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Here I am again....I’ve been a bit busy recently and I had no much time to update the blog and to cook something interesting. Since I moved back to Italy from the UK I really miss a proper scotch beef steak,a nice t-bone steak or even just a simple rump steak. I do believe the scotch beef is one of the best in the world. In Italy I can only find good beef meat from my butcher, even tough it is still quite rare to find dry aged meat, actually is something that Italians will never eat or buy. Oh they don’t really know what they are missing....

So every time I’m in London, before boarding for my flight back home I have to stop to M&S and buy some scotch beef sirloin stakes (that unfortunately are always very small) and burgers.... You maybe surprised...but yeah I even buy burgers because in Italy they are so thin and full of fat!

I tried for the first time this burger a few years ago in a pub in England, the original version was with stilton and bacon, but I’ve been on a diet for ages so I decided not to push too far with the calories so I had to say no to the bacon....and I think it’s pretty good with gorgonzola picante cheese.

Of course the rolls are home made with my little hands,but they were a bit of a disaster, they were supposed to be like small ciabatta bread but the result was not quite right but perfect for the burger.

Here is the bread recipe, I definitely have to try this again...I’m still looking for the perfect ciabatta recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

For the starter (biga) 16-18 hours fermentation at 18ºC:

250 gr. durum flour (semolina)

250 gr. of strong flour W320 (I used manitoba flour)

250 gr. of water

5 gr. fresh yeast

Dough:

50 gr. of durum flour

1 gr. fresh yeast

11 gr. of salt

1 tsp of barley malt

135 gr. of water

For the biga mix well the two types of flour with the yeast and water until all the ingredients are blended well. Put the biga or starter in a bowl,cover it with cling film and let it rest for about 16/18 hours at room temperature( it should be around 18ºC).

Mix the starter with the rest of the ingredients, but leaving till the end a 20% of the water and the salt. After kneading for about 10 minutes, not an easy task as the dough it’s quite sticky,put the dough in an oiled bowl and let it rest for 40 mins.

Cut the dough in 4 pieces(or as many as you want) let it rest again 40 minutes and then move each piece into a baking tray and bake in a hot oven at 230º for about 20 minutes.

The sandwich then it’s really easy to make, I just cooked the sliced mushrooms with some olive oil and salt. Cooked the hamburger in the oven and when it was almost ready I just melted the gorgonzola cheese on top of the burger.