cooking ala mel

healthy recipes and the occasional craft

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Rosemary Basil Baguette (Whole Wheat)

I’ve been on such an appetizer kick lately.  Tonight’s dinner consisted of spinach artichoke dip, tomato basil bruschetta with crostini and a salad (recipes for dip & bruschetta here).  We originally had a 9 grain baguette that we bought, but it was getting extremely low, so I figured I’d make a baguette so we wouldn’t run out for our dinner, since the bread was a pretty key ingredient of it.  With a new rosemary plant and basil plant that I got at the farmer’s market yesterday, this baguette gave me the perfect excuse to use both of them.  I love love love breads that are infused with herbs, and this one is no exception.

I followed the same recipe as the french baguettes, but I adapted it by subbing white whole wheat flour for the all purpose, using honey instead of sugar, and adding in basil and rosemary, obviously.  I’ve included the changes below.

I halved the recipe so we’d only get two baguettes out of it, just in case we didn’t like it.  But now that I think about it, it’s rare that we don’t like a bread.  I think this one could’ve used a bit more salt (I used sea salt, so might’ve been a bit more mild), but with toppings, you don’t miss it.  I loved the hint of herb flavor mixed throughout – it was SO so good with the spinach artichoke dip.  I think this’ll be what I always serve up with that!
Yum.  I can’t explain to you enough how much I love dinners like this.  And just wait until I tell you about my salad..next post.  No worries.
Have some basil you’re not sure what to do with?  Some rosemary?  Throw it into a bread dough.  Make this.  Your tummy will thank you.  I promise.
Rosemary Basil Whole Wheat Baguettes
makes two baguettes

1 T active dry yeast (1 package)
1 cup lukewarm (110ºF water)
1/2 t honey
about 3 cups white whole wheat flour (plus more for rolling/shaping)
2 t sea salt

2 T fresh basil, minced
1 T fresh rosemary, minced
1 egg, beaten with 1 T waterCombine the yeast, sugar and water and stir until dissolved. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes, until frothy. Combine the flour, salt, basil and rosemary in the bowl of a stand mixer. With your stand mixer running (with the dough hook), add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture.  Allow the mixer to knead the dough for about 2 minutes at low speed. It should form a ball and clean the sides of the bowl. Knead for about 2 more minutes at low speed, adding more flour if it is too wet, or water a tablespoon at a time if it is too dry.

Place the dough into a well oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Allow it to rise in a warm place for about an hour (or until it doubles in size). Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into two pieces. Roll each piece out into an oval (about 15×8 inches). Roll the oval from the long side into a long cylinder. Pinch the edges to the dough.

Place dough with the seam side down onto a parchment lined baking sheet or well greased baguette pan. Cover with a towel and allow to rise for another hour or until it doubles in size.
Preheat the oven to 425ºF about 10 minutes before you bake the bread and place a shallow pan on the bottom shelf of the oven. Slash each loaf diagonally with a sharp blade, and brush each baguette with the egg wash. Place the bread in the oven, and put about a cup of ice cubes into the shallow pan to make steam.

Bake the bread for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden on the outside. Cool on a wire rack so it does not get soggy.

Chocolate Sherbet

I learned something new today.  Does everybody know the difference between sorbet and sherbet?  I sure didn’t.  While looking for an ice cream recipe, I found David Lebovitz’s chocolate sherbet in my bookmarked pages, and he very nicely explained it in his post (see link below).  Sherbet contains dairy, whereas a sorbet does not.  Otherwise, they have the same ingredients.  I knew sorbet was European, and I know we used to eat orange sherbet when I was little..and it was always creamy.  I’m not sure if I’ve ever had sorbet.  But that’s about as far as my knowledge went.

Now, in my adaptation to David’s recipe, I used some fat free half-and-half.  Considering it’s still low fat, I’m just going to hope that it didn’t completely change the identity of the sherbet to something else.  It’s definitely still light like a sherbet!  I opted to use amaretto instead of Kahlua.  I always enjoy a bit of almond essence.  It really intensifies the chocolate flavor here; this sherbet is by no means light in flavor. It’s very, very dark chocolate.
This would be wonderful topped with some fresh raspberries.. I can never have enough chocolate and raspberry together.  Yum yum.  I’m a girl that has a really hard time having ice cream without something on top or mixed in, so even though you really don’t need the dark chocolate syrup one bit, it was just enough to make my need for toppings happy without destroying the natural flavors of the sherbet.  Which are absolutely perfect on their own.
Chocolate Sherbet
adapted from David Lebovitz
makes about 1 quart
½ cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup agave nectar
3 packets truvia
2 cups half-and-half (I used fat free..keeping it a sherbet)
1 cup milk
3.5 oz. dark chocolate (I used Lindt’s 90%)
¼ t vanilla

2 T amaretto (or almond extract is fine, too), optional

In a saucepan, heat the half-and-half with the cocoa powder, agave and truvia, while stirring.  Bring to a boil and then simmer.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate, vanilla and amaretto.  Stir in the milk.  Place in the fridge until fully chilled, about 1-2 hours.  Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

Watermelon Limeade

When we first moved into our apartment, Alex’s mom brought us a good bit of fruit to get us started – apples, oranges, a big chunk of watermelon and some bananas.  We then proceeded to go grocery shopping and picked up limes, kiwi, strawberries, raspberries and more bananas (some green ones for me). I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to you that we still haven’t finished that watermelon.  All the others have been mostly devoured.  Alex isn’t a fan of watermelon, so he had one slice, and there are just so many other choices that I didn’t eat as much of it as I would’ve liked to..

We still had those limes, though.  And what’s better for warm weather than a fresh watermelon limeade? I pulled out the blender and whipped this up.  I’ve never had any sort of watermelon beverage before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by this.  It’s fresh, nice and tart from the limes, but also nice and sweet from the watermelon.  It made my insides feel so clean drinking it; this is definitely perfect for a hot day!

I especially liked the bit of pulp in this – if you don’t like pulp, just squeeze all the juice from the lime instead of throwing the whole thing in!  This would be perfect for a bbq or summer party outdoors!
Watermelon Limeade
yields two servings
2 cups watermelon, chopped
2 whole limes, rinds removed
6 ice cubes
2 packets truvia (or 4 t sugar)
Place the ice cubes, limes and watermelon in a blender (in that order for the easiest blending).  Blend until smooth.  Add in the truvia and blend a bit more.  Pour into glasses and enjoy!