Carla's Last Minute Easter Menu

So, did Easter sneak up on you too? I mean, the warning signs are always there: the appearance of Cadbury Mini Eggs and tulips, people giving up candy for lent, pretty pastel dresses showing up in all the stores and catalogs.  Still, since the date falls so early this year, it's no wonder you (like ME) kind of forgot about it.

I have a BIG immediate family: three sisters and assorted brothers-in law, plus four nieces and three nephews.  If we all get together without any guests (which we do quite often), there are 14 people to cook for.  This calls for some adjustments: the only "traditional" meal we cook anymore is Thanksgiving, probably because the kids are off the next day and most of the adults end up taking the day off of work.  After YEARS of a traditional Christmas meal (which was essentially Thanksgiving Volume 2), we started to go for Traditional MEXICAN Christmas.  This means that some time during late November and early December we get together and make dozens of tamales, steam them and freeze them for our big Christmas meal.  YUM.

Easter is a BIG holiday, but since we ALSO all attend different churches (not because we don't LIKE to go together- we span three different technical religions) it's MUCH harder to prepare a meal.  Throw in the fact that we all have to go to work and school the next day and... we're having enchiladas.  We're ok with this.

I'm still dreaming of a tastier, more classic meal full of spring flavors though.  Maybe these will make it onto the table of my fellow last-minute cooks!

My first choices were actually lamp chops and asparagus, just as Alyssa posted earlier in the week!  I heartily recommend those recipes too.

For a quick, but ridiculously tasty start, prepare these Pan Roasted Brined Pork Chops:

image from bonappetit.com

For two tasty sides, my recommendation is a Dill Pickle Potato Salad (make TONS extra for work lunches throughout the week- guaranteed to make you a happy camper) and a batch of Parmesan Coated Cauliflower:

images from tasteofhome.com and bonappetit.com

Finally, use the surprise ingredient in these Lemon-Cream Cheese Cupcakes for a moist dessert full of spring flavor:

Have a very Happy Easter, friends!

Alyssa's No-Fuss Easter Menu

It’s just the two of us for Easter this year, so I’m going to make a slightly simpler meal than I normally would.  Usually I would pull out all the stops and make a traditional Italian feast with anise-kissed Easter bread (an ancient family recipe), wedding soup with homemade parmesan/egg croutons, and herb-crusted pork tenderloin.  But I don’t really want to deal with the dishes involved in something so elaborate!

Instead, here’s what I have planned:

1. Rosemary Lamb Chops with Balsamic Syrup recipe from Gourmet.  But I’ll omit the swiss chard, since the Hubby doesn’t care for greens! (image from Epicurious.com)

2. Roasted Asparagus, since it’s a favorite in our house and it positively screams “spring!”  This Bon Appetit recipe with a balsamic drizzle looks good, although 18-20 minutes seems like a long time to roast asparagus if you like it crisp-tender.  (image from Epicurious.com)

3. Fresh baguette from our local bakery to soak up all of those yummy lamb and balsamic juices.

4. Vanilla ice cream and macerated strawberries for dessert.

5.  And if I’m feeling really ambitious, I LOVE deviled eggs.  But they’re an awful lot of work, so I’m not sure if they’ll make it on the menu this year!  This Bon Appetit recipe uses one of my favorite spices, chipotle.  But it probably won’t pair well with the rest of the meal, so maybe I'll save that recipe for another time and go more traditional for Easter. (image from Epicurious.com) 

What's on your menu this year?

Carla's Pickling Recipe: Refrigerator Pickles for First Timers

It's pickling week!  As a first time pickler (in fact, this is my first time using a mason jar to make something myself!), I was pretty nervous.  Folks have assured me for years that it's an easy process, but it seems so involved.  Special brine!  Jar purchases!  Popping!

I may not be a pickler, but I sure do LOVE pickles.  Over the past couple of years, I've seen an increase in pickle prices.  (I can't believe I just said that.)  Since they're only a few bucks a jar it doesn't seem like a huge dent- STILL, I bought all my ingredients at notoriously high-priced Whole Foods this week and the total was $2.73.  For two pint jars of pickles and three cucumbers left over for my next recipe.  SCORE.

Super Fast, Super Easy Refrigerator Pickles

- White Vinegar

- Onions (I used about half of a sweet onion, but would happily have added more.)

