought to myself, "eh...can't be good."  I think I even tried the basic recipe, wasn't impressed and threw out the entire batch of dough.  A year later, enter the Olive Oil Shop in downtown Charleston, also known as a cook's paradise.  Vats of olive oils and balsalmic vinegars line the walls of the little shop where you can actually taste each and every oil and vinegar, right on the spot!  Each vat was labeled and includes a description like that of a bottle of wine.  After tasting, I bought a bottle of Koroneiki.  I tasted it first because the description said, "deceptively smooth in the beginning, but quickly increases in intensity and complexity, and finishes with a pronounced flourish."  They weren't kidding...it was like a smooth silky oil that, after swallowing, left a zing in your mouth.  I had to have it and have it I did.  As I'm driving back, I think of all the things that the Koroneiki olive oil would make taste even better, and I thought of a foccacia bread that I like to make that has olive oil as an ingredient.  I also think about that book.  So, I dust it off the shelf, read it again, and realized that there is indeed an olive oil dough recipe.  Hmmm....Last week I made a batch, and I do believe I've found bread baking bliss.  The taste of bread I've spent an entire weekend nurturing and kneading, but without the time.  What a concept!  I, of course, tweaked the recipe just a little.  I made the dough a little more wet than it called for and I added more olive oil than it called for, because my new olive oil was indeed the star of the show.  This bread is the best I've made, and I can eat it fresh every day if I want!  How much better can it get?


Olive Oil Dough
Makes four 1 lb loaves


2 3/4 cups warm water
1 1/2 packets of granulated yeast
1 1/2 tblsp of kosher salt
1 tblsp sugar
3/4 c olive oil
5 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour


Mix the yeast, the sugar, and the water together.  Add to a bowl with a lid.  Mix in the salt.  Add the flour, stir to incorporate the flour, and add the olive oil.  Mix together until well blended.  Cover and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), about 2 hours.  Refrigerate in the lidded container and use within the next 12 days.  It gets better each day.
To use a portion of the dough, sprinkle the dough with a little flour, grab a hunk of dough, cut it off with a serrated knife.  Sprinkle flour on the surface you're using (I use my counter tops) and on the dough ball.  Take the surface of the dough and stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all sides.  This should only take about 30-40 seconds.  Rest the dough on the surface for about 45 minutes, and cover with a towel.  20 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees with the baking stone in the oven.  Once preheated, slide the dough onto the baking stone and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.  Let cool before slicing...I know it's tempting but it's better if you wait.

Loving Pinckney's Produce CSA

I am thoroughly enjoying getting my goodies in my box each week. It's like a surprise present each week! And for someone who loves to cook, it keeps me challenged to cook so much healthier, which I am greatly appreciating! This past week I had beets (which I absolutely love), baby collard greens, romaine lettuce, turnips, broccoli, and cauliflower which was so good just eaten raw. So what have I cooked this week? I roasted the broccoli and cauliflower in olive oil, salt and pepper. I modified a really odd recipe with the beets that I saw Ingrid Hoffmann make but modified slightly, and of course a southern favorite, greens braised in an apple cider vinegar and pancetta mix....yummy. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get any carrots this time.

Beet and Orange Salad

4-5 Beets

1/4 cup Greek olives

1/2 small onion sliced very thin

Mandarin oranges-1 can

1/2 lime juiced

salt and pepper

olive oil

10 mint leaves roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 400. Cut the ends off of the beets, mix in olive oil, salt and pepper and wrap in foil and roast until tender. Depending on the size of the beets this could take up to an hour. Once the beets are tender and cooled, remove the skin and quarter them.

Meanwhile roughly chop the olives. Drain the oranges. Mix together the olives, oranges, cooled beets, lime juice, mint. Drizzle with olive oil and mix. Salt and pepper to taste.

Yummy Greens

Greens

2-3 slices of pancetta

small onion sliced

2-3 cloves of garlic chopped

Chicken stock

Apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

Thoroughly wash the greens and remove the ribs. Chop the pancetta into small pieces and cook on medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook 2-3 minutes. Add the greens, chicken stock and apple cider vinegar (I like the taste to be more vinegar-y so judge the ratio to suite your taste), salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on low for about 45 minutes, or until the greens are tender. You may need to add more liquids as the greens simmer.

My Box

I love my box....my box is sweet and fresh and tasty and it comes each Monday, and oh how I wish it came more than once per week. It comes directly from Pinckney's Produce farms (http://www.pinckneysproduce.com/). I joined a CSA this year and so far I'm loving it. In the box this week was baby collards, fresh lettuce, spring onions, strawberries, radishes, and broccoli. My son and I devoured the strawberries rather quickly, but so far I've made the following with the stuff in my box:

Roasted Parmesan Broccoli

Broccoli

2 cloves of garlic chopped

grated lemon zest

lemon juice

salt and pepper

grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Chop the broccoli into large florets and mix with olive oil, salt and fresh ground pepper and roast on a sheet pan about 20 minutes until the florets start to brown. Remove from the oven and toss with the grated lemon zest, lemon juice and the grated cheese. Serve hot.

