Simple Focaccia

Two words: No kneading. If I don't have your attention, you've either never experienced the gorgeous yeasty scent of a bakery first thing in the morning and wished for that same sense of calm in your own busy home, or you're a bread purist with all the time in the world who can't believe that proper kneading might not be necessary to achieve a perfectly risen, puffed loaf. It's not. There are entire books on the subject, such as Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (an excellent book), but the recipe I am posting today comes from Nick Malgieri's IACP Award-nominated The Modern Baker. He provides some quick methods for making traditional baked goods, such as croissant dough in the food processor instead of the usual time-consuming fold, roll, chill, repeat 4x method. This one, the focaccia, required no kneading, just a few turns in the bowl with a spatula. (The side benefit: fewer dishes!) I love it as a treat to take to the Grove for a summer concert, as a side to sop up dressing in a great salad, or just dipped in some good olive oil and balsamic vinegar--try raspberry balsamic for a fun change! Or dip in marinara for a corner pizza place treat. The photo above shows it as a side for a simple Greek Salad, a Jamie Oliver recipe. Great summer meal.

So here's the recipe (it also works as pizza dough):

Simple Focaccia (adapted from The Modern Baker)

4 cups AP flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt (a little less is you plan to sprinkle some on top as well)

1 envelope active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)

1 2/3 cup warm water

Pinch of sugar

3 T olive oil

Any dried herbs (rosemary, oregano, etc.) you'd like to include in the dough

1. In a mixing bowl or 2-cup measuring cup, combine the water, yeast, and pinch of sugar. Gently whisk in oil, and allow to sit until slightly foamy.

2. Whisk flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add any dried herbs--up to 3 T total.

3. Using a large rubber spatula, make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in the yeast mixture and slowly stir to incorporate, from the middle of the bowl gradually moving outward, incorporating more flour as you go. Once the flour is mostly incorporated, start to fold the dough over on itself: Starting at the side of the bowl, dig down to bottom and flop (gently) half of the dough over. Repeat until no dry streaks of flour remain.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise is a warm place until doubled in size, from 1-2 hours. (I prefer to place it inside my gas oven when it's off, or on top of the pilot light--as long as the light's covered in your model--grilled bread is great, but not in the bowl!)

5. When the dough has doubled, prepare a 12x18-inch jelly roll pan: Lightly brush with oil.

6. Scrape dough out of bowl onto pan, being careful not to allow to to double over on itself. Press the dough out so that it fills the pan (lightly oil or cooking spray your hands if necessary). If the dough stretches and then springs back, cover it and let it sit for a few minutes, then try again.

7. Cover the dough with oiled or cooking sprayed plastic wrap and allow to sit and rise for an hour, until doubled in bulk. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 F.

8. Once the dough has risen, brush with Olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, if your prefer (this step is optional).

9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the focaccia is golden brown (may take less time, depending on your oven). Allow to cool on a rack, then cut or tear and enjoy!

Focaccia is easy to make your own: add olives or chopped cured meat to the dough, top with olives, sliced ripe tomatoes, even grapes and nuts! With a recipe this simple, play around with it! Have fun--it's easy to forget that step in all the measuring, but I'm convinced you can taste an anxious baker in the final result. Pour yourself some wine and relax, knowing that you'll have a refined but simple treat in a matter of hours. (Just save some of the wine for when it's finished!)

Malt Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies

You may notice a pattern in all of my cookie photos: all on a large cooling rack, in front of a window in the late afternoon sunlight. I'd never noticed this, but I do tend to bake cookies late on Sunday afternoons. You know that nostalgic notion of a pie cooling on a window sill? I guess cookies are my pie.

I'm preparing for one of my favorite Oxford events: the Summer Concert Series in the Grove. Dan and I love it. Every Sunday night in June we pack a picnic basket with a light dinner, a bottle of wine, and some dessert, we grab a blanket and the dog, and we head out for an evening in the park with music. It really seems like something out of a movie. Small children wander over and ask to pet our dog--they usually love when he licks them, though they are startled at first--friends meet us, and we all watch the sun set over the outdoor stage. It's quite perfect, really.

Tonight, we're taking a vegetable popover (basically a really thin frittata), some strawberries, a bottle of Pinot Noir, and these cookies: Malt Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies. I am the only person I know in this town who loves chocolate malts, so I'd hoped these cookies would only be for me *wink*. The dough tastes like a really thick old-fashioned malt like you'd find at the ice cream shop, Beaches & Cream, at Disney's Beach Club Resort (that's for y'all, Waldens). However, the malt flavor mellows as they bake and you end up with chewy, salty, chocolatey cookies that are begging to be taken on a picnic or dunked in ice-cold milk late at night. And I cannot even begin to describe what amazing ice cream sandwiches these would make: chocolate ice cream would take these over the top.

Give them a try; they're simple, low in fat and calories, and really rich and satisfying. Even if you're not a malt lover like me, I promise you'll love these cookies.

Malt Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies

(adapted from Cooking Light, May 2005)

1 cup packed brown sugar (I used light, but any would work)

6 T malted milk powder (such as Carnation, find it in the hot chocolate section)

5 T butter, room temperature

3 T chocolate syrup

1 T vanilla

1 large egg

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Beat first six ingredients (through the egg) in a large bowl with a standing or handheld mixture until well-blended and fluffy.

