Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Raviolis, No-Knead Bread, & Salad!

First off... I made my second loaf of No-Knead Bread today. Well, I started it yesterday, and finished it today. I'm sure most of you have heard of it by now... It's a cool recipe that involves letting the dough sit for 18 hours! It's fun, and it makes AMAZING results!

Here is the bread dough, all sticky and bubbly after fermenting for 18 hours. I used 2/3 regular flour, and 1/3 whole wheat pastry flour. I am going to keep getting more and more adventurous with flour varieties.

Here is the dough after its rising period.

Here it is, still in the pyrex dish (my lame substitute for a proper dutch oven).

Here it is... in all its glory!

Sliced! Of course, I had to have a couple little pieces when it was still warm I don't get that opportunity very often. : )


Tonight for dinner I made some of these delicious Rising Moon vegan Garlic & Vegetable raviolis. Yumola. These are very good, and occassionally go on sale at my local health food store. I always grab up a box or two at such times!

In addition to the raviolis I made a nice big salad: with cabbage, julienned chiogga beets, julienned carrots, celery, and spring lettuce mix & arugula. I'm not really a huge arugula fan (too spicy!), but I recently learned that it's loaded with calcium... so it's another project for me! Also, you can see our beautiful piece of toast from the bread. OOOh that toast was so good! Musty and my mom and I were all raving about it.

Here's a cute little picture of the grapefruit that I had as a snack this afternoon. It had one seed, which I removed... see that funny hole? It was a great piece of fruit!

14 comments:

  1. Yum yum! I have yet to try the no knead bread. :) That ravioli and grapefruit look divine!

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  2. Anonymous6:57 AM

    My no-knead bread certainly hasn't come out looking like that yet but I've got to keep experimenting. I'm wondering if here in the East you need slightly less water because of the humidity. The couple of times I've tried this recipe the taste has been good but the shape has been very flat. At least in part because the dough was too wet to hold its shape.

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  3. I'm going to try that no-knead bread again, but I've decided to wait until it gets just a little warmer. Last time I made it, it was a disaster... I love your salad with all the pretty veggies. Is arugula also called rocket? I don't like rocket at all.

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  4. Wow - no-knead bread! How come I haven't heard of this before?? Where did you get the recipe? Does it contain yeast or is it sourdough? I must make this!

    I also love Rising Moon ravioli, but it's so darn expensive. Like you, I wait until it's on sale...then I get a yummy treat!

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  5. Hi Ruthie!
    I love the no-knead... it's the best bread I've ever made! YUM.

    Hi Chris!
    My dough was also a bit too wet to hold its shape, especially at first. I think having the right size/shape baking pot will really help. I used 1 5/8 c water... is that how much you used? The first time I made it, the dough was actually a lot more dry, and it still came out great - so maybe give it a try with reducing the water a bit. There's a lot of information out there online about variations and adjustments. Some people let the dough ferment for 24 hours instead of 18!... All sorts of things. So, it seems like there's room for variation

    Hi Laura,
    Yeah, I'd say it's worth trying again. Both times I've made it, the no-knead bread has turned out wonderfully. And a warm house helps... It's supposed to sit for 12-18 hours at around 70 degrees. We keep our house pretty warm, so that worked well. So maybe it will be easier in the summer!? And yes, I think that maybe arugula IS called rocket sometimes. It's very spicy.

    Hi Kati,
    I added a link to the original recipe from the NY Times... but there's LOADS of info and variations out there on the internet. There's even a flickr group dedicated solely to the no-knead bread! It's a yeast bread, but has a slight sourdough flavor. It's only got 1/4 t yeast in it, but because it sits for so long it somehow works. MMM. It's worth trying!

    :) Amey

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  7. I think I knead that bread recipe.

    I loev those ravioli--just wish they weren't so expensive. But then again, they're worth the moeny, because I would never make them from scratch.

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  8. I need to try that bread! It looks so good! Although I do kind of like the kneading part of making bread, but I am willing to give it a miss to get bread that looks like that!
    And just to say to Laura that arugula and rocket are the same thing. In the UK we call it rocket and when I moved to the US I had no idea what arugula was!

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  9. I love arugula and all the spicy lettuces, so I would have loved your salad! Your bread looks wonderful. Does it taste like sourdough?

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  10. The no-knead bread has always worked like a charm for me! My husband's an artisan baker and even he's impressed. Did you use a lid with your pyrex or bake as is? The loaf is beautiful!

    And thanks for reminding me we have a pkg. of that ravioli in the freezer. =)

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  11. Oooh, the no-knead bread looks scrumptious. I still haven't gotten around to trying it. Those raviolis looks yummy too :)

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  12. Hi UV!
    Ha ha! Aren't you clever with words! I added a link to the recipe for the no-knead bread. It's stunningly easy. And it's true what you say about the raviolis being worth the cost, since you won't make by hand. I've done that a couple of times, but they didn't turn out great.

    Hi Scottish Vegan,
    Thanks for clearing up our rocket/arugula mystery! I've seen "rocket" in some of my veggie cookbooks and thought "what are these people talking about??" Now I know! Also, I agree that kneading bread is very nice... but this is just the best looking & tasting bread I've ever made, so it's worth the sacrifice!

    Hi aTXvegan!
    How great that you are an arugula lover. So is Musty. It's something for me to aspire to! The bread has a slight sourdough flavor, but not overpowering. It's a great flavor.

    Hi Mamafabun,
    Yeah, the no-knead has worked great for me too! The hardest thing is finding when to start the whole thing so that I'll be available 18 hours later! Yes, I do cook the bread with the lid on, and just take it off for a few minutes at the end. In my oven, with my little pyrex, I cook it for 30 minutes with the lid on, and only about 5 minutes or so with the lid off (the recipe calls for another 15-30 min w/o the lid).

    :)

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  13. Your breads always look like a work of art. (Well so do your tarts, your cakes, your salads, everything, really!) I want to do some serious baking (a.k.a. pounding out my frustrations) this weekend... thanks for the inspiration.

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  14. Thanks, springsandwells! Yes, I've found that my bread doesn't have much trouble browning, even with the lid on so my baking time once removing it is shorter, too.

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