Tuscan White Bean Dip

This is from AB in 5. It's one of the many accompaniment recipes. It is delicious served with any home made crusty bread and makes a great appetizer. I adapted this a bit to make it faster.

1 16 oz. can white northern or cannellini beans
1 roasted red bell pepper
1 large clove roasted garlic (or smaller fresh clove but garlic taste will be stronger)
2 T. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper
10 fresh basil leaves

1. Place garlic, beans, oil and salt and pepper in food processor. Process until smooth, adding a bit of water,
2. Add basil and roasted pepper and pulse until coarsely chopped. Adjust seasoning as needed.

I got the book!

And it's awesome! It goes into detail about the whole baking process of the bread and every recipe in it sounds amazing (I will post all those I try). I have been trying to adjust my recipe for high altitude to get a less dense loaf that rises more. There are some good tips on the bread blog: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com. I used only 1 tbsp. yeast this past time and it was more airy. I think I will try bread flour, and possibly vital wheat gluten next. The loaves are still fairly flat, not the size of sandwich bread, but there is a recipe in the book for a loaf pan version which could very well replace the need for store bought sandwich bread. This past week I made the "Light Whole Wheat". It is basically the same with the addition of whole wheat flour:

3 C. lukewarm water

1.5 Tbsp yeast (I used 1)

1.5 Tbsp kosher salt
1 C. whole wheat flour
5.5 C. unbleached all purpose flour
whole wheat flour for pizza peel

-Mix dough, allow to rise 2 hours. Use or refrigerate up to two weeks. On baking day, scoop out grapefruit size chunk.
-Shape dough into ball, pulling top around to form cloak. Allow to rest on cornmeal covered pizza peel for 40 minutes. Preheat oven at 450 with stone and broiler pan.
-Slide bread onto stone, pour 1 c. hot water into pan underneath and bake about 35 minutes.

I think the addition of wheat and other flour makes a tastier bread.
I stretched this dough out using lots of flour and made a huge spinach and cheese calzone.

I am almost fully equipped for these baking adventures. Instead of a baking stone, I invested in a Lodge cast-iron pizza pan: http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Pro-Logic-Pizza-Pan/dp/B0000E2V3X . The reviews were all stellar and unlike baking stones, it can't break. It can also be used on the stove as a griddle pan and can be used in the oven for bread, pizza, biscuits- just about anything. It came pre-seasoned and I'm very pleased with it so far. I also bought a bamboo pizza peel from amazon which is solid and well made but a tad heavy for the oven transfer.