Kneaded Bread vs. No-Knead Bread Is a False Dichotomy. You Should Make Slow Bread

From Slate...

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2015/10/no_knead_vs_traditional_bread_is_a_false_dichotomy_you_should_make_slow.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_em_bot

Rosemary Focacciaadapted from America’s Test KitchenTime: 500 seconds of work, 116,100 seconds of sloth

Make the starter: Also called a preferment, the starter is a chemically rambunctious mix of flour, yeast, and water that creates much of the finished bread’s flavor. To make it, mix ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour with ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast and 3½ tablespoons warm water. One concession to technique you might make is to fetch a thermometer from your medicine cabinet and see that the water is between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, water feels barely warm to the touch, so your finger also works. Stir until uniform, cover with plastic wrap, and leave undisturbed for six to 24 hours, or longer.

Finish the dough: To the starter add 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon active dry yeast, and ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water. Mix with a wooden spoon or in a stand mixer until uniform. The dough will be very wet. Cover and leave undisturbed for a period called the autolyse (“self-eating”), in which flour slowly absorbs water. Salt interferes with this process, so stir in about a teaspoon of salt only after 15 minutes of autolyse, and then stir in another tablespoon or two of flour. Cover with plastic wrap and leave it alone.

Rise, ferment, fold: Let the dough rise and ferment for as long as you like—an hour, a few hours—while doing something else. Then dust the dough with flour and gently lift it out of the bowl with floured hands. The dough will be very wet and hard to handle. Let it stretch, then fold the dough over onto itself. Stretch and fold a few times. Return the dough to the bowl and re-cover, then leave it alone for an hour or more. Repeat the stretch-and-fold step at least once, but as many times as you like.

Shape and cook: Into a cast iron skillet or square baking dish no more than 12 inches across, pour a generous amount of olive oil. Sprinkle in coarse salt and chopped rosemary. Empty the dough into the dish; loosely form it into a ball; and coat it in the oil, salt, and rosemary. Cover and leave it alone for at least 15 minutes, or as long as you care to.

With your fingers, spread the dough out to edge of the dish. If the dough resists, cover and leave it alone for a few minutes before trying again. The dough should be lightly soaked in olive oil, with small pools of it on the surface. If you are inclined, pop any very large bubbles on the surface with a fork; otherwise they will swell enormously in the oven until paper-thin.

Turn the oven to 500 F. Cover the shaped dough with plastic and proof it, about an hour, while the oven preheats. Lower the temperature to 450 F and bake until the focaccia is yellow-gold, with some darker brown spots where the dough is highest, 20 to 30 minutes.

Let it cool briefly on a rack or dry cutting board before eating.

    

 

 

 

Martha Stewart's One-Pan Pasta

• 12ounces linguine

• 12ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
• 1 onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
• 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/2teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2sprigs basil, plus torn leaves for garnish
• 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
• Coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 1/2cups water
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

1. Combine pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, red-pepper flakes, basil, oil, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and water in a large straight-sided skillet (the linguine should lay flat).
2. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil mixture, stirring and turning pasta frequently with tongs or a fork, until pasta is al dente and water has nearly evaporated, about 9 minutes.
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper, divide among 4 bowls, and garnish with basil. Serve with olive oil and Parmesan

Variations…

Seven New Visions for One-Pan Pasta from Nora Singley

• Orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe: Brown the sausage first, then add the rest of the ingredients: pasta, water, broccoli rabe, olive oil, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes. Finish with Parmigiano-Reggiano.
• Rotelle (or cavatelli, or mini conchiglie) with corn, shallots, lemon zest, butter, salt and pepper. Finish with mascarpone, tarragon, and basil.
• Spaghetti alle vongole: Start with spaghetti, garlic, chopped fresh chiles, olive oil, salt and pepper, sprigs of parsley (remove them later, as with basil in the original recipe). Add clams a few minutes before the end of cooking, then finish with chopped parsley, lemon juice, and additional olive oil.
• Rigatoni (or rigatoni corti, or casarecci), balsamic vinegar, capers, olive oil, eggplant, garlic, salt, and pepper. Finish with mozzarella or ricotta salata, toasted pine nuts, parsley, and Parmesan.
• Cacio e Pepe: Pasta, water, salt, and cracked black pepper, and grated Pecorino. Some would add butter, too. Finish with additional Pecorino.
• Bolognese: Brown off the meat first, then add wine to deglaze and the rest of ingredients—carrots, onions, and celery (all minced super finely in a food processor), sprigs of thyme, bay leaf, a can of tomatoes (or keep it white and add milk), salt and pepper, a Parmesan rind.
• Miso ramen with ramen noodles or soba. Dried shiitakes, ginger, garlic, miso, scallions, napa cabbage, and crack an egg into it at the last two minutes; finish with sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, and fresh scallions or cilantro. If you reduce the cooking liquid as with the others, this would be a dry ramen, a mazeman style.