BBAC #21: Pain à l'Ancienne

After baking 20 bread recipes in The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, I can honestly say Peter Reinhart is absolutely spot on when he says bread Number 21, Pain à l'Ancienne is one of the easiest doughs in the book to make. There is very little kneading involved, no shaping, no proofing, and scoring, which IMHO is almost futile anyway, is just an option. All you do is mix, refrigerate overnight, cut the dough into equal portions, elongate the pieces a little bit which is not hard to do, bake, and 20 minutes later, you will be enjoying a crispy [crust] sweetish light and airy most delicious bread you will ever have, at least to me it is. It is so good I can't stop eating it. This is currently my favorite bread from the book. Wait, didn't I just say that last week, and the week before last? Aack, I am starting to sound like a broken record! And there is a possibility that I will say the same thing the next 22 weeks.^__^

The slack dough uses ice-cold 40°F water and after mixing with flour, yeast, and salt, the dough is immediately stored in the refrigerator overnight. Peter explains that the delayed fermentation using ice-cold water produces a bread that "has a natural sweetness and nutlike character that is distinct from breads made from the same ingredients but fermented by the standard method, even with large percentages of pre-ferment". It has something to do with the natural sugars in flour but I won't go into details of the chemical reactions going on in this dough. The bread is delicious and it's all that matters.

Some of the loaves came out nice and straight but some are crooked and uneven which I like even better because of their rustic appearance. Adding to my delight are the irregular large holes in the crumb. Once again I am grateful to Nicole for this nifty idea of becoming Peter Reinhart's virtual apprentice and being able to bake great tasting loaves of bread. This is one recipe that I will be baking over and over. I actually baked a second batch the very next day and the result is consistent in flavor and texture, light airy crispy flavorful bread.

We didn't wait for the bread to cool because the loaves finished baking just in time for dinner. We spread aioli on the slices and had them with Green Bouillabaisse for a most satisfying vegetarian meal. This dough can also be shaped into ciabatta or focaccia which I will be making very soon.

Rating:
flavor 5
texture 5
visual appeal 5
ease of preparation 5

performance 5

worth 5
Total: 30
Average: 5

Green Bouillabaisse

delicious meatless dinner: all-vegetable bouillabaisse, crusty bread, and aioli

After weeks of having chicken and meat, we usually crave for vegetarian dishes to sort of "cleanse the palate". And Michel Richard's fishless bouillabaisse recipe is the perfect dish to satisfy an all-vegetable craving. The preparation is a bit involved so I cut it down by using frozen baby artichokes. I also used very young rainbow chard from my garden in place of baby spinach and the white parts of green onions because we don't care much for leeks. The combination of flavors is fantastic and a large bowl of this healthy and delicious green bouillabaisse is extremely satisfying specially with aioli-topped fresh out of the oven Pain à l'Ancienne.

Green Bouillabaisse With Aioli
adapted from Michel Richard's Green Bouillabaisse

4 large ripe tomatoes
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 green onions, white parts only, sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
orange
½ pound frozen baby artichokes
a pinch of saffron
½ tablespoon sugar
a quarter of a star anise
½ cup dry white wine
1½ tablespoons Pernod (anise liqueur)
1 sprig thyme
salt and ground black pepper
1 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise then sliced
1 fennel bulb, cored and julienned
2 celery sticks, sliced
2 cups baby spinach

• Cut the tomatoes in half. Remove seeds over a strainer on top of a bowl. Set aside the strainer. Grate the tomato halves directly on the bowl. Discard tomato skins. Strain to measure 1½ cups tomato water. Set aside. Discard tomato pulp or keep for another use.
• Using a peeler, remove a quarter of the orange zest. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, heat the oil and saute onion until soft. Add the green onions and minced garlic and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add sugar, star anise, saffron, and orange zest. Cook for another 3 minutes. Add artichokes, wine, Pernod, thyme, and tomato water. Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste. Let mixture come to a boil and simmer, uncovered, until artichokes are tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add zucchini, celery, and fennel. Simmer until fennel is tender crisp. Turn heat off and add spinach or chard.
• Remove and discard the sprig of thyme. Transfer bouillabaisse into a serving dish and serve with slices of crusty bread and aioli.

Aioli
one 4-ounce Yukon Gold potato, peeled, diced, and steamed
4 garlic cloves, finely minced or grated
1 egg yolk
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup grapeseed oil
fine sea salt
ground cayenne pepper
a few drops of lemon juice

• Put potato, garlic, egg yolk, and 1 tablespoon oil in a blender. Blend until potato is fully mashed. With blender running on high, slowly drizzle the oil, stopping to scrape down the sides when necessary, until mixture has thickened.
• Season aioli with cayenne, lemon juice, and sea salt to taste. Transfer into a jar and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays: Fruits And Vegetables

a weekly gallery of food photography, Pinoy style, is hosted by SpiCes.


For this week's [freestyle] theme, here are a few of my favorite fruits and vegetables. Oh, how I wish I could have atis and green mangoes all year round.

atis

manggang hilaw

ampalaya, patola, sitaw, puso ng saging

Malaysian Laksa

One of the dishes I had in Singapore over 30 years ago was a delicious mix of egg noodles and fried tofu chunks in red spicy broth garnished with prawns, mungbean sprouts, and sliced boiled eggs. I didn't remember the name of the dish and have forgotten about it. A few Top Chef seasons ago I recognized the dish when a cheftestant prepared something similar which she called Laksa (the judges deemed her version of the dish awful BTW). I immediately looked for a recipe in my ancient Singaporean cookbook but didn't find one. Thankfully ready made spice pastes from Malaysia are now available at the Asian groceries and the paste makes superb Laksa just like the one I had in Singapore.

If you want to make the spice paste from scratch, here is a recipe I adapted from one I found online. I made it once and it is very good but I prefer the convenience of the prepared spice paste.

Laksa
spice paste
10 fresh long red hot chili pepper, chopped
8 purple shallots, chopped
5 candlenuts
1-inch piece fresh galangal, peeled and chopped
1-inch piece ginger, chopped
2 stalks lemongrass, white part only, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil
1 teaspoon belacan or gapi (shrimp paste)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

• Place ingredients in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Set aside ½ cup and keep the rest in a jar in the refrigerator or freezer.

Laksa soup
1 tablespoon oil
½ cup spice paste
1 can coconut milk, or low-fat yogurt
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
fried tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound cooked peeled prawns
cooked fresh egg noodles
mungbean sprouts, blanched
boiled eggs, quartered
Vietnamese mint leaves
chopped red hot chili, optional

• In a wok or saucepan, heat the oil and stir fry the paste until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk and broth and bring to a boil. Add the tofu and let simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
• Divide (warm) noodles into 4 serving bowls. Ladle the soup on top of noodles, arrange pieces of tofu, cooked prawns, eggs, bean sprouts, mint leaves, and chopped chili.