Fresh rustic wholemeal bread

When I was a kid I was intolerant to wheat so I never got used to eating much bread at all,

even though I really missed eating everything else (specially pasta and cakes) it was probably because the bread was never good enough to be desired as much!

Its happened to all of of us once in a while to taste bread that you just cant keep your hands off, you keep on munching on small crunchy bits of crust and soft crumb with that yeasty acidic flavour. Seeds, grains and different texture of wheats can make it seem so diffrent from what we are used to eating every day. Mind you, the sandwich bread is not at all popular in Italy and around Rome the best bread you can buy comes from Lariano and its half and half wholegrain and cooked in a woodoven.

But...mine is best!

I started making home baked bread last year when my mother came back from Venice with a friend's recipe, she told me he made the most delicious bread so I tried it.

It was true!! It was the most fragrant crusty crust I have ever made!

Working in restaurants I have often made bread , but they all require the kind of precise boring white or slightly decorated bread, not the rustic slabs that I like so much!

This is the recipe, that with a bit of a heart throb I put on this blog, its easy and it makes about 5-6 loaves, that can be cut in halves and frozen for future use.

Pane fatto in casa di Alfredo

Ingredients:

1 kg durum wheat flour (the one used for making pasta)

500 g whole meal flour, spelt or rye flour, I often mix depending on what flours I have left.

80 gr mashed potato ( I've often used the dehidrated one in a bag, but the real things is best)

2/4 Tbsp olive oil

45 gr raw sea salt

12,5 gr fresh yeast

1 good Tbsp malt (sugar can also be used, it usefull for activating the yeast but not necessary)

1,5 l warm water (it is essential that the water is warm NOT hot, say around 18°c otherwise the yeast will die!)

In a big bowl (it must be big enough for everything), pour 1 litre of water in and stir the malt in it. Then add the yeast and stir it with a whip until its all dissolved.

Pour the oil in and the mashed potato.

Now we can start with the flours, first the durum flour, mixing with a wooden spoon, then the rest. If the mixture becomes a little too dry add some water. The total amount of water needed depends on many things, including the temperature and humidity of our kitchen and our oven.

And dont forget the salt, add it as soon as you're adding the flours.

We need to work on the dough as we add the flours and water, probably with our hands until it seems all incorporated.

Now we can we can roll the dough on a floured surface and knead it properly, or just let it rest in the bowl (as long as its smooth and not lumpy), it must be covered with a damp cloth or a plastic bag and left to rise in a warm place. The gluten in the flours will blend properly and it will do the job for us!

The amount of time for the dough to rise depends on us, from a minimum of 2 to 3 hours, to 9 or 10 hours, anyhow the dough needs to double in size. Sometimes I make my dough in the evening and leave it overnight, so that it is ready for cooking the morning after, just in time for breakfast.

Turn the oven on at 160°c, with heat from top and bottom. I often put a pyrex bowl of boiling water in the lower part of the oven to keep the humidity high.

Now we need a cooking tray, quite a big one to fit the bread loves, and flour it with a good millimiter of flour.

With wet hands we need to cut 5-6 pieces of dough and arrange them on the tray, its important to place them well as they musn't be handled too much. If they seem too close its not a problem, when the bread is cooked they can be easily divided.

Now sprinkle the loaves with more flour and bake for about an 1:30 hours

As all ovens are different I suggest you keep an eye on the loaves as they cook, I ususally cook the bread at 140°c because my oven tends to burn the bottom of everything!

When it looks done turn off the oven but leave the bread in for another 10-20 minutes.

Now take it out, divide the loaves and, if possible, wait another half hour before cutting it.

By now the aroma will have filled your house and the salivation will be unbearable!!

Enjoy it with butter and vegemite, cheese or marmalade, and remember that when you start making bread you will never stop!!

Zuppa di Pesce

Zuppa di Pesce alla Romana

This incredible Italian fish soup is cooked in many different ways throughout Italy.
It is incredibly easy to make and also quite quick. The main ingedient is of course fish, of many different kinds, scorfano, San Pietro, gallinella, calamari, clams and mussels, prawns and scampi. Basically the kind of fish that can hold its flesh when cooked in a quick stew. It is recomendable though that you choose your fish according to what is offered by your local fishmarkets, or better your closest seas.

The recipe is a very easy and simple one, like mosto of the Italian dishes it requires few ingredients, but of the best quality!

Ingredients:

fish, as above
olive oil
garlic and chilli for the addicts
fresh tomatoes or peeled conserved tomatoes (attention look for the ones with no added sugars)
parsley
fennel leaves or flowers
salt
toasted bread brushed with garlic for serving and a good home made mayonnaise for the greedy ones

Procedure:

Crush your garlic in a pan or low sided pot big enough and with a lid to fit, add olive oil and chilli.
Put the pan on a medium flame and qithout waiting too long for it to cook, add the chopped tomatoes. Let that go on a low flame with the lid on for a few minutes or until the tomatoes let out their juices.
Now add the fish, previously cut in big pieces. Cover with the lid and maintain on a low flame.
When done on one side turn the fish around to cook the otherside.
When done add salt, fennel and parsley and serve with the toasted bread with a drizzle of fresh olive oil over it.

Autumn in Italy

Not many people, any more, take notice of the seasons changing if not only for the leaves or petals from blossomed flowers falling on our path. We don't seem to look beyond our noses any more, take time to look at the ground, what the earth really tells us and what our senses can pick up, a new smell a new light and different sounds.

Supermarkets keep us on a 365 day rolling selection of everything possible, some people have no idea what to make with a leek or some cabbage, maybe something can be done with a potato....
I find myself at 31 and I don't know what to do with a ready made sauce.... a can of beans... I can just about get through ( its not true because I like them very much) cans of sardines and mackerel! But worst of all it makes us forget what seasons are all about!

Well now that we are at the beguinning of November its a bit late to say Autumn, the leaves have just started falling but the chestnuts have been mostly picked, the walnuts and hazelnuts have been gathered at the end of September or beguinning October at the most, the persimonns are already maturing on a dish, carefully taken care of immediately upon maturity... in this house we are very greedy for those soft and slippery orange fruits.
My favourite vegetables are coming back into season, the broccoli, and all the kind of cabbages with them... the quinces also have come off the tree and if the worms have spared us any this year we can also do something with them.
Pumpkins are coming to their best time, especially after halloween we have probably a great deal of pumkin insides to deal with, fennel and spinach and leeks are just in time to make great wintery soups. And finally its the beguinning of the artichoke season, to replenish us with iron for the cold months, as well as oranges, mandarins and kiwis , high in vitamin C to activate the iron in the greens and protect us from colds. But we are also still enjoying crunchy apples, sweet pears and juicy grapes.

I was almost forgetting one of the most important things that grow from late summer on, and sprouts just after rains... mushrooms!!!




"Minestra di cavolo e baccalà", an extreme country style soup, with roughly chopped tuscan cabbage leaves and baccalà, "salted cod" stewed in a supertasty broth. Just perfect for a cold november Sunday at my latest favourite place, the Osteria del Contadino, Giulianello.


"Bruschetta con pajata di abbacchio alla cacciatora", toasted country bread with intestines from the milking baby lambs cooked "cacciatora" style, with rosmary, garlic, chilli and a dash of vinegar. Something I've never eaten before or even found in any other restaurant, so delicious yet so very cruel ... and luckily too heavy to digest to be eaten more than occationally.