Bread a French Man Might Be Proud Of

A delicious loaf of French bread laden with marinated green olives and minced garlic.  Magnificent.

I worked for a semester with a native Frenchman.  Actually, we became friends and even shared a hotel room for several days during a scientific conference.  He always made fun of American bread, and usually I agreed with him.  One time I brought him a Baguette from a baker in SLC that I thought was wonderful, but even that didn't quite meet his raised bar for bread.  One of my last meetings with him was when he had returned from a trip to Paris, he had purchased a loaf from a real Paris bakery on his way to the airport, carefully wrapped it, and guarded it all the way back to Utah for me.  It truly was a work of art.  Unfortunately, the dry cabin air in the overhead bins had not been kind to the bread as it flew the great northern route over greenland, so what I tasted still wasn't true French bread... just its freeze dried shadow.

That said, over the past year or so I have been trying different bread recipes and have settled on a very easy method using a stand mixer that produces great tasting bread.

Ingredients:

1 and 1/4 cups hot tap water
2 tsp fresh dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Approximately 3 cups bread flour

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

I vary the amount of hot water between 1 and 1.25 cups depending on how big I want my loaf (or pizza crust) to be.  I use hot water straight from the tap, after I have waited for it to get as hot as it will get.  I don't usually measure the temperature, but I have before and our hot water is 135 degrees.  Add the hot water to the mixer bowl, immediately followed by the yeast.  Mix the yeast in a bit, and let it sit for a minute or two to get rehydrated.  Add the sugar, mix, at let sit for a minute or so to get the yeast going.  Then, add the salt and mix.  A little more yeast can be added for faster rising dough.

Most bread recipes give very exact measurements, and this is great, but it is kind of pointless unless you use a good scale to weight your flour and have already adapted the recipe to your location.  I think it is far better to undershoot on the flour, then add a little bit more at a time until the dough is the right consistency.  It might take a couple of times to figure out what the right consistency looks like.  The nice part is that bread that is made with a small imbalance of flour still usually tastes great.  The right consistency is more wet than you might imagine, but the dough should be pulling away from the bowl as it is mixed.  Just add flour a little at a time, if you add a tad too much I wouldn't go back trying to fix it with more water... just move on.

The dough, doubled in size before kneading.

A word about flour: if you want good tasting bread, the type of flour you buy is critical.  I have found that nothing beats FRESH flour made specifically for baking bread.  I have used lots of different flours by now, and the multi purpose flours were very disappointing.  Blue Bird flour was the worst.  Gold medal better for bread was okay, Lehi Roller Mills artisan bread flour was really good, and Red Rose bread flour has been the best.  I have used expired better for bread flour given to me by my in-laws with disastrous results.

Mix the dough for a few minutes before you add the extra four to bring the dough up to the right consistency.  I do this in my Kitchen Aid on speed one for about 4-5 minutes while the dough is still wet enough to stick to the walls of the bowl.  Then I add flour at 1/4 cup at time, waiting for it to fully mix in between doses, until it is right.  After all the flour is added, include some aromatic ingredients if desired (the dough pictured above has some chopped green olives and minced garlic).

Grease your hands and pull the dough out of the bowl and form it into a ball.  This is best done by holding the dough with both of your hands, palms facing up, and poking the dough with your fingers up through the bottom.  Grease the mixing bowl, replace the dough, and cover to let it rise.  If you are in a hurry, the dough can rise in as little as 30 minutes in a sink full of hot water.  I let mine sit at room temperature for about 3 hours (while we are gone to church).  I have found that the slower you let it rise, the more flavorful the dough becomes.  In the refrigerator overnight produces great results.  But, about half the time I make bread I let it rise for an hour.

Flour your counter top and overturn the bowl of risen dough so that it falls onto the flour.    If you knead the dough, it redistributes the sugar for the yeast to eat and expels the carbon dioxide inhibiting activity so that the dough can rise better.  But, it makes the dough very elastic (it shrinks back after you stretch it out).  I kneed my dough sparingly, by folding it and squishing it about 10 times.  If I am miking a loaf of bread, I don't care if it is elastic.  If I am making pizza, I wait a few minutes after kneading to let the dough relax so that I can form it easier.  Form the dough into a loaf shape in a way that stretches the dough as you shape it.  Stretch it so that the skin of the loaf is tight, but not ripping.  You can stretch the skin of a baguette by pushing the loaf across the counter, making sure to leave your hands firm on the counter.

The dough rolled out before proofing.

Place to dough on/in your pan and let it proof for a few minutes.  I have had better luck with short proofing times, say 10-20 minutes.  Cut slits on the top of the dough with a very sharp knife, to allow the loaf to expand while baking without ripping.  Place the loaf in the oven, fully preheated to 400 F, and spill some water in a pan in the bottom to produce steam during the first minute or so of baking.  Steaming the dough at the beginning is well worth the small amount of extra effort.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes (the loaf should sound hollow when you thump it with your thumb), and cool for a few minutes before cutting into it.

