Country Bread

This country bread is kind of a back to basics loaf. Making it doesn't require a lot of attention compared to the loaves I've been making recently. Yes, there is a preferment, but you can make it before going to bed the night before mixing up the dough, or you can refrigerate the preferment for up to 24 hours.

The recipe makes one large airy loaf with a totally crunchy crust. In fact, the crust just "sings" when you take it out of the oven. Seriously. Just listen.

This bread is a mix of bread, rye, and whole flours. The loaf was much larger than the original recipe described (mine rose much higher than the basket in which I placed it to rise), and the interior was super soft. It stayed fresh for days, and made fabulous toast.

I was originally going to place it in a preheated Dutch oven to bake, but the bread was way to big, so I quickly switched to a baking sheet (my stone was not preheated), and sprayed the oven walls with water to create steam.

It's good to know that "punting" works.

Country Bread

Adapted from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. 

Preferment

Ingredients

1 1/2 C warm (105 to 115 degrees F) water

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

1 C (4 1/4 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 C rye flour

1/2 C whole wheat flour

Instructions

1. Mix all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir with a spoon until fully mixed.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand for about 8 hours. 

Final Dough

Ingredients

All of the preferment

1 tsp instant yeast

1 C water

3 C (12 3/4 ounces) bread flour

1 C whole wheat flour

1 T salt

Instructions

1. Stir all of the ingredients except the salt into the preferment in the bowl of the stand mixer. 
2. Re-cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 10 minutes.
3. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and begin kneading with the dough hook. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour, one tablespoon at a time. The dough should be very sticky, but begin to clear the bowl. I added no extra flour because the weather was very dry. 
4. Knead on medium for about 10 minutes.
5. Oil a large bowl or bucket and turn the dough out into it. 
6. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 90 to 120 minutes, until doubled.
7. Line a large bowl with a kitchen towel and rub it with a mixture of rice and all purpose flour. A large colander would work too. 
8. Dust your counter with flour and turn the dough out onto it. Pat it into a flat round. 
9. Fold the dough into the center from all sides. 
10. Flip the dough over, and then begin shaping it by cupping the dough under your hands and pulling the dough against the counter to create tension on the top of the dough to form a tight ball. Repeat the flattening, folding, flipping, and tightening process four more times. 
11. Place the dough, seam side up, into the banneton. Cover with oiled plastic wrap.
12. Allow to rise for 60 to 90 minutes. 
13. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F with a baking stone on the lower third of the oven with a rack below it. Place a broiler pan on the lowest rack. 
14. When you are ready to bake the loaf, bring one cup of water to a boil. 
15. Turn the loaf out, seam side down, onto a parchment lined pizza peel. Slash the loaf in any pattern you like. 
16. Drag the parchment, loaf and all, onto the stone.
17. Pour the boiling water into the broiler pan (cover your oven window with a towel when pouring so it doesn't break, then remove the towel) and shut the door immediately. 
18. Turn the oven down to 400 degrees F and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until the loaf reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. 
19. Cool the loaf on a wire rack. 

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Tropical Pork and Pineapple Kebabs

These tropical pork and pineapple kebabs were a huge success in our house. The pork was flavorful and juicy, and the vegetables were "tender crisp."

No Knead Chocolate Bread Dough for Chocolate Chip Bread & Chocolate Prune Bread

This Chocolate No Knead bread dough makes delicious yeasted dessert bread. It is definitely bread and not cake, but it will make chocolate lovers very happy. I filled mine with large bittersweet chocolate chips. I highly recommend doing the same.

The dough can be mixed up to five days in advance and refrigerated. It can also be frozen for up to 30 days. The recipe is from the book The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

I sprinkled mine with sparkling sugar, which gave the top a nice little crunch. The authors recommend serving this bread with sour cherry preserves. It's also excellent on its own.

This bread was selected by Jamie of Life's a Feast for the Bread Baking Babes to make this month. You can visit her site to see how other Babes fared with this bread.

So where are the prunes, you ask? I left them out of my bread this time, but I will definitely try them next time. I think dried cherries would be wonderful as well.