3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; add in batches to the wet mixture, beating each batch on low speed until just incorporated.

4. Fold in the chocolate chips. At this point, taste the batter--if it is stiff, go ahead and start dishing out the cookies. If it is really soft, stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes. If the butter is too soft, the cookies will spread too much and flatten out instead of puffing up.

5. Place cookies by heaping teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased nonstick baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, or until puffed. They will not look browned, although the edges might be slightly golden. Let cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Homemade Granola

It's a beautiful morning here in Mississippi: the sun is shining, the sky is clear, and I woke up to a gorgeous dew on the ground. Not so gorgeous when Mercer came in the house with soaking wet feet, but on a Saturday like this, much is forgivable. I have a long day of work ahead of me. I'm trying to meet a Monday deadline to turn in my Written Comprehensive Exam, the first of my exams that will lead to the dissertation and, finally, the degree. I only have a small amount left to go, but isn't it always toughest to finish a large project when the end is in sight? I keep stalling, making the grocery list or going to get coffee, hoping (subconsciously) that when I get home, the final paragraphs will have written themselves and I can proudly hand it in, for once in my graduate career, on time. Macs are supposed to be awesome, right? Why can't mine finish my exam when I'm not in the room?

Anyway, this exam, along with many other school concerns, is the reason I have been absent for so long. I have not stopped baking, of course, but when I made my pact to bake only on weekends, it never occurred to me that this would leave little time for blogging, especially when all midweek typing was somewhat goal-oriented. (What this goal might be is still up for debate.) I will try in the coming weeks to catch up, but I've also considered simply posting pictures of my last few months in the kitchen and taking requests. See a photo you like? I'll post the recipe. Let me know if this sounds good to you, since as always, I am a bit overwhelmed.

Today, however, I am feeling like anything is possible, which is why I've chosen to post for you my breakfast of champions, my Homemade Granola. It requires little more than the ability to measure (eyeball, really) and toss. Add heat, and you've got yourself a great breakfast dish (or snack) that will make you feel disproportionately proud of yourself (disproportionate to the amount of work you'll put in, I mean). And I especially love that this recipe is infinitely adaptable. Once you learn the method, although it's almost laughable to call it that, as it's really just separating dry, wet, and dried fruit, you can switch out any ingredients you like. I love to add in lots of whole grains like flax, oat bran, etc. to up the nutritional ante. In the past few years, granola's gotten a bad rap for being one of those foods that sounds healthy but isn't. And it's true--most brands in the grocery stores are more fat and corn syrup than health food. But as someone who has committed to baking healthy and eating less white flour, I can tell you that whole grains are expensive! The first time I made bran muffins (last summer), I had to buy boxes of flax seed, oat bran, wheat germ, etc.; twenty dollars later and I wished I'd just gone to the bakery. Don't despair, though--you use them in such small amounts that if you keep them in your fridge or freezer, most will last you a year or more, and you can toss them in various recipes. Even after multiple batches of whole-grain muffins, breads, and this granola, I still have those original boxes, beckoning me from the back of the fridge. I use them whenever possible.

So here's your basic method: Mix together dry ingredients (minus fruit) and spices in a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, whisk wet ingredients. Add wet to dry, toss well (breaking up large pieces) and pour onto a foil-lined, cooking-sprayed baking sheet. Bake, toss, bake, toss, cool, add fruit. Done. Keep it in an airtight container in your fridge for a few weeks and add to yogurt (any flavor), frozen yogurt, even the top of cobblers: You can make a quick cobbler by sauteing fruit, pouring it on top of ice cream, and adding this granola. I've even seen granola bread recipes. Have fun and use your imagination.

A note on yogurt: I prefer vanilla, but I'm always having to buy plain low-fat yogurt for baking, particularly my banana bread. I don't know about you, but in my town, plain yogurt does not come in anything smaller than a 32-ounce container. I always ending throwing some (okay, a lot) away. However, I've recently realized that you can flavor plain yogurt with anything! I prefer to squeeze in some honey and add a 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract (to a 1/2 cup of yogurt). You can also add jams or preserves for fruit-flavored yogurt. You'll never get bored or waste yogurt. It's kind of like making your own vinaigrettes instead of buying big bottles from the store--you can change out the flavors whenever the desire hits you.

Homemade Granola

(adapted from A Real American Breakfast by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)

Dry:

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup oat bran

1/4 cup milled flax seed

4-5 T brown sugar (any kind)

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

(Feel free to add any other spices you like.)

(You can certainly add chopped nuts as well.)

Wet:

1/4 cup juice (apple, apple cider, OJ, cranberry--it all works)

3 T honey

1 T vanilla extract

2 T vegetable oil (or unsalted butter)

Add-ins:

Dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, currants, blueberries, cherries, dates, mango, apricots--whatever you prefer, just chop any large pieces)

Chocolate chips, hunks, or M&Ms (to make it more like trail mix)

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray liberally with cooking spray. Stir the dry ingredients well in a large bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients. Add wet to dry and toss until well-incorporated, breaking up large pieces. Pour the mixture on the baking sheet and bake for 15 mins., toss, bake another 15 minutes, toss, let cool. You want the granola to be about a shade darker than when you started, but really, let your nose do the work. You want it to smell strong and sweet, but not bitter or burnt. It will not be crunchy when you remove it from the oven--it will dry and harden as it cools. Once it has cooled, add in fruit and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!