Sourdough Focaccia

Sourdough Focaccia

I found this recipe on Reddit and am putting it here because I want to keep it. This focaccia is chewy, fluffy, and absolutely delicious. If you're a baker of sourdough, you really must try this one. It does not disappoint.

Sourdough Focaccia

Ingredients: 

• 50-100 grams ripe sourdough starter
• 10 grams salt
• 430 grams water
• 515 grams bread flour
• olive oil
• flaky or coarse salt
• 2 large garlic cloves

Instructions:

• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter and water. 
• Add the flour and salt and mix to completely combine the ingredients. 
• Cover the bowl and allow to sit for 30-40 minutes. 
• When the dough is done sitting, wet your hands and pull the dough up over on itself around the edges and then perform 8-10 folds. (See video clip below.) End your folding with the smooth side of the dough on top. Drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil and rub the oil over the entire surface. Cover and allow dough to rise for 4-5 hours at room temperature, or until almost doubled.
• When dough has risen, pour 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil into the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan and coat the sides and bottom using your fingers or a pastry brush. 
• With oiled hands, lift the dough from the bowl. Do a little lifting and folding to form the dough into a rectangle and fit it into the pan as much as possible. 
• At this point you can allow the dough to rise another 4-6 hours at room temperature, or you can cover and place in the fridge overnight. If you choose the fridge option, remove the pan from the fridge about 2 to 2 1/2 hours before you want to bake it. 
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• When dough is puffy, bubbly, and doubled in size, drizzle with a couple more tablespoons of oil and then dimple the dough deeply with oiled fingers. 
• Slice the garlic cloves into 1/8-inch slices and push slices into the dimples in the dough. Then sprinkle dough with the flaky/coarse salt.
• Bake the focaccia on a middle rack for 20 minutes. Then move the pan to the lower rack for the last 5-10 minutes of baking. (My focaccia didn't get very dark on top, but it was completely baked through and still tasted great.)
• Allow focaccia to cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes. Then use a metal spatula to release the bread from the pan. Move focaccia to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting and enjoying.

Makes one 9x13-inch focaccia

Salt & Pepper Potato Chip Seasoning

Homemade Salt & Pepper Potato Chips

I'm a big fan of most salt & pepper potato chips. My favorites are the Lay's Kettle Cooked Chips or Kettle Brand. I was hankering for some salt & pepper chips, but we only had the plain wavy HyVee potato chips on hand, so I decided to experiment and came up with this recipe. I think it works, and I've been enjoying way too many yummy chips ever since. 

Most people have the ingredients on hand, so I think it's worth a try to see if you like these. If you're a fan of salt & pepper potato chips, I think you'll be pleased.


Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• plain salted potato chips of your choosing

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients in a small lidded container.

Either keep the chips in their bag or just do a handful in a quart size zip top bag. Add 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons of the mix for a quart size bag, and use about 2 tablespoons of the mixture for an 8 oz. bag of potato chips. Seal the bag and gently shake to distribute seasoning. Add more seasoning and shake, if desired.

You can enjoy the chips immediately, but I think they taste better after sitting (sealed) for a day or so.

Store leftover seasoning in an airtight container. Scale the recipe up or down as desired.

Use whatever brand and style of plain salted chips you like. 
This local brand happens to be my fav.

Before shaking

Sloppy Joe Filling

My husband is a big fan of sloppy joes. I, on the other hand, am not. It's not that they taste bad, per se, but they just don't taste good to me. I used to keep a can of Manwich sauce in the cupboard for an easy dinner that made the husband happy, but one day I decided to just look up a recipe and try it from scratch. 

What do you know--it's really simple and actually tastes better than what you get in the can. Still not something I would choose to cook just for me, but I'm counting it as a win. 

There are lots of recipes out there. I have tried a few, and am finally committing this one to the blog because I keep losing the papers I print the recipes out on. I realize there are apps that will keep track of recipes, but I don't want to go and start a whole new thing. I've got pretty much all the recipes I want right here on this blog.

So here you go. Basic sloppy Joe recipe. Enjoy.

Sloppy Joe Filling

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic chili paste (optional)
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions:

In a large pan set over medium high heat, brown the ground beef.

Add the onion and bell pepper and cook until veggies are soft.

Add ketchup, mustard, garlic chili paste, garlic powder, and black pepper. Stir to combine.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for another 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a little more ketchup or water if it seems to be getting too dry.

Serve on sliced buns.

Store leftover filling in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume or freeze within 3 days.

Makes about 8-10 servings