Folks, it’s true.  I am the last food blogger on Earth who has not made Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread.  Okay, well maybe not the last,  but I am one of the last.

I’m intrigued by it though and having tasted it (my lovely neighbor Julie is a convert), I can tell you that all the fuss is well-deserved.  I bought the cookbook, I have the right size pot, now I just need to bake it.  (I don’t think I will write about it though – haven’t we all read enough about no-knead bread?).

I decided to make another of Lahey’s much-praised recipes for my first foray into his world.  Pizza Bianca is one of those things where you look at the list of ingredients and think – that’s it?  Or at least I do.  But then I remember that my very favorite part of any pizza, even bad pizza, is the crust.  So why not just one giant crust?

To be fair, this is meant to be more of a flatbread than a crust.  I imagine Lahey’s vision is somewhere between a foccacia and a pizza crust.  I think what I made is a little closer to a foccacia and I didn’t quite get the dimpling technique right, but it was still really delicious.  I cook and bake a lot but I have to say that pizza dough is not my specialty.  I know that I just need to make it more regularly to get a better feel for the dough.  (Did you hear that?  That is Randy cheering in the background.)  I am excited to try more of his pizza recipes in addition to that famous bread.

One Year Ago: Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Ginger Biscotti and Tropical Gazpacho

Pizza Bianca
From My Bread
One 14-inch pie

3 cups (400 grams) bread flour
¼ tsp. (1 gram) instant or other active yeast
½ tsp. (4 grams) table salt
¾ tsp. (4 grams) sugar
1½ cups (350 grams) cool (55 to 65°F) water
¼ cup (60 grams) extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for coating the bowl and brushing
½ tsp. (4 grams) coarse sea salt
3 sprigs fresh rosemary

1.  In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, table salt, and sugar.  Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, stick dough, about 30 seconds.  Lightly coat a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it.  Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 9 to 12 hours.

2.  When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface (a cutting board is useful here) with flour.  Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece; as you begin to pull it away from the bowl, it will cling in long thin strands and will be quite loose and sticky.  Using lightly floured hands, fold the dough over itself two or three times and nudge it into a loose, rather flat ball.  Brush the surface of the dough with olive oil as sprinkle with the coarse salt (which will gradually dissolve on the surface).  Put the dough in a warm, draft-free spot and let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.

3.  Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 500°F, with a rack in the center, and place a pizza stone, at least 14 inches in diameter, in the center of the rack.

4.  Generously dust a pizza peel with flour and place the ball of dough in the middle.  Spread out the fingers of one hand, like a claw, and drive your fingers into the dough but do not puncture it.  You want to simultaneously create dimples in the dough and spread it out across the peel.  Continue working your hand across the dough and dimpling it until you have a bumpy disk about 12 inches in diameter.  Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top and sprinkle with the rosemary leaves.

5.  With the peel resting on the counter, grasp the handle and give it a quick little tug; you want the pizza to just barely move but stay on the peel.  (Loosening it makes it easier to slide it onto the baking stone.)  If the dough sticks to the peel, gently lift it around the edges and add flour to the peel.  Shake the pizza onto the baking stone.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown on the mounds but still pale in the dimples.

6.  Slide the peel under the pizza and transfer it to a rack to cool for at least a few minutes before slicing and serving.

If I happened upon this blog and saw this photo, I would assume it was biscotti.  You know, when you take the log from the oven to start slicing it into cookies.  It is not biscotti; it is bread.  Bread that did very little rising.  Why?  I’m really not sure.  This is why people are afraid to work with yeast.  Yeast can be mysterious.  I have a feeling that it just wasn’t warm enough in my kitchen for it to do its thing.  Usually when I am baking bread, I turn on my oven to a very low heat and then turn it off and prop the door open for a minute or two.  That nice little warm haven is perfect for rising dough.  I skipped that step this time.

Why am I sharing a recipe for flat bread that is not supposed to be flat?  Simple.  It tasted really good.  Like if it had risen appropriately, I might have found my perfect bread.  I am a total sucker for olives and absolutely love them in bread.  For this particular recipe, you make a Biga starter which is nothing more than some flour, yeast, and water.  You will have more starter than you need for one loaf, so why not double the bread recipe and make two?  Put one in the freezer and one on your table.  And if yours rises, send me a photo.

One Year Ago: Roasted Orange Pepper Soup

Olivetta Loaf
Macrina Bakery and Café Cookbook
Makes 1 oval loaf

The recipe originally suggests you bake this bread on a pizza stone.  I found the dough so wet and sticky that I would have been unable to get it onto the stone.  It also suggests you do a final shaping step that I was also unable to do due to stickiness.  Just keep your flour handy, do what I did, and the bread will taste great.

5 ounces Traditional Biga Starter (recipe follows)
1 cup water, at room temperature
¼ tsp. dried yeast
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp. kosher salt
¾ cup green olives, pitted and halved

Combine starter, water, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 1 minute.  Add flour, ¼ cup of the olive oil, herbs, and salt, and mix on low speed until ingredients are combined.  Switch to the dough hook attachment and mix on medium speed for about 10 minutes.  Dough will start forming a ball around the hook.

