Tag Archives: Cooking

Pain à l’Ancienne

Please welcome the very first guest post on my blog, written by none other than my much loved and much blogged about sister Erica. Feel free to refer to her as ‘blondie pants,’ ‘spankeroo,’ or ‘schmantypants.’ I’m so excited to have her share this recipe. It makes the best bread I’ve ever tasted, and I’ve been bugging her to write about it ever since June 8th, the day I started this blog in the first place. And though I’ve destroyed our relationship by my consummate nagging, at least I squeezed this out of her before she decided never to talk to me again.

Just kidding! She gave it over to my blog willingly–that’s how a well-trained younger sister behaves. Without further ado, I hand things over to this extremely kitchen-competent wonderwoman.

Pain à l’Ancienne means “Old style bread.” It’s also known as: Bread So Good You Will Never Go Back To The Bread Machine.

I discovered this bread while working at the IU Opera and Ballet Theatre’s costume shop as a seamstress with just about the most wonderful ladies ever. It showed up at most of our (frequent) potlucks, and we all looked forward to its appearance with much eagerness and salivation. When I moved on to grad school and no longer had time to say my own name, much less work at the shop, I finally wheedled the recipe out of the woman who made it, to my great delight. After whipping up lots and lots of batches and making some slight modifications to the recipe, I give you The Best Bread You Can Easily Make At Home Which Will Win You Many Friends And Followers–And Possibly A Nobel Prize.

The bread is incredibly simple to make; all it requires is a tiny bit of forethought, since you will start it the day before you wish to bake it. I tried par-baking it once, then freezing it, so that I could pop it into the oven without delay whenever the need arose, but I like it fresh much, much better. To par-bake it (if you choose to follow that dark and crunchy path), simply bake it for about half the time you usually would, let it cool, wrap tightly in plastic wrap or a ziploc, and freeze it. Then all you have to do is let it thaw for a bit before resuming the baking process whenever you are in need of really awesome bread at the drop of a hat. I found that the crust was much thicker and less delicious than when made fresh, but it’s till darn good.

So, what does it take to make this bread, you ask? Not much, sez I.

Ingredients

6 c. (i.e. 27 oz.) unbleached bread flour (MUST be bread flour- I like to use Gold Medal’s Better for Bread, but any flour specifically meant for bread will work)

1 ¾ tsp yeast (about one package, the dry active kind, not the instant or bread machine kind)

1 TBS vital wheat gluten

2 ¼ tsp salt

2 ½ to 3 c ICE COLD water

Let’s begin!

First, measure all your dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. I like to give ‘em a nice whisk about to blend them well before adding the water. This way we don’t end up with unfortunate salty lumps. However, the great thing about this bread is that you don’t have to be über precise. Pile it all in. Mix it around. Call it a day. Then add the water. It does need to be ice cold- I always end up putting cold tap water in a bowl with a bunch of ice cubes and measure out the quantity I need, but I suppose you can use cold water from your fridge, too. That would be way easier. Once it’s been added, stir it with a spoon until it’s fairly uniform. The dough will be very sticky, so I tend to add a little less than the maximum 3 cup amount, and if it’s too dry, add a little more. Anyway, this is floppy, sticky dough that will get your hands all gummy. Last time I made this bread a week or two ago, I used my Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment to mix it and the dough hook to knead it. It worked really well, but I’ve been making this bread without fancy equipment for several years and it doesn’t make a difference what you use. The Kitchen Aid just makes your hands less gross.

So. Once mixed, put a generous quantity of your bread flour on the counter top and plop the squishy dough onto it. Then, begin to knead. You’ll probably find yourself using quite a bit more flour so that 90% of it doesn’t end up on your hands, but try to keep the excess flour to a minimum. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, and still quite sticky (or after 6-8 minutes of hand-kneading), lightly grease another clean mixing bowl and put the dough into it. Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and pop it all into the fridge. Leave it there overnight. The longest I’ve left it in the fridge is about a day and a half, but if you leave it in a little longer it can only increase the goodness. I wouldn’t abandon it for more than two days, though.

When you take it out of the fridge, you’ll notice that big, beautiful bubbles have formed in the dough. Yummmmmm. Don’t do anything to it yet, just set it in a warm place and let it rise. Since the dough is cold, it will take quite a bit longer than your average rising time since it first has to warm up. But that’s ok because it’s totally worth it. Mine usually rises for a good 3 hours. Last time I turned my oven on the lowest setting, put the bowl in, plastic wrap and all, and turned the oven off after 2 or 3 minutes. This works well because the small space retains the heat nicely.

Once your dough has doubled in size and is smelling all yeasty and glorious, take it out of the oven (if that’s where you were letting it rise). Don’t punch it down! Now, fill a cast iron or sturdy metal baking pan with water, and put it in your oven. We’ll put the bread on the lower rack, so it’s ok to put the rack with the water on it fairly high in the oven. We want the steam from the evaporating water, as this will make the crust crunchy and beautiful. Preheat to about 475 Fahrenheit, and while the oven preheats, we’ll prep the loaves.

