Po’ Boy Bread

by imothyt

Recipe first (always)

Makes two 16″ loaves

  • 225g water
  • 13g sugar
  • 9g dried instant yeast
  • 12g olive oil (I use extra virgin)
  • 330g bread flour
  • 9g salt

Mix the first three ingredients in a bowl and allow to stand for 10 minutes. It should froth and bubble. If the yeast doesn’t show any activity, throw it out and get some new yeast.

Mix the remaining ingredients plus the proofed yeast. Knead in your stand mixer for 10 minutes on medium speed or until the gluten has fully developed. This is a quick ferment bread and you will not be developing a lot of gluten in your fermentation, so you need the dough to be fully developed in the kneading/mixing stage.

This bread can be kneaded by hand but it will take a long time. Just keep kneading it. I have used multiple brands of bread flour for this recipe and they all have a slightly different feel. You should add a little flour only if the dough is impossible to work with. But at 68% hydration this dough should be in your wheelhouse for hand kneading. Just keep kneading it, it will eventually stop being so sticky.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest. I take the dog for a walk for an hour.

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and divide it in half. I scale mine to make sure they are the exact same weight. Should be around 300g each.

Now pre-shape each segment into a ball. Let them rest for 15 minutes, covered with a bowl or something. This allows the gluten to relax.

Prepare a sheet pan with some parchment paper or silpat.

Now shape them into logs. I have another video for this but I’ll also describe the process. You are shaping these exactly the same way you would shape a baguette. Take the ball of dough and flip it skin side down. Now pat it with the heel of your hand to deflate some of the bubbles and flatten the ball. Stretch it into a canoe shape and then working from right to left draw the dough into the center and tuck and slap the edge with your palm into the middle. It’s a bit like knitting or braiding. Once you are done with one side of the log, spin it round and do the same for the other side. You should now have a sort of sleeping bag shape. Spin it around one more time and now you tuck all the way to the edge. Now you should pinch the line together and using light pressure, roll into a 16″ log.

Cover the sheet pan with a plastic garbage bag and allow it to rest until doubled in size. Meanwhile turn the oven on to 375F/190C/Gas Mark 5.

You don’t need steam for these. We aren’t going for a crunchy crust.

Once they have doubled in size sprinkle them with a little extra flour and slash one long slash down the middle. This can be done with a serrated knife. Bake them for 10 minutes on the upper 1/3 of the oven, then spin them 180 degrees and bake for 6-8 minutes more or until an internal temp of 190F/90C.

Allow to rest on a cooling rack until completely cool.

Crust: soft and light.

Crumb: medium tight.

Overall: very light.

Uses:

  • Po’Boy (breaded and fried shrimp, remoulade, shredded iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, crystal hot sauce)
  • Any kind of sub (I made turkey club and it was amazing)
  • I also use these for tortas – just spread some refried beans and mayo on there and build
  • You could split the dough into 4 chunks and make telera rolls to be more authentic to the Torta
  • You could also use this basic recipe to make cubano bread: sub in lard for the olive oil
  • Meatball sub
  • French dip
  • Cheesesteak
  • Italian sub

What would you put on yours?

Qq

29 comments

  1. A Saint Totteringham’s Day celebratory sammich slathered with an aioli made of Sp*rs tears would be tasty!

    1. Add some salmonella egg mayo to fill with and serve it to Harry & co Saturday night?

      Win-win as St Tots also means Leicester leapfrog one of Chelsea or Liverpool

  2. Those look delicious

    That was the most turgid, hapless, wasteful and frustrating 3-1 win I’ve seen in a long time. I really hope Arteta isn’t happy with that.

    1. That’s harsh. After they scored it was bad, for a long time. We looked more likely to lose. Before that though? Pretty damn ok I’d say.

        1. I get the implication but it doesn’t sound unusual. We spend a lot of time circulating the ball and looking for angles for crosses in these types of games and crosses are low percentage in general, so we spend a lot of time generating low percentage opportunities o eat high percentage shots. The shots we want are close range efforts that come from an accurate cross or pullback after someone gets in behind, like the goals for ESR against West Brom or Pepe last night for the opener. All the hard work comes before that. Arteta doesn’t want his players to shoot for the sake of shooting which I think is a good policy but sometimes it does lead to a more predictable and sluggish buildup.

          We also spent a good bit of time in the lead, so not being in any hurry to surrender possession by trying something risky, like a low percentage shot. That said, after it was 1-1, we fell apart as Arteta also said afterward.

          Third, we started El-Neny who helped greatly in the physical side of things, but he is also one of the least progressive players I’ve seen in central midfield at Arsenal. I thought Partey played some nice passes through their press but tired by the end.

          Also unrelated but worth pointing out: Arteta has taken some heat over his substitutions this season but late Auba Martinelli and Odegaard combined for the winner.

          Just my thoughts. Counter points welcome as always.

