Sesame Chicken and Broccoli {recipe}

I have been making this delicious recipe for about a year now. I adapted it from the one included in my Zumba DVDs' recipe book. My husband was surprised that it was low in calories but rich in taste.

What you'll need:

1-2 chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces

1 cup broccoli florets

2 1/2 tbsp. honey

1/2 - 3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. coconut oil

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

1 tbsp. cornstarch powder dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

1/2 tsp. ginger powder

1 tsp. sesame seeds

1/2 cup cooked brown rice (or whole wheat pasta)

Directions:

1. Heat coconut oil in a saute pan over medium-low heat. (You can use canola oil instead). 
2. Sprinkle garlic powder and some soy sauce over chicken. Cook chicken, turning to brown on all sides, until cooked through, about 6-7 minutes. Add the broccoli. 
3. While the chicken and broccoli cooks, combine soy sauce, honey, ginger, sesame oil and sesame seeds in a bowl. 
4. Add the soy sauce mixture into the pan with the chicken and broccoli and toss to coat. 
5. Add the cornstarch and water mixture to thicken the sauce. 
6. Place your cooked brown rice (or pasta) on a plate and top it with the chicken and broccoli mixture.

Shrimp and Mushroom Risotto

The other night, I didn't know what to make for dinner. I have to admit, this kitchen was looking kinda seedy. In our house, we are procrastinators and push everything to the limit. I was on my third second glass of Cupcake™ Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, and admiring its pretty design, when the idea hit me. On its back label, the bottle says this wine pairs well with lobster risotto. I didn't have lobster, but I DID have some frozen (pre-cooked) salad shrimp. I love you, Cupcake!

Cupcake™ Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc wine is great for this recipe because it has many citrus undertones: Meyer lemons, Key limes, and the New Zealand grapes already bring their own zing to the plate. Delish!

There have been times where I try to impress my foodie husband and things go alright. Sometimes I crash and burn (literally on the burn part), but this was seriously a home run. I surprised myself!

Here's what you'll need:

1-1/4 cup of arborio rice (long grain is ok)

5 cups chicken broth

4-5 mashed garlic cloves, divided

1/4 red onion, chopped

1 baby portobello mushroom, chopped

1 Roma tomato, chopped

1/2 tsp salt, divided

1/2 tsp black pepper, divided

1/2 lb. frozen salad shrimp (peeled, deveined, tails off, cooked)

5 oz. unsalted butter (about half a stick)

1/2 cup Cupcake™ Sauvignon Blanc (or any dry white wine with grated lemon zest)

Directions:

1// Defrost the shrimp under running cold water. Pat-dry with a paper towel.

2// Chop the onion, garlic, mushroom and tomato. Divide the garlic. Warm the chicken broth.

3// In a medium, non-stick saucepan melt 2 tbsp of butter, 1/2 the salt and 1/2 the black pepper over low-medium heat. Add 1/2 the garlic. Cook for 1 min. 

3// Add the shrimp and "cook" for 30-45 seconds on each side. (If using frozen, raw shrimp, cook for 1-2 min. on each side). Remove shrimp and keep warm.

4// In the same saucepan, add 2 tbsp. butter, and increase heat to medium-high. Add the onions, mushroom, tomato, the remaining salt and pepper, and cook for 2 min.

5// When the mixture begins to simmer, add one cup of the warmed broth and cook for 2 min. Add the wine. (I did a heavy pour!)

6// Add the rice and remaining 2 tbsp. butter, and gently stir while the rice starts soaking up the mixture. 

7// Keep stirring the rice as it cooks, never letting it get fully dry. Once the broth starts to reduce, add another cup of broth. You want the rice to obtain the "tackiness" shown in the picture.

8// Once the risotto is cooked, fold the shrimp evenly and reduce heat to low. Cover for 5 min.

That's it! If you want to get fancy, you can garnish with some parsley. It honestly will smell so good that you probably won't have time to garnish before you finish eating it. Enjoy!

(If you want a heartier mushroom taste, add 1-2 more baby portobello mushrooms. I only had one left over from our delicious stuffed mushrooms earlier in the week.)

Desiree's stuffed mushrooms {recipe}

You may be wondering why these are called "Desiree's Stuffed Mushrooms."

Well, my cousin, Desiree, was our host for Thanksgiving and she made these for a wine and cheese night.  B and I immediately became obsessed with how delicious they were and I knew it was something we would be eating a lot of once we got back home.