- Dill Weed (some recipes call for Dill Seed, but I thought using this type of dill would provide plenty of flavor)

- Garlic (for the love of Pete, use real garlic gloves. I mistakenly thought I had some at home and had to resort to this crushed garlic.  And then it smelled off when I opened it and I had to FURTHER resort to garlic powder.  Just... buy garlic.)

- Picking Cucumbers (I used about 5 for this recipe)

1. Cut up your cucumbers into spears:

2. Slice your onion into strips.  Line the bottom of a mason jar with a layer of onions.  Add one teaspoon of dill weed.  Add one garlic clove (or, in my case, one teaspoon of garlic powder).

3. Slide your cucumber spears in the jar until they're cozy.

4. Add 1 cup water, 1 cup vinegar and 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt to a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring just a bit to ensure the salt is dissolved.  Once boiling, pour the mixture into the jars, leaving about 1/4 inch spare room at the top to avoid spillover when closing.  Place your lid/bands on the jar and close tightly.  

(As Alyssa advised me when we chatted about pickles, you don't even have to use mason jars for this recipe!  Any jar will do- I save old pickle jars and could just have easily used those for this project.)

No one told me to shake them up, but I did it anyway.  (And then I felt a TREMENDOUS sense of pride at having PICKLED something.  Like the olden days.)

5. Throw them in the refrigerator and wait two days before you crack them open to eat them up.  (These babies will technically last for two weeks in the fridge, but I dare you to let them stick around that long.)

The Verdict:

These pickles were, hands down, the best pickles I've ever had.  They're crisp!  And light!  They retain their cucumber freshness along with the yummy vinegar/pickled flavor.

I shared a jar with my man friend before I tasted them and he declared them to be the best pickles he's ever had as well.  

Final tips:

- Sharing is good, but you'll still be sad you decreased your pickle supply by 50%.

- My work friend Jessbee tells me that you should try apple cider vinegar for an extra special/different pickle-y flavor.

- Make more than two pint jars.

Alyssa's Mexican-Style Pickled Onions

One of my favorite ways to spend a day is preserving.  It starts with a trip to the market to buy boatloads of produce and ends with satisfying “pops” coming from rows of shiny, warm Ball jars.  Actually, it ends months later when you can pull a jar out of the cupboard and spread your own jam on a piece of toast or put your own pickles on a sandwich. 

Unfortunately, produce is really expensive in Japan!  A lot of it is imported, which is not wallet-friendly.  My days of buying crates of strawberries and cucumbers from the farmer’s market are on hold for now, but I can still justify making small batches of quick pickles.  They're cheaper and don’t require nearly the same time commitment (as you could probably tell from “quick” in the name).  No water baths, steamy kitchens and frizzy hair. You don’t need to heat the brine in many recipes, and you don’t even need to store the pickles in canning jars.  You can use Ziploc bags, Tupperware containers, bowls tightly wrapped with plastic wrap, etc.

My latest pickle adventure was Mexican-style pickled onions.  They add such balance to tacos when used to cut the richness of braised meats and creamy cheeses. They also add a gorgeous pop of pink to your dish (but I understand if you are not as delighted by this as I am).  I combed through a dozen or so recipes online, took the elements that I liked from each, and came up with this recipe.  The final product is citrusy, garlicky, acidic, salty and bracing.  

Plan on using them within a few days of making the pickles.  They start to lose their identity as onions and just taste like vinegar somewhere around day 4.  Which is not terrible for a pickle, but they’re certainly less subtle at that point!  I originally made them to be served with an assemble-your-own-taco bar, and then had leftovers on huevos rancheros the next day.   Yum!  Here are some other delicious ways to use these pickles:

• in summer salads, like bean salad, potato salad, pasta salad.
• on an egg salad sandwich
• on green salads
• on a steak
• on a pork chop
• on a cheeseburger or hamburger
• in chili
• on arepas 
• on pulled pork sandwiches

Pickled Onion Recipe

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

¼ c lime juice

1/3 c orange juice

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

½ tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 garlic clove, smashed

½ tablespoon dried oregano

5 peppercorns

1 small bay leaf

Mix all of the ingredients except the onion in a medium bowl and whisk until sugar and salt dissolve. 

Add onions and let sit for at least an hour before serving.

Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.  The onions taste best if eaten within 3 days of making.

