experiments.

so, we are moving. and we are moving to a much, much smaller space. which means we have to figure out what to get rid of/leave behind.

in the process of going through my cabinets, i found yeast packets that were way, way, way past their expiration date. i don't bake with yeast much. in fact, i don't bake with yeast at all. i tried once, and the resulting breadsticks, while edible, were all dried out and not really much good. and since i don't bake with yeast, i don't bother to buy bread flour.

but i thought, the breadsticks weren't actually that bad, i mean, they were edible after all, and i do know that bread baking is much a trial-and-error situation. i don't bake a whole lot because baking tends to be fiddly and rely a lot on details, and i'm not big on details. but even though i screwed up my first effort, yeast bread seemed like it might be able to handle less exactness than something like a cake (don't ever ask me to make a cake for you. i don't bake cakes). so i paged through my copies of Fannie Farmer's Cookbook and The Joy of Cooking looking for a yeast bread recipe that didn't require bread flour. and in The Joy of Cooking i found a recipe for pizza dough that said it would also make focaccia. i don't have a pizza stone, but the focaccia seemed like less work anyway. so i made it. and it was actually a success.

but what do you eat with focaccia? here's what dinner was last night:

chicken-pesto panini on focaccia

ingredients:
1 packet instant yeast
2 T olive oil + more for the pans
2 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour (optional - i used white whole wheat)
1 2/3 c warm water
1 T salt
1 t sugar
extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and rosemary

1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 T extra virgin olive oil
as much pesto as you want (maybe i'll post my recipe for pesto some day too)
mozzerella and provolone cheese

1. combine the yeast packet with the warm water and let sit 5 minutes.

2. pour yeasty water into a large mixing bowl and mix in flour(s), salt, sugar, and oil.

3. stir and then knead until the dough is "smooth and elastic," adding more water and/or flour as necessary.

4. divide the dough in half and push until flattish into well-oiled cake or pie pans. The Joy of Cooking recommends 2 10" cake pans. since i don't have those (see above comment on cakes), i used 2 9" glass pie pans.

5. cover the dough with plastic wrap and set in a warm area to rise ~1 1/2 hours "or until doubled in volume." this didn't happen for me. they barely rose at all. it's possible my apartment isn't warm enough to make the yeast happy.

6. push down with fingertips until the surface is dimpled. drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and rosemary.

7. bake at 400F for 25 minutes or until crusty. this is the stage where mine rose and got fluffy.

8. while the focaccia is (focaccii are?) baking, cut the chicken breast crosswise into slices about 1/8" thick.

9. oil a baking sheet or shallow pan, add the chicken slices to the oil in the pan, and toss them to cover them with oil. spread them out so they will cook evenly.

10. in another oven (i used my toaster oven), cook the chicken breast at 350F until done but still moist.

11. scoop several spoonfuls of pesto into a shallow bowl. toss the chicken breast with their cooking oil in the pesto until well coated.

12. cut a focaccia into quarters and slice two of the quarters lengthwise to make sandwiches. pile the chicken and pesto onto one slice of each quarter focaccia. top with cheeses.

13. put the topped focaccia slices under the broiler and broil on high until cheese is melted and bubbly. wrap the untopped focaccia slices in aluminum foil and put them in the broiler as well to keep them hot.

14. complete the sandwiches with the hot focaccia slices. eat!

this was actually quite delicious. i'm not sure how you can go wrong with anything that involves pesto, but that might just be me.