Desiree was gracious enough to teach me how to make them so I could share with all of you!

These were inspired by her Italian neighbor, and like any quality home cooking, you don't always have exact measurements.  The following ingredient quantities is based off 6-8 small to medium baby Portabella mushrooms.  Feel free to adjust to your personal preference.

The great thing about this recipe is that the stuffing can be prepared the night before.  This is especially convenient if you have guests and want to impress them with hors d'oeuvres.

Ingredients

6 - 8 baby Portabella mushrooms, stems removed, chopped and set aside

1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped 

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp. butter (optional)

1/2 - 1 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350°

1. Using a slightly damp paper towel, gently wipe the mushrooms of any residual earth.

2. Remove and chop the stems of the portabella mushrooms; set aside in a bowl.

3. Finely chop the garlic cloves and onion and add them to the mushroom stems.

4. In a non-stick sauce pan heat half of your olive oil and the 2 tbsp. butter (optional) over low-medium heat.  (The butter adds a creamy and aromatic element but is not necessary.)  Add the mixture to the pan (see 1, below).

5. Cook the chopped garlic, onion and mushroom stems, slowly adding water so that the onions become soft and translucent (see 2, below).

6. Once the mixture is cooked, slowly add the Italian bread crumbs until the mixture becomes slightly crumbly (see 3, below).  It is preferred that the mixture be on the moist side, as the oven will dry it out a bit.   Add salt and pepper to taste.

7.  Using a teaspoon, gently stuff the mushrooms with the stuffing, packing as tightly as you can without tearing the delicate skin.  Place on a cookie sheet or baking dish.

8.  Drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil, making sure to wet the stuffing a bit.

9.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

10.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  The skin of the mushrooms will deepen to a darker brown.

Enjoy!

Chicken pasta with homemade pesto and broccoli

We love Italian cooking around these parts.  My husband has Italian ancestry we enjoy Italian dishes all the time.  We even went to Italy for our honeymoon.

When I was a single girl I'd make this meal for myself the easy way: with pre-cooked fajita chicken breasts from the deli and store-bought pesto sauce in a jar.  I think my husband would disown me if I did that now.  Because he's such a great cook, and always spoils me with his culinary talents, I decided to treat him to a homemade pesto chicken penne and broccoli.

Here's the grown-up (and tastier) version of that meal.

What you'll need:
basil pesto (recipe below)
4-6 cloves garlic
extra virgin olive oil
frozen broccoli florets
Reggiano-Parmigiano, shredded
2 chicken breasts, halved and cut into strips
13.25 oz. whole-wheat penne, cooked

We are garlic lovers in this household, so if you don't like too much garlic then cut back when seasoning the chicken breasts.  If you hate garlic, this meal may not be for you.

I don't always have access to fresh basil leaves.  When I buy them they tend to turn black in a few days if unused, so I always have Gourmet Garden organic basil paste.  This time, I used the organic basil paste. And, if you're on a budget, Kraft Shredded Parmesan will do (I won't tell if you don't).

Basil Pesto
2 tbsp. shredded Reggiano-Parmigiano
1/2 cup pine nuts (or walnuts)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves, washed and dried completely
   (or, 2-4 tbsp of basil paste )

Using a food processor, chop the two peeled garlic cloves.  Add in the pine nuts (or walnuts) and the shredded Reggiano-Parmigiano.  Pour in about half of the extra virgin olive oil and pulse on the food processor setting.  After it has mixed well, squeeze half of the basil paste.  Sprinkle in the salt and pulse. Slowly add the remaining olive oil. Turn off the food processor. Taste.  Add more basil to taste. (If it tastes a bit spicy you added too much basil.  Add more of the other ingredients until it balances out).

Chicken
Crush 4-6 cloves of garlic and marinate the chicken breasts with the garlic and some of the pesto sauce.  Heat 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan on medium-high.  Cook the pesto-marinated chicken about 4 minutes on each side, slowly adding more of the pesto sauce (and olive oil) as needed.  Add in the frozen broccoli florets and 2 tbsp of water, and reduce heat to medium-low.  (If needed, thaw the broccoli in a shallow bowl of water; drain; add to pan).

In a separate sauce pan, cook the pasta until al dente.

Once the broccoli florets have softened, add the cooked pasta and any remaining pesto sauce and mix well.  Cook for another 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with shaved parmesan cheese (optional).  Serve.

Buon apetit!

