Easy Ciabatta Out of Your Own Oven!

While TLMM's cousin Bruce and his wife Christina were visiting, I learned how to make this amazing bread! When you see how easy it is, you will make it weekly.



4 1/2 cups flour (we used King Arthur's Bread Flour)
2 teaspoons salt

Mix together.



2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons yeast

Mix together.



Pour over dry mixture in mixer. Let it mix until it's just incorporated, less than a minute.

Let it sit for 10 minutes. Turn on mixer for a couple of minutes. Scrape off paddle and sides and put on for another few seconds. Dough is very sticky and wet.



Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a bowl. Empty dough into bowl and flour your hands. Flip over once with your hands so that the oil coats the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and do not disturb for 1 hour.



After an hour, the dough has risen!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On middle rack, preheat baking stone or upside down cookie sheets to use to slide dough and parchment paper on. Also preheat a heat-resistant or cast iron skillet on the bottom rack. You will see why in a second.



Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and fold it up in the middle to keep the two loaves separated. Sprinkle a little bit of fine corn meal on the paper like so.



The dough has really risen!





The dough is very sticky so liberally flour surface and scrape dough out of bowl. Liberally flour your hands, too. Without working the dough too much with your hands, push into a rectangular shape and cut in half with a floured knife.



Flip one of the halves so that it gets floured on all sides and put onto one side of the parchment paper, again don't work it too much with your hands- the less touching the better.



Do the same with the second half.





Slide parchment paper onto pre-heated cookie sheets or baking stone.





Throw a handful of ice cubes into the cast iron or heat resistant pan underneath. This helps the crust develop to be crusty and the bread softer in the center.

Close the oven door and say abracadabra!!



Bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops are just starting to turn golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Slide parchment paper back on cookie sheet and remove loaves from oven.



Slide parchment paper onto cooling racks. Let cool for a few minutes, and slice and spread with softened butter or dip in olive oil.

Heaven...and the eggs.

Homemade Corn Tortillas!

After using a few tablespoons of corn flour in the chili con carne, I was left with nearly a full bag. As luck would have it, there was a recipe for tortillas on the back of the bag.

It's easy enough- corn flour, salt and water. We decided to give it a whirl. Mix the aforementioned corn flour, salt and water according to the back of the bag (for 16 tortillas, we used 2 loosely packed cups of corn flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 1/4 cups water). Combine and if it is too dry, add a little more water (by the tablespoon). Finally you will have a nice ball of dough.



Divide that in to 16 smaller balls of dough for 16 tortillas.



You can use a rolling pin to get it super thin, but it is much easier with a tortilla press. I picked this one up at Bed, Bath and Beyond for under $20. Put one ball of dough on the plastic lined press. Cover the other dough balls with a dampened cloth to keep them moist.



And then, naturally, press!



Voila!



Throw them on a hot flat griddle over medium high heat for 50 seconds each side. You can also lightly fry them by putting a few drops of vegetable oil in a pan and doing the same thing. The fried ones are tastier!



There you have it, homemade corn tortillas. You can even make your own corn tortilla chips by cutting them up and putting them in a deep fryer for a few minutes. We'll try this another time. Right now, we are interested in one thing and one thing only!



MMMmmmm. Very good with the chili con carne.



Happy 7th day- only one more to go...and the eggs.

Foccacia with Rosemary, Pine Nuts and Golden Raisins

This is, hands down, my favorite bread on earth. After watching Tom make it, I am sure I can do it myself- and will do it during this holiday season.

2 Packets of rapid rise yeast
2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt

Mix that up. Add 2 cups of hot tap water (approx. 125 degrees).



4 Tablespoons olive oil (not extra virgin)
2 teaspoons dried rosemary (minced fine). A secret to doing that without it flying everywhere is to pour some olive oil over it and chop. See Tom chop.





1/2 of a 15 ounce box of golden raisins. Mix everything up together using flat beater. Start adding flour 1/2 cup at a time until it forms a slack bread dough (a little stickier in consistency than dough). After it's combined, switch to dough hook. If the dough sticks to your hand, you need more flour. Knead on dough hook for 8-10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise until it doubles in size. In a 75 degree room, it should take approximately 35 minutes.



Punch it down to deflate it. See Tom punch.



Let it rise and punch it down three (3) more times. Oil your fingers and the spread the dough out in a bake pan.





Take a handful of roasted pine nuts (350 degrees for 8 mins.), sprinkle them on top of the dough, pressing them in a bit as you go. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise one more time to double in size.



Make indentations with your fingers in the top of the dough. See Tom indent!



Bake in 425 degree oven (middle rack). Turn 1/2 way after 12 minutes. Let it bake for another 12 minutes and when its internal temperature is 205 degrees, it is done. Tom used a thermometer with a long stem, and put it halfway into the bread at a 45 degree angle. Another way to tell if it is done is when there is light browning on top.



This foccacia is so savory because of the combination of the rosemary and olive oil. I especially like it because the rosemary is minced so finely that there are no large chunks of it. It simply flavors the dough instead of overpowering it. When combined with the golden raisins and pine nuts, there's really nothing like it. Slice it, and when you are ready to serve it, pop it into a 350 degree oven for 4-6 minutes to crisp up the outside.

Sure, baking your own bread is more labor intensive than buying it, but when baking it for a group of close friends or family members, it is a labor of love. Isn't that what this time of year is all about...and the eggs.