My Latest Fave Avocado Treat

Lately, I've been working out first thing in the morning, and when I'm done, my body is hungry for something really healthy. I've always loved avocado, but never craved it in the morning until recently, when a vague memory of reading about spreading avocado on toast resurfaced. I happened to have a really nice whole wheat bread and an avocado and I thought, "Hm, that might be nice," and I tried it and it's unbelievable. It's delicious. Plus, it's better than butter because you're actually getting a health benefit from the fats you're consuming (avocado is a "good" fat) and it's better than dry toast because...well, unless you're hung over or sick, who really likes dry toast? ("Me," says my husband, Leo, who actually does eat dry toast occasionally, but frankly, he likes to dip dry toast into sunny-side-up eggs, so as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't count)

Now, I have a couple of tips for your avocado toast treat. First, use bread that's substantial. I'm currently in love with Nature's Pride Extra Fiber Whole Wheat bread because it doesn't have any of the weirdo partially-hydrogenated nonsense or creepy high-fructose corn syrup, and it has a nice flavor. 

Second, get an avocado that's ripe, but not too ripe. It should have a little give to it when you give it a gentle squeeze, but it shouldn't be mushy. If it's rock-solid when you squeeze it, you can put it next to some apples for a day or so to ripen it up. Apples give off a gas that makes other produce ripen faster. We have a three-tiered wire basket that hangs from our ceiling where we keep apples separate from other stuff, and it works great for ripening avocados, but you could also put an apple and an avocado in a paper bag overnight and it works even better.

Prepare your toast normally. While your bread is toasting, cut your avocado in half as in the photo. I use an avocado peeler (left) from Pampered Chef that I bought for $6.50 years ago. It's one of the best kitchen purchases I've made, because it's quite versatile. 

Once you've sliced your avocado, take the side that doesn't have the pit and use your avocado peeler (or a table knife or a butter knife) to sort of...scuff the top of the avocado. You're not slicing here- you're creating a spread. Then you just spread the avocado over your toast. I probably use 1/8 avocado for one piece of toast, if even that much. 

I save my avocado and use it daily until it's gone. If you're easily icked out, know that avocado changes color rapidly and will go from green to brown as it oxidizes. This doesn't mean anything about the quality of the avocado, but if it bothers you, squeeze a little lemon over the exposed part of the avocado. Alternatively, the next day you can just scuff off the icky brown part and underneath it'll be perfectly bright green. Enjoy!

Yummy, Fresh Pita Bread

The pita bread recipe I use comes from The Bread Bible, an absolutely wonderful book by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

I've written the recipe using the variations I used, but in the book, Rose provides a hand-kneading method, an all-white pita, an all-wheat pita, and instructions for cooking the pitas on the stovetop using a cast-iron skillet.

Ingredients:1 1/2 c plus a scant 1/8 c unbleached all-purpose flour (Gold Medal, King Arthur, or Pillsbury)

1 1/2 c plus a scant 1/8 c white whole wheat flour.

2 tsp salt

2 tsp instant yeast (Fleischmann's Bread Machine Yeast or Rapid Rise, Red Star's QuickRise or Red Star's Instant Active Dry)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/4 liquid cups water, at room temperature.

Equipment:a baking stone or a baking sheet

Mixing Using the Mixer Method: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all the ingredients. With the paddle attachment, mix on low speed (#2 if using KitchenAid) just until all the flour is moistened, about 20 seconds. Change to the dough hook, raise the speed to medium (#4 KitchenAid), and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should clean the bowl and be very soft and smooth and just a little sticky to the touch. Add a little flour or water if necessary.

Rising: Let the dough rise. Using an oiled spatula or dough scraper, scrape the dough into a 2-quart or larger dough-rising container or bowl, lightly greased with cooking spray or oil. Press the dough down and lightly spray or oil the top of it. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap. With a piece of tape, mark the side of the container at approximately where double the height of the dough would be. Refrigerate the dough overnight (or up to 3 days), checking every hour for the first 4 hours and pressing it down if it starts to rise.

Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F 1 hour before baking. Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it before preheating.