This dough is quite wet, so give your hands a generous dusting of flour before working with it.  Pull dough from bowl on to a floured surface and form into a 6 x 10-inch rectangle, positioning dough so that a short end is facing you.  Sprinkle olives over entire surface of dough.  Starting with the closest end, roll dough away from you into a log.  Make sure log is resting on its seam, then fold the ends underneath to form a loosely shaped ball.  Place ball of dough in an oiled medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let proof in a warm room, 70 to 75°, for 2 to 2½ hours.  Dough should double in size.

Pull dough from bowl onto a floured surface and gently flatten it with your hands to release excess air.  Form flattened dough into an oval shape by folding the left and right sides onto the top.  Place loaf, seam side up, on a very well floured floured rimmed baking sheet.  Sprinkle top of loaf with flour and cover with a dish towel to keep it from drying out.  Let proof in a warm room for about 1½ hours.  Loaf will rise slightly and be soft to the touch.

While loaf is proofing, preheat oven to 385°F.

Uncover dough dimple lightly with your fingers, and place baking sheet in oven.  Bake for about 45 minutes.  The finished loaf will have a reddish brown color and will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.  Let loaf cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, then brush top with more olive oil.

Traditional Biga Starter
Makes approximately 2½ pounds of starter

2 cups water, at room temperature
1½ tsp. dried yeast
2½ cups flour

Pour water into a medium bowl and sprinkle yeast on top.  Mix with a whisk until all lumps are dissolved.  Add flour and mix with whisk until smooth, about 3 mintues.  Place uncovered bowl in a warm room, 70 to 75°, and let sit for 2 to 3 hours.  Bubbles will appear on the surface of the biga.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.  It is during this time that the starter will truly develop its flavor.  Bigas can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.  So it does not taste too sour, it is best to use it within 2 days.

If you don’t own Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, I would highly recommend you put it on your holiday list.  The book is ten years old but it has recently been re-issued for its’ anniversary.  Whether you are vegetarian, vegan, meat-eating, or gluten-free, you will find untold treasures in this book.  It’s the one book I would bring to a desert island without question.

I’ve used it countless times in the past but seeing as it houses about 1,400 recipes, there are so many amazing recipes still waiting to be discovered.  A few months ago Ele posted about Ms. Madison’s Naan recipe and somewhere in my clouded foggy mommy brain, I filed it away for the next time I made a curry.  It is a testament to her post (and to her lovely blog in general) that I actually only remembered it.  I received some collard greens in our CSA box last week and decided to make a favorite – Peanut Curry.

As is often the case when I am about to make bread, I took a look at the recipe and almost punted.  I don’t know what it is about bread baking that sometimes seems so onerous to me.  I certainly cook and bake things that take a lot more work.  If I hadn’t been bringing dinner to a friend in need, I probably would never had made this naan and that would have been a shame.  Friends, this is sooo good.  And sooo easy.

A few notes.  Ele said she always grills hers.  I neglected to file away that fact in my clouded foggy mommy brain and now can’t wait to make it again so I can try it grilled.  Instead I followed Madison’s instructions and used a pizza stone.  Still awesome.  I bought both the wheat bran and ghee called for in the recipe because I have a grocery store nearby where those things are easily found.  I’m sure you could substitute butter (I would melt it and cool it slightly – or you can make your own ghee) and whole wheat flour for the wheat bran.  Finally, you must brush each bread with a little melted butter and sprinkle it with sea salt when it comes out of the oven.  Sublime.

One Year Ago:  Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies

Yogurt Flatbread (Naan)
Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
Makes 8 to 10 small breads

1/4 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp. (1 envelope) active dry yeast
3/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup yogurt, preferably whole milk (DT: I used low fat)
1/4 cup or clarified butter
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1/2 stick butter, melted
Sea salt

Sprinkle the yeast over 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl and set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine 3/4 cup hot water, the yogurt, ghee, and salt in a bowl , then stir in the yeast, whole-wheat flour, and bran.  Work in enough white flour to form a heavy smooth dough, then turn it out and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but slightly tacky.  Put the dough in a n oiled bowl, turn it to coat the top, then cover and put in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450°F with a pizza stone or a sheet pan on the bottom rack of the oven.  Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured counter and divide into 8 or 10 pieces.  Roll them into balls, cover wtih a towel, and let rest for 10 minutes.

Here are two options for shaping the dough:

1.  Pat the dough into a circle using your fingertips to dimple it all over.  Then gently pull it in opposite directions to make a dimpled oblong.  The texture will be uneven, providing crisp and bready parts.  Place right on the baking stone or hot sheet pan and bake until browned on top, 12 to 15 minutes.

2.  Pat or roll the dough into a circle about 1/4 inch thick.  Make five short knife cuts, radiating from the center like a sand dollar, then transfer to the baking stone and bake until browned.

(DT: I shaped my breads using option #2.  I was able to bake two at a time on my stone.  As each pair came out of the oven, I brushed the tops with melted butter and sprinkled them liberally with sea salt.)