The recipe is extremely simple and it's shocking just how wonderful it tastes with butter.
And of course, no recipe is worth following so I went ahead and completely messed it up with abandon.
I don't have any measuring cups or implements or scales. Worse, I don't really have a concept of what a cup is, so I did a very rough volumetric-ratio-eyeballing (which actually means, I just dumped in whatever seemed okay). (e:heidi), you can sigh now. ;-)
That's not all. I didn't let it rise for 20 hours because I was impatient, threw in an obscene amount of walnuts and dates, and then added a whole chopped jalapeno because I didn't want it to be sweet. Then I thought, what the heck, why not be crazier and added a whole fistful of flaxseed and a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil just because it happened to be near the flaxseed.
Even with this terrible approach to baking, I got splendid results. And of course, I went the extra health freak mile and used 100% high-fibre hard winter spelt flour and no bread flour. I have heard of recipes being described as "forgiving" but this one HAS TO BE the SUPER-GIGANTOID-GODMUM of ALL the forgiving recipes in the history of cooking on this planet.
Go ahead, mess it up. You will get edible results. :)
@ (e:jason): The pan I cooked it in is around 8" in diameter so yours should be just fine. You would need at least a 4" depth including the space in the lid to let it rise. In fact, you could put it in a narrower pan and get away with it.
According to breadtopia, the three crucial steps are just coating the pan with oil, heating it to 450 along with the oven before putting in the dough and covering it with a heavy lid while baking the bread - this is so that the steam doesn't escape. You get a supple and nicely browned crispy crust instead of a dry cracked nightmare.
And yeah, serranos are like one of those parades you keep anticipating and that turns out to be such a major let down because the participants were all wearing sweaters instead of being topless.
Shit, Tiny, I'm sorry, I didn't read the comments before commenting. But how large was your fry pan? I literally just this weekend bought new stainless steel cookware, but the biggest fry pan I have is 10 inches. Will that work
Tiny, what kind of vessel did you cook your bread in? Also, I bought some serranos recently, all excited to get some spiciness into my food, and they were freaking duds. I was so disappointed after making my salsa verde. God damn.
That jalapeño was a good decision, every time a date comes along, jalapeño launches soul-stirring whiplash attack on your taste buds. hehe
@ (e:jenks) - Um. I'll get my coat.
Godmum = contracted slang for a very plebeian fairy god mother, possibly with wings clipped off and who totally looks like that cook in Alice in Wonderland who tries to throw the piglet baby into the cauldron - > :::link:::
@(e:theecarey) and (e:jacob) - why, thank you! I would say I am blushing to the roots of my hair, but that is really not possible when you have about 1 cm of it. I could lie though - always the alluring possibility.
The pan apparently makes a difference. I used a stainless steel fry pan with stainless steel handles - because no plastic/ebonite is oven-safe at 450F for 45 minutes. You would also need a heavy lid for this pan (again, without plastic/ebonite). I used another heavier fry-pan and inverted it over the fry pan with the dough in it. I gave the base fry pan a generous coating of olive oil before plopping it into the oven and heating it well enough so that dough wouldn't stick to the pan.
The dough is super-sticky and wet - and was not remotely taking any sort of shape, but I found out that the wetter it is the bigger holes you get in the baked bread. Plus I ran out of dough so I didn't really do the floured-surface folding step. I just gave it a nice whirl with a spatula after it had risen for around 6-7 hours, allowed it to rise for 2 hours more and plopped it all in the oven.
Baked it with the fry pan cover for 45 minutes.
(e:jacob) - I was really intimidated - but turns out this "recipe" just does not go wrong whatever you do. You NEED to see this at breadtopia and read the ~900 comments of people who have done crazy things and still come out with awesome breads! :::link:::
That looks amazing. You have to be some sort of ethnic Julia Childs, a cuisine prodigy. Fav part: "and then added a whole chopped jalapeno because I didn't want it to be sweet"! I am definately going to have to try it out. I admit, bread intimidates me. I guess I just have to dig a bit to bring out my "indian" brave in the kitchen.
I love your style, Tiny!!
This looks delicious! I use recipes as extremely loose guidelines with varying end results. Fortunately most dishes turn out, some end up more blah, but the creative process was the best part. I was just thinking about concocting some super healthy and tasty bread/pancake/muffin creation. It looks like this "recipe" may be the foundation to get me there. Your creation looks so good! What sort of pan did you cook that in? It looks like a fry pan shape.I'm really not sure what kitchen supplies are called either and "eyeballing" measurements is a regular thing.
godmum?
free spirited cooking, I love it. That is soul food