Chicken & Shrimp Coconut Curry Soup

adapted from MelsKitchenCafe

B and I love going out to dinner. (Who doesn't?) But after a while it can get costly, not to mention that your favorite dishes might not be up to par at a new restaurant. That's what happened when we were at the beach last week. We visited a Thai/Japanese sushi joint and my husband ordered a Tom Ka Gai that did not taste very well. Actually, it was horrible.

Last night I surprised him with a similar, homemade soup. It was DELICIOUS! (Unfortunately, we forgot to turn the burner off and we weren't able to get seconds.) Major disappointment! :(



This soup is really easy to make and it makes you look like a great chef! It can also be tweaked to your liking.

Ingredients

2 tbsp coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
1 lb. chicken tenders, cut into bite size pieces*
1 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp (remove tails)
salt and pepper for seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder (optional)
2 freshly minced garlic cloves
1 chopped medium yellow onion (red onion is OK)
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
10 oz. bag matchstick carrots for cooking
1 (or 2) 14 oz. can(s) shiitake mushrooms
5 cups low-sodium chicken broth (or 1-1/2 32 oz. containers)
2 cans (14 oz.) Goya coconut milk**
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)***
1-2 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp yellow curry powder
1/2 tsp lemongrass paste
1/2 tsp fresh basil or basil paste
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, cut into 1 in. pieces

1-2 cups egg noodles cooked al dente, or 1-2 cups hot cooked rice

*chicken thighs may be substituted for a richer taste
**unsweetened light coconut milk may be used instead
***cayenne pepper does not make the soup spicy, instead, it enhances the overall flavor. I used about 1/2 tsp and the soup was milder than the mildest hot chicken wings I've ever had. Ground ginger, in my opinion, adds more heat.

Directions

In a large pot (or dutch oven), heat the oil until it is hot and shimmering. Season the chicken with garlic powder (optional), salt,  and pepper to taste.  Add them to the hot oil.  Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the freshly minced garlic cloves, onions,  red pepper, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and shrimp. (DO NOT used pre-minced garlic from the store.  They will burn immediately!)  Cook shrimp for 2 minutes on each side until they are light pink.  DO NOT overcook.  The chicken, shrimp and vegetables don't have to be fully cooked as they will simmer and cook further in the next step.

Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, curry powder, ground ginger, lemongrass paste, and basil paste.  Stir to combine.  Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes on low-medium heat.

In the meantime, cook the egg noodles (or rice) in a separate pot with lightly salted boiling water.  Chop the cilantro into 1 in. sections (including the stems).  Stir in lime juice and cilantro.  Add curry powder, cayenne pepper, ground ginger, brown sugar, salt, or pepper to taste.

Don't be afraid to add more or less of anything stated in the ingredient list.  The key here is to tweak to your personal preferences.

Serve the soup over noodles or rice.  Enjoy!!!

"Fly by the Seat of Your Pants" Dinner

We've all been there: the fridge's contents leave a lot to be desired... countertops start to resemble a desert... you almost swear you see tumbleweeds flying through your kitchen...

OK, I exaggerate but you know what I mean. Whether you are dragging your feet to go grocery shopping or waiting for payday, we all come across a dwindling supply of food in the kitchen at some point or another. The hubs and I were away enjoying the beach for a little over a week, and I needed to grocery shop BEFORE we left. Oops. My hubby is a professional at whipping amazing meals with next to nothing. Last night I had a shining moment like that.

On the menu: meatloaf and mashed potatoes. If you only knew how little was in our kitchen, you'd know this was a big deal! I just happened to have 1 lb. of ground beef and 1 lb. of ground turkey in the freezer (admittedly for a future dog treat!). On the kitchen counter I had two sweet potatoes and two red potatoes that must have been at least a week or two old. Miraculously they were still edible.

Anyway, I've never made meatloaf before so I thought I'd give it a go, and have mashed sweet potatoes as the side.

Meatloaf

What you'll need:
1.5 lbs ground beef (85% lean recommended)
1 small onion
3 tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic
Garlic powder
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup ketchup
1 tsp mustard
2 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper, to taste

80% - 85% lean meat ensures that you'll have just enough fat to make it moist. 90% lean is a little healthier, but you risk having your meatloaf turn out a little dry. My bare bones kitchen didn't have enough ground beef, so I added 1/2 lb of 90% lean ground turkey. It still turned out moist and tasty!

