Bouillabaisse in clam/tomato base

Third in a series of bouillabaisses. This iteration uses commercial clam juice and tomato sauce base. It includes snow crab, clams, shrimp, halibut and swordfish. Could have used a few scallops but I didn't think of it. It also has white wine with butter, seasoned with cayenne and saffron. 

The bread is heavily seasoned with ingredients customarily used in rouille. I'm a bit lazy lately and I really do not feel like preparing and storing another spread, although I do like making mayonnaise and aioli I'm just not in the mood right now. If I were serving this, then I'd certainly bother if only to show off. 

The flour was sifted which I do not usually do. It was dumped out after sifting then re-measured. I was a little bit surprised to see that one cup scooped flour when sifted measures 1/3 cup more. That explains why 1 cup scooped flour takes up more than 1/2 cup water for a sticky wet dough. 

Two hours proof at room temperature, so this is a fast bread relative to the usual overnight proof, and much faster than sourdough bread which is purposefully slowed for cool fermentation. That means it lacks the depth of character those other types possess that is incompletely compensated by a heavy hand with spices.  

Loaves formed the usual way by stretching and folding in thirds, rotating, then repeating, pinching the edges. The loaves are covered with an upturned plastic storage bin that happens to fit the baking tray perfectly. The loaves proof a second time while the broth is prepared. 

Small waxy potatoes this time, shallots instead of onion, for a change.

As a stir fry, sturdiest vegetables first.

Deglazed with white wine and butter. 

The entire jar of clam juice is added to the mixture, but only 1/2 tin of tomato sauce. 

Saffron filaments, could have used more. 

At this point the soup was taste-tested and deemed overly tomato-y. I do not like that. It is a very good robust tomato soup but that is not the aim. Another 8oz bottle of clam juice is added to dilute the heavy tomato sauce and increase the seafood flavor. So that is now 16oz clam juice. 

The broth finishes and holds while attention returns to the bread. The bread bakes and cools while attention returns to the broth which awaited the addition of seafood. So it's back and forth between bread and building the bouillabaisse. There is no multi-tasking going on here, merely integrating stages of two processes, each step performed one at a time. The only overlap is the extended periods of proofing bread dough and there the yeast is doing the work, not the cook. (Actually, they're having a yeast-orgy in there as yeast do. It's party all the time with these yeast cells.) 

At the point of adding the seafood, timing is critical so photography is a lower priority. The pot is closed under pressure although that is not necessary. The lid cannot be removed to check progress without forfeiting the pressure. Not a catastrophe but I'd rather not release the pressure, slight as it is, to check. I am intuiting when the clams are opened inside the pot the whole time risking overcooking the fish and shrimp. By 'whole time' I mean three minutes, no more than four minutes. The high heat of increased pressure, even minimal pressure, is a more brutal and abrupt way to force open the clams. The method seems fraught with unnecessary hazard of overcooking delicate seafood, but I feel comfortable with it. Besides, it was the pot I chose to use for its size and its material, and its lid seals automatically. 

That ↓ is the portion remaining in the pot after the serving bowl was filled and photographed and timing was not so critical. Before this, the pot was filled but looked basically the same. 

Conclusion: Crab is a pain in the butt. So much tedious cracking, picking, and mess for so little reward. If you must, then buy crab shelled.

Mussels are better than clams. 

The first bouillabaisse in this series with its Japanese style kombu/bonito dashi base, and the second bouillabaisse with its cream-extended wine and butter base were both more enjoyable than this clam/tomato base version. So forget about tomato-base bouillabaisse unless you happen to prefer tomato soup above regular seafood soup. I would not serve this tomato soup bouillabaisse.