The Lahey Project:: Bacon (Pancetta) Bread.



I'm beginning to realize that these posts about the breads made from Jim Lahey's book could get pretty boring and old. After all, every one I've tried so far has been great - but not just great, tremendous, and even then I'm starting to run out of complementary adjectives. But each and every bread that I've tried has been so miraculous that I still really can't believe I'm pulling this stuff out of my oven.

This one was obviously no different. The crust was even better than normal, probably because there was a sly addition of bacon grease. Yes, you heard me, bacon fat. I feel kind of funny always walking the line between vegan and animalistic ways of cooking, but those of you who know me can attest that I do procure the best meats that I can. This bacon came from the same hog that the rest of my pork stores did, the same animal also feeding my Parents. While staunch vegan readers may audibly gasp at this, I personally do not have a problem with it. I'd probably prefer to go full vegetarian and/or vegan, but my carnivorous Husband would then most likely resolve to eating every meal somewhere else, and that does not a happy home make!

And besides, who am I kidding. Bacon? R1 suspects that even vegetarians crave bacon. Lahey's original called for pancetta, but used bacon as a substitute and if you think that adding bacon to bread could make a complete meal, you would be correct.


The bacon is first fried, then added to the dry ingredients. Here, with a healthy amount of crushed red peppers...

It's meaty and chewy, and could easily gentrify any plain old lunch into a eyebrow raising and sophisticated Brunch. I also made a half recipe, since after all, I for sure don't need the temptations of a 1 1/2 pound loaf of bacon bread siren calling me morning, noon and night.



A while back, Lo asked me if I ever would recommend Lahey's "bread in a pot" method using parchment to raise the dough in and I said not really. On the second olive bread that I made, some of the olives made their way to the outermost of the loaf and had direct contact with the cast iron pot for the duration of the cooking time. It wasn't terrible, either to the palate or to the dishwasher (a.k.a. Me...), but I thought burnt bacon may be a different story. So I decided to line my enamel colander with parchment, let the bacon bread dough rise in it, and then transfer the whole works to the pot to cook. No mess, much easier to transfer. So, Lo - I take it back. It works excellently, especially if you have need for less cleanup or are working with a sticky ingredient (or just lack confidence in the skill of handling a floppy-ish risen bread dough in close proximity to a blazing hot cast iron pot).



My bread was done before lunchtime, and I made another of my favorite recipes to enjoy it with, herby baked eggs. I made my Husband a grilled cheese, which I may have to do for myself tomorrow with some of the leftovers. A cashew pesto, provolone, tomato grilled cheese on bacon bread? I may finally have a submission for The Grilled Cheese Academy after all! You can be sure that I'll let you know how it turns out.



Meanwhile, I'm glad I opted to bake today, even in the extreme heat and humidity. We have air conditioning, but somehow a 475 degree oven manages to slice through it pretty well. The heat also wrecks havoc on my appetite: killing it off almost completely. But that is why I thank you, Jim Lahey, because there aren't many appetites that can't be piqued by the smell of bacon baking into bread. Just one more reason why he really is pure genius.

Vegan Monday: Pasta!

Well, a whole week has passed without a single word from rcakewalk. The truth is, I had a lovely Summer Cold most of last week, and really didn't do much cooking until I needed to get ready for the Boy-O's birthday on Friday. I feel like I have a lot of time to make up for, since being compromised in taste and smell faculties rendered me a pretty poor kitchen experimenter for many days. (Though, I did manage to read all the way through Wild Fermentation - and start a "ginger bug", and then after the bug was going, I bottled a little batch of ginger beer.)

Last night, I knew that I was feeling better, when I was automatically planning what I could come up with for my continuing Vegan Monday postings. Since my basil was in need of pinching back again, I figured pasta and pesto would be a good choice for supper... and it was a happily sneaky one that my Husband ate without knowledge of its delicious vegan-ness.



I really love making pasta from scratch. I've done it now for probably 12 years, and can't say that I've ever tried to make it without eggs. What's even worse, is that I wrote a post about beet pasta, in which I tweaked a recipe I saw in the Outpost Exchange that did not contain eggs, and I actually said that I prefer pasta that does. I can now attest that this is because I never had homemade semolina pasta. It is wonderful, and easy to do, and I may just have to take back the song previously sung about the wonders of egg pasta.