No Knead Chocolate Bread 

(I halved the original recipe)

Ingredients

283 g lukewarm water (100 degrees F)

85 g vegetable oil

5 g instant yeast

100 g sugar

390 g unbleached all purpose flour

43 g unsweetened cocoa

9 g salt

90 g chocolate chips

3/4 C chopped prunes, if using

Sparkling sugar, if using

Instructions

1. Mix all of the ingredients except the prunes and sparkling sugar with a dough whisk or large spoon until fully incorporated. I did have to mix it with a stand mixer for a bit just to fully distribute the cocoa. 
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit at room temperature for about 2 to 3 hours, until the dough rises and flattens. 
3. You can use the dough at this point, but it is much easier to work with when it's cold. If you are not using at this time, refrigerate it for up to 5 days.
4. On baking day, shape the dough like a sandwich loaf and place it in an oiled 10 inch by 5 inch loaf pan. If you are using the prunes, flatten the dough and spread the prunes over the dough. Roll up the dough tightly into a sandwich loaf to evenly distribute the prunes. You can also add more chocolate chips at this point. 
5. Allow the dough to rise, loosely covered with plastic wrap, until doubled, about 90 minutes. If the dough is not cold, allow it to rise for 40 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Slash the top of the dough lightly with a sharp knife, and sprinkle the top with the sparkling sugar if using. 
8. Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes, until the loaf reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. 
9. Remove it from the pan and allow to cool completely before slicing. 

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Hoisin Beef and Scallion Rolls

Welcome to Day #6 of Appetizer Week, a multi-blogger event co-hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic. Whether you are a Broncos fan or a Seahawks fan, we wanted to make sure you had plenty of ideas for your game day spread. Each day we dished up a different set of appetizers. We hope you enjoyed this fabulous group of recipes. Check out each day starting with Monday, January 20 and ending on Saturday, January 25. Today is our final day of #AppetizerWeek. We hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have! Should we make it an annual event? I think so!

Hoisin-glazed flank steak spirals. Beef appetizers aren't new (think meatballs), but I think these take the concept to a new level. Plus, vegetables are rolled up in there!

Hoisin sauce and Sriracha add a sweet hot flavor that make these pretty addicting. You may not have room for dinner. 

Hoisin Glazed Flank Steak Spirals

Adapted from Best of Fine Cooking Appetizers, 2009. Makes enough for 8 to 10 guests as an appetizer. 

Ingredients

1 pound flank steak

Salt

1/2 C hoisin sauce

2 tsp Sriracha

2 medium carrots, shredded and dried over a paper towel

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin 2 inch long strips

1 bunch of scallions, green part only, cut into 2 inch lengths

Instructions

1. Place a rack in your oven about 6 inches below the heating element, and preheat on broil.  
2. Thinly slice the steak on an angle, against the grain, to create thin pieces that are about 1/4 inch thick and 2 1/2 inches wide and as long as the width of the steak.
3. Sprinkle the pieces with salt.
4. Mix the hoisin and sriracha and brush on the steak pieces.
5. Place the peppers and scallions alternatively widthwise over the pieces of steak and then sprinkle with the shredded carrots.
6. Tightly roll up the pieces of steak lengthwise and secure with toothpicks. 
7. Line a baking sheet with foil.
8. Brush the tops of the rolled up flank steak with hoisin and place them on the foil lined baking sheet.
9. Broil for about 4 to 8 minutes, depending on the thickness.
10. Turn off the broiler and leave the baking sheet in the oven for another 3 minutes to fully cook the steak. 
11. Remove the original toothpicks and then insert 2 to 3 new toothpicks, evenly spaced, and slice the rolls to create bite sized pieces. 
12. Serve immediately. 

Visit all the other Appetizer Week participants for more dishes for the Big Game:

• Kickin' Meatballs by Yours and Mine Are Ours
• Vegan Creamy Spinach Dip by Je Suis Alimentageuse
• Salsa Cheesecake by Organized Island
• Jalapeno Cheddar Bites by Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
• Game Day Guacamole by Flavor Mosaic
• Smoked Salmon Bites by Dizzy Busy and Hungry
• Queso Stuffed Padron Peppers over Romesco by The Little Ferraro Kitchen
• Smoked Salmon Potato Stacks by Food Lust People Love
• Parmesan Asparagus Phylo Spears by Makobi Scribe
• Black Bean Hummus by Home Cooking Memories
• Creamy Cilantro Lime Dip by Mom's Test Kitchen

Greek Salad Skewer Appetizers

These Greek salad skewers are a simple and elegant appetizer for a family gathering or cocktail party. The ingredients can be sliced and refrigerated the day before, and the skewers can be assembled about an hour in advance. 

