Meyer Lemon and Sage Focaccia

I love spending a Sunday afternoon with dough. I've never been a big baker in terms of cupcakes and cookies, but playing around with breads is a blast. Focaccia is an easy one. One long proof (which I do warm for a relatively short time in a closed oven, rather than chilled for twelve hours in the fridge—yikes) and then a brief rise once its rolled out in the pan.

Using the same ingredient set from last year's Pesto and Mozzarella Focaccia, I made a few adjustments beyond changing the toppings. Rather than baking at 400 degrees for 15–20 minutes, I risked a 425 bake temp for 20 minutes. The outside was darker, with a crunchy, savory interior. Definitely an improvement.

Topped with thiiinly sliced lemons (blanched before sliced to cut down on the bitterness of the rind) and shredded fresh sage, drizzled olive oil, plus a sprinkling of sea salt and sugar. I can see myself remaking and tweaking toppings and sighing happily over this recipe for a long time.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons rapid-rise dry yeast
1 cup water, warmed to about 115 degrees
2 tablespoons sugar
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling the mixing bowl

For the topping:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 organic Meyer lemons
6–8 sage leaves, torn to bits
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon sea salt


Method:

1. In the bowl of your standing mixer, combine the yeast, water, and sugar. Stir to dissolve, and let sit for 3 minutes, until foamy. With the mixer fitted with a dough hook, turn the mixer on low speed and slowly add 3 1/2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Add the dissolved salt (doesn’t have to be completely dissolved) and slowly pour in the olive oil. When the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium and mix for about 8-10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Add the remaining flour a tablespoon at a time if the dough is too sticky.

2. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and knead a few times before forming the dough into a round ball. Place the dough ball into a large oiled bowl, turning it so that it is coated with olive oil. Leave the dough ball in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size.

3. Meanwhile, fill a small saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Add the whole lemons and blanch for 2–3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water. Then slice the lemons as thinly as possible and set aside.

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and coat a sheet pan with olive oil. Turn out the dough on your work surface. Roll and stretch the dough roughly into a rectangular shape; the dough should be about a 1/2 inch thick. Transfer the dough to the oiled sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 15 minutes.

5. Uncover the dough and top with lemon slices and shredded sage. Drizzle olive oil on top and sprinkle with sea salt and sugar. Bake for around 20 minutes, until dough is dark brown and lemons have begun to brown around the edges too. Let cool on a wire rack for 5–10 minutes until serving.

Buttermilk and Bacon Grease Cornbread

Ya know, I've spent the entire twenty-five years of my life in Louisiana, but this dish—more than anything—hammered home that I'm a Southern girl.

There's a lot to love about the South. I eschew the camo and pick-up trucks. But the food...my God, the food.

We're having a potluck at work tomorrow, and I opted to do another Test Kitchen: Creole crawfish and tasso chowder from New Orleans' The Bombay Club. For my addition/enhancement, I went with this cornbread, sourced from Local Milk, the most gorgeous blog I've seen in a while. I don't have natural light in my kitchen—nor do I have that blogger's photography skills. But I'll be damned if I didn't turn out a delicious product. So I'm sure you will too.

So render your bacon, whisk your dry ingredients, pre-heat your cast-iron...and brace yourself. Delicious bread is coming.

Cornmeal mixed with bacon grease—so golden.

Buttermilk Bacon Grease Cornbread (adapted from Local Milk)
Yield: 1 10-inch skillet of cornbread

1 1/4 cup cornmeal
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons bacon grease (I rendered this from two slices fried, which also greased the skillet for the cornbread)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon baking soda, made into a slurry with a bit of water

1. Pre-heat oven to 425. Once bacon is fried, place skillet into oven while it is heating.
2. Whisk together cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Use hands to mix in bacon grease until mixture has achieved a sandy texture.
4. Stir in eggs and buttermilk well. Add in baking soda slurry and combine completely.
5. Pour mixture evenly into heated cast-iron and bake for twenty minutes, until top is golden-brown.

Rosemary Pepper Drop Biscuits

This week at the Country Roads' Test Kitchen, I'm trying out Café Sbisa's shrimp épicé. In the New Orleans restaurant's dish, pan-seared shrimp swims in a delicious sea of andouille cream sauce. Café Sbisa serves their shrimp over a baked Focaccia biscuit, but I elected to go another route.

