Soup and Bread

Well, the bread experiment turned out less than fantastic. Not because of the pots (both performed beautifully), but because I kinda screwed up the recipe and ingredients. I used a pretty old container of bread flour, and I added too much water. I got confused you see, because the original article in the NYT calls for all-purpose flour and 1 and 5/8 cups of water. Jim's book recipe calls for bread flour and 1 and 1/3 cups of water. Apparently, it makes a world of difference! Anyway, the bread turned out okay (other than being a little sticky and dense), but I have high hopes for future loaves.

Less than fantastic, but still good bread

In the mean time, I still managed to munch this bread down with some awesome spicy chicken soup I made tonight. :-) The secret ingredient is saffron. I had no idea how fantastic just a pinch of it would make my soup!

Zawacki Spicy Chicken Corn Soup

12 cups stock (I used 8 c. turkey and 4 c. chicken)
~ 3/4 lb of ditalini pasta (cooked and drained b/f adding to soup)
~ 3/4 cup minced yellow onion
~1 cup chopped carrot
~1 cup chopped celery
1 large can chicken breast in water
12 oz frozen sweet corn
~2 tsp red pepper flakes
pinch of saffron
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp 21 seasoning salute
kosher salt to taste

I basically boiled the frozen broth over medium. Once it was hot, I added the onion while I cooked the pasta seperately. I let that simmer on medium-low for about 15 minutes, then added the carrots and celery and spices. Another 5 minutes or so, then I added the corn, chicken (broken up and shredded) and the noodles. I let it simmer and combine for about another 15 minutes, and then it was time to eat. So easy and tasty!