The Depot Grill in Cedar City, UT: A Mixed-Bag Attempt at Fine Dining

http://depotgrillrestaurant.com/
The Depot Grill in Cedar City recently arrived advertised as "your first stop for savory steaks, and the finest seafood," with a chef that is "world renowned" delivering the "best food Cedar City has to offer."

My wife and I were excited to try them on our anniversary, the one day of the year that we splurge ordering whatever we want at a fancy place.  According to the accounts of the locals, the best place to eat in Cedar has been Milts or Rusty's up the canyon, but The Depot Grill is finally an alternative.

I put on a nice shirt, and my wife a new dress I bought her.  We were struck by the contrast of strong points and short comings.  First, the strong points.

The Depot Grill has great ambiance.  We entered to soft theme music, dim lighting, and fine artwork.  The staff was young and inexperienced, but desperately trying to be professional (which was cute).  I ordered the filet mignon with a port reduction, roasted red potatoes, and vegetables.  My wife got grilled halibut with a blueberry sauce, on a potato cake which appears to already be removed from their online menu.

Actually, I believe that there is a great chef in the kitchen here, the sauces were awesome.

The Filet Mignon

Unfortunately, the great sauces and ambiance are where the pluses end.  I paid $27 for my entree.  I am willing to pay that price for a great steak dinner once a year, which I expect to be amazing.  The cut of steak was great, as was the sauce, but overall the flavor was lacking.  The roasted potatoes tasted as if they were several hours old, cooked from frozen, and overwhelmed with pepper.  They looked as if they had come from the bottom of an old stock pot.  In a word, terrible.  The vegetables were advertised on the menu as seasonal, but came out suspiciously looking and tasting as if they came from a large bag in their deep freeze.  The presentation of my plate as a whole was very poor, looking like everything had just been sort of piled up on there.

The grilled Halibut with blueberry sauce.  Interestingly, the attractive side of the fish was turned downwards.

The experience of food, like people, is largely swayed by a first impression.  The Halibut was a distraught, chaotic, confused man with a worn out collar.  He had once been great, but frozen, and dragged through the mud.  Some true character remains, but is masked by his ugly shell.  However, this man had shampooed his hair with a blueberry sauce and was sitting on a lovely potato cake that was delicious.

The bread pudding (front) and creme brulee (back).

We had heard that a particular dessert they serve at the Depot was especially delicious: the whiskey sauce bread pudding.  We ordered this along with creme brulee.  While the deserts both looked lovely, the bread pudding did not live up to its reputation, it was dry (if you can believe that).  The creme brulee was near perfect, topped with fresh berries, and possessing a divinely smooth interior, but the top was over torched giving it the flavor of burnt sugar rather than sweet caramel.

In summary, The Depot Grill is probably the best dining Cedar City has to offer, though unfortunately this isn't saying a lot.

Review, Carmignani's Cedar City, UT

How I felt after eating at Carmignani's in Cedar City.

Carmignani's is a recent addition to the restaurant scene in Cedar City, Utah.  Advertised as Italian/American, my family and I were excited to try a new place.  Generally, when restaurants first open the crew is excited and well-trained and the food is excellent.  Not at Carmignani's!  They truly broke the mold.

We entered the restaurant at 12:30 in the afternoon, and were the only customers there.  A bad omen.  The place was FREEZING, the workers were visibly cold.  Clearly the move of a manager trying to pinch pennies by turning off the heat.  The workers were just hanging around a table reading the paper. The decor was early 90s.

I could have railed on this eatery without ever eating there, just walking in was unpleasant.

We order soup, salad, a hamburger, fries, garlic bread and a Diet Coke.  But wait, their soda machine is out of order, all they have is lemonade.  Dang, I guess we'll all just have water while we wait a good 30 minutes for our food in a deserted restaurant that would better be used as a meat locker.

I look over at the cook.  He looks new, brand new... as in never cooked before new.  And, he has the sniffles.  And, he isn't wearing gloves, And, he keeps wiping his nose with his hands. Gahhhh!

Our food comes out.  The hamburger isn't really a hamburger, but an oblate spheroid shaped piece of ground beef, about an inch thick and a little over an inch in diameter.  Really, it was the shape and size of a semi-squashed meat ball.  Actually, I would have preferred a meatball on a bun because meatballs usually have some flavor.  The patty was straight ground beef, no spices, not really formed into a patty, very small, and formed by a cook with a runny nose.  I marvel that a hamburger could be screwed up so bad.  Even though my wife and I were starving, we could only choke down a couple bites.

