Pane Siciliano

It is very cold in DC this weekend, so baking bread was definitely the appropriate thing to do.  I decided to try the Pane Siciliano, which is a semolina bread, from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  I have always liked using some semolina flour in pizza dough, so I had a good feeling about this recipe.  Technically, this is a three day bread, but I am cheating a little bit.  I made the starter last night, let it ferment overnight, and then got up early, made the dough, let it rise, and formed the three loaves.  Peter Reinhart, the author of BBA, is a big advocate of letting bread dough spend a full overnight in the refrigerator, to allow time for the biology to fully play out and develop the maximum flavor.  In this case, I decided to experiment.  I let one loaf do its final rise immediately after shaping, and then I baked it.  The other two loaves are still in the refrigerator, but I think that I will take them out after about 8 hours, let them finish their rise, and then bake them.  Then the next time I make this bread I will let the dough have its full overnight rest in the refrigerator.  I did taste the immediate-rise bread, and it was fine, though nothing particularly spectacular.

One thing that appeals to me about this bread is the S-shape.  This is created by forming the dough into a 24-inch baguette, and then rolling each end in opposite directions until the bread is formed into a compact package.  I was a little worried about the aesthetics of my loaves, but the dough was pretty easy to work with.

Since we have the fresh bread, I am just going to make some simple braised chicken thighs with vegetables.  Something broth-y seems like the right accompaniment for the bread.  Overall this hasn't been a very remarkable food week, though I did do something earlier in the week that I like doing in the winter.  It involves halving and steaming Brussels sprouts, and then tossing them into a pan of caramelized onions and sliced kielbasa sausage.  I added some whole grain Dijon mustard directly to the pan, and then served with some mashed potatoes, which I had dressed up with sour cream instead of butter.  Very delicious!

January Droops

T.S. Eliot notwithstanding, I think that January is the cruelest month.  No more anticipation of the holidays, just the cleanup and credit card statements.  The coldest and snowiest months staring us in the face.  The inevitable colds and flus.  No herbs growing in the backyard.  And the darkness.  I wonder how anyone avoids seasonal affective disorder (aka SAD).

I tried to snap myself out of the droops by baking some bread.  Now, I have never been a gifted baker, but I received The Bread Baker's Apprentice as a Christmas present, and that has inspired me to work on bread this year.  I started today with a very simple dough, for a bread that Peter Reinhart, the author, calls pain à l'ancienne.  He thinks that it makes the best baguettes in Paris.  Who am I to argue?  I made four mini-baguettes, set aside two balls of dough for pizza tomorrow, and baked and froze two ciabatta-style loaves for later this week.  I'm sure my baguettes are not the best in Washington, but they had a very nice crust, and they made excellent sandwiches with some ham, aged Gruyère, and mustard.  It will be a nice project for 2011 to learn how to make some decent breads.