Carb Your Enthusiasm

Recently at a party I sat with a friend of mine, Arié. After chatting for a while it turns out he is nuts about carbs. Not avoiding them… but eating them. He’s like the South Beach Antichrist.  Arié can talk your ear off about pastas, breads, and all carbs in between. In fact, despite having a full time job, he is generally found baking bread in his home up to 4 times a week. Oh, and not your average challahs and white breads.. rye loaves, foccaccias, flatbreads, pitas, chocolate/vanilla swirl breads, the list goes on. You see Arié  knows his passion – and has turned it into a serious hobby.  

So, recently when I got an email from him that went something like this “Hey Gav, I really wanted to try making some meat stuffed breads, what do you think?”. I was all “Hell yes, sign me up!” So last week  Arié invited me over to bake with him. With an empty canvas and a whole bunch of ideas, here’s what a hard core baker and a Chef Dad came up with: 

The Italian Loaf with Mixed Olives and Salami 

 For this one we prepped the dough and then mixed in a variety of delicious olives. We then flattened it out, layered salami on it and rolled it into a loaf. We topped with a little olive oil and Italian spices… Bellissimo! The saltiness of the olives and the salami made this addictively delicious.

 We prepped the dough and mixed in a little bit of the Peri Peri Sauce (which is both sweet and spicy) for flavour. We then flattened out the rolls and placed a heaping spoon of chopped karnatzal and Peri Peri sauce in the middle before sealing it up. We brushed the top of the rolls with a dab more of the sauce for glaze. The little pocket of beefy goodness baked in the middle of these buns was to die for.

 

Pull apart Bread with Smoked Turkey and Shawarma Spice 

 We mixed the dough with some diced smoked turkey and shawarama seasoning then formed it into pull away bread. We served alongside humus for a treat with a middle eastern spin. Yum!

 

So, clearly, we succeeded in our goal. We ate until we couldn’t move, and are all ready to try this experiment again. Any suggestions?