January 22nd: artisan bread with add-ins & garlic-lemon-ginger chicken

I finally tried some additions to the artisan bread tonight: seven cloves of garlic, roughly chopped, one jalapeno pepper, roughly chopped, and 4 g old Cheddar cheese, diced. I added the garlic and jalapeno to the dough when I made it the night before, then added the cheese when I gave the dough a quick knead the afternoon of baking. Yum yum. This bread was a hit with the fam. The garlic and jalapeno were both mild after baking for an hour, and the cheese was a tasty addition.

We had this with a salad and Farm Boy's Baked Chicken with Lemon, Garlic and Ginger. I should have chopped up the cooked chicken to go on the salad, but didn't think of that until the end of the meal. This is delicious chicken; it soaks up the lemon and garlic goodness as it sits. I recommend marinating for a maximum for 2 hours, rather than a minimum. Too much marinating in lemon juice leads to acid-cooked chicken, in my experience.

N.B.: I realize the majority of my readers live outside Farm Boy country. I think you could substitute equal parts lemon juice and olive oil with a shake of salt and pepper for the dressing in the recipe. That is, in fact, what I plan to do in future.