Semolina flour, in it's sand-like peskyness, is very high in gluten - which enables it to stretch and not break when cooking. I noticed the difference immediately when working with the dough. It was a resisting, silky thing; when rolled thinly (notch 6 on my Atlas Pasta Queen), it felt as if I were feeding a sheet of peached cotton through the cutters. The strands of finished fettuccine did not stick together either, and I could see myself actually able to roll little nests like Marcella Hazan without much difficulty. The dried pasta (seen in the first photo, above), did not break or crack when I moved it to a sheet pan. I was excited, since already I could tell that I was going to be so happy with the cooked result.



This morning, I mixed up a small batch using proportions from A Life(time) of Cooking. I needed almost twice the amount of water she recommended, but went by the feel of my egg pasta past, and was indeed rewarded with the pretty little dough seen above. Then, Boy-O (now a proud 4 year old!) and I went for a walk. As I like to err on the side of gluttony (a phrase coined by my Husband and Maeckel), I decided I had to make a second little batch, only whilst walking, I figured there was no reason not to try it with wheat flour and semolina.

Since the recipe calls for equal proportion of all purpose flour and semolina flour, I'm imagining all kinds of whole grain flour combinations are going to be tried sometime in the future. I used a white whole wheat flour from King Arthur Flour. The dough was just as nice to work with, and cooked up into a mildly, wheat flavored pasta. I heard no complaints from either of my guys, so I'm taking it that they couldn't even tell. I think the truth of the matter is that homemade pasta so far surpasses store bought pasta, that you would be hard pressed to find someone who thought otherwise.



The base recipe suggests that for each generous serving, these are the proportions to use. When I had two batches (using different flours), the total weight was just shy of 1 lb... The best thing about homemade pasta, is that it does store well. Just make sure it's dried well first, and then seal it in a zip top bag. It's even more of a convenience food than it's supermarketed brethren, since it takes mere minutes to cook. Even more reason for you to give it a go!

(Vegan) Semolina Pasta (adapted from A Life(time) of Cooking)
  • 1/2 c. semolina flour
  • 1/2 c. AP flour (or white whole wheat - I used KAF)
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 t. olive oil (eyeball it)
  • 6-8 T. water, to feel
In a medium sized bowl, mix the flours and salt. Add the olive oil, then 4 T. of the water, while stirring the forming dough with your fingers. Add enough water to get the dough to form into a ball. (The semolina flour, and the wheat flour, will soak up a bit more liquid than regular AP flour.) When the dough is formed into a ball, knead gently for a few strokes on a wooden board to be sure everything is incorporated well.

Let the dough rest for at least a half hour. Roll out either by hand on a well floured board, or by hand cranked or stand mixer attachment, using regular AP flour as necessary. Cut into desired shape, and let dry (or cook right away).

When cooking, bring an ample amount of salted water to boil and add the pasta. Watch it carefully, it takes just a few minutes to cook. I start testing it when I see it boil up to the surface, usually around the three minute mark.


Semolina/AP flour pasta on the left, semolina/white whole wheat pasta on the right.

Of course, since I went through the trouble of making eggless pasta, I made a vegan pesto as well - from another winning recipe from Dreena Burton's Eat Drink & Be Vegan. I found the recipe printed for you here, from an interview that Dreena did for Vegan Freak Radio, and let me tell you - you may never find yourself buying a pine nut ever again. It was so creamy, fresh, and when I first tasted it, the bite of raw garlic perfectly complemented the other ingredients. (The only thing I did differently, other than not really measuring anything, was to omit the dried mustard. Why oh why do I always remember that I don't have this spice stocked until the last second? The amount needed was too little to be processed out of mustard seeds in my coffee mill/spice mill... so I just left it out.) I'm looking forward to having some of the leftovers on a pizza tomorrow...



