Mellow Bakers: Grissini

The Italian bread sticks Grissini is one of the MellowBakers breads for May 2010. The bread sticks are very easy to make and the whole process takes less than 2 hours which goes: mix water, flour, olive oil, butter, salt, and yeast; let ferment for 1 hour; roll into a rectangle; cut into thin strips; bake without proofing for 20 minutes or until golden. The garlic studded dough didn't give me any problems other than the bread sticks got eaten very quickly. Easy come easy go.

I had these yummy sticks for lunch dipped in sour cream and gorgonzola and also for dinner with a pasta dish that has been a favorite of ours for more than 10 years, Farfalle with Asiago Cream Sauce.

8 ounces bow tie pasta
2 ounces pancetta or unsmoked bacon, diced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and black pepper to taste

• Boil the pasta in salted water for 11 minutes. In a large skillet, fry the pancetta until golden brown. Transfer into a plate and remove all but 1 tablespoon of rendered fat. Add the onion and stir fry until soft. Using a skimmer, transfer the pasta into the skillet and stir cook for a few minutes. Add the heavy cream and pancetta. Mix well, add salt and pepper to taste, then remove from heat. Stir in both cheeses. Serve immediately.

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KULINARYA Puto

The puto recipe in the KULINARYA guidebook is slightly different from the more popular recipes. It doesn't have coconut milk but has instead cooked rice added to the soaked rice. Using uncooked rice makes the recipe a bit involved with an added step of straining the blended mixture in a cheesecloth or fine sieve. The procedure uses greased plastic wrap to line muffin cups which is also time consuming.

The flavor of simple plain rice and sugar is very good and I really like it but I am not going to use raw rice and plastic wrap again. I prefer the easier to use rice flour and my puto molds lined with banana leaves.

Puto
adapted from from KULINARYA: A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine
1 cup rice
1 cup water
1 tablespoon cooked rice
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
plastic wrap
oil for brushing plastic wrap

• Wash rice and soak in water for at least 5 hours. Add the cooked rice. Put the rice in a blender. Add enough soaking water to reach the level of rice. Blend for 1½ minutes.
• Pour the blended rice into a bowl and add the rest of the water, sugar, and baking powder. Mix until smooth. Using cheesecloth or a very fine sieve, strain the mixture into another bowl.
• Brush the plastic wrap with oil, line each well of muffin pan or 1¾ inch puto molds. Trim the wrap so that each one fits snugly into each well or mold. Pour 2 tablespoon of the mixture into each well or mold. Steam on high heat for 15 minutes, undisturbed.
  
• Remove muffin pan or molds from steamer and let cool. When cooled, pull up each puto using the plastic wrap, discard plastic. Serve with butter or grated coconut.
• For puto pandan: Wash 6 pandan leaves, cut into 1 inch pieces, mix with the water, and blend. Strain and use the water to soak the rice. Add a drop of green food dye if desired.