Reviews « Kamloops Portrait Photographer – Dani K. Johnson

Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Food: Lahey, Stecca, and a Sandwich

January 2, 2010

A while back I watched the now famous Jim Lahey in his video with the New York Times, making his No Knead Bread. I’d heard rumors of this method on the internet, but the lack of a dutch oven made the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes method much more accessible. So, I’ve been making that for the past few months with decent success. I wasn’t entirely satisfied, longing for a better texture. So, when Lahey’s book My Bread arrived with the new library books, and I saw that not all of his recipes required a dutch oven, I snatched it up and brought it home.

His recipe for Stecca was the first one that I jumped on – a sort of Italian style baguette. So easy. So delicious. Honestly, the best bread that I have ever made.

After a few weeks of baking this recipe every week, I tried one of his sandwich recipes: Prosciutto, Mango, and fresh Basil. The flavor was stunning, totally balancing and needing no mayo or sauces at all – just the bread and the three fillings. Divine. The only change I made was to fry up the prosciutto until crisp.

Stecca
by Jim Lahey with Rick Flaste
from My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method
(W.W. Norton, 2009)
Makes 4 thin stick-shaped 18-inch loaves; 1 1/3 pounds

The name of this bread—stecca, or “stick” in Italian—is one I simply made up to describe it, since it has a narrow shape. It’s based on the faster-rising pizza bianca dough you’ll find in the pizza section and is stretched into such a narrow rope that it bakes rapidly. It is also baked on a baking sheet rather than in a pot. In this case, even though I get a good, brittle crust, it’s thinner than most of the other breads in this section. Because I wanted to use it for sandwiches, I was aiming for a lighter-colored, less-assertive loaf of bread to encase the filling ingredients without overpowering them. But the olive oil glaze and coarse salt make it very flavorful on its own.

Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups cool (55 to 65°F) water
Additional flour for dusting
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Method
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, table salt, sugar, and yeast. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.

2. When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Fold the dough over itself two or three times and gently shape it into a somewhat flattened ball. Brush the surface of the dough with some of the olive oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the coarse salt (which will gradually dissolve on the surface).

3. Place a tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

4. Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C), with a rack in the center. Oil a 13-by-18-by-1-inch baking sheet.

5. Cut the dough into quarters. Gently stretch each piece evenly into a stick shape approximately the length of the pan. Place on the pan, leaving at least 1 inch between the loaves. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt.

6. Bake the baguettes for 15 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then use a spatula to transfer the stecca to a rack to cool thoroughly.

Note: The baguettes may become a bit soggy in just a few hours because of the salt on the surface. If that happens, reheat the loaves in a hot oven until crisp.

Variation: Stecca Pomodori, all’Olive, o al’Aglio (Stecca with Tomatoes, Olives, or Garlic)
Push 10 cherry tomato halves, cut side up, 10 large pitted olives, or 10 lightly crushed garlic cloves into each formed stecca, taking care to space the additions evenly down the length of the dough. Brush each stecca with enough olive oil to create a thin coat of oil on the surface. For the tomato stecca, top each tomato half with a very thin slice of garlic and a couple of fresh thyme leaves, and sprinkle with salt. Sprinkle the garlic stecca with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Do not salt the olive stecca—it’s already salty from the olives.

Posted in Food, Reviews | 1 Comment »

The Quo Vadis Business: A Planner Review

December 1, 2009

Earlier this year, I was sent a package of goodies from Exaclair, Inc (the US distributor of fine products by Clairefontaine, Exacompta, Rhodia, Quo Vadis, and more). I was a late shot-in-the-dark addition to their planner review offer (aka, they send me a planner, I review it on my blog), and they happened to have a few left that no one had claimed. Not only did I get in on the offer, but I got the exact planner I wanted – and more. The kindly Karen Doherty sent me a Quo Vadis Business planner in an orange Habana cover (4″x6″), as well as the Minister planner in the same cover (approx 6″ x 9″), a Clairefontaine spiral notebook, an orange Rhodia pad, and a sketchbook. Oh, the wealth!

All this arrived partly into the new year, and I was also waiting on some fountain pens and ink to play with. The agreement was: a review in exchange for a planner, but it seemed a bit late to be posting a review of a product that probably sells the most from November to early January. Also, it seemed a lot of other reviews I had seen didn’t really put the planner to work. I decided to hold off and post a review later in the year, when I had spent some true practical time using the planner, and when people would be actually looking online for reviews.

Honestly, I was skeptical of the vertical format. I hated it at first, and it’s perhaps a good thing that I gave it time before publishing a review. I thought there wouldn’t be room to write, that the lines for hours were a waste of space for my schedule. I was flipping through Moleskine weekly planners with their more horizontal layouts – I even bid on a few on eBay (unsuccessfully – why pay much when you have free one to use?). But now that I’ve put this baby to good use, I love the format and find it difficult to see how the other type of layout would work for me! One complaint, though, is that the Sunday really would be best as a full column. My Sundays are BUSY days and it’s tough trying to get it all written on the bottom of the page.. sometimes I just skip it and try to just remember my plans for that day.

