onion time!

one vegetable that i really enjoy is the onion. onion, to me, reminds me of when i was a kid and how my mom would use to put it in all of her cooking. eggs? add some onion. sardines? add some onion. fish, poultry, meat, veggies...you name it, it had onion in it. later on, i'd grow to love all the other onion varieties i hadn't had before and pretty soon i was hooked. whenever i make sandwiches, you'd probably find a butt load of these strong tasting vegetable inside. oh, and did i mention i love onion soup??

 

which leads me to the bread i made today. i was hankering for something oniony and i spied my pile of onions. since i was on a bread schtick, i thought i'd made some onion bread! i had some asparagus too, so i threw some in. :) this is definitely a savoury bread that packs a dallop of flavor. very intensley oniony, a subtle taste of asparagus, and then followed by a hit of garlic. the apartment smelled amazing as this was baking and when i cut off a slice, it was exactly what i was hoping for. fantastically flavorful! i made some sandwiches from this and i was in heaven!

 

one thing i have to say though, i'd probably cut down on the onion, next time. originally i put in a whole onion and a half(!) in it. that's not to say that it was too much...it just made some parts of the bread a little wetter than i wanted it to be. how to fix it? i popped it in the toaster, of course! made for a chewy and crispity-crunchety munch of happiness in my mouth! also, i thought i could maybe "braid" the bread so that it would be nice and pretty, but the dough was too wet when i put it together so that was a bust. i had to mix the whole thing together and let it sit again so it'd rise properly. *sigh* other than that, i totally need to make this again!

i rewrote the original recipe so the one below is made with all the adjustments in ingredients/methods from this test run. when i make it next time...it'll be awesomely perrrfffffect! >:D

No-Knead Caramelized Onion, Asparagus, and Garlic Bread

1 1/2 cups warm water plus more if needed
2 cup all-purpose flour*
1 1/4 bread flour flour*
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp granulated roasted garlic or 4-6 garlic cloves minced to a paste
2 1/2 tsp granulated yeast
1 tsp sugar plus more to caramelize onions
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 bunch of asparagus, cut into half inch pieces
cornmeal for dusting

*i ran out of bread flour, lol. sub all flour as either all-purpose or bread flour. :)

in a pan, caramelize onions with a little sugar until almost done. take asparagus and a little bit of the garlic and cook with the onion (season at this point with just a little salt and peper if you want) until onions are completely caramelized and the asparagus is tender. set aside to cool.

meanwhile, mix flour(s) salt, pepper, sugar, garlic, and yeast together until combined. then add the asparagus and onion mixture and the warm water to make a wet dough. if it's too dry, add some more water little by little until you get a shaggy dough. let rise for about 2-5 hours minimum or leave on a warm area, covered, overnight.

 

to bake, preheat the oven to 450 degrees with your dutch oven and lid inside. prepare a parchment paper with scattered cornmeal. with greased hands, take the risen dough and make a ball then place the rounded dough on prepared parchment. let rest, loosely covered with saran wrap, until your oven is hot (about 20-30 minutes). once the oven is hot, take your dough with the parchment paper and carefully place it in the dutch oven and bake, covered, for 30 minutes. remove lid and bake an additional 15-30 minutes or until top is golden brown. let cool 15 minutes before serving.

makes one loaf.