Kelly Rossiter
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I invited my son over the other day to help me make some pasta with the new pasta maker that he and his sister gave me for Christmas. We went to our local organic market and blew the weekly grocery budget by buying fresh chanterelles to have with the pasta. It was, as he would say, delightful.
It was only my second time using the machine and I wanted to try the pasta recipe in the January Gourmet which was different from the recipe I had used before. We had some trouble with the pasta dough (we decided our eggs hadn't been large enough) and it took a really long time to make it all. That, and the fact that Hugh decided that we needed to make the entire recipe for 12, rather than cutting it down for the three of us. Needless to say, I sent the rest of the fresh pasta home with him to share with his roommates. Children are cunning that way.
Once we had finished making the pasta and set it out to dry, I was ready to put my feet up and have a martini. Hugh had other ideas. You see, my mother gave me one of those huge stand mixers for Christmas and Hugh was keen to see it in operation. He thought bread baking would be an excellent idea and so we decided on a seeded French bread that looked like it wouldn't need too much rising time.
It turned out to be a snap and it had a very wet dough, so it rose quite quickly. The recipe makes three free form loaves and worked out very well, although I thought it needed a bit more salt. It made very nice toast, which is one of my requirements for a good loaf of bread. The recipe suggests fennel, sesame or poppy seeds. Hugh is a big fan of fennel so that's what we used. Needless to say, he took home bread, as well as pasta.
I used unbleached all-purpose flour for this. I've never used bread flour, and I'm not sure what the difference is. I'm giving you the instructions to make this by hand, but if you have a stand mixer, you know what to do.
Seeded French Bread
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
2 tbsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups hot water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
1-2 tsp fennel seeds, sesame seeds or poppy seeds
- Mix two flours, yeast, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Gradually add olive oil and hot water. Mix well. Add more flour if needed to make a soft dough. Knead 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turn to grease both sides, cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in bulk.
- Punch down and let rest for 20 minutes. Divide into 3 parts; shape each into an oblong loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Make 4-5 diagonal slices on the top of each loaf.
- Beat egg and 2 tbsp of water together in a small bowl. Brush on the loaves. Sprinkle seeds of choice on the loaves. Let rise until double.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 400F for 20 minutes or until loaves sound hollow.
Difficulty Level: Easy
From Simply in Season ed, Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert.
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