Fattoush

Fattoush!

Bless you.

Bulgur?

Whatevah!

Move over tabbouleh…

No grain soaking here.

Just toasted pita bread (homemade if you are of a mind).

The ripest Bradley tomatoes you can find.

Crunchy cucumbers, peeled or unpeeled, it’s your choice.

Sweet red onion, fresh mint and Italian parsley.

A citrusy dressing to taste.

It’s one of those face down in your plate lunches.

Or you can make it even more divine with a few additions….like ricotta salata cheese….or grilled scallops for a smashing dinner….or Kalamata olives…or grilled shrimp…leftover roast chicken….or cottage cheese..or garbanzos…toasted pine nuts…

Or just by itself.

Fattoush
Adapted from Joyce Goldstein’s Mediterranean Fresh

2 to 3 pita bread rounds
2-3 large Bradley tomatoes, cut in bite sized pieces
2 small cucumbers, peeled or unpeeled, cut in bite sized pieces
½ small red onion, diced and soaked in a bit of ice water and a pinch of sugar
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large tsp ground sumac (this is the ultimate secret weapon in Fattoush. It adds a bright note to the dressing…it’s available from Penzey’s
A good handful fresh Italian parsley, chopped
½ cup chopped fresh mint
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large lemon,, juiced

Preheat the oven to 350. Pop the pita bread in and bake until they are crunchy, fifteen minutes or so.
Let cool and break into pieces.

Whisk olive oil, lemon juice and ground sumac together and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Combine veggies in a large bowl and toss to combine. Add the pita bread and toss with the dressing and serve immediately.

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Fattoush

Pita Bread 101

Every home should have a pizza stone.

I don’t make pizza that often and I use this thing all the time.

Not for the obvious reasons, either.

For this one.

It makes great bread. You see, my first foray into successful bread making happened because of a pizza stone.

And since then I’ve become a bread making nut.


My latest success?

Pita.

I know you’re thinking, why would I want to make this when I can pop down to the nearest Whole Paycheck and buy a bag and have it ready when I want.

Because it tastes great, it can be made in five minutes, it goes with lots of things, and it’s a member of each of the Official Feeding Groom Food Groups:

A: EASY
B. FUN
C: FABOO
D. IMPRESSIVE


So….why not? The brilliant Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois from the fantastic Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day have mastered the art of fast, tasty bread and this pita bread is TO DIE FOR.

Go on, get a pizza stone, watch this video, buy this book and make some bread….


Pita Bread
Adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois

Make this basic dough a day ahead.

3 cups lukewarm water
1-½ tbsp granulated yeast (1-½ packets …but get the yeast for bread machines and you can measure it out yourself…much easier)
1-½ tbsp coarse salt
6-½ cups unsifted, unbleached, all purpose white flour

Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5 quart bowl. Don‘t worry about it not dissolving. Mix in the flour, all at once, and mix with your hands until combined. Don’t knead the bread dough, it’s not necessary.

Cover with a lid that fits well to the container you are using. I use a plastic cake carrier and leave one side open when I put the top on. If you seal this tightly, you will have a minor explosion in your kitchen which will knock a fresh tomato on the floor and take 2 years off your life…simultaneously, so be careful.
Let this sit on the counter in the kitchen for at least two hours and then refrigerate it overnight. It’s much easier to deal with cold dough instead of wet. Believe me.
You will have four pounds of bread dough that will last, in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for 14 days.

Now, when you are ready to make the pita bread, twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with the pizza stone in the oven. I put my stone on the top shelf, which I usually keep one notch up from the middle of the oven. Just before baking, dust the surface of the dough (still in the container you keep in the refrigerator) with a bit of flour and cut off a 1-pound piece. If you are making individual pitas, separate the round into four equal pieces. Dust the pieces with more flour and quickly shape them into balls, pulling it into shape by stretching the surface of dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go . Place dough on flour dusted cutting board.

Roll the dough balls out into a round with a uniform thickness of about 1/8 inch. Keep it nicely dusted with flour as you go. You can flip the dough over and roll it on the other side if you like. Place the rounds on a flour dusted pizza peel and slide them on to the pizza stone. Bake 5 to 7 minutes until lightly browned.