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Thaw your ground beef [and ground turkey]. While the meat thaws, saute one small chopped onion in 3 tbsp of butter until they turn translucent. Add in three cloves of garlic for another two minutes. In the mean time, break up your ground meat in a large bowl. Add in the onion, garlic and butter mixture into the meat and mix thoroughly.



Add the egg, Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, garlic powder, and salt and pepper (to taste). B and I are garlic lovers so I added 1 tbsp of garlic powder in addition to the sauteed garlic. (I also only had about 1/2 small onion so the extra garlic was needed). You can substitute beef stock for the chicken stock. Chicken stock was all I had!



Once all your seasonings are thoroughly mixed into the meat, add the bread crumbs and mix well. Form the meat into a loaf into a lightly greased 8 x 8 glass baking dish or bread loaf pan. Set aside while you make the topping. I used plain Progresso bread crumbs and the meatloaf was tasty. Next time I might try seasoned bread crumbs.

Topping:

In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, mustard, and sugar. Pour the topping over your meatloaf. Bake for 1 hour.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes / Red Potatoes

You'll need:
2 sweet potatoes
2 small red potatoes
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
salt, to taste
1/4 cup milk*

Cut the potatoes into quarters (or slices for faster cooking). Boil until soft, or until a fork glides easily through them. The thinner/smaller the potatoes are cut, the faster they'll be ready.

Drain the water, leaving the potatoes in their pot. DO NOT remove the skins! They are nutritious in addition to adding fiber to the meal. In a small bowl, combine the spices and the milk. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and, using a hand blender or potato masher, mash the potatoes to the smoothness you desire. And voila! Dinner is served!

We were too hungry to bother with served dish shots so leftover shots are all I have:

* I did not have milk (yeah, I'm going shopping today), but I did have 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream. I added a little bit [too much] of water to that as a substitute for milk, but it still turned out tasty!

Pumpkin-Peanut Butter Dog Treats

I love my puppies! They are my furbabies (and one day when I have my own babies, they'll continue to be my furbabies!) They are both so loving and each has their own personality that makes us laugh. Unfortunately, they are very nosy, curious creatures and get into mischief from time to time. And the evidence is found in the grass (and sometimes our floor). Poor pups.

Every dog owner should have two things at hand at all times in case of the puppy runs:

1. Anti-Diarrhea medication (kaolin/pectin). I usually get the generic formula at Petsmart or Petco. Kaolin is the anti-diarrhea component, while pectin coats and soothes the digestive tract.


2. Canned pumpkin. And NOT pumpkin pie mix! Nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice don't do anything to soothe their tummies. Canned pumpkin can be found in the baking aisle of your local supermarket. Some specialty pet stores will also carry them although they will cost you slightly more. And if you have small dogs like I do, one can will usually be too much.

Canned pumpkin is pumpkin in puree form. It is a good source of dietary fiber and provides bulk for your pup's digestive tract. It is low in saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin E, magnesium, and phosphorus. Some vets even recommend canned pumpkin for weight loss in dogs. Pumpkin will absorb the excess water present in the digestive tract. This makes your dog’s stool more firm and results can be seen within a few hours. I've been told to give your small dog one and a half to two teaspoons of canned pumpkin. For a larger dog, give two tablespoons instead.

If anyone has witnessed a parent attempt to give cough syrup to their child, you'll know of the lengths of trickery that sometimes parents have to go through to administer meds. My furbabies are no exception. Watch:

See? Trickery needed. One thing I've learned living with these puppies is that they can't turn down anything cooked in the kitchen. So I concocted up pumpkin treats with canned pumpkin.

You will need:

1/2 of 15oz. can of pumpkin (makes about 50 treats)

2 tsp peanut butter

1 egg

non-stick canola oil spray

1 cup of brown rice four (see below)

I used Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Brown Rice Flour. I found it in the gluten-free area at Walmart, but I'm sure it is readily found at Whole Foods or other organic shops. Many, many dogs have wheat and corn allergies and brown rice flour is a great alternative to wheat flour. Next time I need to buy more, I will pick up Bob's Red Mill potato flour. I try to feed my dogs a grain-free diet and their food, Orijen, is excellent and uses potato as the binder for their food.

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mix the pumpkin, egg, and peanut butter. (I added the egg and peanut butter because the pumpkin has the consistency of apple sauce and would otherwise require TONS more flour). Add enough flour so that your mixing spoon can stand on its own, about a cup or so.

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Spread the batter onto the cookie sheet and flatten with your hands. It's been my experience that pumpkin will only cling to a rolling pin, so I've had to use my hands. Once flat on the cookie sheet, use the tip of a silicone spatula to cut the batter into squares. The edges don't have to be perfect.

