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I started baking bread about a year and a half, maybe two years ago, largely on the back of a pizza obsession and the purchase of a baking steal. Since then I've gotten pretty okay at it. I don't own a stand mixer, so kneading and working with the dough can be a bit of a struggle, but I don't like going to the gym, so I've got to get my exercise somewhere. These days I don't really buy bread, with the exception of an occasional loaf of Pepperidge Farm Seeded Rye, which holds a special place in my heart, bread box and stomach. When I saw the ICSA theme and decided to give it a shot, I figured I'd bake three different kinds of bread, one for each course. I went back and forth on what I was going to do- pork based sandwiches on brioche buns, zurek, homemade rye flatbread, something in breadbowl, before settling on what I actually did. Part of my reasoning was seasonal- I think what I ended up making basically works for early June in the American south-ish. As much as I wanted to make a soup trio of zurek, french onion soup and Italian bread soup, that seems like maybe a better option when the weather is a bit cooler. In trying to come up with some sort of clever name for my entry, I realized that each dish also is pretty red. Also pretty rad. And so, to begin, the three breads: 1.) A basic white bread, baked in dutch oven. It's a very simple variation on this Serious Eats recipe. I make this all the time, but usually with bread flour and a bit more yeast. Makes for a solid, all purpose loaf of bread. Not a whole lot of flavor, but really, it's a platform.  2.) Pain à l’Ancienne. Old fashioned bread. This is a super wet dough that can be an absolute nightmare to work with.  gross. What's nice about it is that you don't have to work with it all that much- this is practically no-knead bread. I usually do something like this- which is based on Peter Reinhardt's recipe. The combination of very wet dough, an overnight cold ferment and doing the steamy oven trick makes for a really nice end product that looks and tastes like you spent way more time on it than you did. It's got solid flavor and is perfect for soaking up sauce, broth, soup, stew, etc. etc.  so pretty  sexy crumb 3.) Challah. I'd never made challah before, but I got the recipe out of Beard on Bread. I mean, it's challah bread. Egg, pretty sweet. This didn't end up being quite as soft as I'd expected- not sure if that's the recipe or if I messed something up. A lot of the other recipes I looked at (after baking) called for more fat, so I'm guessing that's part of the issue. Luckily, I'm not too worried about the texture being a little bit off, since this is going to be my dessert bread and it won't matter too much. Also, my braiding skills leave something to be desired.  Okay, so we've got three types of bread, for three courses. Luckily the weather the past 2-3 days here in Richmond has been downright chilly so while my kitchen's been uncomfortably warm, it has been unbearable. That's definitely something I kept in mind as I put this together. Appetizer- Country ham crostini, with honey mustard and a gazpacho bloody mary. I knew I wanted to do a soup of some kind- bread and soup go together like 2 things that go together very well. That said- it's been pretty hot here lately, the last few days excepted, so a hot soup sounded crazy. I also wanted to try and do a drink too, and the can of kvass I got at that Russian hot dog place wasn't doing anything for me. So I put 2 and 2 together and came up with the gazpacho bloody mary idea. The gazpacho itself was pretty straight forward. Kenji's salting/freezing the veg technique works quite well. All told half of one of the basic white loaves ended up going in to the full batch of gazpacho. Later I added vodka and a little water to get to a drinkable, but still thick consistency. Really great sweetness and acidity from the tomatoes and the peppers.  That said, a gazpacho spiked with booze on it's own didn't exactly thrill me. So, I decided to add a country ham crostini. Country ham is really, really salty and works as a great addition to the sweetness of the gazpacho. It's not actually Spanish ham, but it's doing a similar sort of thing. With a simple dijon-honey-tabasco blend spread on a couple of oven toasted slices from the same loaf I used for the gazpacho and a bit of spring onion, I've got myself a very nice little appetizer. Definitely the sort of thing that I could eat as a light meal or during the summer.  Entree- Chorizo & tomato mussels, with pain à l’ancienne. I made mussels for the first time last year and man, had I been missing out. Mussels are awesome. They can also make you super sick the next day, but, as the kids say, you only live once. That said, I've generally had a good track record with the Whole Foods seafood department and this was no exception.  I used this recipe from Serious Eats, but screwed with some of the quantities and went with a white wine instead of a red. I think that definitely helped, as a red would have felt heavier than I would have liked.  The real point here is that as good as the mussels themselves were, the real star of most mussels preparations is the broth/sauce/juice. When you've got a sauce flavored by chorizo, mussels, tomato, onion and garlic, that's a drat tasty sauce. I finished off this plate, mopped up the juice with my bread and then grabbed the rest of the loaf and just stood over the pot dipping it into the remaining broth. This is where have a good loaf of bread as an extra utensil is critical. Dessert- Berry-challah panzanilla Imagine if you had croutons that were made from  Then dump strawberries and raspberries macerated in sugar and lemon juice on top.  Toss, chill, then serve with some whipped cream and call it a salad.  This is straight bonkers. I really never thought I'd like cinnamon with fruit, but the combination works and the cinnamon balances things out a bit. The bread, being a day old and toasted in the oven maintains a crunch- like each piece is only about half soaked through, so you've got texture as well. Obviously, this is crazy sweet, and I probably shouldn't have sweetened the cream quite as much as I did, but goddamn, this is one helluva dessert. Anyway, there it is. A very red meal, with lots of bread. As things stand my kitchen looks like the scene of a crime, but I feel okay about my first ICSA entry. Hope you all enjoy.
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Jun 4, 2015 03:10
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 04:43 |
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This is exactly what I was talking about. look at that loving crumb!
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Jun 4, 2015 13:16
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This looks like a perfect summer meal. I love it. And don't be ashamed of your plaiting, that's how you can tell its homemade!
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Jun 4, 2015 14:16
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That panzanella 
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Jun 4, 2015 16:04
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Gorgeous bread!
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Jun 18, 2015 14:21
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