Alyssa's Roasted Broccolini, Chickpeas and Ricotta

I pinned this recipe on Pinterest the other day, and couldn't believe how many of my friends re-pinned it!  So I wanted to try it and see if it was as delicious as we all hoped.  I read the single review of the original recipe on the Whole Living website, then made a few tweaks based on the feedback that the broccolini took longer to cook than the recipe called for and that the chickpeas got grainy.  With a few adjustments, I LOVED this dish.  It was crunchy, creamy, salty, lemony and slightly bitter.  It quelled my vegetable craving while satisfying my hunger in ways that a salad never does!  (p.s. You should look for me on Pinterest! My username is MissLyss84.)

I can't find true broccolini in Japan, but there's a similar vegetable from the same family called nanohana. Instead of broiling it for four minutes like the recipe dictates, I decided roast it first then finish it under the broiler in hopes that the stalks would cook more thoroughly.  The single reviewer of the original recipe complained that the chickpeas were grainy, which I've found to be a side effect of dried-out chickpeas.  I added them halfway through the cooking time so that they didn't overcook.

This was a really simple recipe, and it only took about 15 minutes from start to finish (although your oven may take longer to preheat than my little Bree does).  I ate about half of this recipe for a light lunch, and can't wait to try the leftovers with a poached egg tomorrow.  It would also make a great side dish with roasted pork or a steak.

Roasted Broccolini and Chickpeas
1 bunch broccolini
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 can chickpeas, drained
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (based on your personal preference)
3/4 c ricotta cheese
fresh lemon
your favorite olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Coat the broccolini in 2 tablespoons of oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Spread on a cookie sheet and roast for 4 minutes.
Toss chickpeas, garlic and red pepper flakes in the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil.  Add to the cookie sheet and roast for another 4 minutes.
Switch to the broiler and cook for another 4 minutes, or until the broccolini stems are tender (not mushy) and the leaves are crisp.
Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the cookie sheet (start with only a little, you don't want TOO much acid!).  Adjust seasonings to taste.
Serve in bowl, topping with the ricotta and drizzling with olive oil.

A few quick disclosures:
I could not find ricotta cheese.  I THOUGHT I bought ricotta, but it was actually cottage cheese.  Which I also have been searching for, but I just didn't want it TODAY!  This is a hazard of grocery shopping in a country where you do not speak or read the language.  But I just went with it, and decided to use it anyways.  It was delicious, and makes a perfectly adequate substitute (although I can only imagine how fantastic it must be with ricotta!).
Also, the recipe does not yield as much as it looks like it does from my photos.  I used a little trick to fill the bowl because I really, really wanted to use my new Staub ceramic salad bowl (thanks, honey!).  Forgive me?

Carla's 3 Random Facts About Me

What is one thing that you wish you were great at?

RUNNING.  It's likely that the answer to this question will ALWAYS be running and I've probably told you this before if we've ever been running, seen a runner or run together.

So, the funny part about this is that I actually run.  Not so much recently, but I've completed 3 full marathons and... 8 halfs?  And I hate almost every step.  It never really feels good, I don't get a runner's high and I am pretty darn sure I'm not at all good at it.  But I'll keep doing it anyway and hope that one day I can answer this question with something else.

I've run the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco three times.  This year was one of my very favorites, running with my friends (L to R) April, Sandra and Nasim.  (That's me in the blue wig!)

What are some of your biggest pet peeves?

People who leave gunk on condiment lids.  Ketchup or mustard crust, salsa rings- YUCK.  This extends to an overly messy refrigerator because food has spilled out and it hasn't been cleaned.

Putting an outfit on in the morning and hating it the moment you get to work.

Expensive thrift shops.

What are three things you are scared of?

GOATS.  I mean, I can be around them without hyperventilating.  I just don't want to.  They have SQUARE PUPILS everyone- a crystal clear indication that they're not to be taken lightly.

THUNDER.  We have a thunderstorm here only every few years and I think they are terrifying.

FLYING.  I love traveling and I will eagerly take an airplane anywhere, but I think it's pretty scary and I never am excited about the actual flying part.  It gets easier when I do it more often, but since I don't fly at all for work anymore my flights are few and far between.

Fortunately, I'm about the calmest terrified person you'll find.  When I had an emergency crash(ish) landing on a flight diverted from Maui to Oahu last year, you would never have known I was horrified.  I'm still waiting for my Medal of Valor in the mail.

Alyssa's 3 Random Facts About Me

My favorite shrine in Tokyo.

How many places have you lived and where?

