The strong

Truffle oil adds an earthy nuance, but using olive oil will also result in a delicious bread.
Ingredients Cloud Hosting.

2 cups lukewarm water (85°F to 95°F)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (for do-ahead version) or quick-rising dry yeast (for same-day version)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons white or black truffle oil* or olive oil
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
4 3/4 cups (about) bread flour

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt

Preparation

Stir 2 cups lukewarm water and yeast in large bowl to blend. Mix in 3 tablespoons olive oil, truffle oil, cracked pepper, and 2 teaspoons salt. Add 1 cup flour. Using wood spoon, stir vigorously until well incorporated. Add enough of remaining 3 3/4 cups flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, to form dough that is soft, sticky and not completely smooth, stirring vigorously until well incorporated. Oil large bowl. Scrape dough into oiled bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. For do-ahead version: Chill dough overnight. Allow dough to come to room temperature in warm draft-free area before proceeding. For same-day version: Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume scholar leaders, about 45 minutes (do not punch down dough).

Lightly oil 15x10x1-inch baking sheet. Slide out dough onto prepared baking sheet (dough will be soft and will easily slide out onto sheet; do not punch down dough or knead dough). Gently pull and stretch dough so that dough almost covers baking sheet. Press fingertips all over top of dough to form indentations. Brush top of focaccia with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle with thyme, rosemary and coarse salt. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm draft-free area until puffed, about 30 minutes for refrigerated dough and about 15 minutes for room-temperature dough mathconcept.

Meanwhile, position rack in center of oven and preheat to 450°F. Bake focaccia until deep golden brown, about 30 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool.

*Available at Italian markets, specialty foods stores and some supermarkets.

Celebrate this festive season without getting a jelly belly



E ating well during holiday season is a bit like walking up a down escalator while everyone else is going down the right way—and they're gorging on delicious-looking bonbons at the same time. You're already struggling just to stay on track yourself, and now you have to contend with all those happy faces vacuum tube, most definitely bound for even more treats that you can't have.

The recipes we've gathered here will help you stay the course without missing all the fun. Some are easy weeknight choices, others are dressed-up enough for a special get-together. Of course you can have some of what they're having too, but these great sides, entrées, and (yes!) desserts will help you stay focused—and feel a lot better.

Carrot Fennel Soup


healthy-eating tips:

Small Indulgences

Scarlett O'Hara dutifully ate before going to an important dinner party so she could eat like a bird later (and therefore be considered a real lady). But it would be a crime to miss out on the wonderful food of the season . Enjoy the holidays—just aim for moderation. A small slice of pie is just as delicious as a huge one and won't leave you feeling gross.


Mindful Munching

It's easy to absent-mindedly overdo it on finger food at cocktail parties. When you're at the buffet, choose the items you really want—then move away from the food and focus on your friends. And remember that drinks have calories Amethyst earrings, too.



Want more ideas? Epicurious and Nutrition Data's Healthy Dinner Tonight gives you delicious and nutritious recipes—with full nutritional analysis—and healthy-eating tips every weekday (you can sign up to get the newsletter via RSS feed or e-mail).

Most cookbooks focus on what's new elyze, but not all of them. And there are definitely some advantages to looking back. These books are all about American cooking, but each takes a closer look at our culinary history and regional differences.

Inside the California Food Revolution is an amazing book that details the "thirty years that changed our culinary consciousness." It WAS a revolution that took place in California, but truly the effects were felt all across the country. Joyce Goldstein was there, a successful restaurateur and chef as well as food writer and so her connections and knowledge of the time make this book really stand out. She tells the stories of the people who shaped what and how we eat in the crucial era from 1970 until 2000. Her admiration for the pioneers of the time comes through and her engaging style make this a must read. No recipes are in the book, but a number of menus that help document the time.
A Century of Restaurants is another definite "keeper" because it combines food, history and travel. It must have been a very enjoyable book to research and write, because it catalogues stories and recipes from one hundred of America's most historic and successful restaurants. It's just good fun to look up iconic restaurants and read about them and see a recipe. For California the book includes Philippe the Original in Los Angeles, Duarte's Tavern in Pescadero. The Tadich Grill in San Francisco and Fenton's Creamery in Oakland. If you are planning a trip, it's a perfect book to reference before you go. Some of my favorite old time places are here such as Durgin Park and The Union Oyster House in Boston , Commander's Palace in New Orleans and Ferrara in New York. It's wonderfully researched and well written.


CookingLight Lighten Up, America! Is a fun book of regional specialties, all given something of a makeover. The book has fresh favorites like Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and classics like Lobster Rolls, all with tips on how to lighten up the recipe without sacrificing flavor. The book also shares how some dishes became classics. You might be surprised to find things like Grilled Jalape?o Poppers and Pigs in a Blanket, but they are there. They've even updated Chicken Marbella from the classic Silver Palate Cookbook! I particularly like the pages on hot dogs, which show how they are regionalized from Hawaii to Chicago. The book has tons of photos, of dishes but also restaurants and cookbooks, ingredients and home cooks.

