Rustic Italian Bread

Rustic Italian Bread for Tatiana
This recipe evolved from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. It has been made simpler and less fufi. It’s all about making bread in the real world. Although it takes many hours until you get bread, once you’ve done it the total actual hands-on time is about 20 minutes.

A starter, or Biga, is made in advance of the dough. The recipe makes two long loaves or one very large loaf. To make scooping/scraping dough out or cleaning up easier, make a scraper out of the lids (cut in half) of large plastic yogurt or sour cream containers. Time from start of main dough to finish, including work times, is just over 4 hours, then about 30 minutes to cool.  

Ingredients:

Biga:

2 cups King Arthur Bread Flour (why use King Arthur)

1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 cup (8 oz) water

Dough:

3 cups of King Arthur Bread Flour

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/3 cups (10.7 oz) water

2 teaspoons sea salt

Directions:

Biga:

Combine flour, yeast, and water in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead on lowest 1 to 2 speed until it forms a shaggy dough, usually 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer biga to medium bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature until beginning to bubble and rise, about 3 to 4 hours. Refrigerate biga at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. If making bread in one day, make biga by mid-morning and use for bread in the late afternoon – the flavor is acceptable, but not quite as good as biga that ferments for 20 hours.

Dough:

1.    Remove the biga from refrigerator and it let stand at room temperature while making dough.

2.    Add the yeast to the water, stir, and let it dissolve while measuring out the flour.

3.    Combine flour, yeast, and water in bowl of the standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead the dough on low 1 to 2 speed until rough dough is formed, about 2 to 3 minutes.

4.    Turn the mixer off and remove the dough hook into the mixer bowl, cover the bowl with a plate or loosely with plastic wrap. Let the dough ‘rest’ for 20 minutes.

5.    Uncover and reattach the dough hook to the mixer and add the biga and salt to bowl. Continue to knead on the lowest speed until ingredients are incorporated (dough should clear the sides of the bowl but should stick to the very bottom), about 2 minutes. Add a small amount of flour during kneading so that the dough is not too wet. I like it so it does not stick to the bottom of the mixing bowl in speed 2. Experiment.

6.    Increase the mixer speed to low (speed 2 on a KitchenAid) and continue until the dough forms a more cohesive ball, about 2 to 3 minutes.  

7.    Transfer the dough to a large bowl (at least 3 times the size of the dough) and cover it with a plate or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise about 50 minutes at warm room temperature and 10 to 15 minutes longer if much cooler.

8.    Remove the cover and turn the dough following illustrations below on Turning the Dough. Replace the cover and let the dough rise another 50 minutes.

9.    Dust the work surface liberally with flour. Hold the bowl with the dough at an angle and gently scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto the work surface.

10.  If you want two smaller loaves, cut the dough into two equal halves.

11.  Dust the dough and your hands liberally with flour and, using minimal pressure, push dough into a rough 12 to 14-inch square. If you are making two loaves, shape each piece into a smaller rectangle. Shape the dough following the illustrations below on Shaping the Loaf. Pinch the seam to seal it.

12.  Transfer the one-large loaf to a large pan (seam down) that has been wiped with a small bit of olive oil to keep from sticking after baking. Dust loaf liberally with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a light dish towel. For two loaves use a large flat pan or a large perforated bread pan. Let loaf/loaves rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

13.  Meanwhile, adjust the oven rack to the middle position and pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees so that it gets to temperature by the end of last 1 hour rising.

14.  Get ready some flour in a small sieve for dusting, a pair of scissors, and a spray bottle of water.

15.  Cut a slit at least a half inch deep across the top of the loaf (from about 2 inches in from the ends), taking care to be smooth and not collapse the dough. Dust the cut liberally with flour, and then lightly spray the top of the loaf with water, with the flour in the cut being more thoroughly soaked. The wetness keeps the dough elastic during the big oven rise and you get a bigger and fluffier loaf of bread.

