More bread! - an experiment!

I just mixed up a batch of No Knead Bread, but am experimenting with adding BACON. I remember buying a loaf of bread in Germany that had "speck" in it, which is bacon. The bacon was dispersed throughout the loaf, and added a nice salty taste, too. I lightly browned diced bacon and rendered the fat off, and let it cool before adding it to the dry ingredients. I also added in rosemary, so hopefully that combination will be delectable together. I'm baking it off tomorrow night (possibly adding cheese to the second loaf) so I'll let you know how it turns out :)

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UPDATE: 10/1/09 , 9:33PM

Turns out I was so excited to make the bacon and rosemary bread that I forgot to add in YEAST!! So I got home from work today expecting the dough to have tripled in size - my heart broke seeing all that wasted king arthur flour and bacon. The dough was same size as yesterday, and I didn't think it'd taste good all dense and some junk.

But no worries, I started up a new batch again so hopefully there will be some good results tomorrow! yum yum : )

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UPDATE: 10/3/09, 11:45PM

Here is the update of my bacon bread, with pictures! I ended up waking up at 4am Friday to shape and proof the bread, and baked it off at 6am, so it was ready to eat at 7 before work!! I felt like such the baker (candlestickmaker) :)

Anyways, the bread turned out pretty good! The bacon made it a little greasy, but it was still very fluffy and light. The bacon wasn't super salty, so it was more of a bite of bacon along with the bread, and I kept worrying a piece of bacon would fall out when I was toasting a slice of bread at work - I'm sure my co-workers would think I'm crazy to make bacon bread, esp. if a piece of bacon was stuck at the bottom of our toaster and created some sort of fire or whatnot. Anyways, tasty bread but I don't think I'd do it again with this bacon. I think I'd try with pancetta since it's saltier, and I would cut it into smaller pieces - the bacon I had were like 1/4" pieces.

Overall, I was pleased with the experiment and am thinking of a new concoction for the next loaf of bread. Ideas are welcome! :)

Long Over Due

Sorry for the month long hiatus for updating - I've got some goodies to post about though.

First - I'd like to voice my love for roasted corn on the cob. Perhaps it is one of summer's greatest treats, but there is really not much that is tastier or simpler than throwing a cob on the "barbie" and slathering it with lime butter once it's golden brown and munching on those sweet roasted kernels. LOVE IT.

Second - Love indian food, especially from Taste of India on Roosevelt and 55th. We went there a few weeks ago, and as usual, I got free desert :) It's been a long running thing, perhaps the past 10 times at least, I've gotten free desert from them! And their food is pretty darn tasty, too. We shared garlic naan, tikka masala, tandoori, the spinach curry, almond chicken curry, and butter curry. MMM. LOVE IT!

Third - Been baking lots of bread. I just made one tonight - rosemary No Knead Bread. I chopped up about 3 sprigs of rosemary and added it into the dry ingredients yesterday. I also added 3 T of sugar and extra yeast, which I think helped yield the lovely rise on the bread. :) It went beautifully with my soup - store bough "Pacific" brand of Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Tomato soup. MM MM MM! I'm planning on having more soup and bread for lunchies this week.

Fourth - For my birthday 2 weeks ago, we went to Quinn's pub on Capitol Hill. It was delicious. For appetizers, we shared spicy peanuts, a tomato salad, baguette & butter, and frites, fontina fonduta, demi-glace - which is fries with gravy and cheese.

Mouthwatering good. For the main course, we shared slow roasted ribs, fish and chips, and half a roasted chicken with chickpea puree. The chicken was my favorite - so tender and the puree was heavenly. The ribs were OK but not amazing. And I didn't try the fish but the chips were OK. I think next time I'll be more daring and try more risky things, like bone marrow... Really enjoyable dinner, though.

Fifth: For my bday, I decided to invite some friends over and cook for them. It was tough trying to plan the menu but I used my new gift of Giada de Laurentis' Everyday Italian as inspiration to create a mainly Italian focused menu:

Caprese Salad w/ toasted baguette slices (v)
White Bean Dip with toasted pita chips (v)
Chicken Satay skewers with peanut sauce

Greek Salad
Zucchini Al Forno (zucchini gratin) (v)
Homemade No-Knead Bread (v)
-Mashed potatoes, care of Alan/ Stacey/Jaden (v)

Pasta with three sauces:
Lemon Alfredo (v)
Spicy Tomato Sauce (all'arribbaita - the angry style)

Bolagnese
Tuna and Tomato

Dessert:
Brownies (of course :)) (v)

(v) = vegetarian friendly!

I started Friday night, purchasing all the groceries from Trader Joes and Freddies, and then starting on the Bolagnese sauce, and bread.

Then I started cooking up again Saturday at 2pm until 7, but had great help from some friends and my cousin Anna. Everything worked out great in the end and I ended up feeding 20 people for only about $5 per person, it was great w/ the pasta as the main course because everyone could choose what sauces they liked.

The zucchini gratin was my favorite - super easy to make! You just layer zucchini slices with cream, cheese - fontina, parm, mozzarella, and peccorino romano, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Bake until browned and bubbly and enjoy!

I think everyone's favorite was the Lemon Alfredo, which was a recipe I got from my coworker Amber - you just slowly boil lemon juice, cream, and muscat wine.

Lastly - been making some mac and cheese. So good, and so easy. Not too easy on the waistline, but I love baking pasta w/ bread crumbs on top - that crust is always the best part.

That is it for now!! I'll try to post more regularly!! Enjoy the pix and let me know if you want any certain recipes!

-Belinda