While the final dish left something photographically to be desired, the taste did not. The pasta had perfect bite, just a tad more toothsomeness in the whole wheat version, and because I remembered to save some of the pasta's cooking water, I had a nicely thickened pesto sauce that gently coated the noodles. You could go all out and load up on the sauce, like Dreena does, but I have hopes for my leftovers tomorrow, so I restrained.



I'm sure I'll be back to my cooking self this week, and already I'm behind on my weekly fermenting/culturing duties. I actually have to start my next kombucha batch now before I hit the hay...

But before I do go: A non-vegan bit of information I must pass on! I got the best tip ever from my reading of Wild Fermentation for all of you yogurt makers out there: for every quart of milk you are inoculating with the yogurt culture from a previous batch, only use 1 Tablespoon of culture. 1 Tablespoon! I always use much more, but thanks to Sandor (and The Joy of Cooking) - who explained that less culture gives the bacillus room to move and creates a thicker, creamier result. I did this today, and in just 7 hours had beautifully thickened yogurt, with no separation!

So how is THAT to end a Vegan Monday post! From what I've read, you can make a soy or alternative milk yogurt from a culture, but the culture will not perpetuate. Also, I do not believe that the cultures can be dairy free to start... so now I'm curious, and have some label reading to do on my next Outpost trip. Maybe I know what direction I'm heading for next week's vegan post...

Raw Vegan Monday: Banana "Ice Cream" Sandwiches


It started last week when I bought bananas that were not green enough, and bought too many of them. The whole lot of them ripened before I could get around to eating them, which meant they would meet their demise in the freezer. Bananas are tricky things, and most people have a short window of opportunity in which they prefer to enjoy one. Some, like my Mother, like them nearly green and some like them even more deeply spotted than the specimens above. I am rather picky about them when not adding them to a baked good (which then, I insist upon deep-speckledness), I dislike the green banana taste since it tends to remind me of the artificially flavored banana candies that I despise, like Runts, but I also dislike soft, mushy centered fruit the texture of pudding. Pure banana enjoyment is rather limited for me, though I can blend anything with homemade buttermilk or yogurt and drink it down without much trouble.

Fortunately, another banana bread or banana muffin was not in my future. As tasty as both of these options are, even in baked form, they tend to take up my freezer space as I forget that I've made them. Freshly made baked goods are fine, but due to my current personal situation including picky eating boys, I have to utilize my freezer to keep from growing my current size proportionally due to uneaten foods...



I remembered in my raw vegan readings that I have seen many many recipes for banana "ice creams", made simply by blending up frozen bananas into luxurious soft-serve. Sickly sweet overripe (at least overripe in my opinion) bananas lose that some of that velvety soft-serve mouthfeel in the freezer, but they also lose their cloying edge. For any fan of crystalline ice creams, frozen bananas offer a no-fat, no-dairy alternative wonderland, yet banana ice cream wasn't good enough for me. I found and adapted a more portable result - and one that I certainly won't forget is waiting for me in the freezer: Raw Vegan Banana "Ice Cream" Sandwiches.



The original recipe is from Veggie Wedgie, a very nice vegan site with great photography. I had to adapt it just a bit, due to my nature of adaptation, and ingredients at hand. I will also say that if you are looking to make photo-worthy sandwiches, work quickly and transfer each sandwich to the freezer as soon as it is assembled. Banana ice cream melts unbelievably quick.

Raw Vegan Banana "Ice Cream" Sandwiches (adapted from Veggie Wedgie)

Cookies:
  • 200 g/7 oz. dates (I used 8 oz.)
  • 1/2 c. cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 c. rolled oats ground into oat flour (I measure the oats, then grind)
  • 3 T. coconut concentrate
  • 2 T. agave syrup
  • 1/4 c. water (add this 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough sticks together)
"Ice Cream":
  • 5 bananas, peeled, sliced and frozen (in the future I will mash and freeze them, to facilitate blending in inferior blending equipment...)
  • vanilla seeds, scraped from a vanilla pod - or extract if you aren't fully raw (about 1 t.)
To make the cookies, combine all the ingredients in a food processor, and blend until a dough is starting to come together. I think I had more oats than the original recipe called for, and I added a full 1/4 cup of water to get it to stick together. You want to be able to roll it out on a sheet pan lined with parchment or waxed paper, so go by feel. Cut shapes, I used 2 1/4 inch circles, and freeze in a single layer on a sheet pan for at least an hour to harden them up.

