Bread for My Friends

Today in the Singing Wheat Kitchen I wrapped my arms around bread, because tonight is the annual "just the women" cocktail party on our neighborhood street. You've got to hoist something to the communal table, and I'm not one to make rum balls. I like a handcrafted bread you can dip into an herb-infused olive oil or top with a fine Montenebro from Molto Formaggio, our house of cheese in Dallas. Gimme the salty over the sweetie any day.

I wonder if the scent of baking bread slips through the cracks in our doors and windows and fills our street with irresistible aromas? Just yesterday a neighbor stopped in to place an order for croissants and crackers for a big party on Saturday. I'm not open for business, but my door is open for my gal friends, and from there it's an easy stroll to the kitchen, where dough can change hands. Anyone who has a passionate love for bread will get served.

I was on a mission to see what happens if you take the dough from the Pain a l'Ancienne recipe found in "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" and stuff it with proscuitto and pepper. This dough is a real hands-off kind of heavy dough that doesn't want much manual labor. It is supposed to stay in a gassy, bloated state. I'm crazy about this recipe because most of the work happens in the fridge, and the taste results are absolutement wonderful, like fresh bread for Madeline and Miss Clavell in their old house in Paris. You can freeze it or bake it off as a pizza, a baguette or a fine square of foccacia.

I won't really know the end results of the "proscuitto and pepper" experiment until I cut the baguettes into rounds for the cocktail party. First glimpse looks good, though. I did drop one of the baguettes in the oven - it rolled off the back of the inverted cookie sheet I was using, just rolled off. With quick hands, I hefted it back in place, spritzed everything with water and slammed the door. You can't let a minor slip define your success.

Here is a Pain a l'Ancienne recipe that is available via the web but is absolutely Peter Reinhart's work. And what marvelous work he does.