These Greek Salad Skewers are so easy to make (and will make your anti-carb friends happy).

Mustard and Gruyere Batons

Welcome to Day #4 of Appetizer Week, a multi-blogger event co-hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic. With the big football game coming up, we wanted to make sure you had plenty of ideas for your game day spread. Each day we will be dishing up a different set of appetizers. We hope you enjoy this fabulous group of recipes. Tune in each day starting with Monday, January 20 and ending on Saturday, January 25. Lots of great prizes will be up for grabs so you do not want to miss one single day. Follow #AppetizerWeek on Twitter to keep up to date with all our amazing recipes and giveaways!

These Mustard and Gruyere batons are super easy. They are made from frozen puff pastry, and can be assembled and refrigerated a day in advance. Trust me, they are delicious, and very elegant.

Mustard and Gruyere Batons

Makes 10 to 12 batons. Adapted from Ina Garten's Foolproof, which was inspired by Dorie Greenspan's Around my French Table. 

Ingredients

Flour for dusting your working surface

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator

3 T Dijon mustard

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water

3 ounces Gruyere, grated

2 T freshly grated Parmesan

Sea salt

Instructions

1. With a floured rolling pin, roll the unfolded puff pastry sheet out onto a floured board to 11 x 13 inches. 
2. Brush half of the sheet with the mustard, brush the edges with the egg wash, and fold the top over and press the edges together. 
3. Chill in a sheet pan for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
4. Move the pastry back to the board, and cut the pastry into 1 inch by 6 inch strips with a sharp knife or pizza wheel. 
5. Place the batons on a parchment lined baking sheet making sure they are not touching.
6. Brush the egg wash and sprinkle with the Gruyere and Parmesan. Sprinkle with sea salt. 
7. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight. 
8. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and bake the batons for about 18 minutes. 
9. Serve warm (they can be reheated). 

Visit all the other Appetizer Week blogs for more amazing recipes:

• BBQ Flavored Popcorn by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Bacon Wrapped Smokies with Brown Sugar by What's Cooking, Love?
• Mini Chicken Tacos by Clarks Condensed
• Spiced Nuts by My Catholic Kitchen
• Baked Sriracha Bites by Organized Island
• Mini Pita Pizzas by Home Cooking Memories
• Slow Cooker Salsa Pulled Chicken Sliders by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Green Hummus by Mom's Test Kitchen
• Pickled Pepper and Pepperoni Puff Pastry Pizza/Pinwheels by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Baby Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto by Food Lust People Love
• Crispy Baked Green Bean Fries by Dizzy Busy and Hungry
• Low Carb Monster Fingers by Yours and Mine are Ours

Velvet Orange Scallops | Wok Wednesdays

This is a pretty simple stir fry with fairly easy to find ingredients. The most complicated step is "velveting" the scallops in advance of preparing the dish. Velveting results in moist, succulent proteins. It is accomplished by a brief marinade in egg whites, corn starch, and some liquid, in this case rice wine. With this recipe, the scallops are also simmered for a few seconds in water and a bit of oil to partially cook them.

Usually my kitchen looks like a hurricane hit it after I've prepared a stir fry, but with this dish, I had a chance to clean up a bit while the scallops were marinating.

The thing about stir frying is, that once you get started, it goes by FAST! For example, "add the ginger and garlic.. stir fry 10 seconds..." I think this stir fry took about 2 minutes. It's all in the prep and mise en place.

We had a discussion on the Wok Wednesdays Facebook page about this and everybody had some great hints, including doing all of the prep work in advance and storing it in little bowls in the refrigerator earlier in the day. I like to break down the steps in the recipe into micro steps and write them out individually in large print so that I can see exactly what I have to do next without finding my place in the book.

This scallop dish is so rich and luxurious tasting. It also includes carrots, scallions, some crushed red pepper, along with the usual cast of characters (soy sauce, rice wine, rice vinegar, ginger, and garlic). Perfect for Chinese New Year.

