recipe: no knead bread

taken from: Steamy Kitchen

changes: substituted 1 cup of bread flour for wheat flour; added seasoning to crust. 

ingredients: 

- 3 cups bread flour (or part bread, part wheat)

- 1/4 tsp instant yeast

- 1 tsp table salt (or 3/4 tsp kosher)

- 1 & 1/2 cups warm water

- "Everything But The Bagel" seasoning salt from Trader Joe's (or any other seasoning, if preferred)

- covered pot (5-quart or large cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic -- something that's designed to go into a 450 F degree oven)

recipe: Irish soda bread

taken from: Serious Eats 

bad pic, but this was a yum
St. Paddy's day din

changes: none!

ingredients:

- 3 cups all-purpose flour

- 1 & 3/4 tsp kosher salt

- 1 & 1/8 tsp baking soda

- 2 & 1/4 cups buttermilk

to make: 

adjust oven rack to middle position & preheat oven to 450 degrees F. roughly cover the bottom of a deep 10" cast iron or enameled Dutch oven with a sheet of parchment paper. 

combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and whisk to combine. stir in buttermilk with a rubber spatula until dough is fully moistened and all small pockets of flour are gone. for extra-fluffy results, stop folding as soon as dough comes together. for extra-chewy results, fold dough about 20 seconds more. scrape sticky dough into the prepared Dutch oven and smooth with a spatula until the dough is a consistent(ish) round shape. score deeply into quarters with a sharp knife.   

cover and bake until well risen and golden, about 45 minutes. remove lid and continue baking until chestnut brown, with an internal temp of 210 degrees F, 12-15 minutes longer. invert onto a wire rack, discard parchment, and cool until it has set, about 30 minutes. 

it can be stored in an airtight container for 24 hours. 

results: amazing. i had no expectations, but the texture and flavor of this bread was on-point. cracky crust, doughy insides, great rustic-tasting (is that flavor?) bread. 

st. patrick's day recipe 1 of 3: soda bread

st. paddy's day menu was cooked a week late this year since i haven't been home long enough to cook since the real date. besides cooking corned beef once i've never really cooked any traditional irish food, so this was all a first whirl. it was pretty yammmmmy even still. the first recipe was Amazingly Easy Irish Soda Bread from allrecipes.com, scaled in half since there were just 2 of us eating and tweaked slightly (the original recipe is 20 servings).

ingredients list:

- 4 cups flour

- 2 tbsp white sugar

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/4 cup butter, softened

- 1/2 cup buttermilk

- 1 egg

- 1 tbsp butter, melted

- 2 tbsp buttermilk

to make: preheat oven to 375 degrees. lightly grease a large baking sheet and set aside. 

in a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1/4 cup butter. stir in the 1/2 cup of buttermilk and egg. turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly, then form dough into a flattened ball and place on prepared baking sheet. 

in a small bowl, combine melted butter with 2 tbsp buttermilk, and brush loaf with this mixture. cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf, then bake in the oven between 30 and 45 minutes, brushing with the mixture periodically. bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

***

i liked this. i never really ate soda bread (because of the raisins... blech) so don't have anything to compare it to, but it was still good all on its own. tastes great warm with a little bit of butter. hmmmm... 6******?