Personally, I like generously sized wider loaves rather than baguettes with this bread. You can do whatever you like, though. If doing baguettes, you can get about 5 shorter loaves from this recipe; otherwise, divide the dough into three lumps. It will be quite squishy and floppy, and won’t hold its shape too well. What we REALLY DON’T want is to squeeze or squash the dough too much. We want to keep those big air bubbles that have formed overnight, so be gentle with it. If you have a holey pizza pan, this is the time to use it. Otherwise a cookie sheet with some cornmeal sprinkled on it will do just fine. I bet a pizza stone would be great too, so use yours if you have one- just put the pizza stone in the oven with a light dusting of cornmeal when you put the water in, and slip the loaves onto it when the oven is ready. Otherwise, gently place the loaves onto your cornmealed pan and pop it in the oven.

A word about the baking: these loaves will rise a lot, and expand slightly sideways too. I always have to bake them in several rounds–they don’t usually fit on a single pan. As the loaves bake (judge the doneness by color), usually 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the loaf, you’ll need to use a water spritzer to spray the loaves 4-5 times throughout the baking time. You can find one in the laundry aisle of most stores, near the ironing stuff. The steam from the pan is great, but we need a little extra. Plus, it’s fun. Don’t be afraid to aim directly at the bread. A word of caution: it is very hot, so be careful as the steam might cloud up on you when you spray. The loaves will become a lovely deep golden or light brown color. Let them cool slightly if you can- a true test of your self-control- and then….devour!

That’s about it. It sounds way more complicated from my instructions than it really is, but once you try it out you’ll see not only how easy it is to make, but how incredibly delicious the bread is. I mean, the tastiness-to-difficulty ratio is totally in your favor. Oh my, just you wait! The smell is divine, and the bread has the perfect slight crunch to the crust and beautiful texture to the inside . . . mmmm . . . Plus, I find bread making to be a wonderful, peaceful thing that is utterly satisfying, especially when shared. You can’t beat the homey and intoxicating smell of homemade bread that fills you house (and your soul!).

So make it! Tomorrow! (start it tonight!!) You won’t regret it. I promise.

And I won’t even TELL you how awesome it is with little pat of butter melting on it, still hot from the oven……

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Seared Fennel Salmon with Pasilla-Spiced Pumpkin Basmati

So I have somehow gotten myself involved in a cooking challenge. Food blogger and med school student Joanne from “Eats Well With Others” was hosting a little recipe-making competition sponsored by Marx Foods, and in a stroke of wild abandon I entered my name as a potential participant. I’ve never done this before, and I was scared crapless. Yes, I can cook a delicious meal. Yes, I’ve fine-tuned recipes and even created many from scratch. But am I the wildly inventive person who in a stroke of genius adds an entirely unexpected ingredient such as caviar mousse or onion confit to a bread dough, resulting in the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?

Well . . . no. And then I got an email saying I had been selected. I took a deep breath. I took another deep breath. I got up, reheated my coffee, sat down again. I had visions of some kind of historical culinary disaster going down in my kitchen. Then I had visions of a gigantic personal culinary success. Then the disaster. Then the suceess. The two visions arm-wrestled each other for a while, until I was like “Enough you two! Just take it down a notch! I am going to make the best friggin, gosh darn, friggin fantastic thing I can, and whether I win or lose I will at least make something friggin delicious for dinner that my husband and I will friggin devour like wild hyenas!” And then I shouted out an extra ‘friggin’ just for good measure.

Now I could just jump into the recipe–but this is a blog! And that means you get to hear every single one of my thoughts (evil cackle). Hey! Get away from that scroll button!

The challenge was to create a recipe with the following conditions:

1. One of the main ingredients must be orange winter squash (any variety–acorn, pumpkin, butternut . . .). Apparently, Joanne’s goal this season is to eat enough squash to turn herself orange. This is our way of helping her achieve that goal.

2. You must use two of the eight ingredients mailed to you in a box by Marx Foods.

3. The recipe must be original (i.e. of my own brilliant or horrific creation).

How hard can this be? I asked myself with a furrowed brown in the days leading up to the receipt of the box. I could go the Thai curry route . . . the Indian curry route . . . perfectly seared salmon on a bed of rice and squash . . . I could do a risotto, or a salad with roasted pumpkin, avocado, pine nuts and other delights . . . I could do some kind of complicated gnocchi or ravioli . . . or even some kind of one-dish breakfast bake in my iron skillet. Or a quiche! Tacos! A spicy Pozole-inspired stew with a mole-style drizzle!

There was a frenzy in my brain. How would I ever decide what to make??

And then I realized how to simplify it. The question came down to: what did I want to eat? Which imaginary dish did I want to dig my fork into? If I were at a restaurant, which of these dishes would I order hands down?

The answer was clear: a piece of perfectly cooked salmon on a pile of rice. Oh, and a delicious rich Thai curry. So there were two answers. And they were both equally clear.

Yes, I decided to make both of my recipe ideas and simply submit the one I liked best. So my friends, without further ado, let’s get this show on the road. Let’s make that salmon, which is my official submission. The ‘freebie’ curry recipe, also delicious, will be posted later this week . . . or next week. We’ll see how cozy I feel like getting with Photoshop in the days to come.