Rosemary pepper drop biscuits: simple, delicious, and cheap! I found the recipe on a blog called Budget Bytes, which I'm bookmarking right away. I find it far too easy to let my culinary ambitions lead my poor wallet all over town, so lately I've been trying to make my cooking experience work toward my finances. It does seem possible!

These biscuits provided an impeccable delivery system for the andouille sauce (which I must describe to you: notes of honey, soy, and ginger; sharp red onion; ripe tomatoes; and, of course, andouille and cream. It's even better than it sounds.)

It'd be a crime to miss a drop. And here's why you don't have to:

Rosemary pepper drop biscuits (from Budget Bytes)


Yield: 8 biscuits

Ingredients:(Note: Budget Bytes has, as expected, excellent budget-related info related to this recipe. Check it out at the link above!)
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp freshly cracked pepper
1 tsp sugar
approx. 1 cup milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Roughly chop the rosemary to prevent large, sharp pieces. Combine the dry ingredients (rosemary, pepper, flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder) in a large bowl and stir until well combined.
2. Take the butter out of the refrigerator just prior to using it. Slice the butter into pieces. Add the pieces of cold butter to the dry ingredients and work it in until the mixture takes on a sandy texture.
3. Starting with ¾ cup, add just enough milk to moisten the mixture into a thick, paste-like texture (see photos below). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop 8 dollops of the biscuit dough onto the paper (about ⅔ cup each).
4. Bake the biscuits in the fully preheated 400 degree oven for 18-22 minutes or until they are golden brown on the surface. Serve warm.

Pesto and Mozzarella Focaccia

How can you have tomato soup without a cheesy bread to sop it up?

This week in the Country Roads Test Kitchen, I revived the roasted tomato soup recipe from Il Posto Cafe in uptown New Orleans. Find the recipe here.

The soup, with its tremendous depth of flavor, needed an ideal dipping companion. I chose focaccia because it's easy and quick to make, and I love the freedom to spread my desired toppings over the dough before baking--like fancy pizza!

I adapted the pesto focaccia recipe from Whisks and Whimsy (which I hope has a meandering sister blog out there known as "Whisky and Whims.") Shamefully, I did not make my own pesto, because my food processor is broken right now. But my abashed, hanging head was rewarded with the lovely scent of roasting tomatoes. So instead of "Sorry I'm not sorry," I guess it's "I'm not sorry I'm sorry!" If that makes sense...

Back to the recipe! Once my dough was properly combined in my stand mixer (with the dough hook attachment), I left it to proof in the oven while I ran to the store for everything else. Perfect timing. All I had to do when I came back was roll out the dough, top it with pesto, onions, and fresh mozzarella, and throw it (or ya know, carefully set it down while wearing oven mitts and squinting at the heat waves) in the oven for 25 minutes.

While the bread cooled slightly, I finished my tomato soup. Then sliced the bread. Then dipped. Then sighed. Happy eating!

Pesto and Mozzarella Focaccia
Makes one large pan.

2 teaspoons rapid-rise dry yeast
1 cup water, warmed to about 115 degrees
2 tablespoons sugar
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
1/4 cup prepared pesto
4 oz. fresh mozzarella (pearls or torn into 1/2-inch pieces)
1/2 yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced

1. In the bowl of your standing mixer, combine the yeast, water and sugar. Stir to dissolve, and let sit for 3 minutes, until foamy. With the mixer fitted with a dough hook, turn the mixer on low speed and slowly add 3 1/2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Add the dissolved salt (doesn’t have to be completely dissolved) and slowly pour in the olive oil. When the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium and mix for about 8-10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Add the remaining flour a tablespoon at a time if the dough is too sticky.

2. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and knead a few times before forming the dough into a round ball. Place the dough ball into a large oiled bowl, turning it so that it is coated with olive oil. Leave the dough ball in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and coat a sheet pan with olive oil. Turn out the dough on your work surface. Roll and stretch the dough roughly into a rectangular shape (doesn’t have t be perfect); the dough should be about a 1/2 inch thick. Transfer the dough to the oiled sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 15 minutes.

4. Uncover the dough and use your fingertips to make dimples in the dough. Brush the dough with extra-virgin olive oil and then brush the dough lightly with the prepared pesto and top with fresh mozzarella and onion slices. Bake the bread in the lower third of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until the top is golden.