I love the tear-out corners for fast jumps to the current week, as well as the space on the right side for notes. The breakdown of the notes into catagories doesn’t really work for me, but that’s easily overcome by just writing over the faint titles.

Most importantly: I was able to write with my fountain pens (using my standard ink: Noodler’s Black) without the slightest bleed-through on the pages. The sewn binding lays flat nicely and held up to abuse as I carried the small book in my purse all year – didn’t lose a single page. There are only a few smudges to show age, and the elastic band still has a nice snap to it.

I loved the quality of the paper. The Minister planner, which is almost identical aside from size, had better paper perhaps, but I didn’t find it necessary for something I was only jotting in here and there. It’s not as if it is a full journal. I much prefer the Business for it’s size – tiny and portable!

All-in-all, I give it my vote. Great product!

Posted in Reviews | No Comments »

My New Favorite Sketchbook

December 30, 2008

I’ve started drawing again. I don’t remember stopping, but at some point in my “growing up,” I apparently did.

Somewhere, I think, my mom has a kept crayon sketch of multi-colored triangle girls, boxy men, and lollipop trees from my early years. I took a class or two on drawing and shading when I was around 10ish, and eventually graduated to pencil and charcoal. Secret City Adventures on PBS was an obsession for quite a while, as was drawing most of the Peanuts characters on old manilla folders.

My dancing showed a lot of promise, according to my instructor. I tended to lug a camera around everywhere, though I didn’t often have spare money for film and developing. Growing up, I loved having a sketchbook or notepad on hand, and art supplies were a frequent birthday or Christmas present. My room contained wonders enough to delight most artistic children: books, paper, paints, pens/pencils, kneaded erasers, cheap cameras and the freedom of not being “in school.” I had enough natural talent to get me started, but not enough drive or discipline to maintain any momentum on my own.

It has often been a regret of mine that I never had music lessons, or continuing lessons in drawing or the arts of any kind. I always think that maybe, had I had some structure like that, I would have accomplished more as an artist. Perhaps, now, I would be a successfully starving artist, instead of having a nice, low-stress union job.

So, why the sudden burst of reminiscing? Well, last week, my very first Moleskine (mol-a-skeen-a) arrived in the mail. I’m a bit of a sucker for notebooks and have been wanting to get my hands on a Moleskine since I first saw them. I think it was at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, years ago. I never really felt I could justify the price. So, a couple weeks ago, when I ran across a few for a good price online, I couldn’t resist picking a couple up to give them a try.

The pocket sketchbook won the vote, and was the first to be opened and used. A few days later and I am wondering why I never made the investment before! I’ve been going about my sketchbook buying all wrong before this. Extra large always seemed like the best deal, thought sometimes I would settle for medium sized sketchbooks as a compromise for portability. This past weekend, I have been drawing like I used to draw when I was young (only better, surprisingly). With each page filled, old memories are flooding back and sketching/doodling/drawing is suddenly fun and relaxing again. The reasons for this have been slowly occurring to me, and I have added them to the following overview of this sketchbook:

Moleskine Pocket Sketchbook

Size: 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches (Pocket)

-This size is ideal for me. Unlike past sketchbooks, the pages are tiny and less daunting. I realize now that the smaller pages invite me to use them. I don’t feel like I am wasting a whole page with a doodle, or that I need to draw something epic. It’s easier to pack around in my purse/tote/pocket, and will obviously get used more by just being with me.

Binding: Hardcover, thread-bound signatures

-Stitched binding is a must for this kind of book. Years ago I switched to spiral bound notebooks, though not ideal, because I couldn’t stand not being able to lay my notebooks out completely flat. I’ve always preferred the look of a hardcover book, however, and this little beauty flattens right out.

Paper: 80 pages of acid-free, heavy, top quality

-I’ve heard some complaints about the number of pages and the smoothness of the paper in the sketchbook, but both work well for me. 80 pages is a nice, doable number of pages for a book this size. It’s thick enough to sit nicely in your hand, but not bulky. Filling it up should take a little while, but not too painfully long either.

I am in love with the paper! I’m typically a pen or pencil sketcher, so it works perfectly for what I do. Many other sketchbooks I’ve used have had too much “tooth” to them for my taste. Something significant about the paper hit me yesterday: it reminds me of those old manila folders I so loved to draw on as a child. They were my favorite, and I don’t think I’ve loved drawing on anything else quite as much. Now I’ve got something oh-so-similar, nicely bound in a convenient little book. It’s glorious!