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“The Cooking of Parma,” by Richard Camillo Sidoli is the kind of cookbook I most enjoy. It has many marvelous recipes from one of the greatest food regions of one of the greatest food countries in Europe. It also presents a culinary history of the region, integrating the history of local foods and their preparation into the broader history of Northern Italy.

Alas, I have hardly scratched the surface of the delightful repertoire of this Italian province's cucina, but I have repeatedly made one recipe: “Torta di Patate.” This open-faced, rustic savory tart was for me an instant comfort food – perhaps because it's what a potato knish really wants to be when it grows up.

Torta Dough

Basics of torta preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Then add the water and 4 tablespoons of olive oil.

3. Mix to form a dough, but do not over-mix. The goal is not to develop the gluten.

4. Let the dough rest for at least 20 minutes. It can be left refrigerated overnight.

5. On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough thinly. (About the thickness of 2 sheets of paper)

6. Spread the remaining ½ tsp of olive oil in a 15 x 11 inch baking pan, and put the dough in the pan, leaving a 3 inch overhand on all sides.

7. Spread the filling over the dough, and fold the overhanging dough over the edges of the filling, leaving most of the center open.

8. Brush the torta with a beaten egg.

9. Bake until golden brown (about 25-35 minutes.)

Parma-style torta's can be filled with a variety of vegetable mixtures, and this cookbook gives recipes for several, including squash, rice and savoy cabbage. I've made them all, except for the torta di riso. We like the torta di patate best.

Filling for potato torta

Procedure for preparing potato filling

1. Prepare torta dough, as above.

2. Boil, bake or microwave the potatoes until just tender.

3. Sauté the onions and leeks in the butter until soft but not browned.

4. Peel the potatoes and put them through a ricer into a large bowl.

5. Add the sautéed onions and leeks, the cheeses, milk and salt and pepper to the bowl and mix.

6. Beat the eggs. Add ¾ of them to the potato mixture, reserving the remaining quarter to brush the torta.

7. Assemble the torta as described above.

This mixture can be used immediately or kept , refrigerated, for use the next day.

Tortas are often eaten as antipasti, but we ate this as our main course for dinner, along with a green salad.

For dessert --- Well, what should follow a rustic savory tart? It has to be a rustic fruit tart!

Rustic sour cherry tart

Happy baking!

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting on SusanFNP's Wildyeastblog. 

25% Semolina Sourdough - 12/7/09

Starter Build 1

50g - stiff starter (active)

50g - semolina (Bob's Red Mill)

50g - bread flour (KA Organic)

100g - water

Starter Build 2

250g - all of starter build 1

100g - semolina

100g - AP flour (Whole Foods or Hecker's)

100g - water

Final Dough - 2296g total dough weight @ about 72% hydration

550g - all of starter build 2

500g - AP flour

250g - bread flour

250g - semolina

720g - water

26g  - Kosher salt

Instructions

Starter Build 1

-Mix ingredients for Starter Build 1, cover and let ferment for 8-12 hours or until doubled, bubbly and sinking in slightly at center.

Starter Build 2

-Mix ingredients for Starter Build 2, cover and let ferment for 8-12 hours or until doubled, bubbly and sinking in slightly at center.

Final Dough

-Mix all ingredients in large metal mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, cover and let rest (autolyse) for 20-30 minutes.

-After rest, knead dough in bowl using wet hand using the French fold method for about 5 minutes working out any lumps.  Cover and let rest for 20-30  minutes.

-After rest, turn dough using stretch and fold method in bowl with wet hands.  Do not add any flour.  Let rest for 15 minutes.

-Repeat stretch and folds 4 times at 15 minute intervals.

-After last turn, place dough into lightly oiled container, cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

-Turn dough one last time after 15 minutes, and return to refrigerator for 21 to 24 hours.

Bake Day

-Remove dough from refrigerator, divide into 4 pieces (574g), shape into boule and transfer to bowl lined with a lightly floured tea towel/linen, or floured bannetton.  Place proofing bowls in large plastic bag to prevent dough from drying out.  Proof for about 2 hours or until dough passes the poke test...

-45 minutes before loaves are finished proofing, place baking stone in oven on 2nd shelf up from bottom and preheat to 550F.

-When loaves are proofed and oven has reached 550F, place loaves on to peel, slash, and place directly onto stone, steam, turn oven temp down to 450F, and bake for 50 minutes, rotating loaves halfway through bake.  Loaves are done when internal temp is between 205F to 210F.

-Cool completely before cutting and eating.

Notes

-These turned out really good!!!  4 loaves are a very tight fit on a 14" x 16" baking stone, but it will work... 

A few weeks ago, I posted a question about using soft winter wheat for baking artisan bread. Here's the brief story. My wife and I are somewhat passionate about local food. Since we can only grow soft wheat here in Kentucky, I always assumed that I would have to buy flour milled from wheat grown in Kansas or the Northern Plains.

Fast forward to Monday when I was at the market and saw this:

... a bag of All Purpose flour from Weisenberger Mills, Midway, KY. Now, I have used their flour in the past, specifically their bread flour milled from hard red spring wheat, and it has performed beautifully. Check out the sticker on this bag, though:

Yup. Kentucky Proud, made from wheat grown in Woodford County, KY (also home of a fantastic bourbon, Woodford Reserve). I decided to throw out everything I thought I knew about flour and try to bake artisan bread with it.

The end result?

Not bad, right? I chose Hamelman's Baguettes With Poolish. I think this recipe provides a decent baseline, and really lets the flour speak for itself.

I will be the first to admit that this is far from my best loaf. The crust is a too pale and the scoring is nothing to write home about (I may have gotten a bit anxious and threw it in the oven too soon, but 30 minutes into proofing, it started to feel a little dead to the touch). The crumb is perfect for dipping in olive oil or slathering with spread. The flavor is quite nice, with just a hint of tang from the poolish, an almost buttery finish, and the subtle taste of wheat typical in a simple white bread such as this.

I think I will try a more advanced recipe next time, and see just how far I can push this flour. 

Inspired by Txfarmer's post ( http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/14636/auvergne-rye-baguette-bacon ) last week I baked Leaders Auvergne Rye with Bacon today.  I didn't have the really open crumb txfarmer had but I'm pleased with the results.  These loaves were proofed in the fridge overnight which, if anything else developed a good 'skin' that made scoring easy.  I expected more of a bacon flavor - I'd say there is a hint of flavor but not much more - which is disapointing after adding seven slices of bacon!  I can't say this is one of my favorites from Local Breads but I may try it again some time.  On to the pictures...

From bread

From bread