When ready to assemble, blend the bananas and vanilla in a blender, food pro, immersion blender or by hand. I used a combination of food pro and blender, and still had trouble getting the larger chunks of banana to break down. I do have a VitaMix jar filling with cold hard cash to remedy this unfortunate situation. I used the 2 1/4 cutter to stand in as a sandwich mold, and spooned in a small amount of banana on top of a round of cookie. Then, I pressed the center with a toothpick to help it release and added the top cookie after it was unmolded. They looked gorgeous coming out of the molds, but within minutes, were melting like crazy. I transferred them to the freezer, and they firmed up again in about 20 minutes. I got about 14 sandwiches, but the leftover "cookie dough" is good eaten on it's own. Even the picky Boy-O thought so!



This ice cream sandwich is light, and does taste like bananas - but in the best, non-artificial way possible. I love icy ice cream, and this was deliciously icy, too. I like that they are keeping well in the freezer: I wrapped them individually in waxed paper, and laid them in an airtight container for precautionary freezer-burn measures, but I doubt they are going to last long enough to have to contend with that.


Getting to Know...rcakewalk.

If you read this post, from Brooke at Pure and Noble, the paragraph preceding the getting to know Brooke part pretty much sums up what I think about chain emails and blog awards and the like... but I figure I'll play along since she tagged me, and I didn't have anything else planned to share until Vegan Monday rolls around. Normally, I'm a keep to myself type - always ready for a chat, but not always up to going up to you and starting the conversation. Of course, once I get going, it is a whole different story... So without further delay, on to a non-food related getting-to-know-your-author post!

Just a few things you may or may not have known about me, rcakewalk.

3 names I go by:
  • rebecca
  • RE-Becca (my Husband usually calls me this - or 'Hon' - )
  • rcakewalk (Rcakewalk, RCakeWalk)
3 places I have been:
  • Croatia. Pretty much the whole country, thanks to my best friend, Sasa. I spent 6 weeks there in the summer of 1997, and now can not even believe that much time has passed. We saw the cities, rural countrysides, most of the Adriatic by boat. I ate cheese in every town I could, since it was so good. As far as the European Experience goes for a poor-ish college age kid, Croatia was just about perfect. It is gorgeous, packed with history, and compact enough to get to know. I hope that I will go back. I could see myself living there.

Zagreb, Croatia.
  • California. I have deep California envy, it is true. I was only there once, for my honeymoon - where I felt old-fashioned to be actually taking a honeymoon, and happy to be off being newly married in a strange warm state for a whole week during the bleak Wisconsin winter. We flew into Los Angeles, drove down to San Diego, then worked our way up to San Francisco. We were married in February, and California gave us warm weather and sun during a record-breaking year for rain and mudslides there. It was so green and gorgeous that I felt like I never wanted to come home to Wisconsin. Everything was growing in February! Why the whole country doesn't want to relocate, I have no idea. Well, those pesky earthquakes... that could do it.

I was amazed at the wildness of California, even minutes outside of the LA freeway.

  • I-90 West from LaCrosse, WI to Red Lodge Montana - on a motorcycle. My Dad is the greatest. Since I began my working life at the age of 17, I was never without work (excepting the summer in Croatia, and a brief 3 month stint where I couldn't find work). I usually had more than one job, or a job that was like working two jobs - that's just how I worked. Generally I like to work, and now that I'm not "technically employed", I still go morning to night with self-created tasks.

My Dad, looking over Dead Indian Pass, Wyoming.

In 2003, my Dad asked if I'd like to take some vacation time and go out West. For 10 days. I don't think I had ever been off from a job for a whole 10 days since high school - and it was amazing. About 3 days in, I remember telling my Dad that this was the greatest feeling, not going to work and seeing all there was to see. He said, 3 days was nothing! Wait until I got a week in! He was right. I was hot and blistered in 109 degree South Dakota summer heat. I felt like I had been through something, experiencing the elements and dirty with road grime.

