Fresh and Easy!

Il Fornaio Sourdough Bread, 12-ounce loaves
From Fresh and Easy Market

*SEE NOTE BELOW RE. CHANGES TO THE BREAD SINCE i WROTE THIS POST ... AND TO MY OPINION, IN RED, AS OF APRIL 7, 2013.
THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY USED TO BE:

Do you love bread?  The really good stuff?  The kind that you get in European bakeries that has a crispy crust ... and has a real texture, not just a sticky, sponge-like center?  The kind you could -- or would -- bake yourself, given the time and energy?  

Well, I love that kind of bread too.  And I know where to buy it!  Yes I do!  Right here in California!  Any day of the week.  With store hours from dawn till dark.  

Fresh and Easy markets!  Yes, that's right!  So now you're saying .... "But the photo shows Il Fornaio on the package."

A bit more explanation: Yes, first of all, that packaging.  It's not the usual soft, completely-airtight plastic that holds bread. It's a crisper, cracklier plastic.  Which leaves the bread's crust crispy and crackly as well.  Really!*

And isn't Il Fornaio the name of a wonderful Italian restaurant?  Yes, right again!  It prepares the dough for baking on-site in the Fresh and Easy stores.  Sometimes when you buy it there, it's still warm from the oven .... heaven!*

But is it only Italian bread?  Nope, think baguettes, French loaves, hearty seeded-and-grained loaves, sourdough, organic, peasant grain (some rye content), rolls .... well, the list DOES go on!  And the pastries!  Ah la la la la ... enough to make my French berets weep with happiness while I eat them (the pastries, not the berets).

Check it out!  It's Fresh and Easy!  The bakery prices are great.*

BTW, I'm not in any way related to Fresh and Easy.  Other than wishing the bakery would adopt me ... *

* I am disappointed -- make that upset! 
My beloved baked products from Fresh and Easy have changed.  Even the packaging is different, more-typically of the domestic-long-shelf-life type, on the loaf of sourdough that I just bought -- agh!  Hence, no crispy sound when I tap-tapped the crust.  No Il Fornaio markings on the packaging.  No "baked on" date, but rather a "sell by" date -- gads!

So, I guess it's the end of an era.  It sure was tasty, while it lasted.  All I can do is reiterate my reaction to the changes:
No ... No ... No!!!



 

Pomegranate "How To"

We hear and read more and more about the health benefits of pomegrantes. But I sometimes wonder if that fruit, in its normal, fruit-like dimension, isn't one of the most-ignored fruits in the market. I can imagine them saying "Choose me, choose me, please" and then sighing dejectedly as yet another shopping cart and customer moves on to the next display -- the customer with a puzzled look on his face.

So here we go. Let's pick one up ... a nice heavy one so that it has lots of the precious seeds. And let's take it home with us and dig in!




Digging in is actually quite the correct concept. We don't bite into it -- ouch! It's the seeds that we're after. In fact, with just a tiny bit of juice for the seeds to live in, and lots of white pithy substance, that's all that's inside the pretty, deep-red fruit.

First we cut off the stem end. That was easy.

Next we cut the fruit into halves, and then those halves in half so that we end up with quarters. Pretty easy too.




And then we just dig in! But first we dive in. Yes, removing the seeds while each quarter is immersed in a container of water is an easy way to separate the seeds from the pulp bits. The seeds sink to the bottom and the pulp bits float.

Thumbs work particularly well to get at the seeds, releasing them from the white pulp with ease.

After all four quarters have been completed, you'll have about two small handfuls of those precious pomegranate seeds.





And you'll have several big handfuls of pulp to be discarded.

Unless I am making a particularly-large salad for a big group of people, I like to use the seeds a few tablespoonfuls at a time. They freeze beautifully ... just spread them in a single layer on a tray in the freezer for a few hours. Then, package them up for future scooping. A small, glass jelly jar is just about the right size and keeps them nice-and-fresh in the freezer.

So now, when those pomegranates come calling in the supermarket, maybe they won't have to feel like the wallflowers at the school dance any longer?

Does Bread Make You Say "Ouch"?

I love bread. It seems to touch, and satisfy, my very being. Like many people, I've tried my hand at baking it. I've enjoyed using an automatic bread machine -- I'm not a bread snob. I've relished, even when flour-dusted from head to toe with muscles screaming from kneading, baking bread from scratch. I've made the well-known New York Times-published no-knead bread recipe -- it works, see the photo above.

But many people are not so fortunate. Gluten sets their bodies to reeling. We see an increasing number of gluten-free products in the grocery stores. And some of them are better than others, not only in taste, but in ingredient content and preparation. I suspect that often, these gluten-free products are the result of necessity leading to invention. Nothing inspires one quite so much as finding a solution for the health problem of a loved one.

And that is exactly the case in the development of a range of new gluten-free products by a company called Gluten Free Treasures. Based in Menasha, Wisconsin, this young company is moving forward quickly in meeting the gluten-free needs of its community. And with the power of the Internet (with customer testimony on Facebook and Twitter) and nationwide shipping, the mail-order needs of an expanding customer base.

These products, from bread and rolls to muffins and cakes and cookies, go a long way in taking the "ouch" out for people who, like me, love their baked goods. Bravo!

And for simple fun related to breadmaking, and to help you lose your fear of flour, check out the recent book by William Alexander titled "52 Loaves: one man's relentless pursuit of truth, meaning and the perfect crust." It's a great memoir about one man's attempt to create the perfect loaf, in his spare time. When that man is highly-creative, a bit compulsive, slightly devil-may-care and a gifted storyteller, the fun can't be far behind!