Pie Judgment

 So some of you might be wondering whatever happened with the pies and the most important thing… finding out which pie was the winner!! WELL I am still waiting for one judge to turn in their verdicts. AND there are 3 pies with extremely close scores so I actually need to get the last judges opinion in order to declare a winner. It is some seriously close numbers people.  I can’t wait to see who wins!! Stay tuned!

Christmas Un-treats!! Bacon, Onion, Artichoke Artisan Bread

So I was trying to come up with something, yummy but not sugary it give out to our friends and neighbors this year.  Then I remembered how easy it was to make the Artisan bread, that I tried way back in August. So I set out yesterday making a few batches.  The first two batches I just made regular plain ol’ bread.  But then I had an idea to add some other flavors, and this is what I cam up with,

Bacon, Onion, Artichoke Artisan Bread

Ingredients

3 cups of warm water

2 TBS. of yeast

1  Tbs. of salt (just under)

6 1/2 cups of flour

1/3 cup of chopped bacon

1/3 cup of chopped onion

1/3 cup of chopped artichoke hearts ( I used canned ones)

1/3 – 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese.

Directions

Add water, yeast and salt to a large mixing bowl.  Then add the remaining ingredients.  Mix, the dough will be really wet.  Let rise for about 2 hours. Place baking stone in your oven with a shallow pan underneath of it. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Punch down your dough and add just enough flour to your hands and dough to form a nice tight ball.  You should get 4 loaves from each batch, place your loaves on parchment paper on a side less cookie sheet.  Allow your loaves to rise for 30 minutes.  Then they have risen 30 minutes cut slits in the top of your loaves. Slide the loaves including the parchment paper onto the heated baking stone.  Then add a cup of water to the pan underneath the baking stone.  Bake your loaves for 30-35 minutes.   Remove from the oven and let cool completely. 

We handed these out with a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette for dipping.   They turned out so yummy I feel bad that most people got the plain ones, but I didn’t get to everyone yet, because I had to run errands yesterday, I could only make 12 loaves.  I planned on finishing today but my poor little 3 year old spent the night and morning sick, so I’ll have to finish another day.

Enjoy!!

P.S. Since I made these last week I have tried a new combo

• Bacon Jalapeno Cheddar

Next I want to try

• Rosemary Olive Oil
• Sundried Tomato Basil

any other suggestions?