I have a pretty random assortment of cities on my list, now that I list them out!  I grew up in an industrial town in Ohio about 30 miles west of Cleveland.  Then I moved to Chicago for college, and spent about three months in Rome during a study abroad program.  After college, I packed my bags and headed to the West Coast to work for a major clothing retailer in San Francisco.  That’s where I met my husband (and Carla!).  He got a job with a company that has a branch in Tokyo, so we had the pleasure of coordinating a move to a different country halfway around the world while planning a wedding.  But now that all of that stress is over, Tokyo is a fascinating place where we experience something new almost every day.  In fact, you’ll probably get sick of hearing about it in my posts!

A strawberry display at a local supermarket.

What are three things that make you happy right now?

1. Strawberries.  They’re really expensive here, and they’re one of my favorite fruits.  I refuse to pay so much for them, so my husband has taken to surprising me with them once in a while.  They make me very, very happy!

2. Seasons.  It’s been a while since I lived in a climate with four distinct seasons.  Not only does Tokyo have dramatic seasonal weather shifts, but the people here celebrate the seasons very, very enthusiastically!  There are festivals, parades and decorations everywhere.

3. Visitors.  Moving so far away from your family and friends to a place where you don’t know ANYONE can make you really appreciate having visitors. I love and appreciate the whole process: from getting excited when someone buys a plane ticket, to preparing the house for visitors, to the looks on their faces when they see some of the crazy things that are part of life here!

Our last visitor, Joel, with the police department mascot (and my husband).

What is your favorite book?

The Count of Monte Cristo. If you haven’t read this as an adult, you should definitely give it a shot. It's really cheap on Amazon and you can find it in most used book stores, since it's a classic.  It’s a LONG book and it starts a little on the slow side, but please don't take a shortcut and read the abridged version.  Hang in there a little and it will be worth it, I promise!  I love stories that are heavy on character development, and this one is no exception.  But it also has a prison break, hidden treasure, illegitimate children, poison, revenge and redemption.  In fact, I’m going to re-read this book right now.

Alyssa's Thoughts on Dining Alone

Counter-seating at our favorite tonkatsu restaurant, Tonki.  It's actually much easier to get a seat for one person with this kind of arrangement.

I have a tradition of taking myself out to lunch for my birthday.  The first year I did this, I sat at the bar at one of my favorite San Francisco restaurants.  I ordered a glass of wine and crab cellophane noodles from Slanted Door in the Ferry Building.  It was absolutely delightful.  I reflected on the previous year, thought about the year to come, and thoroughly enjoyed my own company ;).  Thus began my love affair with dining alone.

The opportunities to eat out alone were fairly rare in San Francisco.  I usually ate lunch at my desk during the day, and almost always had dinner with Franklin or a friend.  Dining alone was a treat.   It was something reserved for Saturday spa or shopping days, or maybe a trip to the farmer’s market when I could sneak away from my desk.  It was almost a guilty pleasure, and I always felt relaxed and rejuvenated afterward.

Unfortunately, not everyone seems to understand this in the States.  I would get curious looks from other diners, and see pity in the hostess’s eyes when I held up that index finger to indicated “table for one.”  I wanted to make a proclamation to the restaurant: “I am fine. I have friends and family and people who love me! Please do not pity me.  In fact, you should try dining alone once in a while!”  And I know I’m not the only person who feels this way, so it’s not just my absurd self-consciousness kicking in.

Now that we’re in Tokyo, I work from home and have a very flexible schedule.  My lunches are wide open.  I usually eat at home because I like to cook and it’s cheaper, but I try to get out for lunch a few times a week.  And I still love it, even though it’s not quite as much of an indulgent treat any more.  I can order whatever I want.  I can take my time or hurry through the meal.  I can order a beer or a glass of wine if I so desire (which happens almost never, unfortunately! Otherwise I would just doze through the entire afternoon…).  I can daydream, brainstorm or plan.  I don’t have to make conversation just because I’m sitting across from someone.

But most importantly, no one judges me here.  Dining alone is very common in Tokyo.  People work incredibly demanding hours and they are consumed by their jobs.  Sixty, eighty, even one-hundred-hour workweeks are not uncommon.  This makes it very difficult to maintain a social life and meet people or date (but we’ll save that treatise for another day).  Add the fact that many of the people who are married don’t make it home in time for dinner, and you end up with a lot of people dining alone.  This is a bit sad as a concept, but it’s a fact of life here that doesn’t seem to bother people.  It also means that there’s no stigma attached to eating by one’s self.  No one stares at you with that mixture of curiosity and pity.  In fact, many types of restaurants are better equipped to handle single diners and have to scramble to accommodate parties of two or more (such as restaurants with primarily counter seating, shown in the picture above).