I look over at the garlic bread.  Finally, something impossible to ruin!  You could drench old 3.5" floppy disks in garlic butter and it would taste good.  That is, unless it was stale.  In that case it would be gross.  How can Carmignani's serve nasty stale garlic bread at 12:30 in the afternoon?  If it had been frozen, like what we buy from Wal-Mart, and heated then it would have tasted pretty good.  I like Pepperage Farm's garlic bread.  This was far worse than from frozen, this was like poorly made two days ago, frozen improperly, and reheated to the most unpleasant texture between bread in dirty water and a crouton.

We entered Carmignani's starving, we left Carmignani's starving and cold and worried about our health.  In short: it was a complete crap-shoot, akin to dining with the Donner party.  It was so bad, I have taken the great effort to get them added to Urban Spoon, my favorite restaurant review website, just so that I could warn people not to go there.

On Personal Fulfillment in Family

I have been struggling lately.  Ever since I took AP Chemistry from Mr. Mullen in high school, I have wanted to be a chemistry teacher.  Mullen had such an impact on my life!  He turned me on to science, he answered my questions, I developed a keen appreciation for rational thought.  I thought, if I become a teacher I could have that same impact on many different students, I could help create a generation of less ignorant, more tolerant, more thoughtful people.

Recently, the opportunity to teach suddenly popped up.  It was completely unexpected, very short notice, and very inconvenient. I haven't finished my doctoral thesis, and the university I am working for expects me to rework their physical chemistry class and labs.  This means making lecture notes for a book I didn't choose, that I have never used before, to teach a class I have never taught before (and all that entails), while also finding the equipment for a lab, writing a laboratory manual, and writing my thesis.  On top of this, I also teach physics and gen-chem labs.  This level of work load is mind-numbing insanity, and I have been progressively getting more and more depressed.  What if teaching isn't right for me at all?  What if my God-given talent would be better applied someplace else, like doing research in Germany?  Maybe I should go to Alabama where I can be near one of my few friends and do work for the DOD.  These decisions are complex, with my needs and wants entangled with my family's.  I want to have impact, I want to do good for mankind, and I want to maintain a happy life with my family.

Last night I noticed my wife had put out a new picture in a little black frame.  It is of me sitting on my motorcycle with my daughter.  I stared at my daughter's face for a long time, and tears welled up in my eyes.  My daughter is happy, truly happy.  For her to be so happy just sitting with me on my bike, she must love me.    One way or another, I must be doing a good job as a father.  I am a good dad, I thought.  Suddenly, the worry about my workload and my uncertainty about the future disappeared.  I am a good father.  I may not be having an impact on mankind, but I am having a huge impact on the life of my child.  My thesis, and class, and research, and future opportunities all pale in comparison.  I will do my best on all of that, and let come what may... but so long as I am with my kids, loving them, raising them the best I can, then my life is full enough.

I went up stairs in my pajamas, quietly entered my daughter's room, and climbed up into the top bunk where she sleeps.  "Do you want to have a sleep over?" I asked.  "Sure daddy." And I slept better than I have in a long time.

Review, Basila's in Saint George, Utah

My son, still excited from yelling "oppa" when our cheese was lit on fire.

Recently my family and I transitioned away from the city to a small town near Saint George, Utah.  Unfortunately, we never really appreciated the variety and quality of restaurants the city has to offer until we left. Now, we yearn for the tasty ethnic food we used to so often enjoy.

Saint George isn't exactly known for fine dining.  When I ask people for advice on a good place to eat they usually give me a painful sigh, and say Applebee's.  We have sniffed around and tried a few places, much to our disappointment.  Everything here is just so... medium quality.

Then, we tried Basila's.  At first I was dismayed by the help wanted ad in the front door, and the restaurant was empty at noon.  But, after getting through the front door, we were pleasantly surprised at every turn.  This is a cosy place, tactfully decorated, with good service.  The waitress was was great with our kids.

We ordered the flaming cheese, a gyro, and mac and cheese for the kids.  The cheese was everything I expected: a fried block of cheese, doused in alcohol, and flambeed in front of us as we all yelled "Oppa!"  The taste rivaled my memory of flaming cheese from a fancy Greek restaurant we at at in Anne arbor.

It is hard to imagine improving on a dish as classic as the gyro, yet these people managed.  It has the classic meat, home-made cucumber sauce, and pita but was spiced up with feta and tomatoes.  Mediterranean potato salad was served on the side, as a welcome alternative to fries.

Was this the best Mediterranean food I have ever eaten?  No, there have been big city places with beef shawarma and fresh humus that rival this place.  Is this the best restaurant that we have eaten at in 100 mile radius? Absolutely!  Would I heartily recommend it?  You bet.  After eating, I had a nice chat with the owner, who seemed to be a genuinely great guy, friendly, and helpful giving me the inside scoop on all the eats in the area.

Check out their site: http://basilas.webs.com/