We'll call it Rustic Italian bread

Recently, my girlfriends and I went to Vancouver B.C. for a weekend of shopping, dining and total food delight. On Saturday afternoon, we made our way to the amazing Granville Island Public Market and spent three hours perusing it thoroughly and trying to decide what to make for dinner. That dinner ended up being very simple, but something we ladies always can agree on; a spread of artisan cheeses, 3 different types of prosciuttos and 2 types of salami, fig jam, fresh berries, caprese salad, walnut bread from the most incredible bakery and some fresh stuffed pasta with pesto. In our meanderings we met a man that sells balsamic reductions. The reductions were delicious and a perfect drizzle with the rest of our items but it was the bread he made that blew us away. I shouldn't have been surprised to find that it was a version of the now famous No-knead bread from Jim Lahey at New York City's Sullivan Street Bakery. I make his no-knead bread recipe at least once a week (with twice the salt he does) and find it to be incredible for all my bread needs. Not to mention it makes a simple, homey gift that is always sure to please.

So anyway, today I baked Mr. Reductions version of the bread (with a few modifications) and I love it. For sandwiches, I love a bread in the long, flat style of ciabata, sliced lengthwise. You can experience both the soft crumb of the bread but also the different flavor and texture of the crisp crust. Often though, ciabata is just too hard and too crusty, don't you think? Well, this bread offers me just what I want for sandwiches with the perfect balance of crust and crumb. Because it rests for 18 hours, the flavor is wonderful - yeasty, perfectly salted, it really is scrumptious. It's hard to believe how much flavor is imparted to a bread by these simple techniques.

Today, I'm going to slice it down the center and slather it with a sauce I made of blue cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, dijon and fresh ground pepper, cover that with slices of roast beef and then sprinkle on some arugula. A classic combination. I'm going to add some sliced medjool dates to the party for the sweet touch I like in many savory dishes. Another way I'd love it is sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips. Or pretty much any way I can get it into my mouth, it's good by me.

RECIPE: Rustic "Italian" Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon yeast
13 fl oz lukewarm water

Special tools: Parchment paper, pizza stone

Method:

1) Mix dry ingredients in the bowl of your Kitchenaid, fitted with paddle attachment (or another large bowl). Slowly stir in water until it is fully incorporated and there is no flour on edges of bowl. The dough should be coming away from the sides but not forming a ball in the middle. This is a very sticky and loose dough. Scrape down the sides and leave the dough in the bottom of the bowl. Spray lightly with non-stick spray and cover with plastic wrap. Place bowl in a plastic bag (kitchen garbage bag works well), force out most of the air and tie securely as airtight as possible. Set this aside for 14-18 hours in a 67-74 degree place (pretty much anyplace in your house).

Suggestion: A great time to do this part is right before bed, say 10:30pm, that way it will be ready to fold at 5pm the next day, proof 2 more hours and bake for dinner at 7:30pm or 5:00pm if you are home during the day, allowing you a 10:00am fold and a noon bake-time for hot bread for lunch.

THE NEXT DAY...

2) Open the bag. With damp hands, so it doesn't stick to them, fold the dough over on itself 4-5 times. You are releasing the air from the dough. Cover it with plastic wrap again, put it back in the bag for another 2 hours.

3) After 2 hours, put a pizza stone in your oven and preheat your it to 400 degrees. Lightly dust a large piece of parchment paper (you must use this) with flour and dump the dough out onto it. The loaf will be soft and settle to about 1 - 1.5 inches tall all over. Flatten a bit with your hands if need be. The loaf will be freeform in shape and that is good. Dust the top with flour.

4) Pull the parchment paper with dough onto the back of a cookie sheet and slide it from that onto the pizza stone in the oven (this method is also awesome for pizza making - I can NEVER get the pizza to slide nicely off the pizza peel).

5) Bake for 40 minutes. Remove the same way you put it in and let cool on a baking rack for at least 20 minutes before you cut it.

6) Eat your heart out.