It also calls for the zest of a whole orange, but I used the zest of a tangelo because I have so many ripe ones on the tree in our backyard. It worked beautifully.

This recipe is on page 157 of Grace Young's Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge. If you are interested in making some of the best Chinese food that you will every taste, get this book.

Now about the mess in my kitchen....

Cheddar Cayenne Crackers

These cheddar cayenne coins with ground walnuts are really a savory version of a butter cookie. They are crumbly and cheesy, and the cayenne adds just a hint of spiciness.

These crackers are totally hard to stop eating, with their buttery and cheesy flavor. 

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Apricots

Welcome to Day #2 of Appetizer Week, a multi-blogger event co-hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic. With the big football game coming up, we wanted to make sure you had plenty of ideas for your game day spread. Each day we will be dishing up a different set of appetizers. We hope you enjoy this fabulous group of recipes. Tune in each day starting with Monday, January 20 and ending on Saturday, January 25.

These bacon wrapped stuffed apricots are filled with Havarti cheese and almonds. The sweetness of the apricots combined with the mild melty cheese and the crunchy almonds go beautifully with the bacon (it's a cliché, but what doesn't go well with bacon?).

These are perfect little appetizers for a party, and are so easy to make. Havarti cheese is very creamy and mild, and melts perfectly inside the apricots.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Apricots

Ingredients

24 dried apricots

3 oz Havarti cheese, sliced 1/4 inch thick and then cut into 1/2 inch squares

24 almonds

12 strips of bacon, cut in half across the middle

24 toothpicks (soak in water)

Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Set a rack about 6 inches below your broiler.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil.
3. Slit open the apricots and place a piece of cheese and an almond inside.
4. Wrap with a slice of bacon with a 1/2 inch overlap (trim off excess).
5. Secure with a toothpick and sprinkle with black pepper. 
6. Broil the appetizers, turning often with tongs to crisp the bacon all over. 
7. If there is too much grease, you can move the appetizers to a second foil lined pan and continue to broil. The whole broiling process should take about 10 minutes or less. 
8. Serve immediately.

Adapted from The Best of Fine Cooking Appetizers, Fall, 2011

Visit all the other Appetizer Week Peeps for more Munchie Causing Goodness:

• Caramelized Onion, Brie, and Pear Crostini by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Easy Low-Carb Chicken Dip by Yours and Mine Are Ours
• Tuna Bruschetta by What's Cooking, Love?
• Harvest Sweet Potato Salsa by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Mini Cheeseburgers by Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
• Buffalo Chicken Tortilla Pinwheels by Home Cooking Memories
• Easy Cheesy Mexican Dip by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• French Onion Grilled Cheese Stackers by Mom's Test Kitchen

Glazed Doughnut Cookies

These doughnut cookies are crunchy and addicting, and perfect for dunking. According to the original recipe, they are usually iced in pastels for Easter, and originated in Italian American kitchens.

I thought they'd be perfect with red or white icing and heart sprinkles for the Creative Cookie Exchange theme this month: Put on your Red and Pink for Valentine's Day.

They are fairly low in sugar and fat, and super easy to make. Judging by how fast they disappeared when I took them to work, they are also a crowd pleaser. I love both how they look and how they taste. My grandsons loved them too. That always makes me happy. =)

Glazed Doughnut Cookies

Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion: The Essential Cookie Cookbook.
Yield: about 40 cookies

Ingredients

Dough

2 T vegetable oil

3 T unsalted butter

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

4 ounces (1 C) powdered sugar

10.5 ounces (2 1/2 C) unbleached all purpose flour

Icing

4 ounces ( 1 C) powdered sugar

4 tsp milk

4 tsp light corn syrup

Food coloring

Sprinkles

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the oil, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder, and sugar until smooth. Stir in the flour and mix until smooth. 
2. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
3. The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the middle of the oven.
4. Scoop the dough into 2 tsp balls. 
5. Roll the dough balls into 4 inch by 1/2 inch ropes, and shape into circles.
6. Place the cookies onto parchment lined baking sheets, and bake, one sheet at a time, for 18 minutes. 
7. Cool on a wire rack.
8. Mix the icing ingredients, except the food coloring and sprinkles.
9. Divide the icing into bowls depending on how many colors you want to use.
10. Stir in the food coloring. 
11. Dip the cookies in the icing and sprinkle with sprinkles of your choice. 
12. Allow to dry completely and then store in an airtight container. 

