Rustic Italian Bread

 14-15 September 2020

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2003

I enjoy the Italian bread made from a recipe in Bread Illustrated. So when I learned the Test Kitchen had  another recipe for Rustic Italian Bread I thought it was worth trying. One of the biggest differences is the use of a biga. A biga is similar to a sourdough starter, but it uses bread yeast instead of wild yeast and it is made just the day before baking and is fermented in the refrigerator. Will the longer preparation time be worthwhile?

The biga was made with bread flour, yeast, and water. These were kneaded in a stand mixer then placed in a covered bowl in the refrigerator, the process taking just 10 minutes. About 25 hours later, the biga was removed from the refrigerator. While it sat at room temperature, the dough was made by mixing bread flour, yeast, and water in the stand mixer. It was allowed to rest for 20 minutes at which time salt and the biga were added. The dough was kneaded for about 5 minutes, then transferred to a covered bowl, and left to rise for about 1 hour. It was then uncovered and the dough folded over on itself. The folding was repeated after the dough rose for another hour after which the dough rose for 1 final hour. I used a large measuring bowl, as I usually do when rising dough, but it would have been easier to fold the dough in a wider bowl. The dough was then shaped, dusted with flour, and left to rise about 1 hour. It was baked in a 500° oven on a baking stone, using the bottom of a baking sheet as a peel, after being spritzed with water. After 10 minutes baking the temperature was reduced to 400°. Total time, excluding cooling, was about 6 hours, but most of that was hands off.

The finished bread is very good with a chewy, yet tender crumb and thin crust. The flavor reminded me of a no-knead bread. However, the loaf was very big and an odd shape, not convenient for making sandwiches. When it rose it spread out rather than rising uniformly leading to a wide, low loaf. The crust was overdone in places and had some of it had separated from the crumb. The crumb was open, with large holes, also not ideal for sandwiches. Since sandwiches is what I use most bread for I will probably stick with the classic Italian bread and make no-knead bread when I went a good flavored, crusty bread as a side dish.

Smashed Burgers

 10 September 2020

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, July 2020

I guess it was a few years ago when smashed burgers seemed to be all the rage. You could order them at restaurants and new fast food restaurants specializing in smashed burgers started to appear. I get why these could be appealing, by smashing the hamburger patty you maximize the amount of crust that develops with all of the flavor that entails. But could these be made at home? Could it be adapted to the slider-sized burgers that we eat? Would I want to make them at home rather than using my current cooking technique? This recent recipe (more a cooking technique than a list of ingredients)  provided a chance to find out.

To make two burgers, the recipe specified 8 ounces of 80% ground beef from the supermarket. We prefer smaller burgers and smaller buns, so I used what I had on hand: 6 ounces of chuck that I had ground myself. The beef was divided into four equally-sized balls. A cast iron skillet was heated for 5 minutes over medium-low heat and lightly oiled. The burner was then turned to high. When the oil began to smoke, two balls were placed in the skillet then smashed using a small sauce pan whose bottom had been wrapped in aluminum foil. The patties, which were 3½-4-inches in diameter, were seasoned and cooked until most of the pink was gone. A metal spatula was used to scrape the patty from the skillet and flip it over where it cooked for less than a minute. This was repeated with the other two balls. Each pair of patties were put onto buns with a slice of swiss cheese between them and served. 

Despite anticipating smoke this preparation did succeed in setting off smoke alarms, both downstairs and upstairs. We found the burgers to be overcooked and over salted; it was difficult to judge when to flip the patties and the cast iron skillet did not provide even heat so the patties were unevenly cooked. The patties did fit the slider buns. I'm glad I tried this technique, and even though the issues I had are easily solved, I suspect this was a one-time thing.  I will return to using my usual cooking technique that creates juicy burgers with a nice crust, thank you very much.

Recipe Notes: Grilled Chicken

26 August 2020

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2020; also available online.

Cook's Illustrated has published recipes recently for grilled chicken thighs and grilled drumsticks. Now they have published a recipe for grilled chicken breasts. White meat is more challenging to cook as it is easy to overcook it leading to dry, stringy meat. The thigh and drumstick recipes worked well, how will this recipe for breasts work?

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I halved the amount of chicken from the recipe, two breasts totaling 1.1 pounds, rather than four breasts in the recipe. I didn't halve the quantities for the brinerade which was made by mixing water, fish sauce, honey salt, and pepper. The breasts were pounded to ½-inch thick and covered in the brinerade in a zipper bag. The chicken was placed in the refrigerator for half an hour. While the chicken rested the grill was heated and the burners cleaned. The chicken was removed from the brinerade, the excess was allowed to drip off, and the chicken was tossed with vegetable oil. The breasts were placed on an oiled cooking grate and cooked until dark grill marks develop. It was then turned and cooked to an internal temperature of 160°. After a 5-minute rest it was ready to eat. Total time was 55 minutes.

The chicken came out very well. It was juicy, tender, and flavorful and had no tendency to stick to the grill while it cooked. It was good left over, too, as we had it in a salad and a sandwich. I wished I had bought more chicken just to have the leftovers which have many tasty and quick uses. But given how quick it was to prepare there's no reason not to make it again.