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As our organic gardens offer up an abundance of harvest towards the end of the season most of us are busy with canning, preserving, drying or storing our produce for the coming winter.
This is not the time to forget we are still enjoying our warm weather and cooking heavy meals during this time is perhaps not the most fun thing we want to be doing. We have always enjoyed a lot of Mediterranean cuisine at our home during the year and especially at this time of year we like to enjoy our garden harvest, Italian style on either Focaccia bread or Ciabatta bread.
These days I do not make either bread as much as I used to because there are rarely more than one or two of us having lunch. I buy what I need whenever I go to my favorite store in Louisville, KY and bring home a couple of loaves, cut them in thirds or fourths and freeze them.
However, I do have a really good recipe that I had gotten years ago from the King Arthur Company for Ciabatta bread which makes a wonderful sandwich when cut lengthwise as this rustic Italian style bread is full of grand irregular holes which traps the drizzle of olive oil when applied.
I take 1 & ½ cups cool water and mix into the bowl that holds 2 cups of King Arthur European Style Artisan Bread Flour. You can use unbleached flour if necessary. The bread will be good, but not perfect! I now add 1 tsp. of instant yeast, mixing it all well and I cover and let stand at room temperature for about seven hours or overnight. Then I add 1 & ½ cups flower, 1 & ½ tsp salt and 1 more tsp. of yeast mixing well until the dough begins to come together. At this point you will have a very sticky mix of dough. If you have a “soupy” mix and only then can you add a little more flour.
Now I put the whole dough mix into a lightly floured bowl and let it rise for 1 hour. At that time I stick my finger in the middle to deflate it and then let it rise for 1 more hour.
At this point I turn it out onto my floured bread board, sprinkle the top of the dough with some more flour and flatten the dough out by hand or with a floured rolling pin until it is an 8” x 10” rectangle that is now about ¾” thick. Now I cut it into two pieces that measure about 10” x 4” and transfer them onto a piece of parchment paper that has about a 6” space between the pieces of dough. Now I cover them with a piece of heavily oiled
Plastic wrap and let them rise for another 2 hours which at that time you should have very puffy dough.
During this time I put my baking stone in the oven and set the temperature of 500°F. I let the oven heat for 30 minutes. I have a plastic spritz bottle that I use to spritz my risen dough and then I put the bread on the stone by putting my pizza peel under the parchment paper and put it all on the stone, now lowering the oven temperature to 425°F. Let the Ciabatta bake until golden brown and that takes about 20 to 25 minutes depending on your oven. Now turn off the oven, place the Ciabatta on the oven’s middle rack and I crack the door open about 2 or 3 inches and let the Ciabatta cool down completely in the turned off oven. No baking stone, then use a cookie sheet to put your parchment and dough on.
Here is one of my favorite Focaccia recipes even though in the past three years I have bought some good Focaccia mixes that make fine bread.
In a small bowl I put in 1 tsp. white sugar, 1 package active dry years and 1/3 cup warm water, stir gently and let stand for about 10 minutes until creamy.
Now I take a large bowl and put in 2 cups of all purpose unbleached flour, ¼ tsp salt, the yeast mixture and 1 cup room temperature water a little at a time until all the flour is mixed well and has pulled together. Now I turn it out onto my floured bread board and knead for about 1 minute. I cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it rise in a draft free, warm place for about 30 minutes until the dough has doubled in size.
While this is happening I preheat my over to 475°F.
Now deflate the dough by sticking your finger in the center and turn out onto a lightly floured surface, knead for about 1 minute, pat or roll the dough into a sheet and place the sheet of dough unto a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the sheet of dough with about 2 tbsp. of olive oil and sprinkle with some good kosher salt.
Depending on how crisp you want your Focaccia you will bake for 10 to 20 minutes.
Now cut the Focaccia into four wedges and split each wedge horizontally. Lay open your wedges (or if using Ciabatta your slices or squares as I usually cut my Ciabatta into squares and then the squares horizontally) and put strips of fresh garden peppers on the bottom of the Focaccia, now add some organic tomatoes, some fresh organic basil and then sprinkle with some dressing or just plain olive oil and top with some grated Parmesan cheese or a slice of Provolone Cheese. Put some good black or green olives on the side; get yourself a good glass of your favorite Italian wine, perhaps homemade and sit back and enjoy a really great garden sandwich.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Many of her articles written for Greenthumbarticles have paintings she has created of the subject and they can be seen at her “How to Do It” site. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Many of her paintings are sold internationally and many of her works of art have been reproduced on note cards, post cards and other functional items and you can get Giclee prints of her artwork starting as low as $11.89 Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books, art, etc. go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my sites.”
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