3 cups flour
1 1/3 cup H20
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
Mix everything in bowl, cover and let rise for several hours. Dough should be more than double in size. Shape into a round loaf and place on a floured baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 45 min. to an hour. It's done when it sounds hollow when you knock on it.
Yep. That easy. I used Colorado whole wheat flour and whey (left over from cheese making, don't worry, I promise to post about that soon) instead of water. I shaped mine into more of an oblong for sandwich friendly slices. I will admit that mine was a little dense but I am sure that was somehow my fault and not one of the recipe.
I also made pesto yesterday. All of the basil is about to flower so it was time to harvest it. I'll be honest, I've never made pesto before and it seems simple enough so I just sort of winged it which, I am sure, is how everyone does it.
I didn't really take measurement because I wasn't expecting to talk about it but basically I threw all of the basil I harvested in the food processor, an amount of garlic appropriate to my taste (three cloves), some rosemary and lemon mint because they were left over in the bowl the basil was in and then I squeezed a hole lemon in there. I turned on the processor for about 45 seconds, when I turned it off I pushed everything back to the bottom and added a little olive oil (olive oil, not local but on my "okay" list) I turned the processor back on and added just a little olive oil at a time so that it wouldn't get too runny. Done and Done! I ended up with about 3oz. of pesto that used about 1/2 of a medium potted basil plant. I do want to research the proper way to can pesto so that maybe I can continue to enjoy it in the winter (or just hope that my window sill basil plant doesn't die, which it's trying really hard to do).
DINNER TIME!
I picked a tomato and a summer squash from my buildings garden.
Sauteed the squash in olive oil and a little salt.
Two slices of no knead bread, one slice with home made mozzarella the other slice with pesto. Tomato and squash in the middle. Pan toasted in a little olive oil.
Served with a side of Colorado peaches.
It didn't occur to me until after I had woofed it down that maybe I should have taken a picture.
Night!
The denseness of your bread probably came from making it with all whole wheat flour. It doesn't have as much gluten which is what makes bread light and fluffy. If you didn't like the denseness try using 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour.
ReplyDeleteAs far as canning pesto, I don't think it's recommended. From what I've read, the best way to preserve pesto is to either freeze it or to put it in a jar with a 1/2 inch of oil on top and refrigerate it. The oil acts as a barrier to the air and spoilers and it lasts for months. Look up Eugenia Bone's blog Well Preserved, she's got tons of preserving ideas!
I can't remember if I did half and half... I think I did though. Even though your recipe even told me not to. I'm a doofus.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep that in mind about preserving pesto, I just came into a BOAT LOAD of basil.