The theme this month is Put On Your Red and Pink for Valentine’s Day!  

• Big Be Mine Heart Cookie from Food Lust People Love
• Iced VoVos from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Jam Sandwich Cookies from A Baker's House
• Pomegranate Cheesecake Cookies from It's Yummi!
• Strawberry Rhubarb Meringues from The Spiced Life
• Valentine Heart Cookies from Noshing With The Nolands

Mini Maryland Crab Cakes

These crab cakes are pretty much mostly crab with just enough egg, spices, and bread crumbs to hold them together. I like them by themselves with a splash of lemon, but they also are great for crab cake sliders.

These crab cakes are about 1 inch by 2 inches. I serve them with small plates and demitasse forks (the tiny forks make the cakes last longer). I also love to serve them on top of Asian slaw.

The crab cakes are mixed, chilled, shaped, and then pan fried until browned. If you make them advance, they can be reheated in a hot oven for a few minutes.

A creamy ranch sauce, a Thai hot sauce, or an avocado sauce would also be fantastic with these crab cakes. Party on!

Mini Maryland Crab Cakes

Adapted from Fine Cooking Issue 99

Makes 12 mini crab cakes

Ingredients

1 lb jumbo lump crabmeat

1 large egg

1/4 C mayonnaise

1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 1/2 tsp crab boil seasoning such as Old Bay

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1 1/4 C soft fresh bread crumbs

1 T chopped fresh parsley

2 T unsalted butter

1 T olive oil

Lemon wedges

Instructions

1. Drain the crab in a strainer to remove any extra liquid. pick through it for any shells if necessary.
2. Place the crab in a medium bowl.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, mayonnaise, mustard, Old Bay, lemon juice, Worstestershire sauce, and salt. 
4. Pour the liquid over the crab and mix lightly.
5. Add the bread crumbs and parsley and mix with your hands lightly. Do not over mix. 
6. Cover and chill the mixture for about 2 hours.
7. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape into 1 inch thick rounds.
8. Melt the butter and olive oil in a 12 inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. 
9. Add the crab cakes and sear on one side for 4 minutes, until browned.
10. Flip the cakes over, reduce the heat to medium low, and cook for another 4 minutes.
11. Serve with lemon wedges. 

Visit all the other Appetizer Week participants for more Football Munching Temptations:

Mom's Famous Chicken Ball by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks

Cheddar Bacon Dip by Yours and Mine Are Ours

Chicken Wing Dip by Rants From My Crazy Kitchen

Chipotle Cheese Dip by Dizzy Busy and Hungry

Roasted Vegetables and Romesco Crostini by The Little Ferraro Kitchen

Buffalo Ranch Cheese Ball by What's Cooking, Love?

Buffalo Butternut Hummus by Farm Fresh Feasts

Butternut Squash, Pomegranate & Goat Cheese Crostini by Cupcakes & Kale Chips

Tex-Mex Chicken Salad Bites by Mom's Test Kitchen

Caesar Mini Muffins by Food Lust People Love

Sidecar Cocktail with Dried Cherries

According to legend, the Sidecar cocktail was created by a bartender at Harry's New York Bar in Paris during World War I, after the customer for whom it was invented rode up on a motorcycle. This cocktail was supposed to complement the bike.

69% Hydration Pain au Levain

Pain au Levain is made with naturally fermented dough without the help of commercial yeast. Plus, "Pain au Levain" is such a nice way to refer to sourdough. I encourage you to try baking bread with wild yeast. You might just turn out to be a bread geek too.

Pain de Campagne

Pain de Campagne, country bread, is a French bread typically made with a combination of mostly white flour with added whole wheat or rye flour. The leavening can be from either a starter or commercial yeast. This bread formula uses both.

This bread is made completely by hand in an inexpensive 12 quart bucket (and I just bought myself a brand new shiny red stand mixer for Christmas!).  The reason for such a large bucket is to give you room to "stretch and fold" without removing the dough from the bucket. A very large mixing bowl would work well too, but I like using the markings on the bucket to gauge how much the dough has risen.

This is a photo of the dough after the first rise. It started out just above the bottom of the red line.

