Italian Bread

[BerryBaby]

Ok, this has given me the bug to try a new bread recipe. They had a no-knead recipe in the paper not long ago and it got rave reviews. I may give it a try today seeing as we are staying home.

Susie, you would like this. It is from the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Dr. Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, a pastry chef from Mpls. I'll let you know how it turns out.

We have been out to eat 4 days this week! Tuesday, Mexican food, Wednesday, Chinese food to celebrate their New Year, Thursday, adventure dinner with daughter at an upscale restaurant (we do this once every couple of weeks) and yesterday, a charity auction/dinner.

I'm looking forward to cooking today!

[Food Network Fan]

I get tired of the choices eating out if we are traveling. Seems like nearly every place has the same stuff anymore. With kids it's too expensive to go to a sit down and be served place every time if you eat out day after day.

[BerryBaby]

The food was all excellent and varied, but I could make any of it myself. I'm looking forward to just kicking back, having a glass of wine in front of the fireplace and enjoy smelling the great dinner I'm going to make.

Think I will make the bread this afternoon. Took a tri-tip roast out of the freezer and will use the Zinfandel wine recipe. It usually calls for using short ribs but works great with any beef type roast/steak.

[BerryBaby]

OMG, the bread turned out amazing! You should smell my house right now...fresh baked bread, the wine with carrots, celery, onion, garlic and thyme with the roast....
(here is where the FN ladies make the noises) amazing! Ahh, the comforts of home.
Plus, I'm having a very nice Italian wine and just kicking back until the roast is done in a couple of hours. Even have the kitchen all cleaned up and the sink is empty! Whoo-hoooo!!!!

[Clove]

OMG, the bread turned out amazing! You should smell my house right now...fresh baked bread, the wine with carrots, celery, onion, garlic and thyme with the roast....
(here is where the FN ladies make the noises) amazing! Ahh, the comforts of home.
Plus, I'm having a very nice Italian wine and just kicking back until the roast is done in a couple of hours. Even have the kitchen all cleaned up and the sink is empty! Whoo-hoooo!!!!

BB,

It sounds like you are back to eating real food(?)

[BerryBaby]

Yes, and loving it! I did phase three on the tooth a little over a week ago. Just have one more appointment to get the crown on in two weeks. Can't wait for this to be over!

Must admit, it feels perfect right now. Hope I can say that when it's all completed.

BTW, I'm going to go buy the Artisan Bread cookbook today. That bread is SOOO good and easy to make. No kneading and it turned out amazingly good. Made two loaves and have two in the fridge to make later this week. The dough keeps for up to a week.

I'd highly recommend it.

[BerryBaby]

Took the last piece of dough out the fridge last night and made it into seeded baggette bread. Wow! That recipe is so versatile. Stocked up on yeast so I can try another recipe this weekend.

[bluejeanz]

If you're heavy into bread-making like me, if you have a local GFS (Gordon Food Service), Sam's Club, BJ's or Costco, you can buy a pound-bag of yeast (regular or quick-rising) for about $4-$5. I used to buy the little brown jar (Red Star??) for $8 (which I think is a total rip-off) but you can get ten times that amount for about half the price. It lasts a long time and, if I have any left after the expiration date, it's no big deal if I have to throw it out and get another bag. And I can say I've never had anything turn out bad from using bulk yeast.

I wanted to ask if anyone here ever uses fresh yeast or if they even still sell it in the supermarket. I never had good luck with it so I stuck to the dry yeast. I know purists always used fresh.

[BerryBaby]

We have Costco but not the other stores you mentioned. I just bought the three-pack of yeast at the grocery store. They were only a dollar so I got two. For most of the recipes in the book, you need two and a half packages of the yeast.

Don't think I'll ever make a lot of bread to buy yeast in bulk, but appreciate the suggestion.

Just used the frozen puffed pastry dough to make the Beef Wellington the other night. Had some leftover and made little hors d'oeuvres. Cut squares and put a small spoonful of sauteed mushrooms, shallots and peas with a light sauce in the middle of each piece. Folded them in triangles, brushed with egg wash and baked them in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Wow, were they delicious!

Do you ever uses that dough? It's by Pepperidge Farm and very good quality.

[Food Network Fan]

I get the yeast at Sam's, it's in the foil bags with all the air extracted so it's in a solid brick.