Dining alone can be incredibly liberating if you have the right attitude toward it.  I wholeheartedly recommend that you give it a try.  Enjoy your own company and gather your thoughts.  Make a list of what you want to accomplish that day, that week, or that year.  Reflect on your day.  Maybe have a glass of wine.  What the hell, get dessert.  Take yourself out on a date.  I think you’ll find that you’re a pretty great dining companion.  And maybe next time you see someone eating alone you’ll smile at them with a bit of envy, rather than look at them with pity.

Carla's Bread Recipe: Kentucky Biscuits

I am an equal-opportunity biscuit eater.  I like drop biscuits and cut biscuits and KFC biscuits.  Since my mom is a teacher, I grew up with new recipes coming from the teacher's lounge every week or so.  Some of them were seriously gross -- I vaguely remember some sort of strange meatless patty made with mayonnaise and oatmeal. But some of them were amazing: TWA (a chicken broccoli casserole with a weird name) and these Kentucky Biscuits which are both ridiculously easy and finger-licking good. The only bizarre thing about them is that I can't figure out where the "Kentucky" part of the name comes from, but since that state gives me bourbon, I'm ok with giving them credit for these biscuits too.

Kentucky Biscuits

via my Mom's teacher lounge friends

2 cups all-purpose flour (No need to sift.)

2 1/2 teaspoons baking POWDER

1/2 teaspoon baking SODA

A dash of salt

1 tablespoon of white sugar

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup buttermilk

Set your oven to 400 degrees.

I like to minimize the number of bowls that I use when cooking, so I mix up the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar) right into the blender bowl and mix it up well with a wooden spoon.  

Cut up your butter into smallish chunks and get the right attachment ready.  (The one on the left there.)

Dump in your cubed butter and mix on medium until crumbly.  This will take a while if your butter is too cold, so you'll want it to be out of the refrigerator for at least twenty minutes or so.

Add the buttermilk (I just pour it in all at once to avoid the little-bit-at-a-time mess.)  Give it a quick whirl on medium until the dough pulls away from the sides and starts to resemble a chunk around the mixer blade, like so:

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  It should easily fall off the sides of the bowl and the mixer attachment.  Knead for two minutes.

Make a square-like shape, roughly 6 inches by 6 inches and place it on a cookie sheet.  (Ignore the yellow stains my sheet- it's clean, I just like turmeric on my roasted cauliflower.) 

I don't remember where I got that plastic pie slice cutter, but it's perfect for the next task: score the square into biscuit sized sections.  The original recipe specifies 12 pieces, but YOU know the right size of biscuit for YOU.  ( For example: I have made 9 before with the same amount of dough and nothing bad happened except for the fact that I had delightfully large biscuits.)

Throw the sheet in the oven for fifteen minutes until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean and the biscuits are golden.

These biscuits are the very, very best when they're hot and right out of the oven.  I love them with butter and honey or jam and a nice big mug of tea.  They're not too sweet, so if you like biscuits with chili or chicken soup, these will fit right in.

Alyssa's Bread Recipe: Rosemary Focaccia

Our apartment in San Francisco was a few blocks away from Liguria Bakery in the North Beach neighborhood.  This bakery exclusively makes focaccia, which is so delicious and popular that they usually sell out by 10 am.  They use a variety of toppings, such as green onions, thick tomato paste, garlic, and olives.  Rosemary is my favorite, but it also must be everyone else’s favorite since it’s usually the first to sell out!

Now that we live over 5,000 miles from that fantastic bakery, we miss their focaccia like crazy.  I made it my mission to figure out how to make a focaccia that we like as much as Liguria’s.  It took a few tries, but I came up with something that I think is pretty close.  In fact, we like it so much that I make it almost weekly!

I can’t tell you how easy this is to make.  Baking bread from scratch can seem overwhelming and messy, but this recipe doesn’t even require kneading it by hand as long as you have a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.  Your hands will hardly even get dirty!  And trust me, the heavenly smell of freshly baked bread in your home will make it worth every single second.  Oh yeah, it also tastes amazing.

