Panini Bread

Sandwiches are so versatile donchya think? The panini is no exception. Its origins are Italy where they are known as panino. Panini is actually the pleural form of the word. Made popular in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, this type of 'flat bread' sandwich is now very popular everywhere.

I like a good challenge so this week I decided, what the heck, time to make my own panini bread. The slow winter time is starting to wind down and activities are picking up. Soccer practice starts this week and Little League will be following shortly. The Corey is now back in school (he started back to college last Fall BTW) Even though the bread takes some planning, injecting sandwich night into our rotation of dinners has certainly become commonplace on busy school nights.

First of all, you will want to set aside some time for this one. The "starter" needs to set out overnight, & the rising and baking combination will take around 5 hours once the starter is ready. One of my favorite sites to get bread recipes is King Arthur Flour. My search for panini bread didn't take long, as they had what looked like a great one.

If you haven't made any type of bread before this may not be the one to start with, as it is extremely sticky but if you feel comfortable gauging the stickiness factor then, well, go on girl!

So, they call the starter Biga, which if you are interested in the history of it, a quick jont on over to zee Wiki yields this definition. You don't really have to know what it is, I suppose, but I was curious.

So, start your Biga with 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour:

Add 1 cup of water & 1/8 teaspoon of instant yeast:

And mix it up until smooth. Then, cover it up and let it sit overnight. This will give your bread some layered flavor and help with the light airiness you'll want.

Being that I wanted to make the bread the same day I started my starter early in the morning and let it set out for 8 hours instead of overnight. It can set out for up to 15 hours, though.

Once it has sat out for a while you will add together the Biga, 1 teaspoon of instant yeast, 1/2 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour, 1 cup of white whole wheat flour, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon of nonfat dry milk, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1/4 to 1/2 cup water.

The website suggests that you use more water in the winter. As you bake more and more bread you will be able to gauge how much water to add to your dough to get the desired feel. Since it is indeed winter (sigh) I added 1/2 cup.

Next, mix it up on medium speed, about a 4 on my mixer as suggested, but watch out. You may want to start at 1 and work up to a 4, because if you start right into a 4 it will spray flour all over you. Ask me how I know.

So, wipe the flour off of your face, shirt, jeans and well, the dog already has it licked off of the floor so there's 1 less step. Where were we? Ah yes, mix it up with a flat beater until it clears the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes. If it's not clearing it keep mixing for another couple of minutes.

Switch to your dough hook and mix it up for another 3-4 minutes.

Put in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it sit for 2 hours in a warm, dry place. If you are around to punch it down after about an hour then go for it. Or let your kids do it. Because if you are like me, you want to keep them from punching each other, and maybe this will help. Parenting 101, by Pamela S.

After 2 hours of rise time, lightly grease a baking sheet. Divide the dough in half and shape each one into a 10 " log. Put dough on pan and spread out to about 3 " wide. When I tried to shape the log it was very sticky but able to keep the shape. I just laid the dough straight onto the pan and shaped it there because it stuck too much to the wooden board I usually use to roll out the dough. Cover with heavily oiled plastic wrap.

It starts out like this:

And, after 2 more hours of rise time, looks like this: I separated it with a knife just enough so it wouldn't bake together. The dough, at this point will have a consistency like Jello, very light, and wiggly.

In a preheated oven at 425°, bake the bread for 22-25 minutes.

After the time is up take the bread off of your pan, turn the oven off, and sit the bread on an oven rack, with the oven slightly ajar, and let cool like this (above).

Ooh, that looks good. It turned out pretty much just like it was supposed to.....so (in my best Borat impression) I would consider this a great success!

When you are ready to make your sammiches, just cut the bread in half and add your ingredients and cook em' up. I do not have room in my cupboards for such a specified appliance as a panini maker so I just took 1 pan, 1 smaller cast iron skillet and cooked them this way.

Just baste the outside of the bread with melted butter or olive oil or a mixture of both (that's the way we like it, uh huh, uh huh). Add the bottom piece of bread to the pan on medium high heat, add ingredients to the bread, and put the top of the bread on, smash down with your smaller skillet and turn once the bottom is browned up. Verdict: it was a hit! And very quick. (the meal itself anyway)

Panini Bread

Biga:

• 1 1/2 cups Unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough:

• biga
• 1 teaspoon insant yeast
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

1. Mix Biga ingredients together and let sit, covered, overnight, for up to 15 hours.
2. Add all dough ingredients to mixer, including Biga, with flat beater, for 3 minutes on medium speed. The dough should be clearing the sides at this point but if not continue to beat for another 2 minutes.
3. Switch to dough hook and knead for 3-4 more minutes.
4. Transfer dough to greased, covered bowl and let rise for 2 hours, punching down once at about an hour.
5. Divide dough in half.
6. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet, about 8 x 13 or larger, and shape each piece of dough into a 10 " log. Then flatten out to 3 " across.
7. Cover the dough with a heavily oiled piece of plastic wrap.
8. After 2 hours put dough into a preheated 425° oven and bake until golden brown.
9. Remove loaves of bread from baking sheet, turn oven off, and put loaves back into oven, straight onto rack with door of oven slightly open until loaves are cooled.
10. Go make yo-self a sammich!