Bake for 20 minutes. The center and bottoms of the treats will still be a little moist. Flip them over and bake for another 10-15 minutes. You can finish tearing them off into individual treats at this time.

I think I've caught someone's attention...

Chip..would you like one?  Are you sure?

Alright, alright. You can have one.

This recipe made about 50 treats. You can add bananas and applesauce with additional flour if you'd like, but my gullible puppy liked it with peanut butter. I added a dash of garlic powder for more aroma, but it's not necessary.

IMPORTANT: These treats will need to be refrigerated as there are no preservatives in them. My first batch, when stored in a Ziploc bag on the kitchen counter, started to mold after one week, so I highly recommend refrigerating them.

I hope your puppies like them as much as mine do!

Curried Chicken Sandwich with Homemade Olive Oil Mayonnaise and Ciabatta

adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis

I made this DELICIOUS meal for lunch for my husband and I a few days ago and have been meaning to blog about it.  This was absolutely, hands down, the BEST curried chicken salad I have ever had!  I love watching Giada DeLaurentiis  on her show, Everyday Italian.  She has such delicate yet appetizing recipes that I felt inspired to make something special for the hubs (ain't he spoiled?).

I perused her site and came across an entry for curried chicken salad.  Looked great, but I had neither bread nor mayo on hand.  So I made my own.  Find the recipe for ciabatta bread on an earlier post.  You can use rotisserie chicken from your local supermarket, but since I did not feel like making the 25-mile round trip to the store I just cooked my own.  I also did not have mayo on hand, so I found a recipe online and added it to this.

Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

2 organic  chicken breasts with rib meat

a pinch of salt

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. Goya Adobo powder

1/2 cup lemon juice

3 tbsp. oil of vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

Cut your chicken breast into bite sized pieces and place in a large mixing bowl.  Set a large skillet over high heat and pour the vegetable oil in the skillet to warm.  Sprinkle all of the dry ingredients over the chicken, then pour the lemon juice and mix well.  After the pan is hot, pour the seasoned chicken into the skillet and cover for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium heat and flip the chicken over so both sides are equally browned.  Brown as much as your heart desires!  Once chicken is cooked (about 10-15 minutes), cover and remove skillet from burner to let cool.  Shred with a fork for easier mixing with curry sauce.

Curry Sauce

1 1/2 tbsp. Jamaican powder curry (this curry is not spicy) 

1 1/2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

2 1/2 tsp. honey 

1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. mayonnaise

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl, stirring constantly until all of the curry and ginger powder have mixed thoroughly.  Pour over the cooked chicken and mix so that the chicken is evenly coated. Serve the curried chicken on a bed of greens on your bread.  I made my ciabatta bread from scratch.  We had no bread at home at the time, but I also secretly wanted to make this bread!  It was delish!

Homemade Ciabatta Bread

  Mmm!  There's nothing like the smell of baking bread.  In fact, that was my favorite part of my drive home from work in Baltimore.  H&S Bakery in Fells Point bakes bread about 24 hours / 7 days a week.  The delicious smell wafting in your car windows was well worth the traffic.  Almost.

Anyway, I wanted to make my husband a truly delicious lunch.  He travels so much for work he deserves a phenomenal home-cooked meal! I love Italian food (and I LOVE watching Giada De Laurentiis).  I've been craving some good Italian bread recently.  Low and behold, we were all out of sliced bread at home (yes!) so I had an excuse to make ciabatta bread.  I love that it's crunchy on the outside, yet flaky on the inside.  It holds a sandwich (panini) really well without the crust being too hard.  Needless to say, I decided to make homemade ciabatta bread!

I have never made bread before, nor do I have a bread maker much less the "paddle" attachment for my hand mixer that bakers use for bread batter.  Once you make this bread you won't want to buy sliced bread.  Ever!

Since this was my first time making break, I scoured the internet for tutorials and found this one on Pinterest.  I like that they had pictures showing you what the dough would look like before and after rising.  I couldn't capture ALL of the steps on my iPhone for this project, but I will give you as many details as possible.  Where I don't have pictures, I'll include pictures from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Ciabatta Bread

This recipe calls for a "starter" the night before.  It's a yeast and flour dough base to give the bread good flavor and consistency.  DON'T skimp out on it!  I thought it would be harder but it wasn't.  Also, this was my first time using yeast and I had no idea there were SO many different formulations of yeast! 