16.  Bake at 475 for about 10 minutes, then lower to about 420 to 425 for 22 to 24 minutes for one large loaf and 20 to 22 minutes for two loaves. Baking time may vary and the loaf should be well browned when done. Ovens differ greatly and my piece of junk likes to stay overly hot, sometimes at 450, but the loaves still come out great.

17.  Cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. Listen to the popping and crackling of the thick crust as it cools – a mouth watering sound.

Turning the dough:

1. Slide plastic bench scraper under one side of dough; gently lift and fold one third of dough toward center.
2. Repeat step 1 with opposite side of dough.
3. Finally, fold dough in half, perpendicular to first folds. Dough shape should be a rough square.

Shaping the dough:

1. After delicately pushing dough into 12-14-inch square, fold top left corner diagonally to middle.
2. Fold top right -corner to middle - looks like an envelope
3. Begin to gently roll dough from top to bottom.
4. Continue rolling until dough forms a rough log, pinch seam
5. On the pan, gently shape dough into 16-inch football shape by tucking bottom edges underneath.

Why Use King Arthur Flour (or anything real, for that matter)

King Arthur Flour, available at Publix here in Florida, is what I call ‘real’ flour. It is not processed and here is the difference.

Bread used to be a main part of most peoples’ diet and is still a staple in most parts of the world. Wheat, ground and sifted into flour contains an amazing combination of nutrients including protein and iron. Real USA flour, like King Arthur, contains approximately 5 grams of protein per 30 grams (32 grams is an ounce), and app. 8% of USDA requirement of Iron. This flour is not processed and it is not ‘enriched’. It meets FDA requirements for being legally called flour in the US.

The typical brand name flours and foods in the US contain processed enriched flour. Often, artificial dough conditioners are required to make them act like real flour. These flours are chemically processed to remove most of the high quality compounds, such as iron, and then to make it legal in the US, cheaper chemicals are added back in. High quality iron is chemically extracted during processing (you can buy expensive multivitamins if you want to get it back) and cheaper iron in the form of ferrous sulfate is artificially added back in.

Enriched flour is essentially a fast-absorbing sugar starch with a minimum of 5 FDA required compounds added back. Fast sugars digest quickly and cause sugar spikes in your body leading to diabetes and other ailments, including hunger long before the next meal, so eat more! For instance, supermarket english muffins with enriched wheat flour contain only 2 grams of protein per 30 grams (label has 4 g per 57 g serving) and only 5% of the cheaper iron added back.

If you think this is a terrible thing, then you need to think a little about the US economy and governmental philosophy. The US is economically an amazingly free country as compared to most other more advanced countries in the world. In Italy, food is made with pride and it is about quality first – but they still have to make a living. Food is expensive, real, without preservatives, and only last a short while. People there have tiny fridges and have to shop every few days. Even prepared packaged foods don’t last and have to be eaten rather soon.

In the US, the food industry is about making money. Total Blueberry and Pomegranate cereal has a picture of Blueberries on the box, but doesn’t contain either. It has artificially flavored blueberry and pomegranate “clusters” made with some cool chemicals and sugar. This is typical of 90% of what you find in a grocery store, especially if it comes in a box or a jar.

To make the most money in the very competitive food market one needs to appeal to the most people. Fortunately, most Americans don’t read labels, don’t want to take the time to prepare food, and base choices solely on what tastes the best. Real food cannot easily compete with the wonders of modern chemistry. How can they do this – understand that if it’s not illegal, it’s not wrong to do. Freedom is a wonderful thing, but if you’re not willing to learn about what’s going on around you, then you get what you get, and a weak immune system and disease will likely be one of them. Don’t blame the food corporations and the government, it’s up to the people to question and educate themselves.

So, King Arthur Flour makes real food, like Rustic Italian Bread. You can live on this stuff and not get fat. Remember to spread on lots of real butter, for taste of course, and also since the fat slows the absorption of sugar (starch digested) you won’t get blood sugar spikes and you won’t get hungry before the next meal.

