Cooking thru Bread and Wine - breakfast quinoa and homemade bread

Each month we rotate a monthly dinner party with two other couples from our church. Having a group of six is just perfect for dinner portions and to maintain an intimate setting. It is such a fun tradition! I was so excited for this month's dinner party because it was our turn to host! I kicked us off with a Fall cocktail - whiskey, bitters, cranberry juice, ginger ale and a sprinkle of cinnamon! The garnish of a cinnamon apple slice was so fun and festive - plus yummy!

Breakfast quinoa was such a unique recipe and very filling! I chopped the onions and sausage in the morning, which made the dinner very quick and easy. This is the type of meal that you don't want to cook until your guests arrive to ensure it is served hot! I scrambled the eggs and sprinkled the finished product heavily with goat cheese. It was so good! This would also be a great recipe to cook at the beginning of the week and then heat up each morning for breakfast.

And then there was the homemade bread. I have to say, I had no desire whatsoever to bake bread. But I had no choice since I am cooking through the book. What. A. Process. In order to bake bread, you have to start a day in advance. So, Drea and I went shopping for the ingredients to get the process started. I thought everything was going great, until the mixture just kept growing. And growing. And growing. And it grew...into 3 dishes total. Whoops. Guess the yeast ratio was a little off. I'm not one for the details... so I pushed right ahead with the 34,523,452,345 other steps. Just when I was ready to pop it in the oven, our apartment filled with black smoke. Again. I really, really hate our oven. A few hours later, after Richard saved the day... we had bread! Real, soft, tasty, warm...BREAD! Dear world, I did it. I made bread. And it was good. Really good!!!

So to anyone that has ever wanted to bake bread, but has been afraid... you got this! And add the breakfast quinoa to the mix and eat up. Yum!

Breakfast Quinoa 
Shauna Niequist - Bread and Wine

Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil

1 large onion

4 links chicken apple sausage (Shauna recommends them from Trader Joe's)

2 cups quinoa

4 cups water

4 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Slice and soften onion in olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat. While that's cooking, slice the sausage and add it to the same pan.

Pour quinoa and water into small pot. Bring to boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer for 15 minutes. Fluff with fork and let cool 5 minutes.

Scoop quinoa into 4 bowls and then stir a scoop of onions and sausage slices into each one.

In the onion pan, fry the eggs to over easy, about 2 minutes over medium heat, and then slide one egg on top of the quinoa mixture in each bowl. (You can also choose to scramble the eggs if you want and sprinkle with goat cheese!)

Serves 4 (but really, serves 6 if you have appetizers and dessert)

Sullivan Street Bread

Shauna Niequist - Bread and Wine

Ingredients and instructions by Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups water

Olive oil (about 1 tablespoon, for coating)

Extra flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal (about 2 tablespoons, for dusting)

Equipment:

2 medium mixing bowls

6- to 8- quart pot with lid (Pyrex glass, Le Creuset cast iron, or ceramic)

Wooden spoon

Plastic wrap

 2 or 3 cotton dish towels, not terry cloth

Instructions:

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add water and incorporate with a wooden spoon or spatula for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Lightly coat the inside of a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest 12 hours at room temperature (approximately 65 to 72 degrees).

After 12 (or more) hours, remove the dough from the bowl and fold once or twice. Let the dough rest 15 minutes in the bowl or on the work surface.

Next, shape the dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal (I prefer cornmeal); place the dough seamside down on the towel and dust with flour. Cover the dough with a cotton towel and let rise 1 to 2 hours at room temperature until more than doubled in size. (It doesn't always double but that's OK.)

Preheat oven to 450 to 500 degrees. Place the pot in the oven 30 minutes prior to baking to preheat. Once the dough has more than doubled in volume, remove the put from the oven and place the dough in the pot seamside up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake 15 to 30 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned.

Cool on a wire rack. (If you can stand to wait that long.)