HEB

HEB is my favorite grocery store. If you live in South Texas, then you know about HEB. But those who do not it is the greatest place. HEB has recenlty expanded into Mexico.

From Wikipedia:

The company was founded in 1905 when Florence Butt opened C.C. Butt Staple and Fancy Groceries on the ground floor of the family home in Kerrville, Texas. In 1919, Howard Edward Butt, her youngest son, took over the store upon his return from World War I. In 1924, he expanded the Butt Grocery Company with a new store in Junction, about 60 miles (97 km) from Kerrville. Charles, the youngest son of Howard E. Butt, became president of the H.E. Butt Grocery Company in 1971. Today, Charles Butt is chairman and CEO of H-E-B, having grown the business from sales of $250 million in 1971 to $13 billion in 2006. In 2003, the company was #10 on Forbes' list of largest privately held companies; H-E-B is also the largest privately held company in Texas. Mr. Butt, whose fortune is estimated to be over $2 billion, is the richest man in San Antonio.
Historically, the company is known for its generosity, with 5% of annual pretax earnings given to civic and charitable causes in the communities they operate in, including education and food banks. In December 2006, Chairman Charles Butt gave $1 million to the McNay Art Museum for the new Jane and Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions.[5]
H-E-B is also environmentally driven, focusing on recycling and conservation, and in 1999 began converting their Houston distribution fleet to run on liquefied natural gas.
The year 2005 marked the company's 100th year in operation.

Some stores are typical grocery stores, but recently there has been a trend with HEB to bring in more unique products, gourmet products, prepared foods in the Cafe on the Run, pharmacy, dry cleaners, banks branches, cell phone stores, electronics departments, photo centers, florists, books sellers, food demonstrations, sushi bar... the list goes on. I could purchase a flat screen TV, a bicycle, a bottle of salad dressing, and a $40 a pound steak all in one location!

HEB recently opened a new store a block from my house. Now a block in Texas isn't 200 feet like some places, it is about 4 minutes away driving 45 mph. So that is a block. The new store has it all going on. This weekend I went to check it out and saw a woman dispensing the most gourgeous olive oil into a bottle. I asked her about it and she offered me one. I stepped back since olive oil has become more expensive than a gallon of gasoline and asked the price. I stepped forward when she said with this coupon it was free! So off I went and picked up a few more items before checking out. Anything free is a prize, but when I saw it ring up at $7.99 and ring off $7.99 with the scan of a coupon I was in heaven!

I went home and imediatly called my girl friend Susie. She was busy and was to call back. When my husband returned from dove hunting I informed him we were going back to HEB to get more free olive oil. He was so impressed he was game. Ususally men don't go for making a trip to the grocery store just to get something for free. When we returned to the neighborhood, I found Susie in her yard and off we went in her car back to HEB. Of course each trip we made purchases to offset the oil.

I told my mom, aunt and sister-in-law and we all went back on Sunday for more oil.

I gave away one bottle and I have four beautiful bottles of oil.

I found out that HEB gave away 1,000 litters of olive oil over the weekend.

Cibatta Bread

We like Cibatta bread. It has texture and it is chewy. I have not bought a sandwich loaf of bread on purpose for about 2 years. HEB (our local grocery chain) has a wonderful bakery where you can purchase different types of artisan breads. But with the addition of the KitchenAid Stand Mixer to our arsenal we have been making all our own bread. As I flipped through our new copy of The Stand Mixer Bible, Second Edition, Meredith Deeds and Carla Snyder, Robert Rose, Inc., 2008, I found a recipe for Cibatta! WOW!!! Just had to try it.

The first mistake we made was putting the yeast and warm water into the COLD mixer bowl. The cold metal bowl dropped the temperature of the water too low for the yeast. We started over by warming the metal mixer bowl with warm water prior to adding the yeast and 1/2 cup of water.

The second mistake I made was I used 1 cup of water instead of 1/2 cup of water. After adding the 6 cups of flour and mixing the dough I had batter. I realized what I had done and added 1 cup of flour. Still too much like batter. I added a 2nd cup. In hind sight I should have added one more. After our bread rose in loaf form it was still flatter than what it should have been. But it still taste great!

We don't have oven tiles so we used a Pampered Chef pizza stone and a Pampered Chef stone jellyroll pan.

We have a built in microwave over the range. When we turn the light on underneath it and tape the door just open so the interior light stays on it makes the perfect draft free warm place to rise our bread dough.

Cibatta Bread

Cibatta dough is the stickiest dough ever, but don't let that scare you. Just use lots of flour when handling it. The results are definitely worth it.

2 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (100 degrees F)

6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tbsp salt

2 1/2 cups cool water

1. In the mixer bowl, stir together yeast and water. Let stand until yeast begins to form, about 5 minutes. Add flour, salt and cold water. Attach the flat beater and mixer bowl to the mixer. Set to Stir and mix until a dough forms.

2. Remove the flat beater and attach the dough hook. Set to Speed 2 and knead until dough is stretchy, about 8 minutes. Remove the mixer bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a war, draft free place until tripled in bulk, about 4 hours.

3. Turn dough out onto a generously floured work surface. Using a pastry knife or a metal dough knife, fold dough into thirds, much as you would fold a business letter. Flour the top and pat down down. Cover with a towel and let stand for about 20 minutes. (This process tightens the dough so the loaves will have a nice shape.) Dip the metal pastry scraper into cool water and cut dough crosswise into 4 loaves.

4. Cut 4 sheets of parchment paper into pieces 3 inches larger on all sides than the loaves. Liberally flour dough, place on parchment paper and cover with towels. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Meanwhile, place oven rack in the middle position, line with clay oven tiles and preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

5. Carefully slide 2 of the loaves, with parchment paper, onto baking sheet. Place baking sheet on the hot tiles and remove it much as a magician would pull a tablecloth from a set table, leaving the parchment paper and loaves on the tiles. Make sure the loaves do not touch and have enough room to expand. Spray loaves and the inside of the oven with water. Shut the door quickly. Spray again 3 times, at 2 minute intervals. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until loaves reach an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. Let cool completely on wire racks. Repeat with the remaining loaves.