Sometimes you just want a lunch item you can throw together quickly. Open faced toasted sandwiches or tartines are a quick delicious item. You can use any combination of fillings you choose. I made these using Muir Glen Fire Roasted Red and Yellow Tomatoes. I had done some work with Muir Glen last year and over the holidays they generously sent me one of their Reserve Gift Baskets and I thought this would be an opportunity to try one of the products.
You simply toast some sliced rustic bread and top it with whatever you choose. In this case I used the tomatoes and a combination of mozzarella and parmesan cheese .
I recently posted about an impulse buy of a bread machine. I have been using it quite a lot and have been enjoying learning. I do have to say using the machine as a proofer and kneader and then shaping the dough by hand and baking in a conventional oven is a big improvement over baking the bread in the machine itself.
My machine has an “Artisanal Dough” setting which takes five hours and that is before you do a final rise and bake. This setting allows the bread to proof and be punched down several time and really helps a great flavor to develop. The advantage of the machine it does all this without any input form you. To increase the flavor even more I actually made a “sponge” and allowed it to proof overnight in the refrigerator. I want to perfect this a little more and will be sharing some bread recipes soon.
With no children here I do not use the bread very quickly so I tend to slice it and freeze it in small packs and use them through the week. Short term freezing does not seem to have an negative impact on the bread