INGREDIENTS:

Overnight Starter:

1 1/2 cups (6 ¼ ounces) unbleached or regular all-purpose flour
1 cup cool water
1/16 tsp instant yeast

(F.Y.I. 1 1/2 cups of regular all-purpose flour is exactly 6 ¼ ounces {I know because I weighed it}.  If you use a different type of flour definitely weigh it using a food scale, otherwise you will end up with different consistency in your dough, and you don't want that!)

DIRECTIONS FOR THE STARTER:
Mix the starter ingredients in a small bowl until well combined. Cover the starter and let it rest at room temperature overnight.

Mine ended up looking like this when I combined all the ingredients:

[caption id="attachment_338" align="aligncenter" width="492"] A little lumpy-looking, but it did grow a tad overnight.[/caption]

I didn't have a 1/16 tsp measuring spoon, but since I'm awesome in eyeballing a quarter of anything, I'm sure I measured a quarter of a 1/4 tsp correctly.  (After all, teaching quarter-, eighth-, and sixteenth-note rhythm values in your music classes makes you a pro at this).

Here's what I learned: I could have used a little more instant yeast.  I was not too impressed with how much my dough rose overnight, only because it didn't look as bubbly as my source.  But I must have done something right because it turned out delish!  I used Fleischmann's RapidRise highly active yeast.  (Their website says it is the same thing as instant yeast and bread machine yeast.  Insert confusion and frustration here!)  I did mine exactly as instructed.  However, since elevation and humidity make a HUGE difference in rise, my finished product this morning was not as bubbly as Mel said it should be.

I then (just to rule out an error) made a SECOND batch of "starter" with 1/8 tsp yeast and lukewarm water instead of cold water (per the yeast envelope's instructions).  Yeah, that was pretty much a waste of flour because it didn't do anything.  So used the original starter I made hoping for the best.

Onto the bread!

INGREDIENTS:

For the Dough:
all of the starter (from above)
1 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 cups (6 ¼ ounces) unbleached or regular all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp nonfat dry milk
1/4 cup lukewarm water (I did not have dry milk.  I used 1/3 cup organic 2% milk and a tbsp of water)
2 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS FOR THE BREAD:

Place all of the dough ingredients, including the starter, into a bowl and mix thoroughly until the dough is smooth but tacky.  I do not have a flat/paddle beater for my hand mixer, so I did this with a whisk, a spoon, and some some elbow grease.  The dough was very wet and sticky in the beginning. After mixing for 7 - 10 minutes, the dough was soft to the touch, and elastic. Mine was also a little bumpy, but what I DIDN'T expect was just HOW STICKY this dough was!  My goodness!  It clung to my fingers like it was its business!

Using canola oil spray, oil your hands, and transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 2 hours, deflate it halfway through, and letting it rise another hour.  This is where covering with a very damp towel helped me.  About an hour after loosely laying a dry towel over the bowl, nothing had risen.  The hubs suggested the damp towel and it worked!

[caption id="attachment_321" align="aligncenter" width="539"] look at the condensed water from the towel![/caption]

Lightly grease your work surface/counter, and a half-sheet baking pan (18″ x 13″) or similar large baking sheet (I put aluminum foil on my pan so I wouldn't have to clean it!). Grease your hands, as well. Very gently turn the dough out of the bowl onto your work surface with care that you don’t deflate it.



Using a bowl scraper, knife, or your fingers, divide the dough in half. You should have two logs, each about 10″ long x 4″ wide.

Handling the dough gently, transfer each piece to the baking sheet, laying them down crosswise on the sheet. Position them about 2 1/2″ from the edge of the pan, leaving about 4″ between them.

Lightly cover the dough with heavily oiled plastic wrap, and allow it to rise for 60 to 90 minutes. Midway through, gently but firmly dimple the dough with your fingers, making fairly deep pockets. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F.

[caption id="attachment_327" align="aligncenter" width="568"] This picture was taken after about one hour of rising. Notice how it has expanded from the above picture, before covering with oiled plastic wrap.[/caption]

Spritz the risen loaves with lukewarm water. You’ll see that the dimples have filled in a little. Bake the loaves until they are golden brown, about 18 to 20 minutes. (I baked mine for about 25 minutes.  Again, altitude and humidity change things a bit).

[caption id="attachment_328" align="aligncenter" width="554"] I LOVE peeking at baked goods in the process of baking![/caption]

Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.  Voila!  Here is the end result: