BBA - French Bread and a Delicious Brandy-flavored Crostini

I held off on baking the French Bread for Bread Baker's Apprentice because I wanted to try out my new Perforated Bread Pan and it was in the mail! So as soon as I received the pan and had a break in my schedule I got right to work.

I tried two different slashing techiques and I'm not happy with either of them. I really do need to get a good Lame but was wondering if an x-acto knife would work as well?





First of all I have never attempted to make French Bread and I'd heard horror stories about making baguettes. So I went into this recipe very hesitantly. I even read the recipe several times just to make sure I understood every single step. But from beginning to end, except for the slashing, I had no problems what so ever! I'm pretty much convinced much of my success was due to my new Perforated Bread Pan!






And I am so glad that my pan was delayed because in the mean time I found the most wonderful recipe for Crostini and it was perfect for the French Baguettes. I found reference to the Cognac-flavored Crostini recipe on Kate's blog, A Spoonful of Thyme, and she had a link to the original recipe on Ju's blog, Little Teochew. So I contacted Ju and asked for permission to reprint her recipe and the ever so gracious Ju said "yes". I was so happy because the Cognac-flavored Crostini is such a unique recipe and I will be making it again and again and I wanted to share it with all my readers. I served the Crostini with Romesco Dip while we watched the Sunday pre-season football games. The Crostini was delicious and we ate every crumb!







Cognac-flavored Crostini
Reprinted with permission from Ju of Little Teochew

1 baguette
4 to 5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
a knob of butter, about 3 TBL
1 TBL cognac (or vodka) See **See NOTE
1 clove (or 2) garlic, sliced/smashed
Sea salt
Black pepper

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degree Celsius. **See NOTE

2. Slice the baguettes into 1/2 inch thick pieces and lay out on a tray.

3. In a bowl, combine olive oil, butter, garlic and cognac, and microwave on high for about 2 minutes, so that the flavour of garlic is infused into the oil (butter should be melted by then). Stir well.

4. Brush both sides of all the baguette slices generously with the flavoured oil.

5. Toast in the oven for slightly over 1 minute, or when the sides start turning crusty and golden brown. Don't take your eyes off them! The bread should still be soft, chewy and pliable in the centre.

6. Take the tray of Crostini out of the oven, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Serve immediately.

**NOTE: I did not have any cognac so I used Brandy on half the Crostini and Mole Poblano Vodka, a slightly spicy but mellow hot pepper vodka, distilled right here in IL by North Shore Distillery. And to toast the Crostini I laid it out on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet and popped it under the broiler on high until the edges were a nice golden brown.

And my favorite was the Crostini with Brandy. Although the Mole Poblano Vodka Crostini was very good, the touch of brandy with the toasted garlic butter on homemade French Bread was exquisite!






Below are a few of my fellow BBA'ers, please feel free to click on the links to see their interpretation of this recipe.


Cindy of Salt and Serenity
Sally of Bewitching Kitchen
Kelly of Something Shiny
Jenn of Pete Eatemall




All Rights Reserved 2008-9 © Big Black Dog

BBA -- Ciabatta

Ciabatta; Ciabatta (Italian pronunciation: [tʃaˈbatːa], literally "carpet slipper") is an Italian white bread made with wheat flour and yeast. The loaf is somewhat elongated, broad and flattish and, like a slipper, should be somewhat collapsed in the middle. Since the late 1990s it has been popular across Europe and in the United States, and is widely used as a sandwich bread.

Ciabatta was first produced in Liguria, although at least one type of ciabatta can be found in nearly every region of Italy nowadays. The ciabatta from the area encompassing Lake Como has a crisp crust, a somewhat soft, porous texture, and is light to the touch. The ciabatta found in Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche varies from bread that has a firm crust and dense crumb, to bread that has a crisper crust and more open texture. The more open-crumbed form, which is usual in the United States, is made from a very wet dough, often requiring machine-kneading, and a biga or sourdough starter.

There are many variations of ciabatta. When made with whole wheat flour, it is known as ciabatta integrale. In Rome, it is often seasoned with olive oil, salt, and marjoram. When milk is added to the dough, it becomes ciabatta al latte. A toasted sandwich made from small loaves of ciabatta is known as a panino (plural panini).