          1. “We spend a lot of time circulating the ball and looking for angles for crosses in these types of games and crosses are low percentage in general, so we spend a lot of time generating low percentage opportunities o eat high percentage shots. The shots we want are close range efforts that come from an accurate cross or pullback after someone gets in behind…”

            I think the term you’re looking for is “faffing about”.

            This is an absolutely astounding justification for the offensive incoherence, bluntness and toothlessness we saw.

            No, sir. You want to create more shots, of all kinds, because more shots (particularly shots on target) increase your numerical odds. There’s no excuse in searching for a perfect shot without taking one in over an hour of play.

            Im glad we won, mind. The 3 points are the point.

          2. Absolutely astonishing?

            In the words of Ace of Base:

            You’re living your life in peace and in harmony
            You making your own decisions
            That’s how it’s got to be for you and me
            So many people are running around and ’round
            Without no sense of logic
            I see li-es
            In the eyes of a stranger
            Whoa
            You’ll be living in danger

        2. hey Greg, thanks for you concern over my recent absence. No one in their right mind would miss me, but it’s appreciated nonetheless 🙂

  3. As usual, Anthony Taylor did he best to try and tilt the ground against Arsenal.

    The Schupp tackle and Benteke shove at Elneny’s neck would have been 200% red card for any Arsenal player. Luiz got sent off just this season for far less what Schlupp did. Was Pepe’s red card for a had butt, for which he got a straight red, worse then Bentekes action?

    Sat down to watch a premier league game but the referees thuggery, which is usual in case of Anthony Taylor officiating against Arsenal, spoiled it to me.

  4. Thanks for the post Tim.

    Games where we circulate the ball without creating a whole lot of dangerous situations have been happening to Arsenal for many years. Arsene always called them “handbrake” games and Arsene used that term many many times especially in the last decade of his tenure. I am 100% certain that playing with the handbrake on was not the way Arsene drew it up. As with Arsene’s teams sometimes the players don’t execute the way you want and games like that just happen. We have now won 5 or the last 7 league games and since Boxing Day we have done quite well and I am reasonably confident Arteta did not draw up a handbrake game on the dry erase board.

    1. Sadly I can’t see Arteta having drawn a wolf either, but hey you never know… I’d like to think he sketched one on a post-it for Martinelli

  5. A couple of posts back someone commented that our record since Christmas has been very good. I don’t think you can’t reasonably blame the manager when we underperform unless you are willing to give him credit when we overperform. We clearly underperformed and had a miserable run of form in the first part of this season. No one would dispute that. However, I think the record would argue that we have overperformed in the second half of the season

    In reality the rather dramatic swings in form and up and down performances and results have been the norm for Arsenal. Great form in 07/08 only to crash in the last 1/3 of the season. If memory serves we rescued the top 4 with a strong run of form at the end of the year in 08/09. We were in first place in 10/11 only to completely implode after losing the league cup final and barely hung on to 4th. We had a poor start in 11/12 and rescued 4th with a strong run at the end. We were utterly miserable in the first half of 14/15 and finished with an incredibly strong second half. We were leading the league around the holidays in 15/16 only to implode in the second half of the season. We were in deep trouble and almost out of the race for top 4 in 16/17 but finished with a great run in the last 1/3 of the season and missed 4th place by 1 point. Wenger’s teams regularly had brilliant runs of form and excellent performances followed by similar long runs of poor performances and bad results despite having the same players, the same manager and the same tactics. Sometimes there is nothing a manager can do when the players are not executing. Emery’s first 1/2 season included the 22 game unbeaten run while the second half of the season was pretty bad especially the last 5 games. Its not a surprise that we had a bad run of form followed by an equally long good run of form and results this season. Liverpool certainly have had an up and down season so the same thing does happen to other teams

  6. Fantastic looking bread.
    Whenever I think of a Po’ Boy samich I usually sing and play in my head:

    “Jambalaya, Crawfish Pie et Fllet Gumbo
    For tonight I’m gonna meet my mi cherie mio
    Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
    Sonafagun we gonna have good fun on the bayou”

    In one of your Po’ B Boy buns, I’d stick a de-shelled lobster tail, a big slab of butter, a bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice, a quick crack black pepper, and just a sprinkling of fresh chives and dill. No mayo necessary.

    Heaven.

    1. That’s a great song.

      And only Karen Carpenter’s cover does it for me.

        1. Agreed, absolutely a great song. However, the Carpenters cover wouldn’t make my top 50 covers of Jambalaya. Hank Williams, Leon Russell, Harry Connick, Jr or any number of cajun bands come to mind as the best.

          Coincidentally, I saw last night that the number one song on your seventh birthday is indicative how you’re 2021 will play out. Mine was Top of the World by the Carpenters.

          😊

          1. Yeah, songs like that are always best when delivered by “the real deal” country, Cajun or Louisiana musicians like Harry Connick or Jr. or the great Neville Bros. But Karen Carpenter’s voice makes up for a lot.