Wanderlust ensued like never before. I never wanted to come back to my life at work, or my life in the Midwest. I wanted to stay out West and become a cowboy. I began to fantasize about getting my own cycle - a Triumph - and was not going to be deterred that I really didn't know how to ride. (My brother tried teaching me to ride a dirt bike once, but I couldn't figure out the break, resulting in going fairly fast and then crashing into the field... not the best thing for road riding.)

We spent some time in Cody, Wyoming. I cried reading a letter in a museum that Buffalo Bill wrote to his wife after one of their children died. I saw a carved wooden prototype of a Colt revolver. I marveled at an actual Chuck Wagon that was made in Wisconsin, traveled west and then landed in a museum 150 years later. We stayed at The Pawnee Motel that had very little air conditioning coming into our room through the transom to the hallway. I washed dirt off my face in the little sink in the corner of the bedroom. I went to a rodeo. When I thought it couldn't get any better, we headed deeper west, through Yellowstone, over the Bear Tooth Pass and into Montana. We stopped to get gas in a tiny town that was nestled at the base of a great, green mountain, and the doors were all open. It was a quiet, like I had never heard, and I was in a constant state of disbelief at the amazingness of our nation.


Badlands.

On the way back home, I was affected at the Crazy Horse and Rushmore monuments, and at the tiny Akta Lakota museum in Chamberlian, SD. I could see history unraveling before me, and I was sad. I had the time of my life. I dozed on the back of the bike, exhausted, and dreamed that I was falling off the cycle. My Dad felt me jolt awake and asked me what I was doing, shouting over the wind. I could see the whole of the wide open Interstate over the top of his helmet, and it was a view I became even more addicted to.

As you can probably tell, these Western dreams have not dimmed at all in all the time I haven't been back. I doubt I'll go again on a motorcycle, but I now have updated dreams of going West in an old car, a classic with no air conditioning and all of the windows rolled down. A Roadrunner, or Impala, a Cutlass - would be just perfect.

3 favorite drinks:
  • coffee. Alterra. Enough said.
  • fresh lemon or limeade (half a citrus, squeezed into a cocktail shaker with a pinch of stevia, a handful of ice, and topped with water)
  • 2 oz. Sapphire martini, 3 olives, shaken very well (everything in moderation...)
3 jobs I have had:

My resume reads like a small town novel. I have had jobs and side jobs, second jobs and no job (after September 11th, when I quit a job I couldn't stand, and on the 2nd day of it, mind you, and then no one anywhere was hiring.) Three from the past, no rhyme or reason, they just come to mind...
  • Subway, position: Sandwich Artist. This was my first job, in Viroqua, WI. I washed my hands so much that they nearly fell off. If someone could see me, I washed my hands again, even if I just washed them... and I don't think anyone ever cared or noticed. We opened a second store in Westby, 10 miles away, one of the firsts in the chain to open inside a gas station, and I was the "manager" of that one, keeping track of back deposits which I walked across the street, and scheduling. To this day, I have not eaten at a Subway.
  • Sweet Terra Organic Farm, position: laborer. I worked a whole season, from seed planting/greenhousing through kale in the mid-fall - dipping my arms up to my elbows in frigid water to wash it before bundling it for sale, then driving back home 5 miles in my '84 Buick LeSabre with the heat blasting to warm my tingling extremities...
  • Kinko's, position: Copy Specialist, then "promoted" to Office Manager. I liked working there, most of the time. I was a late second shift employee, and would usually leave work around 11:30 PM... I lived a night-based life. Around the same time, I worked a second job at the bakery we shared a parking lot with, and that was an early first shift - so I was completely sleepless for a while in 1998. Then, I quit the bread job, spent a day to myself listing to Cindy Lauper, She's So Unusual, on vinyl, and then eventually got moved to first shift. My second shift life became working at a small gourmet grocery who shall remain unnamed due to unscrupulous practices...
3 TV shows I watch:

