A SIDENOTE BEFORE WE START: 

Let me start off by saying that blogging for Robert Morris (aka, the Bobby Mo) was not my idea.  I was against it, at first.  I don't know the first thing about blogging, let alone want to share my most personal thoughts with anonymous internet users around the world.  But the more I thought about it, the more I decided this could be a cool thing.  So I'm dedicating this blog to all things food related.  I'll post my favorite recipes, reviews of restaurants I've gone to, and other food related topics here.  At some point I'll post my e-mail address so if you have anything you'd like to discuss (food related), you can drop me a line.  Here goes nothing...

The Adventure

The real reason this blog was set up was so that you can follow along in my big adventure to Italy.  I found out in February that I am one of five people in the U.S. that won the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation/Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani Giacamo Bologna Scholarship (pretty long title).  Basically, it's an all expense paid week trip to the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Costigliole d'Asti, Italy. 

So each day that I am there I will learn something new about Italian cooking. (One day is cheese, one is olive oil, one is wine, etc.)  I will be taking a lot of pictures and posting the stuff I learn to this blog so you can follow along. 

The trip doesn't happen until the end of May.  So in the meantime, I'll do what I said above and focus on all things food.

If you're interested in learning more about the ICIF or the Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani these are the links to their websites.

www.icif.com

www.gruppo.com

NO KNEAD BREAD 

This is one of my favorite recipes.  It's super easy and the results are fantastic.  

A member of the club I work at told me about this bread a couple of months ago.  She gave me the New York Times article it was mentioned in and told me I had to make it.  (If you can find the article on the internet, I recommend reading it.)  She was super excited about it.  At the time I couldn't understand why.  It seemed like your normal bread recipe.  However, after making it, I realized it's not.  I caught the fever and started telling everyone I knew about this bread.  (If you google "no knead bread" there are tons of blogs on this recipe alone.)

So What's the Big Deal? 

So what? Bread recipes have been around forever.  This recipe, however, is being touted as a "revolutionary" recipe.  It is a recipe in which the processes of kneading the dough has been replaced by time.  That's not the revolutionary part.  The author of this recipe (Jim Lahey) has basically made this bread full-proof.  You really can't mess it up!

Here's how it works.  When you knead dough you are developing gluten strands within the dough.  Gluten toughens a bread and forms the nice little holes inside the loaf (something you want in a nice crusty loaf).  Mr. Lahey instead allows the yeast to develop the gluten overnight.  So, it's like having a million microscopic bakers working on your dough while you sleep. Then, in the morning, you just let the dough sit a little bit, pop it into the oven, and in about 45 minutes you have an awesome crusty loaf perfect for panini sandwiches or for dipping with oil.

The best part of this recipe is that it allows for variation.  I have added fresh herbs (Rosemary is great) to the bread.  Just make sure you add it to the flour before adding the water.  You can also make a great beer bread.  I've substituted Guinness Beer for the water and used the bread for Reuben sandwiches.

I highly recommend trying this recipe.  After I made this bread for my chef at work, he had me start using this recipe for a number of different events.  (If you can mold the dough into a baguette shape, it works perfectly for cheese.)  Once you've made it and tasted it, you'll be hooked.  After you've mastered the recipe, I suggest experimenting with different variations.   Its cheap, easy, and fun. (Sounds like someone I know).

Enjoy!

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The Minimalist: The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work

Published: November 8, 2006

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed (for dusting)

1. In a large bowl combine flour and salt.  Mix.  Add yeast.   Add water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes (you'll probably only need another 10-15 minutes...keep an eye on it), until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

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(May 23rd) SIDENOTE:

My trip is coming up this Saturday!  Thank god!  I leave for my week long Italian Get-away.  As instructed, I will post daily blog updates as to what I've learned, how much wine I've drunk, and what kind of trouble I got myself into.  Feel free to check back daily between Saturday May 26th to Monday June 3rd.  Ciao!