A Few of My Favorite Spices (and Fancy Salt)

Bottom, starting in the front: Sea Salt (coarse grain hollow pyramids), Ground Nutmeg,
Sumac Berries, Smoked Spanish Paprika, Aleppo Pepper, Indonesian Cinnamon (Korintje)

One of the most interesting-shaped food accessories I use, although not often, is coarse grain sea salt. The delicate crystals are scooped from the surface of the brine and allowed to dry by wind and sun - creating a miniature hollow pyramid shaped crystal. The coarse salt is fantastic on fresh heirloom tomatoes drizzled with olive oil but maybe next time I'll try it mixed with an herb butter on warm bread.

Nutmeg is a great spice to keep around because it works in both sweet and savory dishes. I'm a firm believer that nutmeg works with any meat: ground beef, shredded chicken, pork chop, lamb kebob...yes everything. Take your nutmeg beyond the pumpkin pie - perhaps to eggnog land or latte town. Potato salad, scrambled eggs, sweet potato muffins, hot cider.

Turkish ground sumac berries were new to me until I found a spice store that allowed me to smell the herbs and spices before buying. Smelling food helps me think about how to use it. Ground sumac is often sprinkled on top of hummus (although paprika works too) along with a olive oil. It is fruity and sour and works well when you'd use lemon in a dish by brightening the flavors and adding that sour note to something already salty/sweet/bitter.

My love of Spanish paprika is in need of censoring. Smoky, peppery, bitter, sweet. Great mixed with salt, black pepper and olive oil and rubbed on vegetables before roasting or sprinkled on top of a creamy potato or squash soup. Eggs, chicken, salad dressing....

Aleppo pepper is another spice I'd never used before I had the chance to smell it but right after bringing it home I read that it was the number one underused/favorite spice of 2011. Okay. Good, I'm all about being trendy. It's got a little heat that definitely builds in dishes that sit overnight. It dresses up my favorite thin crust pizza (Whole Foods, no really) and works well with strong meaty dishes.

And finally cinnamon. Not just any cinnamon, because there are different kinds and when you find this out it will blow your mind, maybe, just a little. Indonesian cinnamon or korintje is strong, warm, spicy, sweet and delicious. I've put it in every baked good for the past year - chocolate muffins, banana bread, carrot cake, oatmeal cookies and would never have oatmeal without it. In fact, I should take it with me when I travel, that won't be suspicious at all!

Rustic Dutch Oven Bread: No-Knead But You'll Need It

After the first bread making party (two people eating a warm loaf of homemade bread slathered with honey butter while standing in the middle of the kitchen) we fell in love! In love with fresh, warm bread. This version is even easier than the basic bread recipe, as if that's possible. This no-knead bread is cooked in a Dutch oven to replicate the steam in commercial ovens - it produces a crusty outside and soft, dense, chewy inside.

Time and yeast pretty much do all the work for you. Look at all those glorious bubbles! It only took 18 hours. It's a very wet dough but not terribly sticky. This is our second batch of dough - dryer than the original recipe featured in the New York Times - because we used 3/8 of a cup less water. The bread itself was still moist.

Pour it out onto a well-floured surface, fold a few times, cover and let rest. Voila! So easy.

A little course-ground cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking to the towel and ultimately the Dutch oven. And then all you have to do it delicately drop the dough into the pot...POOF!!

Flour and cornmeal everywhere. No biggie.

Blurry action shot. We're really excited about digging into this rustic goodness. That kind of excited where you're drizzling a slice with honey while talking about adding cheese to the next slice.

Virgin slice. With Meadowfoam honey from Colorado. With melted Cotswald cheese (it melts into all the nooks and crannies!)


Recipe Time: Rustic Dutch Oven Bread: No-Knead but you'll Need It
adapted from the New York Times who adapted it from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
1 loaf
About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 C all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp Kosher salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.
1 1/2  C water

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. {this is the how much water we used but their recipe called for 1 5/8 C}
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes. {we covered it with a towel}
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger. {we used cornmeal}
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. {we used a 6 quart enamel Dutch oven and cooled it on a plate}