Mixed Green Salad with Strawberries and Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

Lettuce of choice (I, of course, used the lettuce in the box which I believe was bibb lettuce)

chopped spring onions

sliced strawberries

sliced radishes

grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

For the vinaigrette: Mix equal parts maple syrup and balsalmic vinegar, along with salt and pepper with about 1/4 c of extra virgin olive oil in a mason jar and shake. This is my "go-to" salad dressing.

Browned Butter Ravioli with Spring Onions and Broccoli

1 large bag of store bought ravioli (I used Publix brand beef ravioli)

Broccoli, cut into florets

Chopped spring onions

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

olive oil

1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste

salt and ground pepper

2-3 tblspns balsamic vinegar

grated parmigiano reggiano cheese (yes it goes on everything)

Boil the ravioli per the package instructions in salted water. During the last few minutes add the broccoli florets. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, melt the butter and add the chopped spring onions, the anchovy paste and cook on med-hi heat until the butter starts to brown. Once it browns take it off the heat and add the balsamic vinegar. Add the ravioli and the broccoli, and as much of the pasta water as needed to moisten the ravioli/butter mixture. Add as much grated cheese as you like and salt and pepper to taste.

Chipotle Roasted Chicken Empanadas

This little project started as a need for an appetizer to take to a friend's dinner party. I had very little on hand and did not want to make another trip to the grocery store. I had just purchased, the day before, a whole chicken that I planned on roasting anyway, and as I contemplated a good finger food appetizer I stumbled across an empanada dough recipe that I thought would be perfect as a wrap for my chipotle chicken mixture. While the process sounds like a lot of work, it really isn't. Just make the dough while the chicken is cooking and once the chicken cools, cut it up, cut the dough, stuff it and bake!

Chipotle Roasted Chicken

(adapted from Bon Appetit magazine)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

4 teaspoons minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo

1 5 1/2- to 6-pound roasting chicken, rinsed, patted dry; neck, heart, and gizzard removed

2 large onions, each cut into wedges

12 garlic cloves, peeled

1 cup (or more) low-salt chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Using fork, mix butter, all chopped herbs, and chipotle chiles, in small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Place chicken, breast side up, in large roasting pan. Salt and pepper the inside cavity of the chicken. Spread all but 1 tablespoon seasoned butter over breast meat and thigh meat under skin. Rub any butter remaining on fingers over outside of chicken. Place all herb sprigs in cavity.

Place onion wedges in large bowl. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon seasoned butter in small saucepan over low heat; pour over onion wedges and toss to coat. Arrange onions around chicken. Sprinkle onions and chicken with salt and pepper.

On the lower third rack, roast chicken and onions 30 minutes. Scatter garlic cloves around chicken; add 1/4 cup broth to roasting pan. Continue to roast chicken until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 170°F, basting occasionally with pan juices and adding more broth by 1/4 cupfuls as needed to maintain juices in roasting pan, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

Remove roasting pan from oven. Tilt chicken, draining juices from cavity into pan. Transfer chicken, onions, and garlic to platter. Tent with foil to keep warm. Add 1/4 cup broth and wine to pan. Place over 2 burners and bring juices to boil, scraping up browned bits. Discard fat from top of juices.

For the empanada mixture: Remove all meat from the chicken and chop. Chop the cooked onions, garlic, and all pan juices and browned bits and add to the chopped meat. It should all be chopped into a chicken salad consistency.

Empanada Dough:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 stick of unsalted butter, frozen, cubed
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
4-5 T milk
1 egg, lightly whisked

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a food processor pulse the flour with the cold butter until you get a crumbly mixture. Transfer to a bowl. Add the egg and milk and knead in to form a sort of dough. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and bring together into a ball. Pat into a circle of 1 inch thickness, wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

To assemble the Empanadas:

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out rounds of the size you want (I used a biscuit cutter and then flattened each into an oval). Place about a teaspoon of the filling a bit off center and spread to the edges leaving a 1/4 inch border. Brush the border with an egg mixture of eggs with a little water. Fold the dough over the filling and press the edges to seal. Use a fork to make groove marks on the edges and to seal it. Place the empanadas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles

I love snickerdoodle cookies and I really love cream cheese so I wanted to blend the two and after one attempt that was okay, this one is definitely a keeper!

Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 c of milk chocolate chips

Topping:
1/4 c of sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
With electric mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and sugars until light and fluffy. Blend in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture a little at a time and mix well. Add chocolate chips and stir to just combine.
I use a melon to scoop the dough and roll it in the sugar/cinnamon mixture to coat. Place on non-stick baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.