I’m using sugar pie pumpkin, and the two ‘mystery’ ingredients I chose from the box are dried pasilla negro chilies and fennel pollen. I know the recipe name is long and complicated–but the actual instructions couldn’t be easier. It’s basically a piece of fish with a rub that sits on a pile of rice (rice-cooking method courtesy of Pastor Ryan) with some goodies tossed in. Do not fear the process.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

For the rice:

2 c basmati rice

4 c water

2 TBS butter

1 tsp ground pasilla negro chili

1 TBS turmeric

1 tsp salt

1 c frozen peas

Cilantro (optional garnish)

For the pumpkin

4 cups sugar pie pumpkin cubes (from 1 medium sized pumpkin)

2 TBS butter

2 tsp dried ground pasilla negro chili

2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

salt to taste

For the fish:

4 salmon fillets, skinned (about 0.3 lbs each)

3 TBS olive oil

2 tsp fennel pollen

salt (generous amount)

black pepper

Before anything else, grab a large pasilla negro chili:

Grind it up in a spice mill or coffee grinder.

I used our coffee grinder on the ‘espresso’ setting and got a lovely, finely ground pile.

Should I taste it?

Absolutely.

I’m a huge proponent of tasting your ingredients–you’ll get a much better sense of how to combine different things if you take a chomp, or in this case, a lick.

If you’ve never had pasilla negro chili, you’re in for a treat. It has a spicy, raisin-like, almost chocolaty flavor that is very unique. And it’s not fiery hot either, so don’t worry about incinerating your tastebuds.

Now the salmon cooks pretty quickly, so I like to get the rice squared away first. Grab your rice cooker: dump in the basmati rice, water, butter, turmeric, ground pasilla negro chili, and 1 tsp salt.

Press ‘cook’! That was easy. Unless you don’t have a rice cooker. Then you’ll have to fend for yourself and make it in a pot on the stove, like a real man.

Your #1 mission is now to halve that sugar pumpkin. This is without a doubt the most difficult and dangerous part of the recipe. I was very afraid I would stab my own hand, or possibly lop my head off.

It looked so friendly, and innocent, and orange, and small . . .

But it proved to be a worthy and tough opponent.

I swung it around the kitchen a few times just for good measure.

Just kidding! Please don’t do that at home. You could really do some damage. Just keep working at it patiently and carefully. Once I got a cut made, I wedged my knife sharpener in the crack and forced the pieces apart.

Of course, a woodsman with an axe would have come in handy. But no woodsmen were patrolling my Chicago neighborhood that evening, so I battled it out. The triumph was sweet in my mouth.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt moved to pose with an ingredient before. I also seem to be looking particularly freckly. Hmmmm. Trick of the light, trick of the light.

Scrape out the seeds and innards. If you’re a motivated person you’ll save the seeds and roast them later for a delicious snack. I was lacking motivation that night and simply threw them away.

Now, microwave the halves for 4 minutes each. This will make the pieces much more tender and easy to cube.

Cut the pumpkin into small cubes and discard the rind.

You should have about 4 cups of cubes.

Heat 2 TBS butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once the butter is fully melted and bubbling, add the pumpkin cubes, spices, and sugar.

If you cook the cubes for too long, you’ll end up with pumpkin mush instead, which is not what we’re going for here, so just fry them for 3-4 minutes, taste and adjust the seasoning.

Try not to eat all the pumpkin cubes at this time. I stopped after only 6, and I was quite proud of my self control.

Set aside the pumpkin cubes, and let’s get that salmon underway so that it’s done by the time the rice is ready.

Preheat the oven to 450, then heat an oven-proof pan (I used my trusty cast iron skillet) over high heat for 4 minutes. Rub both sides of the salmon fillets with olive oil and season the tops with salt, pepper, and the fennel pollen.

Go GENEROUS with the salt, and I’m talking generous. Once you think you’ve been generous, go ahead and salt it a little more. Use your fingers to spread the spice across the fillets evenly.

We’re keeping it simple here with the seasoning, and lemme tell ya–the flavors really shine through. When the pan is hot, place the fillets spiced-side down . . .

. . . and don’t touch them for at least 2 minutes.

Seriously! Get your mitts away from that pan! The underside should turn a gorgeous shade of brown. Now turn the pieces over gently (I recommend using a spatula).

Slap that pan into the oven and cook that fish for 5 to 7 minutes, then remove. Would you look at that perfect, beautiful sear? Would you look at that tender flesh? Oh my.

I should also drive home the fact that if you overcook your fish, doom and despair await–so make sure you take it out when it’s still tender!

Just in case you were curious, I cooked 2 salmon fillets and 2 steelhead fillets, which look very similar to the salmon. My fishmonger didn’t know what the difference was, and I needed to know. Answer: the salmon is 50 times more delicious, fatty, and luxuriant. The steelhead was more lean and stringy. The salmon was also twice the price. It presents a difficult dilemma in my life.

By now the rice is bound to be done, so simply stir in the frozen peas and pumpkin.