Cook the Book - My Bread by Jim Lahey - Stecca or Small Stick pg. 73

As you can see from the pictures these are not the most beautiful of breads. This is the first time I've ventured outside the good ole cast iron pot and done some hand forming of loaves. I'll need to work on this technique. I tried to make one with tomatoes and one with olives (for Lin) and need to work on this technique also - need to push the goodies down a little farther! But overall the bread was good and tasty...like I said I'll have to practice some on this to get beautiful bread.

Cook the Book - My Bread by Jim Lahey - Pancetta Bread pg. 73

I wanted this bread to be a little better tasting than it was. I think if we combined the cheese and pancetta bread it would be outstanding. I also did not get quite enough pancetta that the recipe calls for (mistake in doing math in my head) so that may have affected the outcome. I want to be clear - this bread was good; but I wanted great.

Cook the Book - My Bread by Jim Lahey - Pane con Formaggio (Cheese Bread) pg. 71

Well was this ever a hit. Essentially this was the basic bread with an addition of some delicious cheese. I used fontina and it was out of this world. Everyone liked it and said it was the best so far. You can see the great cheesy crunchy bits in the picture of the whole loaf!

Cook the Book - My Bread by Jim Lahey - Pane all'Olive (Olive Bread) pg. 69

I am not a fan of olives so I didn't know if I'd like this bread. Lin loves olives so she was very excited. We had some big spanish olives in the fridge so I rough chopped them (after removing the pimentos) and those are what I used. I must say the bread turned out great all around. The baking with the olives made them have a wonderful mild flavor. The thing I don't like so much about olives is how strong the flavor is but in this bread it was great.

Cook the Book - My Bread by Jim Lahey - Walnut Bread pg. 66

This may be my favorite bread so far. It's called walnut bread but I would call it raisin and walnut bread. The sweetness of the raisins and the crunch of the walnuts make this bread delicious. I've been having it for breakfast everyday since I've made it. I cut a piece and cut it in half. One half I add a bit of cheese and the other I leave plain. I toast them and then add a bit of butter and jelly to the plain half. It's delicious!

The top picture is the dough after the first rise. It was beautiful dotted with the raisins and walnuts.

Cook the Book - My Bread by Jim Lahey - Rye Bread pg. 63

This bread was a variation on the basic bread with the addition of about 25% rye flour. I enjoyed this bread (as did everyone who tasted it). The rye gave it a more complex flavor. It tasted similar to the whole wheat bread I had made earlier.

I'm having a lot of fun making all the bread. I am going to experiment with some storage methods; possibly trying to freeze the bread for a time and see if I can thaw and heat in an oven. We do this with store bought bread and it turns out good.

I've also found that the bread keeps best (at room temp) if stored in a perforated bag that you buy bread in from the store. Usually after the first day its best if sliced and toasted slightly.

Cook the Book - My Bread by Jim Lahey - Pane Integrale (Whole Wheat Bread) pg. 61

I made a new bread today to go with our salmon dinner. It's the second in Jim Lahey's My Bread cookbook. Its called Pane Integrale and is a basic whole wheat bread. Essentially 25% of the bread flour is replaced with whole wheat flour. It cooked up great and was very tasty. The whole wheat flour gave the bread more flavor than the basic recipe. It may become the everyday go to bread.

Pictures are top to bottom:
1. Dough after mixing
2. Dough after 24 hr rise and after second rise - ready to go in pot.
3. Finished bread still in the pot.
4. A slice of bread.

Cook the Book - My Bread by Jim Lahey - Basic No Knead Bread pg. 50

I have started the journey to cook through the book I got from Christmas - My Bread by Jim Lahey. The Basic No Knead bread is as simple as it gets. 4 ingredients, a pot, an oven and time. I actually let the dough rise for 24 hrs since its the middle of winter and I had the time. Additionally after cooking for 30 minutes in the enclosed pot I only cooked for 20 minutes with the lid off. The color on the top was what I wanted. The loaf this recipe made was beautiful and I'm very happy with the results.

The top picture on the right shows the dough after being mixed and starting the initial 24 hr fermentation. The second picture is the dough after the 24 hr rise and the second two hr rise. Its ready to go in the pot. And the last picture is the finished bread ready to be removed from the dutch oven.

Bread

For Christmas Linda gave me the new book My Bread by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery fame in New York. the book is absolutely beautiful. The recipes use his no-knead bread making techniques that I tried earlier this year. But now I have pictures and lots more recipes.


I also got some Christmas money as a gift from Momma Faria. So with that I went out and bought a Lodge cast iron dutch oven. Now I thought about getting a beautiful porcelain enameled one but in the end I just went with good old cast iron. I may get a fancy one yet but this is a great place to start.


I plan to cook through the book from the first recipe to the last - but the Chocolate Coconut Bread caught my eye and its the first one I made. I think it turned out okay but I think I placed the pot too close to the bottom of the oven and the bottom burned some. I'll raise the pot up one level and see if that helps. The bread tasted great. Meg and Lin liked it too.