As much as I love my new mixer, this bread is miraculous. Just scroll up and look at the first photo.... The crust is crunchy and thick, and the interior is incredibly soft and moist. It stays fresh for days, and is soooo good sliced and buttered.

What's cool about this bread is that once you've shaped the loaves, they ferment in the refrigerator overnight and can be baked while still cold. I've never had much luck with that until now.

Note: The levain for this bread is 80 percent hydration with a mix of whole wheat and all purpose unbleached white flour. To create the levain/sourdough starter, I took 100 grams of my 100 percent hydration white flour starter and fed it two times with 400 grams of white flour, 100 grams of whole wheat flour, and 400 grams of water with the final feeding on the morning of the day before mixing day. With each new feeding, I started with 100 grams of starter.

Another note: To make sure that your shaped loaves are ready for an overnight rest in the refrigerator, begin the process for mixing this loaf around 8 a.m.

Pain de Campagne

Ingredients

Levain

100 g active sourdough starter

400 g unbleached all purpose flour

100 g whole wheat flour

400 g lukewarm (85 to 90 degree F) filtered water

Dough

740 g unbleached all purpose flour

60 g whole wheat flour

620 g lukewarm (90 to 95 degree F) filtered water

21 g salt, preferably fine sea salt

1/2 tsp instant yeast

360 g of the levain

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, feed your starter with the levain ingredients listed above. Stir with a spoon and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for about 6 to 8 hours.
2. In a 12 quart tub or large bowl, whisk together the white and whole wheat flours.
3. Add the water and mix by hand until just mixed. Cover, and let rest for 30 minutes.
4. Dust the top of the mixture with the salt and yeast.
5. Add 360 grams of the levain to the dough. 
6. Placing a bowl of water nearby for dipping your hands, mix the dough by hand by alternatively pinching it and folding it, until all of the ingredients are fully mixed, about three minutes. 
7. Cover the container, and let the dough sit for 30 minutes. With wet hands, stretch and fold the dough from all four "sides" and flip it over, seam side down. Recover the container. Repeat 3 more times, at 30 minute increments. These stretch and folds help develop the dough's structure and gluten. 
8. Let the dough rise until about 2 1/2 to 3 times its original size. This should take about 5 hours from the first mixing (step 6). 
9. Scrape the dough out of the bucket/bowl onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half with a wet or floured bench knife. 
10. Generously flour 2 proofing baskets. I used a mix of all purpose and brown rice flour. You can also use a mixing bowl lined with a lint free kitchen towel that has been sprayed with oil and heavily floured. 
11. Shape the dough into boules, creating a taut skin over the top. Place the shaped dough into each basket, seam side down. 
12. Spray the top of the dough with spray oil, and cover with plastic wrap or enclose in large plastic bags.
13. Refrigerate overnight for 12 to 14 hours. 
14. The next morning, remove the loaves from the refrigerator.
15. preheat the oven to 475 degrees F with two empty covered Dutch ovens placed on the middle rack. 
16. When you are ready to bake, cut parchment into two 9 inch by 15+ inch pieces. 
17. Remove the Dutch ovens from the oven and remove the tops. One loaf at a time, place the parchment over the dough and place a plate over it. Flip the dough over, remove the basket, and lift and place the loaf in the Dutch oven by using the parchment as a sling (leave the paper under the dough). Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the hot oven. Repeat with the second loaf. 
18. Bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the loaves and bake for about another 20 minutes, until the interior of the loaf reaches 205 to 210 degrees F. I usually move the loaves to a baking sheet after the first 30 minutes to prevent burning on the bottom of the loaves. 
19. Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing. 

Recipe adapted from Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza. It's an amazing book with fabulous illustrations of the techniques to make this wonderful bread. This book makes artisan bread and pizza incredibly accessible, and his story is a wonderful read.

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Chinese Trinidadian Chicken with Mango Chutney | Wok Wednesdays

The story of this Chinese Trinidadian Chicken is as interesting as the dish is delicious.

This dish's roots are in the Chinese, and more importantly, the Hakka diaspora from China. The Hakka were, according to Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge by Grace Young, considered the gypsies of China.

During the time that the United States was not admitting Chinese immigrants (1882 to 1943), many of the Hakka people emigrated to Jamaica and other Caribbean islands. The journey from China to the Caribbean was arduous and traumatic. When they finally settled in Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, they combined their traditional Hakka dishes with available local ingredients and spicy Creole and Indian traditions.

