Tuscan Bean Dip

 

One of the really great things about fresh warm bread, is all the wonderful accompaniments there are to enjoy along with it!

 

While the ultimate "test" of good bread is plain butter, or good olive oil, sometimes the occasion calls for a little something different.  One of the things we have found is white bean dip and spread!  And when both the bread and the dip are warm AND fresh, well, ............

 

 

 With so many ways to enjoy it, this super simple dip should always be on hand!

 

 

 

TUSCAN BEAN DIP

2 cans of Navy Beans or Great Northern Beans

1 TBSP of lemon juice

1 TBSP of chopped garlic

¼ cup of olive oil

¼ cup of chopped fresh basil leaves

Fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

Cook the garlic in the olive oil until soft, but not browned.  If you start with cold oil it will draw more of the flavor from the garlic as it heats up.  Allow the mixture to cool slightly.

Rinse beans and place all of the ingredients into food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Add water if it gets too dry, about one tablespoon at a time - it should be a smooth, soft paste. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve with olive oil drizzled over it and more chopped basil.

IF there are leftovers, keep refrigerated.  And if you want to enjoy it at a moment's notice, freeze it in smaller portions and warm in the microwave for just about a minute - add a little olive oil and fresh basil and it's just like new!

Maintaining Sourdough Starter

VERY happy Starter

Sourdough Starter is a living organism.  It is not difficult to maintain, but it does require regular care.  The starter I have was begun in 1991. I got some of it in 1994 and now, if you are one of my “students”, you have some.  By the time you pass it on, it might twenty five or thirty years old.   If you use it, the care is an automatic result of the baking process.  You use a cup in recipe and you feed the starter. Nothing could be simpler, right?  Well, understanding that modern life is not like the life followed by families in wagon trains or trail riders who relied on the veteran “cookie” who ran the chuck wagon, here are a few “rules” and observations to follow to keep your starter alive and “active” for years.

The starter should be kept refrigerated most of the time to slow the growth of the natural yeast.  Leaving it out overnight, even for a day or two is not bad and I usually do that about once a month.  If I don’t use the starter for a two week period, I take it out in the morning, throw out one cup, feed it when I get home from work, leave it out overnight, stir it the next morning and put it back in the refrigerator.  NEVER close up the starter in an airtight container. It cannot “breathe” and will die. 

Clear liquid

I have “rescued” this starter more than once after “forgetting it for long periods of time.  When you get it out of the refrigerator it will very often have separated into a semi clear liquid on top and a gooey white substance on the bottom.  The liquid is the acidic water the organisms have created and are trying to get rid of to maintain the correct environment to grow.  It is, also, a big part of the “sourdough flavor” you are looking for in your bread.  If you are using your starter regularly, just stir it with a wooden spoon and watch it bubble back to life.  The starter is fine unless it turns to pink or green or smells REALLY rank.  Remember, SOURDOUGH is SOUR! (Smelling only, it actually tastes sweet! Try it!) I have rescued a starter in which the liquid on top had dried and turned BLACK!  I just don’t recommend letting that happen! (And I won’t name names!)

Sourdough Loaves

I always let sourdough come to room temperature before measuring and using.  You don’t have to wait when feeding it, just warm the water to about 110˚ and it will start right up. There is also a school of thought that suggests using unfed starter straight from the refrigerator. I haven’t tried it, but I plan to and will send along the results.

So MUCH bread!!

So you have FINALLY found a source of great bread, or better yet, learned to bake great bread!  But there are only two of you and you can’t eat it all today!   What to do with it?  Bread pudding and panzanella get old as fast as “bad bread”! 

FREEZE it!  If you let the bread cool and wrap it in heavy duty aluminum foil (no plastic wrap at all!) within 4 hours of baking it and place it in the freezer you can have “fresh baked” bread whenever you want it!   Recipes that are for one loaf are a waste of time and electricity.  If you are going to heat the oven to 450⁰ and run it for an hour and you are only going to make ONE loaf of bread why bother?  No wonder modern homemakers say they don’t have time to bake!

On the day you want to use the bread, remove it from the freezer and place it somewhere out of the way to thaw at room temperature. This can be before you leave for work or a couple of hours before dinner.  Just DON’T un-wrap the bread.  At meal time, heat your oven, or even better, a good toaster oven, to about 300⁰ and place the still wrapped bread inside(this is why you used no plastic to store the bread).  The loaf can stay in the oven as long as you need it to while you prepare dinner.  About 7-10 minutes before serving, tear open the foil and leave the whole thing in the oven.  Voila!   You have fresh bread, even the crust is back!  However, this is your LAST chance. Whatever you don’t finish with this meal is only good for toast or crumbs, you cannot repeat the process.

Now this is for crusty, artisan bread – not for sandwich bread or rye.  Those are handled differently and will be the subject of a later discussion!