I am not much of a TV watcher. I've pretty much given up the Food Network for good, with the odd viewing of Alton Brown or Iron Chef, since I prefer to read in online or paper print most of my food related interests. I DVR, and then let the recorder fill to almost full, then delete - even then it contains mostly movies that I occasionally watch while knitting. I do watch a show once in a while during the winter months, but every single time I do, it will be canceled. Examples?? (Note the science-fiction nature of my TV viewing.)
  • Journeyman. Time travel sci-fi drama about a San Franciscan man who inexplicably travels back and forth through time. It was a good plot, and not terrible acting, and was canceled after 1 season.
  • Life on Mars. Another sci-fi drama about a police detective from 2008 that wakes up in 1973. If you like mustaches, the one season of this should keep you entertained if only for Michael Imperioli's stash- even though the plots got weaker and the writing worse as the season wore on. There was a UK version of this that was highly acclaimed, but I've yet to see it. Maybe I'll rent it this winter.

How could you NOT want to see this mustache in action? His character fit the look, as well. (image from Yahoo!TV)
  • V. Though on summer hiatus, I'm DVRing this update to the loving alien conspiracy of my youth. I like it, a lot. I'm not ashamed. Meanwhile, I'm DVRing Warehouse 13 on SyFy Channel. I love Saul Rubinek. I love campy, goofy rom/com/dramas about supernatural goings on. It also boasts not-so-good special effects. I'm sold!
3 places I would love to visit:

I think if given the opportunity, this list could be endless. Three gigantic cities that I'd love to go and eat in would be:
  • Mexico City
  • Tokyo
  • Rome
3 favorite retro TV shows:
  • Bewitched. (And my favorite quote from Wayne's World: "Dick Sargent, Dick York, Sargent York?!") I really did watch this as part of my after school regimen when I lived in the great Northwoods... I've probably seen every single episode.
  • WKRP in Cincinatti. (This was also on after school when I lived up north. I'd like to rent them now and see if Dr. Johnny Fever is as cool as I used to think he was. It's probably a case of the Fonz, and I should just remember them as I used to think and not as I'd see them now.)
  • Punky Brewster. I was Punky for Halloween in 1984, and it was the best costume ever. I adorned myself with several bandannas, and rolled up one of my jean legs.
3 places I have lived:
  • Minocqua, WI
  • Wilton, WI
  • Fountain City, WI

Me, E and Sasa, outside the Square Pie, Wilton Wisconsin circa 2000.

3 favorite dishes:

This one requires some thinking. The way I've morphed into cooking lately is that I make things usually once. There are of course some things that I live for each summer, after the produce starts rolling in abundantly, so I'll list them here -
  • Marcella Hazan's recipe for eggplant. The flesh is cut and stuffed with garlic, then pan fried until it's soft. Topped with garden tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella and breadcrumbs, it's baked until absolutely soft and delicious. I make this several times per summer, usually with small eggplants.
  • Fish cooked in parchment or foil. Any type of fish and any number or variants in the way of flavors or vegetables will work, but my favorite is a mild white fish like tilapia or orange roughy, olive oil, lemon and a bit of butter, a few sprigs of basil and a handful of olives and cherry tomatoes. Bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes (longer for a thicker cut), and the fish is perfect and flaky, ready to serve with salad, rice, pasta or anything else - even just a good slice of bread and a glass of red wine.
  • Tacos. Any kind, usually with fresh from the garden salsa - the hotter the better. Could be corn tortillas, or black bean tortillas, or even these hard nixtamal corn tostadas from Sanissimo in a pinch. A pot of beans, some eggs or meat, or just tomatoes and cheese and unearthly amounts of cilantro, and I could eat for weeks on end.
3 things I am looking forward to:
  • Boy-O growing out of picky-eating and going out for sushi with me.
  • A weekend in Chicago at the end of the summer around my birthday.
  • The end of the FIFA World Cup hoopla.
Which brings us to the end of this questionnaire and the final question: which 3 people I am tagging to continue this survey... which I'm not going to do actually. I hope a piano doesn't fall from the sky, or worse, an anvil, but I am breaking the chain. I've had fun thinking about my answers which I think is the point of this little exercise, and even more fun with my scanner digging about in my hard copy photographs, but I'm sure any of my blogger friends waiting with bated breath to see if they are it are happy now to exhale having escaped the tag from rcakewalk.