Ciabatta is our eighth bread in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. I was looking forward to making Ciabatta! I am a very enthusiastic sourdough baker and I love using kefir in anything I am baking. I choose to make the biga version and substituted sourdough starter for the yeast and kefir for the milk and I did use EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil).

Generally I like working with a very wet dough, but as soon as I mixed up this recipe I knew it was not wet enough and my loaves would not have the large gorgeous holes that I wanted. Could I have added a bit more water or kefir? Yes, but since I'm involved in this challenge to learn I'm trying to stay as close to the Reinhart recipe as possible.





All in all, I was not disappointed in my Ciabatta as it was a good bread and it was fun to do the stretching and folding method during the rise. But next time I make it, I will be experimenting and definitely adding more liquid and a little bit more salt too.

I baked my Ciabatta on a Sunday and served it as an afternoon snack after a day of yard work for both of us. I served the Ciabatta with 2 dips, Romesco Dip and an Olive and Parmesan Dip. Since my husband was home and watched the entire bread process and then smelled the bread baking, he could not wait to give it a try. So I cut the bread when it was warm..so not a good idea!





Google Books has the entire book, "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread", by Peter Reinhart, scanned and you can find the recipe on Page 135 by clicking here.


All Rights Reserved 2008-9 © Big Black Dog

Do's and Dips

I don’t know if it’s because of the increase in temperature and gorgeous summer days but I’ve been making the best dips lately! They’re so delicious and colorful, it’s almost a shame to scrape the last bit from the bottom of the bowl!

Deeba, a friend on twitter and author of Passionate about Baking, told me about a wonderful dip that she had recently made. As soon as I saw the gorgeous color I just had to make it. I found a good recipe on Dinner with Julie and of course proceeded to change the recipe which I have to do. I think it was about 6 weeks ago that Deeba pointed out the Romesco Dip and I’ve made it four times already. We love it! The gorgeous intense color is just a preview to the fabulous taste!

My second dip is just something I threw together to serve along with the Romesco Dip. I wanted something light with a unique taste to contrast the 2 dips. My Olive and Parmesan Dip was perfect and very good with my homemade Breadsticks and Ciabatta Bread!

Both dips would be wonderful for an appetizer or an afternoon snack or even something to munch on while watching a football game.







Romesco Dip

1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds, or half almonds and half pine nuts
2 whole garlic clove, peeled
1 cup of unseasoned bread crumbs
2 sweet red peppers, roasted
1 TBL. red wine or sherry
1 TBL balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. paprika
salt to taste
1/4 c EVOO, you may need to add more (EVOO=Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

Turn the broiler on High and move a oven shelf closer to the broiler.

Clean out all the seeds from the sweet peppers. Cut each pepper into thirds and then slice so that pepper will lay flat. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Place the pieces of red pepper in the baking pan and put baking pan in oven to broil. I only broil until the peppers start turning dark. Careful that you don’t burn the peppers! I do not peel the peppers because so much taste is in the broiled skin.

While the peppers are broiling add 2 TBL EVOO to a small frying pan. Over medium low heat sauté garlic cloves until golden brown and soft. Remove garlic cloves to cutting board and mash with a fork. Set aside.

Add almonds to the small frying pan and toast for about 2-3 minutes until just slightly golden. Remove from pan and cool.

In a food processor add bread crumbs, broiled red sweet peppers, mashed garlic, toasted almonds, vinegar, wine, paprika, and EVOO. Pulse until everything is minced fine and well blended.

Makes between 1-2 cups.



Olive and Parmesan Dip
Recipe developed by Big Black Dog

1/2-3/4 c. EVOO (EVOO=Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
4-5 Black and Green Olives, sliced thin
1-2 TBL of grated fresh Parmesan Cheese
Freshly ground Black Pepper

Thinly slice the olives. Pour EVOO into a small serving bowl. Add sliced olives and pepper. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper.








All Rights Reserved 2008-9 © Big Black Dog