Bread Adventures (Batch 4 - Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day)

Baking my way through - Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

Yay!  Finally located some rye flour so I can go back to the beginning of Chapter 2.  Funny story... I asked a friend of mine if she had any idea where I could find rye flour.... her response?  I don't know.... I grind my own!

Needless to say, I kept hunting... so now I know of ONE store within a reasonable distance that carries it!

I will have to find some friends to share with .... my men are already fussing about how much they don't like rye bread :-)  Of course, freshly baked from my kitchen might taste a little different than what they remember!

Chapter 2 is called Peasant Loaves.  The first dough is mostly white flour but adds in some rye and whole wheat.  It has a bit of rye flavor to it but not enough to notice :-)  (Even the family rye haters didn't notice :-) 

Tuscan Bread Salad was the next recipe.... and my family had a thumbs down to trying it so I made my own individual one!  I added the bread as a topping and nixxed the anchovies.  It is definitely a different twist to a salad.... though the addition of fresh-baked bread doesn't seem to hurt the flavor of ANYTHING! 

Pan Bagna (Provencal Tuna and Vegetable Sandwich) is next in the line-up.  We are the 'no fish' bunch so I was glad there was an alternate recipe (New Orleans muffaletta)  that uses sliced ham, salami and mortadella - whatever that is - and an olive salad from New Orleans...  hmm.....  thank goodness for search engines... Mortadella, I learned, is an Italian sausage (as opposed to portabella - mushroom - which is what I was thinking of).   For my finicky crew, I am thinking I will make a meat & cheese combo (like a basic Italian sub sandwich) that they will enjoy!  Olive spread optional for me only :-)

Olive Bread - I KNOW they won't touch the olive bread so I will use the rye dough for this one and plan on giving most of it away!

I absolutely LOVED this one.... I ended up making two loaves because it turns out so pretty and is a super potluck addition or a gift!  I LOVE this book... I am getting all kinds of credit for skills I simply do not have :-)