My continued quest for fresh bread has led me to this wonderful crusty french loaf.  I have never been able to free form a french loaf.  It always gets to fat and never tall enough.

So, I said enough is enough.  I broke down and bought this very economical french loaf pan from amazon.com.  It was only 14 bucks and it makes two loaves.  This thing was just what I was looking for.  My results were just as pretty and tastey as the local bakery would make.

This recipe was only for a single loaf.  But it baked just fine with the other side empty.  I love that this pan in perforated on the bottom.  The bottom crust came out just as cripsy as the top.

Here is the recipe

1 cup warm water
1 package, or 2.25 tsp of yeast
2 tsp. of olive or veggie oil
1 tsp of salt
pinch of sugar about 1/8 of a tsp.
aprox 3 cups of  A/P or Bread Flour
egg whites for the wash

Proof the yeast with the water and sugar. Let sit about ten minutes till the yeast gets foamy.  Add the oil, salt and 1/2 of the flour.  I do prefer my loaves when I add the oil, but in a traditional french loaf you normally do not add oil.

I mix in my Kitchen Aid with the paddle attachement for about 1 minute, then slowly add in the flour a bit at a time, until I get a wet, shaggy loaf.  I then move it to the board, and encorporate the remaining flour.  Knead about 5 minutes until you get a nice smooth, springy loaf.  Place in a oiled bowl, cover let rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

After 1st rise, punch down and knead 2 or three times.  On floured surface roll out to about 12 x 8.  Roll up on the long side.  Pinch the seam closed.  Place in pan seam side down.  Cover, rise until double, about 40 minutes.  Brush with egg whites mixed with water.  Use a sharp knife to cut slits about 2 inches apart on the top of the dough.

Place in a 425 oven for about 20 minutes.  In order to make a crispier crust you can spritz the bread lightly a few times during cooking with water, or I just place a dish of hot water in the oven with the bread to create the steam needed to crisp.

Remove cool and eat up!

Funny name, but amazing chicken dish.  This dish has a history in my family. It goes way back to the mid 1980’s and a trip to our nations capital, Washington, D.C. We stayed a Holiday Inn in Arlington, VA back when hotels still had good restaurants attached to them.The special of the day was this chicken dish.Im sure it had a real name, but over the years it was forgotten or discarded only to known as the infamous Holiday Inn Chicken.

This is a favorite meal of mine to make when I need comfort food that is not too full of fat. Its great on a cold day. Its like a stew so and its perfect with nice fluffy rice and a crusty roll.

Here are the ingredients you will need, this serves 3-4 depending on appetite!In my house it gets only 3 servings.

3 large or 4 small chicken thighs and one large breast, I skin and bone them, discarding the skin and keeping the bones.
1 medium yellow or white onion
3 carrots
1 green bell peper
8-10 Cremini mushrooms or button mushrooms
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/8 to 1/4 cup of dark soy sauce
Dash of worcheshire sauce
2 cups water
1 tsp red pepper flakes, more or less depending on your taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Oil for searing
Cheesecloth

Prep chicken, reserve the bones and set aside. Heat oil in dutch oven or other large heavy pot. Season chicken with salt and pepper. I like to cut the chicken so that its smaller in size. So each thigh gets cut in half and breast gets cut into thirds or fourths depending on size. Sear on each side till brown. You could also dredge the chicken in flour, this will make your broth thicker as well.Remove chicken and set aside.

Prep veggies.Rough chop onion and carrot. I use about 1 inch chunks. Seed and de rib the green pepper and chop to one inch chunks. If your mushrooms are large half them , small ones are good whole. Smash the garlic and rough chop, no need to finely chop it as it will stew for a while an break up naturally.Lightly sauté in the pot you used for chicken, there should be enough oil left over to lightly sauté the veggies.

Add the chicken back to the pot and add the rest of the liquid ingredients.  Add your desired amount of red pepper flakes. Jalapeno would be good here to, just be sure to seed and rib it first.

Here is where the cheesecloth and the thigh bones and breast bones come in. I add wrap these up in cheese cloth and add to the pot at this time.This will make a nice broth along with the chicken pieces. You could use bone in chicken in the stew, but I don’t like this. As this will simmer for a few hours to develop the taste the bones fall apart and you end up with thigh bones and breast bones in the broth, which are no fun when you bite in them. This method allows you to use the bones for flavoring, but makes it easy to remove them at the end for ease of serving and eating.

You could also use chicken broth to add flavor if you don’t want to use the bones to make broth, but I find it makes the dish taste “tin canny” and to salty.

Simmer on the stove top on lowest setting for 1.5 to 2 hours. Near the end of cooking remove the lid and let the sauce reduce a bit. So be sure to go lighter on the salt, so when it reduces it will not be to salty. You can also place in a low oven 300 or so degrees in a dutch oven.

This is best served over rice. Hopefully this Holiday Inn chicken will bring you as many good memories as it brings me!