Shape the dough: Cut the dough into 8 or 12 pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the rest covered with a damp cloth. On a lightly floured counter, with lightly floured hands, shape each piece into a ball and then flatten it into a disk. Cover the dough with oiled plastic and allow it to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.

Roll each disk into a circle a little under 1/4 " thick. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes before baking.

Bake the pita: Quickly place 1 piece of dough directly on the stone or baking sheet and bake for 3 minutes. The pita should be completely puffed but not beginning to brown. The dough will not puff well if it is not moist enough. See how the pita puffs, then, if necessary, spray and knead each remaining piece with water until the dough is soft and moist; allow to rest again and reroll as before. (However, those that do not puff well are still delicious to eat.) Proceed with the remaining dough, baking 3 or 4 pieces at a time. Using a pancake turner, transfer the pita breads to a clean towel, to stay soft and warm. Allow the oven to reheat for 5 minutes between batchs. The pitas can be reheated for about 30 seconds in a hot oven before serving.

Ciabatta Recipe

When you have a Business in Blue Jeans, you have the time and flexibility built into your schedule, so you can do fun things like baking your own bread! Here's my favorite ciabatta bread recipe- this barely makes it past the first hour in my house! It's a really versatile bread- spread butter and roasted garlic on it for a savory flavor, or spread creamed honey on it for a sweet treat.

The ciabatta recipe I use comes from The Best of Cooking Light, a great compilation cookbook from the publishers of Cooking Light Magazine. But this ciabatta tastes anything but light.

 

Part I: The Basic Sponge
You know how sourdough bread needs a sourdough starter? Well, a sponge is like a pre-fermented starter for other kinds of bread. I make the sponge 2 hours ahead to 3 days ahead. Typically, when I'm making the bread recipe, I'll make a new sponge recipe so it can sit in the fridge until I'm ready to make the next bread. I like to let it sit as long as I can, because it develops a flavor depth with more time - bread that is made from a 2-hour-old sponge tends to be a bit bland, in my opinion.

Ingredients:
1 cup bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 package dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)
3/4 cup very warm water (120 to 130 degrees)

1. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup and level with a knife.
2. Place the first 3 ingredients in a food processor and pulse 5 times.
   
3. Add water, process for 1 minute until well blended.
4. Spoon mixture into a medium bowl; cover and chill in the refrigerator. (Note that the Cooking Light recipe says 2-24 hours, but I've gone anywhere from 2-72 hours; just check to see if it has weird colors. Consistency-wise, it should look like a creamy-white version of Venom from the Spiderman comics.) 
5. Bring to room temperature before using (confession: I rarely let it get to room temperature; I bring it out of the fridge when I start to make the bread dough and it's whatever temperature it gets to by the time it's time to add the sponge).

Part II: Ciabatta Recipe:

Ingredients:
4 cups bread flour
Basic Sponge
1 1/4 cups warm water (100 to 110 degrees)
2 teaspoons nonfat dry milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 package dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 Tablespoon cornmeal
2 Tablespoons bread flour

1. Lightly spoon 4 cups of flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife.
2. Combine with Basic Sponge and next 4 ingredients in a food processor; process until the dough forms a ball. Process 1 additional minute.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface (dough will be sticky and soft) and divide dough in half.
4. Working with one portion of the dough at a time (cover the remaining dough to keep it from drying), roll each portion into a 12 x 6-inch rectangle. Place dough on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
5. Taper the ends of the dough to form a "slipper" shape. Sprinkle some flour over the loaves.
6. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. (If you're not sure, press 2 fingers into the loaf. If the indentations remain, the dough has risen enough.)
7. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
8. Uncover the dough. Bake bread at 425 degrees for 25 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove the ciabatta from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Yields 2 loaves, 24 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

You can freeze one loaf for later, if it lasts long enough.

Calories: 112
Fat 0.5 g
Protein 3.8 g
Carb 22.4 g
Fiber 0.2 g
Chol 0 mg
Iron 1.4 mg
Sodium 99 mg
Calc 7 mg