Two bread related events this week: first, sourdough v.2 was a bust. Trouble again with the second rise. At this point I'm ready to move to the bread machine and scrupulously follow directions. It's just not worth the aggravation to keep going on this way. On the plus side, I used the failed dough for the stromboli, which was awesome. On the other hand, I am pleased to report that the second bread event is the unequivocal, complete and utter fantasticness of the naan that I made tonight.


In a comments reply I had stated that I was using a Madhur Jaffrey recipe for the naan. Turns out that wasn't quite true. Because I was distracted in the middle of the of the procedure by 1) a toddler meltdown, 2) an infant feeding demand, 3) a call from my mother asking me for the third time if I wanted her to pick up the daisy basket at Target, I ended up combining two recipes from two sources. Still, they turned out great so I'm not going to beat myself up about it. Plus, they're very easy to make and pretty quick if you have an efficient broiler (which I don't). Even without the efficient broiler I made six quick large naan in about 20 minutes. To make your own, mix three cups all-purpose flour, one cup of plain yogurt, one tablespoon of yeast, half a teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons of oil in a large bowl. Stir to combine and then turn out onto a floured surface to knead into a smooth, elastic dough. Put the dough back into the bowl and let rise for 2 or so hours. When you're ready to cook, cover the broiler pan or rack moved to the top of your oven with foil that has little holes pricked into it. Heat the broiler. While the broiler is heating, separate the dough into six balls of equal portions. Using a rolling pin, roll each ball out to 1/4 inch thickness. Two at a time, place the rolled out dough into the foil and close the oven door. Watch the bread carefully and turn once when the top is slightly brown with a few darker brown spots. If you'd like, brush some melted salted butter on one side of the rolled out naan, putting the buttered side up to cook first. The bread is done when both sides are browned. Remove from the oven and keep cooked breads in a folded up tea towel to keep warm for serving.


In addition to the naan I made two of Jaffrey's other dishes - one with chickpeas and the other of limas and tomatoes. With a basic cucumber raita, rice and a canned masala simmer sauce dinner was complete and I used virtually every pot, pan and implement in the kitchen (which is not a pretty place at the moment). Since cleaning up will likely take the rest of the night and a good chunk of tomorrow I think tomorrow will be a restaurant day.


I also want to share the stromboli story with you, but that will have to wait for another day. Oh, and I finally did more of the pink grapfruit marmalade which I need to tell you because I did something different this time which I like better. Plus, there's the story of the hole in the front yard and the weeping cherry tree. So much to blog, so little time. For now, though, I'm off to bathe the kids and pour myself a nice glass of wine as the reward for a long, productive day.

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Inspired by Deb's experiences and Rayne's advice, I am giving sourdough another chance. I've learned that I must be more patient and allow much more rising time than I did for v.1 Furthermore, although I'm using the same recipe as the basis for this effort, I'm trusting my instincts more this time - I've added more flour to what I thought was a too soft dough. I was tempted to add just a little yeast in addition to the starter but refrained in favor of making a "pure" attempt with my newly patient approach to rising. Since sourdough is a multiday project, you will have to stay tuned for the results. My fingers are firmly crossed.


Dinner tonight was couscous and a kind of faux tagine. I hadn't made this dish in a while, but I used to make it at least twice a month. As we sat down to dinner I remembered why - it looks and smells fantastic. It tastes good, too, and is quite easy to produce. I usually make my version with a bit of spicy sausage (browned and crumbled), diced onion, sliced carrot, chick peas, diced tomatoes and a few drops of hot sauce to mimic harissa. More authentic recipes contain raisons or apricots, but I tend not to like fruit in non-sweet things so I leave them out more often than not. Anyway, just cook all this stuff up together - I start with the sausage and then add the remaining ingredients one by one and consider it done when the onions are translucent and the tomatoes have thickened somewhat. As for the couscous, nothing could be simpler - following the instructions on the package using either broth or boullion have never failed me. The best part? Only two pots, a knife and cutting board to wash and less than a half hour of cooking time.


My experiment for the week (other than the sourdough) is stromboli. I developed cravings for stromboli while pregnant and they haven't quite subsided. So I have the remainder of the sausage, some peppers and such and will have at it tomorrow. And, the Boy Wonder has asked me to learn how to make naan here at home so I'm going to give that a whirl as well. I'm a bit concerned about this naan business. Not only do I not possess the traditional oven equipment, but I'll be competing against a very fine restaurant, Maharaja, at which we are regulars and where my son can consume his weight in bread products. I fear that I won't come out of this looking good.

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We're a little under the weather here at Hot Water Bath. It seems that the Boy Wonder's snurgliness has been passed onto the rest of the family. He's such a good sharer. In any case, things moved a bit slower this weekend than I had hoped and not too much was accomplished. We more or less just hung out and enjoyed each other's company. Even though the to-do list was not impacted much, it was still a very satisfying time.


Last night we put the entire first floor of the house in disarray in preparation for the arrival of the new (to us) china cabinet. Its acquisition requires the shifting and moving of several other pieces (all old and heavy) and, as a result, drawers are spread out all over, their contents shifted through (I'm taking the opportunity to clean out the drawers), chairs are placed willy nilly in an effort to keep them out of the way and there are random piles of paper that have been shifted from their usual non-random (although equally disordered) locations. I despise this kind of upheaval - I find it deeply unsettling and am unable to relax in a chaotic room - and wish to every supreme being who might be paying attention that this gets put to rights soon. So far, the Little Diva and I have been hiding out upstairs in an effort to avoid the mess. Then there's the matter of my husband's sore shoulder. We're not done with this saga and he swears that some deep, horrible injury has occured. He threatened this morning to not work toward finishing the job until he could secure the opinion of one of his orthopedic surgeon friends - all of whom are out of town for two weeks at a conference. My non-medical opinion? He'll be hurt a lot worse if it takes more than (or even) two weeks to get the house back in order and it won't necessarily be an orthopedic injury.


Later this week we're beginning the first in an occasional series of Bad Movie Fridays. The idea is that we'll invite people over for drinks and snacks and watch (as much as we care to) a movie that is widely considered, well, bad. Although we intend to delve fully into the history of bad film, we decided to inaugurate the series with a bad movie of very recent vintage: Gigli. Yes, really. I figure with the appropriate medicinal application of margaritas, some prophylactic queso dip and the right company, the Bennifer debacle might even be considered entertaining.


Of course, the very concept of "bad" requires some deliberation and those who accept this first invitation will be invited to join the debate. Does "bad" mean panned by critics (as the aforementioned Gigli)? Does it mean boffo box office the first week and nada thereafter (a la the second Charlie's Angels)? Does it mean movies that are actually financially successful but that are wretched nonetheless (Titanic...d-d-d-don't d-d-die R-r-rose)? What about movies like Waterworld which, I believe, fulfills all three categories? Actually, I have a feeling that anything with Kevin Costner after that Wolves one might qualify. Then again, there's always Keanu Reeves for reliable badness (cute though he may be and that Matrix stuff - which I've not seen - notwithstanding).

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