Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Food, Drink and Cooking Wonder what the poor folks are eatin' tonight?

I made baked ziti last night for dinner. It turned out well. I also made salad and garlic Parmesan cheese bread to go with it. Tiramisu for dessert.

Mmmmm, bread!

I make something similar to the above recipe, but call it Italian bread. About the only difference is that I bake it on a pizza stone, don't roll it (I'm going to try that), bake at a higher temp, dump a cup of water in the broiler pan on the lowest oven rack, and, depending upon how I feel, sometimes add either sesame or poppy seeds. I also tried using some other more traditional flours, such as Semolina, etc., but the slight difference in taste wasn't worth the additional expense- to me. Those with a more sensitive palate may disagree. I find that King Arthur's all purpose unbleached flour is great. It tastes the best that this peasant has tried.

The reason that I posted the video is because I believe it's an easy and inexpensive way to begin baking your own bread. Why? Because it smells and tastes so much better. Once you get over any initial hesitancy, you'll have a hard time going back to store bought bread. Also, you really don't need a bread machine, although if someone gave me one, I'd take it.

I read some crap somewhere recently that you're supposed to stop eating wheat, because it's bad for you. I don't know, but I do know that people have been eating it for thousands of years and that I like it. Is it bad for you? I don't know, but I've never gotten sluggish or sick from eating good bread or pastry. Wheat's track record seems pretty damn good to me. For the rare few who can't tolerate gluten, don't eat it.

It turns out that some people are gluten intolerate and the condition is called celiac disease.

Yesterday at the high school, the cook was making the district's famous Pittburger. It's dough with sloppy joe-like meat in the middle with American Cheese (USDA commodity from Land O' Lakes) on top of the meat with more dough on top.

The cook put letting the dough rise in a large stainless bowl, and it started spilling over the sides (because she was multi-tasking and working on something else) and it became a gooey clean-up process.

My grandma and mom used to make larger biscuit dough rounds and fill them with meat and veggies, then bake them in the oven, My dad used to take these to work(when we had a family business) for lunch. They were great for us kids to eat picnic-style outside in the backyard.

Ours are made in hotel pans - so we cut ours into squares. They are a really simple, complete, nutritious (depending on ingredients and ingredient quality) meal and truly are 'what the poor folks are eatin' tonight..."

"About the only difference is that I bake it on a pizza stone, don't roll it (I'm going to try that), bake at a higher temp, dump a cup of water in the broiler pan on the lowest oven rack, and, depending upon how I feel, sometimes add either sesame or poppy seeds."

Other than that -- exactly the same!

There are actually a lot of different ways to bake yur own bread. Hie thee to the library and check out "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." It really isn't five minutes, but this guy has made it really easy to have a loaf of bread in the oven five minutes after you get the oven heated.

And if you bake a lot, you may want to drop by a local donut shop and ask them if they will add a fifty-pound bag of unbleached flour for you in their next order. Typically it's a lot less expensive than anywhere else, including the big box stores.

Don't ask at a bread bakery, though. They certainly aren't in business to help you compete with them.

storage of flour:

Go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy their 5-gallon paint buckets with lids. Food safe and seal tightly.

Alternatively, you can frequently get them for nothing from McD's or similar. do NOT, though, get the buckets used to store pickles. The smell will not come out.