No Knead Pane Integrale

I've been kicking myself for a while now for taking so long to get into the whole "no knead" bread phenomenon. I had read about it for ages, but never bothered to give it a try, figuring it would either be too much hassle or not worth the effort...WRONG. It is every bit as wonderful as everyone says it is.

When I was in baking school we had deck ovens with a button that would flood the oven with intense steam and provide that shiny, crackly crust on our breads. At home, I could never duplicate it. I've tried brushing the dough with water and a pastry brush, or quickly spritzing it with a spray bottle in the oven...it never compared.

...Until a couple months ago when they printed a version of Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread in the Vancouver Sun. I read it through, and went for it. It was amazing...it couldn't have been any easier or tasted any better. I had the giggles when I pulled it out of the oven and it made that crackly pop noise I hadn't heard since baking school.

I received Jim Lahey's new book for Christmas and made his Pane Intergrale (a partially whole wheat verison) yesterday. It was gone instantly. Find the recipe here.

Lemongrass Pork Banh Mi

I couldn't get enough of that lemongrass-y, vietnamese flavor after recreating my favorite "No.29" earlier, so I made this a couple days later. I had some pork leftover, so I sliced it up into large, thin slices (try sticking it in the freezer for a while first; makes slicing thinly easier!) and marinated it the same way i did for the noodle dish (fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass, garlic). I grilled it outside on the weber (in the rain nonetheless!), and then basically followed something similar to this recipe for the rest of the sandwich. Wonderful...I think I need to plan a trip to Southeast Asia now!

Cinnamon Raisin Twists

My first foray into the Amy's Bread cookbook!

I had these on vacation at the Chelsea Market

location, and they were ridiculously good. I tried

to recreate a little bit of my NYC trip yesterday and

was so pleased with the way they turned out!

proofing

pre-icing

warm and ready to eat!

No. 29

To an Irish/English/Mennonite it's No.29; that's what it's labeled at my usual pho stop. To a Vietnamese, it's Bun Bo Xao. At least that's what I gather from a google search, but I could be wrong...so that's why I'll be sticking with "No.29"!

Basically, it's a rice noodle salad with caramelized, lemongrass scented meat, crisp veggies, drizzled with nuoc cham... and it is ridiculously good.

Here's how I made it...no claims to authenticity, but it sure is tasty!

Thinly sliced pork or beef (I used pork this time), seasoned with fish sauce, lemongrass, garlic, and sugar (sorry no official amounts, but this time I used about 2 stalks lemongrass, 2 cloves garlic, 3 tbsp sugar, 4 tbsp fish sauce).

1 small onion, large dice

Carrots, cut into matchsticks

Cucumber, cut into matchsticks

Bean sprouts

Lettuce, shredded

Cilantro

Chopped Peanuts

Thin rice noodles, cooked according to package and rinsed

Nuoc Cham: I used the recipe found here

Fry beef and onion with a little canola oil until cooked and sugar starts to caramelize. Place rice noodles in bowls, and arrange veggies and meet on top. Drizzle with nuoc cham and top with peanuts. Enjoy!