St. Edwards Photo Club Studio Class

Vero Beach Photography got a boost Thursday when Southeast Studio Gallery and Sebastian Mark Photography hosted the St. Edwards Photography club for an introduction to studio photography. The students were instructed in using a one-light studio set-up as well as how to recognize good verses bad lighting in magazines and portrait photography. The class was taught by Vero Beach photographers Boris Robinson and Denise Ritchie. Special thanks to Debra Kappel and her daughter Sarah for organizing the event. Sarah is a founding member of the St. Edwards Photography club.

Art and Photography

There are a lot of reasons we run around with cameras taking pictures. For most it’s fun, it’s a hobby, we love to create images. For a very few others, it’s their art. It’s good to understand the two. The main difference between is that an artist has something they want to say or communicate and photography is their medium. Hobbyists take pictures for the pictures sake and many hobbyists produce pictures that can absolutely be termed very ‘artsy’.

Why does this matter? Because most of us really do have something to say, or at least convey or pass on – even if it’s just that we want others to see the beauty of the world. Maybe we feel there’s more to life than television, shopping, and adolescent pop stars. Maybe we believe in a cause, maybe we’re intrigued by life’s paradoxes and contradictions.

What can we learn from the artist? When an artist seeks to express themselves, they seek to create the images that portray what they want to say. The better they understand and know their medium, the better they may be able to offer their unique expression. So, artists tend to experiment. They are not people who are bound by rules or learnings that places limitations or guidelines on their expression. However, being human, we are a composite of our experiences and education, and so often the learning has more to do with ‘rules’ than it has to do with providing tools that may increase one’s ability to be intuitively expressive.

Where did the rules come from? The rules in photography did not come from creation of art, but through the analysis of finished art moving backwards to its creation. This done by intellectuals and critics to understand why we like what we like, and to discover the intellectual and mathematical sides of harmony and composition.

Most people like rules as they provide structure to one’s life, and this structure provides security. But from an artistic standpoint rules stifle creativity. They set up roadblocks and diversions from allowing us to freely discover and express our creative vision. It is like deciding upon a religion, accepting the rules as divine, and closing the mind, in this case the artistic mind. Accepting rules may be good for the structure of society, but not for free expression and art.

So if you desire to learn more about photography, maybe also think about if you have something to say that can be expressed through the photographic medium. For both the hobbyist and the artist, having a basic understanding of composition and harmony, the way the brain sees objects, and what those objects are, is definitely beneficial. These can be learned by reading basic art books or by taking a beginner art class such as Basic Composition or The Elements & Principles of Design.

The next step is to learn one’s medium, in this case cameras and the digital darkroom (aka, Photoshop). The basics of photography and the camera is exceeding simple and involves only three controls: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and Sensor Speed (ISO). Learn the relationships of these three and the effects and characteristics that that they produce and you have mastered the camera.

After the camera comes the refinement of your image. In the digital darkroom, you will make the adjustments you feel you need to produce the image that expresses what you want to say. As we age, what we have to say changes. And so our images reflect our evolving thoughts and photography becomes a lifelong pursuit of our own expression.
Cheers,
SMBR
Vero Beach Photography

Toys For Tots

Master Event Organizer and all around good guy Gary Trump put together a Toys for Tots catch and release fishing tournament Saturday December 11th at the beach on North Hutchinson Island, Fort Pierce, Florida. Just under 50 fish were caught with Raymond Riley winning the event with a 19 inch bluefish. Marine Corps Reserve Tots for Toys Commander Nathaniel Wells was given a very large box of toys and several hundred dollars in donations. Prizes and gift certificates for the fisherman were donated by: Harbortown Restaurant and Marina, Out of Bounds Restaurant, Sharkey’s Restaurant, Tabacco Emporium, and J Camm Fishing Lures. Special thanks go out to Gary Trump for organizing the event and the wonderful barbeque afterwards. Snapshots were taken by Elaine Mancusi and Boris Robinson.