Thanks for tagging me, Brooke. I had fun digging through my old trip pictures, from back when I had a real film camera. I still have 2 old film cameras, just waiting for me to stop ignoring them and bring them back into vogue. Maybe my first old relic camera will be photographed today for LIFEyear, since it is the camera that took the Croatian and western pics. I kind of forgot how much I've missed it.

The Lahey Project: Pane all'Olive

You may or may not have noticed that I had a new tab at the top of my page: The Lahey Project tab. It is an open-ended commitment by me to make most of the breads in Jim Lahey's book, My Bread. Frequent readers will already know that I am completely smitten with Jim Lahey, and his wonderful book; he takes basic ingredients and well researched (and well tested, obviously) recipes and compiled them in such a beguiling way, that I find myself just paging through it time and time again - even when I have no need for bread.

My love affair with bread is a fickle thing. You may say it's hot/cold or on-again, off-again, but nevertheless it is unceasing. Typically, I want to eat more of it in the fall and winter when the chill of the household beckons me to start the oven, no doubt a primitive inclination for warmth. And, let's face it, there has got to be some kind of truth to us Northerners putting on a couple of extra pounds for warmth to head into our coldest weather. However, even in the heat of the hottest summer day, if there is fresh bread, I will love to eat it. Most frequently, with cheese and a bit of salad - and then it is called: My Favorite Meal Of All Time.

I could be easily prompted to make bread daily, and I do make 99% of our household need for bread on an as needed and usually weekly basis, but as the weather warms, I tend not to bake as often. Last week, however, I reminded myself of my Lahey Project commitment and planned a specific weeknight dinner consisting of "A Sandwich". Hmmm. A Sandwich sounds pretty boring, doesn't it? Well, if you make it on Lahey bread, I can guarantee you instant rock star status. In fact, this one was so good, that I brought the ingredients to make "A Sandwich" dinner bread for my Parents.

The loaf I made for our dinner here at home was a half recipe. I had just 90 grams of kalamata olives (and needed 100 for a half recipe), and made up the difference with a couple of little green, pimento stuffed, manzanillas, pimentos removed. We ate a delicious ham sandwich with Spicy Guinness Mustard and Swiss Emmentaler Cheese and some red leaf lettuce, and within moments more than half of the little loaf disappeared. By morning, even more was gone, and by lunchtime the tiny loaf had met it's demise.


Yes, that bread has a creamy, almost custardy, interior.

By this time, I knew that I was going to go out of town for a visit, and just knew that I had to share this briny bread with others. Out at the farm, we enjoyed our sandwiches just as much, and I toasted some leftover bread the next morning to eat with a leftover wedge of egg omelet and a slathering of Amish Pepper Butter (you're going to have to wait a bit for a post justly dedicated to that condiment which has properly captured my heart and every single one of my salivating tastebuds) and was surprised at the deliciousness all the more.



Jim recommends letting the dough rise wrapped in a lint free towel, but I drop towel full of bread into a colander to keep the dough from spreading out too much. I have done it with all the breads I have tried so far, and it really helps keep them together. This olive bread is particularly wet due to the moisture given off by the olives as they sit, so I over dust with wheat germ and flour to be sure no sticking takes place. A little bit still did, both times, but any telltale clue was hidden by the time the bread was baked.



As nice of a guy as I know that Jim Lahey has to be, I can't imagine he would be thrilled with me printing out the recipes to every bread in his book. So instead, I so heartily recommend his book, that I'll even go further and tell you to click over to his website and purchase it from him so that he gets the little extra bit of dough (yes, pun intended...) from the Amazon sale. If you are a Sandwich lover, if you are a bread lover, if you love nice guys named Jim, go and get started on your own Lahey Project! Then, let me know, so we can compare notes and obsessions. I'm thinking that not too much time can pass before I have to make another one to cross off my list, this time I'm thinking it will have to be the Coconut-Chocolate Bread. I think I'll even be able to classify THAT one as a dessert.