The Way We Ate calls upon one hundred chefs and food writers to share recipes they associate with a specific year or in some cases decade in American cooking, between 1900 until 2000. The connection of the recipe to the year may seem like a stretch but you can't argue with the results. You will want to try Michael White's Polenta con Ragu di Salsiccia or Ben Polinger's Raspberry-Cured Salmon with Salmon Tartare gucci handbags sale, Ginger and Meyer Lemon. I was a little dismayed at what seems like recipes only from New York based chefs and food writers. It would have been nice to have seen more contributors from beyond the 212 area code.


Not a cookbook at all, but a history book. Repast, Dining out at the Dawn of the New American Century, 1900-1910 shares menus, photographs and the stories of the day as they pertain to the history and culture of cuisine. From the tenements of Chinatown to the stately hotels and presidential dinners, it's detailed with lots of anecdotes and stories you probably haven't heard before. Learn about early tea rooms where ladies dined and the precursors to fast food restaurants. Or how wealthy magnates threw lavish dinner parties transforming dining rooms and hotel ballrooms into farm yards, goldmines and miniature Versailles gardens. It's definitely for the history buff.

But the fleeting time, years wrinkles quietly burning at the track is growing, more and more deep. The wind, the yellow leaves from the tree trunk with fetters, pace of the wind fluttering back, finally quiet and peaceful lying in the embrace of the earth. Sitting alone in the season in autumn, to smell the faint fragrance, aftertaste the thick tea gucci handbags sale, read their words, after flooding thoughts, let all the memories are buried in the howling wind, light, quiet forgotten.

Relying on the autumn light arms in, let the heart be a moment here to comfort. Sit in that reflects the blue and white pattern under the eaves, see a drizzle, drifting profusely and disorderly, cold rain condensation in the fingers, as if after a rain, outside a more bleak and chilly, the breath of autumn is more strong. See Mo scenery, taste the taste of life, want to seek an indifferent to meditate in the complexity of the world, want in the simple life. Choose one.

Those who hide behind in time past, not as what the gorgeous, nor did it like love, like put it aside in perennial not to touch the place, slowly the gray, not to wipe, you always can't remember what it was. Long time passing, some happiness want to grasp, but in between fingers inadvertently lost, some memories want to forget, but this piece of memory in mind in root, cannot be removed. Maybe one day, when the bear story of time reach a state of saturation, seemingly hard things are no longer so tempted, who said forget people are just so easy to forget.

Like master life in simple day, used to ink records along the way of laughter and sadness. Standing in the fleeting corner, watching the spring willow, brings the joys of spring, the birds' singing, lotus pool of summer, autumn to make stained storied, reed catkins fall. Road to the sentiment, are recorded in the life long. Life is so simple Neogen Derma, but it is not easy, happiness is so easy, but desire is so. In fact, happiness is hidden in every seemingly small things you, kiss the morning's first ray of sunshine, enjoy love company, cherish the friends of pure friendship, not a kind of happiness? The more things to pursue, the bigger the happiness. Perception of happiness but smaller.

Experience of life Barilla in seasons and train travel, to experience the feelings in the process of growth of various. The time in the past, closely arranged in the life of the fragment. Memory sorrow, joy, love, hate, mixed emotions, heart ripples in the seemingly placid river. The more things experience, attitude towards life will be more calm and. Some people like fresh, stimulation, adventure, constantly looking for new things, once stopped will feel life is boring, keep a dull day. Perhaps, so many legendary life do not need, also do not need what scenery, in the simple day keep the heart in meditation, dull day vacuum bag, this seemingly simple things many people life in search of truth.

Years of circulation, experience more, experience more profound meaning of life. Light walking, a lot of things is not the original appearance, always sigh of sorrow and the fate of life's hardships. Even so, the heart can still maintain the purity and happiness. Only in this way, you can in this huge world to live out their own piece of heaven and earth. Not because the front fog shrouded stop, not because of temporary loss and give up the direction of the heart, not because of sadness story but forget yesterday's laughter. Gradually, you'll find out, if be good, where there will be happy and warm.

Americans have always cherished France's best export, French fries. Now McDonald's is offering the French something to swoon about — American-style burgers tube amp.

What's that you ask? Aren't McDonald's burgers already — well — American enough? According to Brand Eating, McDonald's France has taken the burger one step further launching a trio of burgers focusing on made-in-America-style breads. The promotion is called, "Breads & America" and offers burgers with a variety of what McDonald's deems "American" buns.

More From Delish: Woman Gives Birth at McDonald’s

The three burgers on tap are: the Double Cornbread BBQ — two beef patties tucked inside a cornbread bun, topped with Cheddar cheese marie france bodyline, fried onions, lettuce, and barbecue sauce; the Grand Bagel Cheese — you got it, a bagel burger with two beef patties, Emmental cheese, Cheddar cheese, lettuce, and a cheesy sauce; and the Shiny Double Bacon — featuring a more typical hamburger bun with sesame seeds and two beef burgers, Cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, and a creamy sauce Domestic Helpe.

More From Delish: McDonald’s Employee Accidentally Gives Couple Thousands in Cash at Drive-Thru

To promote the limited edition burgers, McDonald's France has launched an advertising campaign in which, as described by Eater, "Americans bully unsuspecting Frenchmen into giving up their hamburgers." Eater further explained, "One features a Baywatch-esque lifeguard in a red swimsuit, and another a Super Troopers-y group of motorcycle cops. The third features a hockey player, which, come on. That's Canada, guys." We agree.