It’s becoming a habit that on Saturday mornings, after WW and running errands, I usually don’t eat until around 11:30 or 12:00.  Yesterday I had an egg sammie on my three hour baguette.   In case you are wondering, I am definitely making this bread again – soon!

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I baked up some corn chips – Danica cut her tortillas into 6ths, I did mine in 4ths – so 8 chips are 2 points – 16 chips are 4 points.  I think I need to make breakfast nachos this week!  This was how many I got from one package!  I also baked mine between 7-8 minutes at 400.

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So the second bread that I made was called Filone.  An Italian bread made with a biga that I made the night before last.  Here is what it looked like – look at all those air bubbles!

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Add the rest of the flour, salt, and olive oil and then let the dough rest for 2 hours.

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After two hours, divide the dough in half – place both loaves on parchment paper and let rise another hour.  Heat oven to 425 with a baking stone on the middle rack, and a cast iron skillet on the bottom rack.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until done – mine was done at 35 minutes (not 50 like the recipe said).  I added 1 cup of ice cubes to the cast iron skillet when I put the bread in the oven – careful because it steams up.

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We liked this bread, but compared to the baguette – the baguette won hands down.  I would describe this as a soft bread – perfect for making sandwiches.

Filone

– from Saveur’s May 2012 Magazine

  • 1 2/3 cup water heated to 115 degrees, divided
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast, divided
  • 3 1/4 cup flour plus 2/3 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup ice cubes

Mix 1/3 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon of yeast, let rest for 10 minutes.  Add 2/3 cup flour and mix until smooth, about two minutes.  This is the biga, or starter.  Put it in a bowl and let it sit in a cool oven for one hour, then transfer to refrigerator overnight.

Take the biga out of the fridge and let it come to room temp – about 30 minutes.  Add to bowl and add 1 1/3 cup water, 1 teaspoon yeast and stir until the biga starts to dissolve a bit.  Add in the remaining 3 1/4 cups flour with oil and salt.  Just mix until the flour is incorporated, let rest 210 minutes.  This step apparently hydrates the flour.

Knead the dough on your counter, adding just enough flour so it doesn’t stick to your hands or the counter.  Knead for 10 minutes.  Transfer the dough to a bowl with olive oil and let rise for two hours.

After two hours, divide the dough into two loaves.  Let rest for another hour.  Bake at 425 on a baking stone for 30-40 minutes, adding ice cubes to a cast iron skillet.

I know it seems like a lot of steps, but other than the 10 minutes of kneading, its just waiting for the dough to rise. 

Tony and I were watching America’s Test Kitchen yesterday.  That show invariable has a recipe that we both look at each other and think “we need to make that!”  I already had a pork butt on my grocery list, but was planning on making pulled pork sandwiches. 

Their recipe was for St. Louis Barbecue Pork Steaks.  For one, I had no idea you could cut a pork butt into “steaks.”  The premise is that you just pepper the pork steaks on both sides, start them off on the grill, but then off the heat, simmer the pork in the St. Louis bbq sauce low and slow for 90 minutes.

If you do nothing else, you need to make this bbq sauce – its tangy, not too spicy and a touch smokey because of the liquid smoke.  It made a lot so you can store the rest in the fridge.

St. Louis BBQ Sauce

  • 1.5 cups ketchup
  • 2 cups beer (I used Miller Lite)
  • 1/4 cup A.1 steak sauce
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce
  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke

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I ended up using only 1/3 of this roast – the rest I’ll still braise for pulled pork sammies – not a bad price – 1.89 a pound. Open-mouthed smile

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The marbled fat sort of melts into the bbq sauce – the meat was so tender.

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These were pretty big pork steaks – I ended up eating only half of it before being stuffed.  I chopped up the other half and tossed it in some more bbq sauce to make mini sliders for one of my lunches this week.

Last day to enter your BSI recipes – the secret ingredient is flour!  Either leave a link in the comments section, or you can email me at mybizzykitchen@gmail.com.

My SIL is coming over for Sunday dinner tonight – I am grilling a whole chicken and making a tarragon pan sauce, with cauliflower gratin and green beans.  And she’ll be picking up her lunches for the week: 

  • grilled Italian chicken breast with cauliflower gratin and green beans
  • chicken fried rice
  • bbq pork with baked beans, corn and zucchini
  • beef fajitas with crock pot refried beans and baked chips
  • Indian spiced tomato soup with meatballs

Gotta get bizzy – aren’t you guys so happy I can type fast?!   Make it a great day!