You can get so creative with the toppings here, too!  There are endless combinations.  Caramelized onions, kalamata olives, goat cheese...gah! I'll be honest, I am so in infatuated with the rosemary version that I haven't branched out at all.  But I swear, someday I will...

While your active time with this recipe is minimal, it does take some time for the dough to go through its rising cycles.  Just make sure you start the recipe 3-4 hours before you want to eat the bread.  And here’s a tip: this bread is best the day it’s made.  Make it earlier in the day rather than later so that you leave yourself plenty of time to eat as much of it as possible! If you do have leftovers, the texture gets a little spongier.  Just pop the bread in the oven for a few minutes to crisp the top a little bit, rather than eating the bread at room temperature.

I know that using yeast can be intimidating.  But as long as you follow the recipe and use water at the right temperature, you should be fine.  Too much salt or sugar can kills yeast, so don’t go off-recipe with those ratios.  And in order for yeast to bloom properly (at least the dry active yeast called for in this recipe), your water should be between 105 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit when you add the yeast itself.  Yeast dies at 120 degrees, so just be careful that your water isn’t too hot!  Too cold and it won’t activate.  You’ll know within ten minutes whether it’s working or not.  When you add the yeast to the water, it should “bloom” or create a foamy-looking mass on the surface of the water.  And it will smell “yeasty.” If this doesn’t happen, something went wrong and you just need to try again.  And if you are really that afraid of yeast, then try Carla's biscuit recipe!

Last note: Focaccia is traditionally baked in sheet pans.  The pan that I use is an odd shape because I have a weird oven.  Just make sure the surface area is 130-180 square inches (surface area is length x width, just in case you forgot!).  Mine is 132 square inches and creates a really tall focaccia.  A bigger surface area will yield flatter bread.

Wondering what I mean by “weird oven?”  Japanese kitchens don’t traditionally have ovens.  They have fish broilers and stovetops, but no ovens.  This was unacceptable for someone who likes to cook as much as I do, so we bought a counter-top oven.   It looks like a glorified toaster oven, but it’s actually a really fantastic convection oven with a variety of settings. We named ours “Bree,” since it’s made by Breville.  Bree and I are in love.  Don’t judge.  She toasts, roasts, bakes, reheats, and keeps food warm.  She has settings for bagels, pizzas and cookies.  She is a total rockstar, even if she’s a little on the small side.

My kitchen

My stovetop with 3 burners.  The little window under the counter is the fish broiler!  The space where the oven should be?  Just a pull-out drawer.

Bree + Alyssa = true love forever

Rosemary Focaccia Recipe

The dough is based on an ancient Bon Appetit Recipe fromLidia Colavita (of Colavita olive oil), but the technique is mine.

2 cups water, 105-115 degrees Fahrenheit

2 teaspoons dry active yeast

2 teaspoons salt

4-5 cups of flour (I use all-purpose and can’t honestly give you advice for using any other type of flour)

Olive oil (probably ¾ cup or so? Depends on how generous you want to be with the oil)

2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

2-3 tablespoons flaky sea salt, such as Maldon

Use the paddle on your stand mixer.

Add water to bowl of stand mixer, making sure it’s the right temperature even after you add it to the bowl (if the bowl is cool then it can lower the temperature enough that your yeast might not bloom).  Run the mixer for a few seconds to dissolve the yeast into the water.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Make sure your yeast has bloomed, otherwise start again!

Add salt and flour to the yeast/water mixture with the mixer on medium speed.  Start with 4 cups of flour and add 2 tablespoons at a time until the dough begins to pull away from the bowl, becoming elastic.

Coat a large bowl with olive oil.  Use a spatula to move the dough from the mixing bowl to the olive-oil coated bowl.  Turn the dough in the bowl to cover with oil.  Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm, dry spot until dough doubles in size.  This should take 60-90 minutes.

Coat your baking pan with oil. Transfer the dough to the baking pan.  Punch down the dough, spreading it out to roughly fill the pan.  Let rise in a warm, dry place until the dough doubles in size.  This should take 45-75 minutes.

Punch down the dough one more time.  Let rise 30 minutes in a warm, dry place. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Use your fingers to make indentations in the dough (this will make crevices to catch the yummy olive oil, rosemary and salt!).  Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of oil and sprinkle chopped rosemary evenly over the surface.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the surface is golden-brown. 

Brush the remaining oil over the top of the bread with a pastry brush.  Sprinkle the flaky sea salt over the surface.  Cut and serve warm.  Try not to eat the entire pan!