Italian Sunday Gravy

I don't watch much TV these days but when I do, it's some cooking show or contest. I always catch just the last part of Cook's Country episode on Italian Sunday gravy. I got curious as to why it's called gravy and not tomato sauce. After a lot of web searching I found one recipe that has pigs feet and immediately forgot why I was searching for it. Of course, with the pigs feet how can I resist so I made a very small quantity combining the Cook's Country version and the recipe from one of Serious Eats readers. This is one delicious tomato sauce and I love the soft gelatinous skin and meat of the pigs feet. One serving with some, okay lots of meat, over a cup of whole grain penne for lunch was so filling I had to skip dinner.

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Pain Meunier

Oh boy, I bought yet another baking book and I promise this would be the last, really...for the rest of the year. The book is called ADVANCED BREAD AND PASTRY A Professional Approach by Michel Suas. It's a big and heavy book with lots of beautiful photos and recipes for yeasted and quick breads, cakes, pastries, candies, fondants, and all sorts of confectionery. The book is definitely not for beginners but I recommend it to someone who is thinking of starting a baking business. Although I have been baking breads, cakes, and pastries for years now, it will take me many more to make them as professional looking as the ones in the book. Maybe I'll just read, learn a little, and admire the photos...or bake some of the yeasted breads that look and sound good. Like Pain Muenier or Miller's bread. This delicious and nutritious bread has all the components of the wheat kernel: bread flour, whole wheat flour, cracked wheat, and wheat germ. It's easy to make too, nothing too complicated or time consuming.

Pain Meunier history and a recipe that's almost identical to the book's is here.

shaping fendu: make a thin 1½-inch indentation down the center of the batard, then fold one side into the center