I've just given you a very short version of the story. I really recommend getting the book to read more about the Chinese diaspora.

Let's talk about the food!

This chicken dish combines the flavors of mango chutney, soy sauce (regular and dark), and Scotch bonnet peppers, along with garlic, ginger, and onions. The onions are actually my favorite part of this dish and I could eat them all day.

The dish is topped with chopped cilantro, to mimic the flavor of shandon beni leaves from Trinidad. Along with salt, pepper, and peanut oil, that's pretty much it. I could not find Scotch bonnet peppers, so I used a Habanero. I looked up the heat index, and Habaneros are a great substitute. You can adjust the pepper quantity based upon the heat index.

The members of the Wok Wednesdays group have all agreed to not rewrite the recipes from the book. I encourage you to get the book. It's fabulous. Every single recipe I have tried so far has been flawless and all of the stories are captivating.

Here's a sneak peek of frying the chicken and the onions... Stop by the Wok Wednesdays website and click on the links to see how others fared with this dish.

This dish is amazing and a new favorite. Get the book. Try the recipe. It's seriously good and so easy.

We had this with rice and a cabbage salad, and we had enough for four people.

Whole Wheat Hazelnut and Raisin Bread

This whole wheat hazelnut and raisin bread is nutty, flavorful, with a hint of sweet. The hydration in the dough is from the water used to soak the raisins, and is the perfect match for the whole wheat flour.

This bread can be either be made into boules, batards, or formed into sandwich loaves as I did.

"What can I do with this hazelnut raisin bread?" you ask.

Toast it, spread it with fig jam, or make make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, or even tuna or chicken salad sandwiches (which I did). Whatever main course salad that you might make with hazelnuts and raisins would translate perfectly into a sandwich with this bread. Crazy good.

This bread calls for toasted hazelnuts. Finding the hazelnuts was the first hurdle. I had forgotten that they are also called filberts. As I expressed my frustration that I could not find hazelnuts in the mass quantities of bins of nuts at my local Sprouts Market, one of the employees very politely pointed out the filbert bin (with "hazelnuts" in very fine print) right in front of me. Sheepish grin. If you can't find hazelnuts, walnuts or pecans would work well too.

The other issue with hazelnuts is peeling them. They typically come with a thin dark skin that most recipes will require that you remove.

One way is to roast the hazelnuts with the skins on and then rub the skins off with kitchen towels, and demonstrated in this video.

Another way is to boil the hazelnuts in water that has added baking soda as demonstrated by Alice Medrich for Julia Child in this video.

Having tried the roasting method in the past, I opted to try the boiling method. While neither one is easy, the boiling method sure gets off ALL of the skin. Be sure to use a large pot, because the water/baking soda mixture will bubble up quite a bit.

Whole Wheat Hazelnut and Raisin Bread

Makes two 2-pound loaves

Ingredients

136 grams raisins (I used golden raisins)

618 grams water

454 grams whole wheat flour

454 grams bread flour

4 grams instant yeast

136 grams hazelnuts, peeled, roasted (at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or so), and roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Place the raisins in a small bowl and cover with water. Let soak for about 30 minutes.
2. Drain the water into another container (do not discard) and add enough water to bring the total weight to 618 grams
3. Add all of the ingredients except the raisins and hazelnuts to the bowl of a stand mixer and knead on the first speed for three minutes and on the second speed for 3 more minutes. 
4. Add the raisins and nuts and knead on low for about a minute to incorporate. Finish kneading by hand to evenly distribute the raisins and nuts. 
5. Allow the dough to rise in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap until doubled, about two hours, folding the dough over itself after one hour. 
6. Shape the dough into two loaves. If you are using bread pans, they should be 10 inches by 5 inches. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 70 minutes. 
7. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and prepare for steam. 
8. Bake the loaves for about 35 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of about 200 degrees F. If the loaves are browning too quickly, lower the temperature to 425 degrees F and tent the loaves loosely with foil. 
9. De-pan and cool completely on a rack. 

This is the Bread of the Month (BOM) for December for the Artisan Bread Bakers Facebook group. The recipe was contributed by David of Hearth Baked Tunes.

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