Also entitled: What Not to do in the Kitchen.
MM and I were able to finally travel to one of our favorite cities (domestic, of course)! We were only there for a weekend, and spent our time walking around the familiar streets, and eating fantastic food. We were able to make it to the art museum as well, which we hadn’t done for years, and really enjoyed it!
One of the things we HAVE to do is hit up Eataly – after all, I had run out of our favorite olive oils late in the summer. MUST GET MORE OLIVE OIL!!
As a result, we needed to do a taste test at home…. It was time to make bread!
Tuscan-Style Bread with Herbs
Ingredients
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups water
- 4 cups bread flour
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients and mix, then knead to make a smooth, very soft dough. Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise at room temperature for about an hour, or until it's puffy (though not necessarily doubled).
- After the first rise, deflate the dough, form into a long loaf or round loaf, and place on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet (can also use a silicone mat). Cover the loaf with greased plastic wrap, and let rise for 30-45 minutes, until noticeably puffy.
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Remove plastic wrap from loaf, and slash the top in a decorative pattern. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the center measures 190 degrees. Note that if the loaf isn't as brown as you'd like, you can continue baking for 5-10 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes before slicing.
I’ve been working to modify this recipe so that it uses weight instead of volume, but I’m not done yet. There were notes on my recipe for the weight of the yeast, salt, and seasoning, but not for the other ingredients. I now have fairly good weights for water and flour, so that’s positive.
The negative was the fact that I freaked out with the salt – I didn’t think my scale was registering such a small amount, so I just stopped adding that ingredient.
Huge mistake – HUGE. The bread rose well and baked well, and the Italian Herb mix was super aromatic. But oh my gosh was the bread bland! I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten bread that has been this tasteless. Even trying it with the olive oils didn’t save it. Such a disappointment… A mistake I won’t be making again.
And now to mistake number two – substituting stock for broth.
One of our easy meals, especially in the spring and early fall is Chicken and Vegetable Chowder. It’s pretty simple to make, and yields so much that it takes care of quite a few leftovers for weekday lunches.
Vegetable (and Chicken) Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 c chopped carrots (about 2 large carrots)
- 1/2 c chopped onion (about 1/2 medium yellow onion)
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 medium russet potatoes, cubed
- 32 oz chicken broth (or enough to submerge veggies)
- 3 c cooked, shredded chicken
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms quartered
- 2 c shredded cheddar cheese
- 14.75 oz cream-style corn
- 12 oz evaporated milk
- 12 oz frozen peas
- bacon bits for garnish
Instructions
- In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add carrots and onions and cook three to five minutes, or until just tender.
- Add cubed potatoes and broth, and bring to a boil. Continue boiling for 15-20 minutes, or until fork tender. Using a potato masher, quickly mash about half of the large chunks of potatoes.
- Add all remaining ingredients, except the bacon bits, and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, and cook for a further 3-5 minutes to heat through. Spoon into bowls and garnish with bacon bits (and extra cheese) as desired.
I continue to tweak this recipe to my liking, depending on the contents of my refrigerator. For example, the frozen peas are the most recent addition – they add flavor and a whole lot of color!
But here’s something to remember – DO NOT SUBSTITUTE STOCK FOR THE BROTH!!! And especially don’t use unsalted stock. Yes, you read that right – I made the terrible mistake of using unsalted stock in place of the broth in this recipe, and boy do I regret it. And as a result, MM and I had 12 servings of relatively flavorless soup left over. Pair that with the bland soup, and that day was just sad.
While there’s not a lot of ways the bread could be fixed, the soup can be doctored a bit. Adding some cheese (Parmesan adds some sodium) helps – so would crackers. Or straight up salt!
Don’t make the mistakes I made! Season your food!
Add some butter and garlic salt for garlic bread!