Take them out of the oven and place on clean dishtowel on a baking rack. Place another towel across the top. This keeps the breads from drying out.
Once they are cool, store in plastic bags. (You can make great quick pizzas with this pita bread, by the way.)

Makes 4 individual pitas.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Pita Bread 101

Bread, My New Best Friend

Ok, remember several months ago I announced that I had conquered bread making. That it was something I could do with confidence and provide healthy bread for my family.

Yea yea …whatever, Mary.

I haven’t cracked a bag of flour since then.

Not once.

I work full time. I blog. I have a life.

I haven’t got the time to rise, punch down, rise, punch down.

Until I discovered this. Thanks to cookiecrumb and her knock out blog, I'm Mad and I Eat.

She provided a life changing moment for me.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

I watched the YouTube video.
.
I was sold. I bought the book.

These guys have got it goin’ on, people. They totally simplify the bread making process using natural ingredients and a brilliant method. It is without a doubt tailor made for someone who works full time and loves to cook but hasn’t had the inclination or the talent or the patience to be a bread baker.

Basically you dump flour, water, salt and instant yeast in a container with a lid. You stir to combine, you don’t knead. Let it sit two hours at room temp. Put in the fridge and it sits. And thinks. For up to fourteen days. When you want some bread, you shake a little flour over the top of the dough, pull up a grapefruit size mound o’ dough, shape it, let it sit 20, preheat the oven, slash it and let it sit 20 and then bake for specified time.

Finis.

Done.


I have, at the present time, two types of bread dough in my refrigerator, the boule and European peasant bread. If I need a baguette, or batard or a quick pissaladiere ( straight from the book and a great Sunday supper), I use the boule.

For sandwiches, panzanella, bruschetta, I use the European.

I’m considering making brioche for Christmas presents.

Me. Brioche.

It’s a miracle.

Buy the book. It will change your life.

Bread, My New Best Friend

Rose Levy Berenbaum's Hearth Bread

I made bread.

Good bread.

Edible. Not a doorstop.

Made Groom smile.

Made me smile. Made the house smell like a bakery.

And it was easy. There wasn’t a lot of kneading. There wasn’t a warm water thing with the yeast.

And I’ll do this again.

After 30 years and God knows how many doorstops I’ve made, the curse is broken.

Thank God for Rose Levy Berenbaum.

Rose Levy Berenbaum’s Hearth Bread from the back of the Gold Medal Harvest King Bread Flour Bag

3-1/3 cups Harvest King bread flour
¼ cup whole wheat flour
1-½ tsp fine sea salt
1-¼ tsp bread machine yeast
1-1/3 cups water
1 tsp honey
Extra virgin olive oil

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup, level off with knife. In medium bowl, stir together flours, salt and yeast. Stir in water and honey.

Place dough on silpat and knead til smooth an springy but still slightly sticky. Add a little flour or water as necessary. Lightly brush oil inside of large bowl. Place dough inside bowl and turn to oil all sides. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place about an hour or until dough has doubled in size. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

Line a cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper or lightly sprinkle with cornmeal. Gently push fist into dough to deflate. Flatten dough and shape into round ball. Place on cookie sheet. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in warm place for 45 minutes or until dough has doubled in size again.

Place baking stone on lowest rack in oven. Heat oven to 475. Carefully cut an x shaped slash on top of the dough. Spray with cool water. Place cookie sheet in oven on baking stone. Place 1 cup water in shallow pan on another oven rack.

Bake 10 minutes reduce oven temperature to 425. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until bread is golden brown and skewer in center comes out clean.

Cool completely on baking rack. Like this is going to ever happen in this house!

Ideas for things to stir in:
¼ cup of Kalamata olives,
Roasted garlic cloves, cut up sundried tomatoes, sliced chives, shelled sunflower seeds, 1 tsp fresh or ½ tsp dried herbs.

Rose Levy Berenbaum's Hearth Bread