  7. brilliant ball from odegaard on the marti goal; very ozil-esque…or messi finding jordi alba at the back post. equal brilliance from pepe on his goals, particularly the third goal. all three goals were the result of individual brilliance. this is a good thing and a bad thing. the good is arsenal has players special enough to take lemons and make lemonade. the bad is that the players may have done what they did despite the manger, not because of him. the team’s overall performance was abject. crystal palace is just a less-talented team.

    the primary reason arsenal were abject in attack, and i know you guys are sick of me saying it, is the fact that aubameyang is not a center forward. for crying out loud, what did he even do yesterday? lacazette has better movement. he knows the spaces to occupy and when. he knows how to make space for smith rowe and others. there’s a tactical nous required to play center forward that laca has at a significantly higher level auba. it’s not a technical skill or athletic quality but a savvy cleverness is required to do it well, particularly against resolute defenses.

    for me, i’d have auba and martinelli as my #11, pepe and saka as my #7, smith rowe and odegaard as my #10, and lacazette and another player as my #9; likely balogun. i’d get a #10 to replace odegaard this summer. considering lacazette and aubameyang’s ages, i’d getting in another #9 asap and #11 next summer. rumor has it that arsenal have offered laca a one year extension. they’d be lucky if he took it; i would have offered it to him in december with a 10k a week raise. now, they don’t have that illusion of time that last fall may have provided.

    i’m of the mind that arteta wants to do what all of his predecessors have done and conclude that auba and laca can’t play together. nuts! they are our two best goal scorers and i would foster their chemistry by playing them together often. we’ll see.

  8. Josh

    A significant majority of the highest scoring players in PL football in the last 15 years have seen their production start to drop by age 30/31 and nearly have fallen into single digits in goals by age 32. There are rare exceptions in the PL such as Jamie Vardy and there are obviously a few exceptions if you cherry pick around all of Europe. Perhaps Auba will be one of those exceptions but the odds and data from last decade or more in the PL has to raise concern that this season may been the beginning of Auba’s slowdown. Next year will be Auba’s age 32 season and the drop off in production happens at some point to every player in history and we can’t just ignore the possibility.

    1. i haven’t ignored any possibility, bill. what i do is ask why a player’s production decreases. most of the time, it’s not because they turned 32. that’s a coincidence you noticed and, with little due diligence, sought to make it fact. many times, a player’s situation changes, ie. sergio aguero was injured this season.

      the list i presented the other day of top scorers in european football was not cherry picking. i looked at the top 5 leagues in europe and found that many of them are over 32, debunking your theory. these players are experienced and have a management team that allows them to be prolific. while auba is experienced, arteta’s management hasn’t allowed him the same opportunity.

      bottom line, age doesn’t restrict the ability to put the ball into the back of the net. that’s a technical skill. on the contrary, tim mentioned willian not running at defenders anymore. well, willian is not as quick as he used to be so that makes sense; he’s physically diminished, not technically. we saw willian score a great free kick the other day…a technical skill.

  9. A lot of us have been complaining about bad managerial tactics and lack of creativity and chance creation for the last 3 years. For the previous 2 years Auba has been in golden boot form despite the tactics and manager. You could argue that his drop off this year has been due to lack of service, however, that has not been a problem for him in the 2 previous season. Its also hard for me to believe that the players who are supposed to create that service and the tactics have been significantly worse this year especially since Christmas. This season he has been different for him and may be its all just a fluke or just bad luck and off the pitch issues but in my experience when a 31 year player has a sudden drop in production without a major injury the most common explanation is Father Time.

    1. Hi Bill I’ve backed you before on the fairly straightforward point that we don’t have many proven goalscorers in the squad, with the caveat of course that players in key forward positions are young or new and therefore by definition don’t have a record of doing anything, let alone scoring goals.

      On Auba likewise it’s clear to me that we should be expecting a drop off in output as he ages, but not at this level. I read this morning that he’s scored 10 goals on an xG of 10.4, in other words he’s scoring at exactly the rate a striker would be expected to, but his team mates are not creating chances for him, and he hasn’t been getting into enough good positions.

      At times this season he’s looked distracted, unfocused and poor but in the end the quality around him, especially in midfield where he needs people to pick out his movement early, has been lacking. Josh is right that CF doesn’t work for him, but also at times the left side didn’t work because we got played through too easily and this forced him to track back and do defensive work, away from the goal.

      We need to get the midfield working, both offensively and defensively, we’ve got to improve our overall passing, possession and penetration, it’s got to be our priority.

    2. Age 31 seems an arbitrary arrived at figure, Bill. True Arsene disliked giving long contracts to players in their thirties, but there’s no empirical data that youve shown us that suggests that 31 is a hard post in terms of performance. It varies. Josh pointed to Lewa, 33 in August, and the scorer of 47 goals this season.

      Last year, at 33, Vardy won the golden boot.

      Cavani, 34, has 15 goals in a new league not starting all the time (except of late)

      31, even for a striker, isn’t quite pensionable age. But yes, it’s senior in footballing terms.

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