Tartine by Patricia & Bread by Jacques

 Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Tartine 
It was a B.L.T. kinda day, so I looked to Patricia Wells for a different take on this homey sandwich. The Salad as a Meal cookbook includes a recipe for a BLT tartine, which is the Frenchy version of an open-faced sandwich. Yup- bacon, lettuce and tomato are definitely salad ingredients. In this case, the salad is served atop toasted bread with a light yogurt lemon dressing, rather than the traditional slathering of mayonnaise.

In lieu of buying bread, I decided to make this beyond-simple "Slow and Easy Bread in a Pot" using a  Jacques Pepin recipe included in this issue of Edible Columbus (Page 18-19. Sidebar: I wrote the article about Malabar Farm in this issue).  The bread requires only 4 ingredients to be mixed directly into a non-stick pot, let rise and bake. Did I mention the slow and easy part? This recipe literally takes five minutes to make-- if you don't count the 16 hours of rising and one hour of cooking. Mix 2 1/4 cups of tepid water (90 degrees-ish) with 1 teaspoon of quick rise yeast and a tablespoon of salt into a non-stick pot, one able to withstand 425 degrees in the oven. I used a 3.5 quart Le Creuset Dutch oven. 

Blend 4 cups of flour into the water until a sticky dough is formed. Cover and let the dough rise for an hour or so at room temperature. The dough should be bursting at the seams by this point. Scrape the dough off the lid/sides of pot, deflate the dough and reshape it into a ball. Place the lid back on the pot and pop it in the fridge for another 12-14 hours to finish proofing. I let it proof overnight. zzzzz.....  Seriously, that's it... when time came for baking, I deflated it once again and shaped it into a doughy ball filling the bottom of the pot about 3 inches deep. 

Bake uncovered at 425 for about 45 minutes. If it looks sufficiently brown, then loosely cover with foil  and bake another 15 mins... VOILA... one hour & home made bread in a pot. Simple recipe with endless variations. Ended up with a huge two-pound loaf, so I sliced the bread bruschetta style to top with the BLT salad.


From this point on, it took about 15 minutes to make the topping. Bacon. Check. Lettuce. Check. Tomatoes. Check (I tend to go light on the tomatoes for the husband's sake). In fact, I replaced the tomatoes in a smaller batch with cucumbers, which he really enjoyed.  Reminded me of the crunchy (BLC) cucumber sandwiches I made while living in England. You can see from the picture, this isn't a full-sized open faced sandwich, but rather small appetizer-sized portions. They had all the flavor one expects from a BLT, but seemed substantially lighter because of the dressing.  These were yummy enough we plan to serve BLT Tartines at our annual Kentucky Derby brunch next month.  In fact, quite a few SAAM recipes will make it onto the menu... stay tuned.

Click here to purchase:  Salad as a Meal: Healthy Main-Dish Salads for Every Season [Hardcover]