From Baguette To Bruschetta.

Yesterday, I made baguettes -

my second attempt at artisan bread

from an article I found in Saveur magazine.

My boys finished off two of the loaves in no time.

I made them promise to save me a loaf

for the next day - I wanted to make bruschetta.

And here's my bruschetta:

Ever since I had the Quatres Bruschettas

at Brio Tuscan Grill in Las Vegas,

I've been wanting to make my own.

I went back to that post

and found what I wrote:

Back when we were in Red Lodge, Montana,
I picked up the latest issue of Saveur,
which had a bunch of artisan bread recipes.
They would be perfect for making
these bruschettas.

We can't wait to get back home and cook.

I sliced 8 pieces on the diagonal.

This is excellent bread.

It doesn't have the slightly tart taste of the filone I made

(Two-stage fermentation there)

but it tastes nothing like anything you can buy.

I loved the texture.

I drizzled a little extra virgin olive oil over my slices.

And rubbed them with garlic.

Mr. Hawthorne had cooked some Denver cut steaks

and I cut the leftovers into very thin slices against the grain.

I lightly toasted my bread.

The rubbed garlic is a nice touch.

I sliced a few tomatoes and gave them

 a few grinds of smoked sea salt and pepper

and a drizzling of extra virgin olive oil.

I never use extra virgin olive oil

for sauteing or frying.

That's a waste of expensive oil.

I use it for flavoring.

And I chose a fruity olive oil for the tomatoes.

Stick the tomatoes under the broiler

for a few minutes.

A few spinach leaves on top.

Drizzle with a little extra virgin.

Add some steak slices and chopped red onion.

Top with roasted tomato slices.

Bleu cheese crumbles.

Some basil chiffonade.

Grated Asiago cheese.

Under the broiler until the cheese melts

and everything is heated through.

These were wonderful.

Full of flavor.

I made these for lunch and I was so hungry

when they came out of the oven.

Unfortunately, I couldn't eat then

since I had a dentist appointment in 10 minutes.

I asked the boys to please leave me two of the bruschettas.

And I went to go brush my teeth.

When I returned from brushing my teeth

they had already finished the rest of the bruschettas.

They were nice enough to leave me the two

I had requested.

Should've made more.