Roasted Tomato Bread

Winter tomatoes are so tasteless and gummy. Every once and a while I will buy one, hoping for the taste of a ripe summer tomato, almost always ending in disappointment. Instead of waiting five more months for a real tomato, roasted tomatoes are a good compromise. Roasting concentrates the flavor and is the closest I have come to the taste of summer tomato in the depths of winter.

This is a relatively quick yeast bread. I would recommend making for a Sunday brunch.


Roasted Tomato Bread
Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

Ingredients:

• 4 pints cherry tomatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
• 3/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the pan
• 4 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 pounds (about 5 1/4 cups) all purpose flour
• 10 ounces (about 1 3/4 cups) semolina flour
• 1 1/2 ounces fresh yeast

How To:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Divide the tomatoes evenly between two rimmed baking sheets. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil, and sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of salt. Bake until tomatoes begin to shrivel and the juice on the pan has reduced, about 45 minutes; remove from oven. Lightly brush a 17 by 12 inch rimmed baking pan with oil and set aside. Raise oven temperature to 425 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, bring milk to a simmer. In a bowl of an electric mixer, combine 2 teaspoons of salt, flours, 3 tablespoons olive oil and yeast. Mix on low speed, gradually pouring in the hot milk until combined. Once combined mix on medium speed for one minute. The dough will be very sticky.

Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Using lightly oiled hands, spread dough evenly, making sure it fills the pan. Cover tightly with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Using fingers, dimple the dough unevenly, leaving 2 inched between dimples. Arrange half of the tomatoes on the dough. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil, sprinkle with salt.

Bake rotating sheet halfway through until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil, cool on wire rack. Add remaining tomatoes and sprinkle with salt. Slice with serrated knife and serve.  Bread can be kept for 2 to 3 days tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature.

My recipe notes:

• I used halved grape tomatoes
• You can roast the tomatoes a day ahead 
• The recipe makes a lot of really sticky dough
• I was a little concerned with the large amount of yeast -- but it's works out really well
• Garnish with basil
• Leftovers can be frozen

Sweet Potato Biscuits

These caught my eye a couple of months ago when I was looking for Thanksgiving dinner ideas. There is a recipe in Food and Wine using these on top of a creamy veggie pot pie. I remembered this recipe when I came across a lone sweet potato in the pantry. No longer in the mood for a heavy pot pie, I decided to just make the top -- sweet potato biscuits.

Sweet Potato Biscuits
This recipe is adapted from Food and Wine and makes 8 biscuits.


Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound sweet potato
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
• 1/3 cup buttermilk

How to:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Poke the sweet potato with a fork and bake until tender, about 45 minutes, or microwave on high for 5-6 minutes. Once the potato has cooled, peel and mash -- there should be about 3/4 of a cup.

In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and brown sugar. Add in the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk and mashed sweet potato until the dough comes together and forms a ball.

Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thick. Using a 4 inch diameter round cutter, cut out the biscuits and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Serve warm with butter.

Notes: I served these for dinner with curried lentil burgers and braised kale. The next time I make these will be for a breakfast or brunch - they would be perfect smothered with butter and honey and served with a cup of hot tea.

Artichokes Provencal

I have been waiting for baby artichokes to be in season to cook this recipe by Mark Bittman. Baby artichokes grown in California are at my local co-op this week - get them while they last because I know I will be making this at least one more time over the weekend!

Ingredients:

• 6-8 baby artichokes
• 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  
• 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup water
• olive oil
• salt

How to:

1. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a skillet, add whole cloves of garlic and thyme
   
2. Prep the baby artichokes by peeling off the tough outer leaves, trimming the outer edges of the stem, cut the top inch off of the top, and cut in half. Add the artichokes into the skillet.
3. Once the bottom of the artichokes are slightly brown, add the olives and tomatoes.
4. Add in the water, cover and let simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes
5. Salt to taste
6. Serve with good crusty bread and a little grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
   

Notes: This may be good with a pasta or grain like farro. The bread is great since it soaks up all of the juices.

Lavash

I will never buy crackers again. This recipe has been on my food-to-do list for a while and it took a weekend of sipping tea, soup and homemade cold remedies to give it a whirl. These are definitely worth the effort and I highly recommend getting on the homemade cracker bandwagon!

This recipe is adapted from the Bread Baker's Apprentice.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour (see note)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon canola or olive oil
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup room temperature water
• Spices
  

How to:

1. Stir the flour, salt yeast, honey and oil together.
2. While continuing to stir, slowly add the water into the dry ingredients. Stir until the dough gathers into a ball. The recipe says you may not need the entire half cup of water. I used the entire 1/2 cup -- since I am in such a dry cold climate.
   
3. Lightly flour the counter top and knead the dough for 10 minutes. You will know the dough is ready when it stretches thin without breaking.
   
4. Spray a bowl with oil and swirl the dough to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 90 minutes -- the dough should double in size.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Lightly oil the counter top. Place dough on the oiled surface and sprinkle with flour. Roll the dough out until its paper thin. It should be at least 12" x 15".
7. Place dough on a parchment lined baking sheet.
   
8. Mist the dough with water. Sprinkle any spices you would like onto the dough. I used paprika, caraway seeds, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, salt and pepper.
   
9. If you would like pre-cut crackers, use a pizza cutter and cut the desired shapes - the crackers will break even once removed from the oven.
10. Bake the crackers for 15-20 minutes, when the crackers are evenly browned.
    

Notes: The original recipe used unbleached white flour. I used whole wheat since I like grainy crackers. Also, the recipe suggests misting water on the dough before placing the spices on top to help the spices stick. It worked well, but I think I would try an egg wash next time to see if it makes a difference. Lastly, you may need two baking sheets with this recipe. I used a second baking sheet to include the scraps.