This is the I just need bread with dinner, italian loaf

This is cheap, fast (in bread terms), easy and you can eat it in a couple of hours.  This is old school, no bells, whistles, just good, real, bread.

I use the kitchen aid, but you can do it by hand

TRACY'S OLD SCHOOL ITALIAN LOAF 

INGREDIENTS 

4 cups a/p flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast
2 cups VERY warm water with 2 tsp of salt dissolved in.

METHOD

Mix all ingredients to a wet but smooth dough.
Transfer to an oiled bucket with a lid.
Leave to rise till at least doubled.
Gently tip onto a heavily floured cloth, use the cloth to roll the dough into a rough log.
Transfer loaf to a parchment lined sheetpan, cover with a floured cloth, let rest
Leave to rise while oven preheats to 500 with a large container of hot water on the bottom shelf.
When the oven is hot an the loaf poofy (technical term)  put it in the hot, steamy oven and set the timer for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 400 and cook till it's done, maybe another 20?  It should sound hollow on the bottom when you knock on it.
Transfer to a rack to cool till you can't stand it any more.
EAT!

INSTRUCTIONS AND PLAY BY PLAY PICTURES

Drop the flour and yeast in a bowl, mix it up, add the salt water.  With dough hook set on 4 or so, let it go.....

    

nope, nope, nope, not yet, nope 

    

YES! Smooth.  It took 7 minutes. Transfer into a lidded bucket.  Yes, I put it in the small one by mistake and transferred it to my 4qt :) Pop the lid on and leave it till it doubles.  I'll take a pic at 30 and 60, if it takes that long.

   

Ok, this is at 30 and 50 mins...that's doubled so tip it out onto a floured cloth.  This is my linen bakers cloth, I make them, I sell them, I love them

    

Tip the dough out, look how alive it is!  Fantastic!  Dust lightly with flour and fold the bottom up, the top down, stretching a bit, gently.

    

Pull the sides up and over. This is hard with one hand! so I could take pictures.  Start to roll and pinch out the biggest bubbles on the rolled edge.

    

Ok, now roll it into a loaf

    

Ah, preheat the oven to 500 with a pan of water in there.  When the oven is hot and the loaf has poofed up (technical cooking term!) then transfer the loaf to a parchment lined baking sheet and get it into the oven,

Here's the final shots.  Oh, poofy!  I rolled it gently on the sheet pan and into the oven.  500 degrees for 10 minutes, rotate the pan and reduce the temp to 450 for another 18.  I cooked it in the top third with a huge pan of water under neath it.

  

and so here we are...  giant and cooked and crusty and crunchy... it's snap crackling and popping as it cools.  This is the worst time for me - the wait - oh the horror - I want to rip it open and eat it like a caveman!!! 

  

I'll publish this now because there's people waiting BUT I'll add pics when I cut into it. 

This is a really good, solid, classic, old school, flavorful, REAL, bread.  Make it, enjoy it and make it again. 

I cut in...  joyful 

  

I have to go eat it now, all of it :)

/enjoy

Mississippi Roast, allegedly the roast that broke the Internet, this is the roast that all the cool kids are cooking, this is the roast recipe and hype that made me buy ranch mix and (cough cough) brown gravy mix...I have to try this

I am the first to admit I am weak and I am easily swayed, culinarily speaking.  I try try try to look away from the fad foods, the chemical foods and anything that uses a packet.  I am certain that my home made version of any packet will be superior. 

THAT being said, I've been haunted by the 'roast that broke the internet', this Mississippi Roast.  There are various stories of the incarnation of the thing but the instructions and ingredients are pretty universal and because I am weak and easily swayed...  guess what we're having for dinner. 

I am completely and totally and will full abandon jumping on the "but all the cool kids are doing it" culinary bandwagon and am actually making Mississippi roast.  

I'm not swapping homemade for any of the chemical packets :)  I just, quite simply, have to know... 

MISSISSIPPI ROAST 

(in the crock pot OR pressure cooker)

For the three people, apparently, who haven't seen this recipe online

INGREDIENTS

2-4 (this is 3.1lb) chuck roast
one packet of dry ranch dressing mix
one packet of dry brown gravy mix
one stick of butter (my favorite part of the recipe)
however many pepperoncini peppers you want

The whole recipe is to drop the chuck roast in the crock pot.  Sprinkle with one ranch dry mix packet and one packet of brown gravy mix (omg I cannot believe I'm doing this) then add a few pepperoncini and a stick of butter.  

**electric pressure cooker:  BROWN the meat in the pressure cooker then pile the stuff on the same way but do add about 1/4 cup of water in and pressure cook for an hour on high, leave to come down naturally.    IF your pressure cooker has a 'slow cooker' button, use that for 8 hours if you have it.  I think the slow cooker is the best way to deal with this recipe.

IN the crock pot; Cook on LOW for 8 hours, shred or serve hunks (ahahaha) with mashed potatoes and some veg, that's what I'm doing today.  You can also serve it in a sandwich, on crusty rolls (my homemade ones baby!) as a sort of Italian beef sandwich, i'll heat up the shredded meat in some juices (I think there will be loads) and I may fry up some veggies or peppers to go along, oh and I'll slather the bread with homemade aioli, yeah, it's going to be good and tat is is how child and I are having it tomorrow mid day. 

Yep, that's it.  No liquid but that roast will oooooze.  

Allegedly, in 8 hours, I'll be in beefy nirvana, we'll see (said the skeptic) we'll see.  Here's the sad little prep pics :) 

The chuck roast, unadorned, dropped in the crock pot.  These are the packets, first sprinkle the ranch then the brown gravy mix over the roast.

   

Put a stick of butter, this is unsalted because I cannot even begin to imagine how salty these packets are.  These are the peppers I got, $1 for the jar so I don't mind experimenting.  The original recipe said 2-3 peppers, well the child and husband both like pickles so i think they'll like a slightly heavier brine presence.  I may drop more in later 

Throw the lid on the cooker, turn it on low and set a timer for 8 hours...  tick tick tick

    

This is the "this morning" shot and this is the "this afternoon" shot. I did not open the lid even once, no matter how hard I wanted to and trust me, I WANTED to.

The smell of this is INSANE!  it's so sweet and beefy and I did not open it until the 8 hour mark

  

OMG LOOK!!  It's mahogany, there are crispy bits and soft bits and the peppers are smooth and tender and tart and peppery.  The meat, wow.  The meat is fork tender, I reached into the middle, stuck my fork into minimal resistance and twisted, then sampled, then twisted and sampled some more to be sure I was tasting was as good as I thought.  It's rich and dark and buttery and NOT diet food but it's got great mouth feel and tenderness without the meat being dry.  Did I say, wow?

  

Then I went in for the corner, yeah I took it :)  I'm glad I did, it was thick and intense and sour and sweet and I have no idea how

 

I'll post the real dinner pictures after we eat.  I'm making mashed potatoes now and will serve it up with peas and some of the sauce which I may or may not defat, depending on my mood in a little while. 

I'm shocked and more than a little gobsmacked that this is as good as they say.  Am I going to make it regularly?  No, we'll have heart attacks BUT I am going to try it with pork carnitas because, hey why not.  I'll report back on that but in the meantime, if you find chuck roast on sale, grab a packet of ranch and some dry brown gravy mix and some pepperoncini and do it, you really have to give this a go.  DO not add water like some recipes suggest, stick with the classic and you'll end up with a richer product, not watered don and the meat with have more umami and be browner and, well, just go do it. 

OK, the dinner pics :) 

           

/enjoy

Tracy