Rustic Bread and Spinach Artichoke Dip

Rustic Bread and Spinach Artichoke Dip

The Spinach Dip recipe is at the bottom because you should make the bread first. The starter is made the night before, so get crackin'!

 

How to make Rustic Bread using a starter from the day before:

The day before making the bread make the starter: 
Into your bread machine put 3/4 cup filtered water, 1/4 teaspoon bread machine yeast and 1 3/4 cup flour on the dough cycle let it knead for about 5 minutes. Stop machine and let rise overnight.

The next day: Reserve 1/3 cup of the starter for this recipe and refrigerate remainder to use another day. Or just make three!
In a large bowl, mix together:

• 1/3 cup reserved starter from above 
• 1 cup filtered water 
• 1/2 teaspoon yeast 
• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. salt. 

Select Dough Cycle and Start. After 10 minutes, pour dough from machine into an oiled bowl. Cover with a damp towel and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours. Punch down dough and let rise again until doubled, about 1 hour.Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a round loaf. Place loaf on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Spray loaf with water and place in preheated oven. Directions sometimes say to continue spraying loaf  during the first 10 minutes of baking.
 

 I placed a muffin tin with water in the oven instead to keep up the humidity. Bake for 40 minutes, until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Let it cool before thinly slicing for dipping. This is a great bread for a busy day at home because you don't have to watch it like a hawk. It doesn't matter if it rises a little longer.

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip

This yummy dip is a remake of a recipe I got from my friend JH and my sweet daughter. It's just like me to combine different recipes.

• 2 teaspoons olive oil or butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• One container frozen spinach thawed & drained
• One whole jar of artichokes chopped.
• 1/2 cup from a jar of roasted red peppers chopped
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes chopped
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 3 dashes hot sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella 
• 1 cup of Asagio/Parmesan/Romano grated mix
• Salt and ground pepper

 Heat the oil or butter in a large skillet and saute the onion and garlic. Add the drained spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes and peppers, cooking until good and hot. In a large bowl melt the cream cheese (or add it to the skillet if there's room) and combine everything else. Pour into a buttered casserole dish, sprinkle a little more cheese on top and bake at about 375 until bubbling and starting to brown. Serve with pretzel crackers or the thinly sliced rustic bread.