Weekly Menu:

Sunday: Carnitas taquitos (my own recipe with base carnitas at Homesick Texan), Mexican rice

Monday: Mongolian beef, jasmine rice, egg rolls (so good)

Tuesday: Ham & swiss Panini with roasted red potatoes (bread as above)

Wednesday: Garlic oven-fried chicken breasts, roasted cauliflower and broccoli, Mac & cheese

Thursday: Italian sausage with bow-tie pasta, veggies, and fresh parmesan, salad

Friday: eating out

Saturday: leftovers

Homemade Chicken Broth

Oh man! The crud has really hit our family hard this week. It seems we are not the only ones, as 48 kids were out at our small elementary school yesterday, my youngest being one of them. So, soup is a big must-have this time of year. Even when we aren't sick, we have hot soup to warm us up from the cold Januaryness about once a week.

A good base can make a soup that much better. We use chicken broth like crazy around here so I decided to learn how to make it. I still pick up a can at the grocery store every time I go but when we have roasted chicken for dinner it is a given that the next few days will yield some homemade broth. You have to try it. It is so much better than the canned stuff. It does take a little bit of time so read through and plan accordingly.

So, you want to start with a whole chicken. Save the giblets from the inside. I also pull the neck bone out and save it with the innards. Just put them in a bag and store in the fridge until you are done cooking your chicken & ready to make the broth. Don't be intimidated! There are tons of great, easy recipes for roasting a chicken. Like this one , or this one, or this one. I prefer slow-roasting it in the oven but you can also do it in the crock-pot if you'll be out of the house all day. Once you are done, don't throw away that carcass! (that sounds lovely, eh?)

You will need a big stock pot. Now, throw what's left from your lovely chicken dinner into the pot. Like this:

Add 2 large onions, cut up in large pieces. Leave the skin on. You are going to strain off all of the whole pieces later on.

Wash 2 large carrots and add to pot.

Cut 2 large stalks of celery in half and add.

Add 10 peppercorns.

1 head of garlic. You don't have to peel these either but break them up a bit.

Add 2 tablespoons of salt. I prefer kosher.

Now add enough cold water to cover all of the ingredients.

Put your pot on the stove, cover, and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil turn down to a simmer and simmer for 4-5 hours.

After 4-5 hours, take the pot off of the burner and let it cool. Once cool, put in refrigerator overnight.

The next day take out the stock pot and remove any fat that has formed on the top. Heat up just until warm and then remove all of the big parts of chicken, bones, and veggies. It will be all squishy like this:

Next, strain the rest of the broth to get any smaller pieces out, and you are left with your lovely broth.

I can usually fill about 3 of the containers below, which holds 5 cups each.

If you are using the broth within the next few days than keep in the fridge until you are ready. If not, then freeze it.

When you are ready to use, just pop in the microwave and defrost slowly, or in a sauce pan. Now you are ready to make your favorite chicken noodle, chicken tortilla, or even your favorite Italian wedding soup!

Chicken Broth

1 large chicken carcass & chicken pieces from inside of chicken

2 large onions, roughly cut in big pieces, skin on

2 large carrots

2 large ribs of celery, each cut in half

10 peppercorns

1 head garlic, skin on, broken up

2 tablespoons kosher salt

water

1. Add all ingredients to pot & cover with water.
2. Cover and boil.
3. Reduce and simmer for 4-5 hours.
4. Cool to room temperature.
5. Put in fridge overnight.
6. Take out of fridge & remove fat from the top of the broth.
7. Warm on oven so it is heated thoroughly.
8. Remove from oven and remove large pieces of chicken, vegetables, and chicken parts.
9. Strain into another pot.
10. Use within the next few days or freeze.

WEEKLY MENU

Being as the whole family was sick this week I'll just include the menu here as it was written out on Sunday. It turns out we ate a lot more soup so far this week (Yay for soup) and skipped a few of these:

Sunday: Grilled Brats & Mac&cheese

Monday: Balsamic Glazed Salmon, rice, & green salad

Tuesday: Hamburgers and fries

Wednesday: Cheesy Enchiladas, rice, & beans

Thursday: Tortellini soup, crispy bread, & salad

Friday: Dinner out

Saturday: Leftovers