Ciabatta, tomato sandwich

The authentic ciabatta has polish, half the dough started the night before, but this does not do that. This is fast ciabatta verisimilitude because I am American and Homey ain't got time fo dat. And being American I cannot fully appreciate the difference between aged and un-aged dough because of all that Wonderbread™ that preceded it.

Joking. Big difference. This is regular bread sort of in the shape of ciabatta, a little bit but with none of the autenticidad. Plus I used high protein bread flour.

Shaggy dough.

The water was measured to 1.5 cups.

100% hydration would be three cups of flour. 

This took 3.5 cups flour for a fairly wet sticky dough.

The dough has sugar and salt and olive oil in it.

See, I just stopped adding flour when the dough was still wet and I stood there and stirred it for a minute. That is all the actual kneading that the dough got.

The risen dough is tapped down with the fingertips sort of like spreading dough for a pizza. In this manner I try to get a rectangular shape and then stretch it and fold it again.

Risen again, and quickly too, the smoothness indicates the high protein flour is developing faster than usual. Usually I'd do this N/S/E/W thing again a few more times in the bowl to develop the gluten but this time I am dividing the dough and doing the folding differently to try to get a rectangular shape, and then fold it.

Risen too large, Sarge. Instead of baking these I'll press them down again with my fingertips like a pizza and try to get a rectangular shape and then fold it.

Oops. Too big again. That means it is too airy inside. Press down again with my fingertips to flatten the dough and to stretch it into a rectangular shape and then fold it. Again.

Now I am set. I can make a tomato sandwich, or a BLT that is mostly tomato, or an avocado and tomato sandwich with extra tomato, or a guacamole sandwich with additional tomato, or a roast beef sandwich with the roast beef switched out to make room for more tomato. 

Guacamole

Sometimes you just have to deal with bruised avocados. 

Lime not shown.

The tomatoes are squeezed roughly so that they do not add juice. And the onion is de-intensified with salt, rinsed, and dried with paper towel. 

I used more cilantro than white people like, but I just don't care.

It's too lime-y, too much cilantro and too much jalapeño. You wouldn't like it.

Old Santa Fe restaurant, Denver

Grub Hub again. 

I could have walked over there but I didn't feel like it.

It's very close.

The first photo is a salad if you can believe that. There is lettuce underneath.

The second photo is a burrito, a chile relleno, and an enchilada, rice and beans. 

The third photo is guacamole and it is very good.  

Guacamole fail

The avocado was in the refrigerator for one day too long.

The pico de gallo was in the refrigerator for several days too long. The tomatoes look nice but they're the most awful tomatoes I've ever put in my mouth.

Horrible. 

D-i-i-i-t-h pickable. 

The texture was like eating pieces of a dishrag.

Oh, I ate it. 

I threw away the rest of the pico de gallo. 

And I'll make my own with 

* fresh farm tomatoes

* freshly cut greet onions

* fresh jalapeño

* maybe a garlic clove

Torchy's, Denver

This place always has a long line of people waiting to give their order.

What gives?

A perfectly good decent authentic Mexican family-owned restaurant next door to this was put out of business. And another good decent authentic Mexican family-owned restaurant across the street is doing rather poorly but this place is packed. No entiendo. No es logico. No computa.

I struck up a conversation with a woman sitting next to me and maintained it the whole way through.

'Cause that's how I roll.

I looked for photos of Torchy's exterior online and saw this one. Turns out it's mine.

Torchy's beef frittata.

Torchy's Mr. Orange (salmon taco)

Torchy's guacamole 

Three photos from their online menu.

My photos taken inside today.

My order was for "here" but they made it "to go" and that caused me to space out taking photographs. Plus I was talking to the bird sitting next to me.

Mexican guacamole from Torchy's guacamole and pico de gallo

It works

In a pinch.

Or when you are lazy. As I am now.

The guacamole recipe that I live by is from a Spanish Language 102 textbook.

What a great idea for a textbook. The lesson had little pictures by each ingredient, so a sketch of an onion next to "cebolla" and so forth. The recipe also included diced hard boiled egg but I omit that. It is the best recipe that I've seen. I'm asked to make it constantly for parties, and I must say that's become a pain in the butt. The shopping for avocados, and avocado management, their unreliability, and all the chopping. No me gusta hacerlo nunca más. 

Together these two have too much lime and not enough onion and no diced jalapeño, no cumin or ground coriander seed and not enough cilantro, the leafy part of the same plant as the coriander seeds. The leaves and the seeds taste differently. And cumin tastes like Mexico itself. Without it then guacamole lacks its Old World essence. 

This tastes New Age, like something a hipster would make and with nothing to urge anyone to ask you, "Hey, can you bring along your guacamole?"  

Too bad. 

Guacamole $6.00

Pico de gallo $3.00 currently.

Not actually a fail, but not a win either.  Still, I'm scarfing the whole bowl like a person who's starved.