Country Loaf Food

RUSTIC COUNTRY LOAF

Steps:

• Line one heavy sheet pan with parchment and dust with cornmeal.
• Dissolve the yeast in 1/3 cup of warm (100-110 F) water and sugar. Allow to rise for 10 minutes.
• Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir with wooden spoon to combine. Make a well in the center and slowly add warm water, and yeast mixture. With a heavy wooden spoon, stir mixture until it forms a sticky dough that clings to spoon.
• Using clean, floured hands remove dough from spoon and bowl and place on lightly floured work surface. With both hands knead dough until it is slightly smooth. If dough still remains sticky add a little flour and mix inches Form the dough into a ball and put it back in mixing bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel, let rise in warm place for about one hour or until dough doubles in size.
• When dough has doubled in size, punch it down and return dough to bowl for an additional half hour to rise.
• After the half hour remove the dough and punch it down again. Knead slightly and form back into a ball tucking ends underneath. Place dough on parchment lined sheet pan, cover with kitchen towel, let rise again for 30 to 40 minutes until almost doubled in size.
• While dough is rising, preheat over to 425 degrees.
• When dough has risen, lightly dust with flour and place dough on middle rack in hot oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until bread is a deep golden brown. Remove loaf and place on rack to cool.

COUNTRY-STYLE MEAT LOAF

Steps:

• Lightly steam onions, celery, and bell peppers and let cool. Place the cooled vegetables into a mixing bowl and add the pork, sirloin, ketchup, eggs, half and half and mix well. Mix in the oatmeal and spice mix. Place the meat into a loaf pan lined with bacon strips. Place in refrigerator overnight so that the meat loaf firms up. When ready for use, remove from the refrigerator; cover the top of the loaf pan with aluminum foil; place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven on top of a roasting pan. Do this to prevent the overspill from making a mess out of your oven and cook until the inside temperature (with a thermometer) reaches 165 degrees (about 1 1/2 hours). 15 minutes before it is done, remove the foil - this will allow the top to brown. Remove from the oven and pour out excess oil and let it sit for 20 minutes. Turn the loaf pan upside down to remove the meatloaf. Slice with a sharp knife.

COUNTRY MEATLOAF WITH TOMATO RELISH

Steps:

• For the tomato relish, coat a skillet with olive oil and place over medium heat. Saute the garlic, bay leaves, and onion together until they caramelize. Add the red peppers and cook until soft. Add the tomatoes, parsley and Worcestershire sauce, cook for 10 minutes until the vegetables cook down. Stir in the ketchup and continue to cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and pork together with your hands. Fold in 1/2 cup of the tomato relish. Add the eggs and thyme and mix with both hands just until blended. Do not over mix or the meat loaf will become dense and tough. Season with salt and pepper. Coat a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Fill the loaf pan with the meat mixture, mounding it a bit on top. Generously spoon some tomato relish on the surface. When cooked, this will form a top crust. Place the loaf pan on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat loaf has pulled away from the sides of the pan. Remove from pan, allow to cool slightly before cutting into slices. Serve with remaining sauce on the side.

COUNTRY LOAF

Steps:

• Mix 2 cups of the flour, the sugar and yeast in large bowl. Add warm water. Beat with wire whisk or electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let stand about 1 hour until bubbly.
• Stir in oil and salt. Stir in enough remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft, smooth dough forms. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking, until dough is smooth and springy.
• Place dough in large bowl greased with shortening, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place about 1 hour or until double. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
• Grease uninsulated cookie sheet with shortening. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Gently shape into an even, round ball, without releasing all of the bubbles in the dough. Stretch sides of dough downward to make a smooth top. Place loaf with smooth side up on cookie sheet. Spray loaf with cool water. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place 45 to 60 minutes or until almost double.
• Place square pan, 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 inches, on bottom rack of oven; add hot water to pan until about 1/2 inch from the top. Heat oven to 425°.
• Spray loaf with cool water; sprinkle lightly with flour. Carefully cut three 1/4-inch- deep slashes on top of loaf with sharp serrated knife.
• Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until loaf is deep golden brown with crisp crust and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool.

COUNTRY MEATLOAF

Steps:

• In medium frying pan over medium heat, saute onion and celery until tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Into large bowl, tear bread into small pieces.
• Add onion mixture, ground beef, carrot,salt,pepper,egg, and 1/2 of tomato sauce and mix well with a spoon.
• Turn mixture into a meatloaf pan( I use one with an insert that lets any grease drip to the bottom of the pan) and shape into a loaf.
• If not using a meatloaf pan, in a 12" by 8" baking dish, shape mixture into a 8" by 4" loaf.
• In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, and remaining tomato sauce.
• Spoon mixture evenly over meatloaf in pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.
• Serve meatloaf warm or cover and refrigerate to serve cold later.

NO-KNEAD COUNTRY BREAD

Steps:

• Place white bread flour, whole wheat bread flour, and yeast into a large mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon. Pour in cold water and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until a very wet, sticky dough comes together, about 3 minutes. Add the salt and mix another 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Cover with foil. Allow dough to rise at room temperature for 18 hours.
• Deflate the bubbly dough with a spatula by scraping down the sides of the bowl and folding the dough over itself, turning the bowl as you go around in a circular motion, about 12 times or so.
• Scrape the dough onto a very well-floured surface with a spatula. Sprinkle the surface of dough generously with flour. Generously flour hands and then roll and fold dough on the table until you've formed a round or oval loaf shape that has a smooth surface, 1 to 2 minutes. The dough is very sticky, so add more flour if you need. The shape doesn't really matter, but a smooth surface is the goal.
• Transfer to a Silpat®-lined baking sheet and let rise, uncovered, until doubled in size, about 2 hours. The dough will spread out more than rise up, but this is normal.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• Make 1 shallow slash down the middle of the dough with a very sharp knife or razor, being careful not to deflate the dough too much; the slash is optional. Spray the surface of the loaf very lightly with plain water to help the crust form.
• Bake in the center of the preheated oven until nicely browned, about 30 minutes. Let cool on a rack before cutting.