Pizza Dough/Foccacia/Bread Dough

Instead of ordering pizza while in Seattle, Jodi made a homemade pizza dough and we made individual pizzas for dinner one night.  There was a hunk of leftover dough, so we did something else with it another night.  But first, let me share the dough recipe because it's quite honestly one of the best homemade ones I've had.  The original recipe came from Jodi's copy of The Food of Southern Italy by Carlo Middione.

Basic Bread Dough For Making Homemade Italian-Style Bread, Pizza, and Focaccia (page 47 of The Food of Southern Italy)

2/3 cup warm water, not over 100F
1 1/2 tsp yeast, fresh or dry
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups bread flour
3 tbsp olive oil (added to the warm water)

The book has about three pages of directions, which I'm not going to go through.  Check out my bread baking tutorial instead!  The original recipe does say that this can be easily doubled or tripled.

For extra special flavour and a great aroma, Jodi adds garlic powder to the recipe.  This comes out light and airy and crisp, with big air bubbles reminiscent of ciabatta bread. 

Here are the pizzas we made!

Jodi's pizza

My pizza

As I mentioned, the third portion of dough was saved and refrigerated for another use.  So the next night, Jodi made an amazing garlic cheese bread with it.  OMG!  So good!

I'll be keeping this dough recipe handy for future pizza nights in my own house!

Magazine Monday #80 and 101 Uses for a Roasted Chicken #27

I'm on a bit of a pizza kick lately, and as mentioned in the previous post, I'm trying to use up things in my freezer. I still have a bunch of that roasted chicken from a catering gig last month frozen, and so I decided to make pizza with it - again! - and use a new pizza dough recipe I came across in Food Network Magazine, a publication I really look forward to receiving each month.

Yesterday, in addition to making blueberry crumble, I made a chicken, red onion, kalamata olive, and mushroom pizza. It was delish!

The pizza dough recipe is here, and it came from the March 2011 issue of the magazine. I really liked this recipe. It made enough that I could divide it in three portions and put the other two in the freezer, and it was quite a light crust that bubbled up attractively when baked.

It's been a great weekend of food around here, that's for sure!

101 Uses for a Roast Chicken #25: Pesto, Chicken, Goat's Cheese, and Onion Pizza

I've been on a pizza kick these days - probably due to hormones. I was very grateful today for a load of fresh basil from my AeroGarden, with which I made some lovely pesto. I used the crust from the last pizza I made and froze, and some of the leftover roast chicken I had from that pizza, too along with the pesto to make a super delicious pizza. The goat's cheese was a new product from President's Choice, a low fat version of the soft, unripened, famous chèvre. I really like it and can't really tell the difference between it and regular-fat goat's cheese.

I'm really loving my pizza stone for these pizzas; you can't beat it for crusts that are crispy on the outside and nice & tender on the inside.

101 Uses for a Roast Chicken #24: BBQ Chicken Pizza

Yeah, I know it's been forever since I've done an installment in this series. I haven't been on the ball, what can I say?

Recently, my relative, C, did a catering job and had so many leftovers she was giving them away to everyone she knew, and I was lucky enough to receive a bag of roasted chicken pieces. I put most of them in the freezer, which is a great boon to me. Tonight, I had a hankering for pizza, and since my friends Chris and Deb gave me a bunch of Tony Roma's BBQ sauce, I thought making a BBQ chicken pizza was the way to go.

I have no idea who Tony Roma is, but he has a restaurant chain named after him, and this chain also sells its own name-brand BBQ sauce. I used the hickory one, and it was quite tasty.

The crust I used was Giada de Laurentiis's pizza dough, which is now my go-to recipe. I cut it in half and froze the other half I didn't use tonight.

Otherwise, the pizza was very simple: a light smear of cream cheese went on the crust first, after I softened it in the microwave. After that, I chopped up two pieces of chicken and mixed them in the pizza sauce, then put that down on top of the cream cheese. Then I sauteed some red onion and on that went. Finally, I topped that with a bunch of low fat mozza.

The end result: ridiculicous! This is definitely a keeper combination! And my crust was awesome - probably the best result I've ever had. I think the pizza stone I baked it on helped with the crispy texture.

101 Uses for a Roast Chicken #21: Chicken & Pesto Pizza

Before I get to the main part of this post, I have something to say. I am going to be making my posts short & light for the coming while because I'm planning on doing my own version of NaNoWriMo next month; you can read about my amendments & reasoning behind them here. Obviously, I still have to eat, so I'll still be posting regularly, but my posts will be shorter than usual and I might be spending less time going around to visit you all. I'm trying to schedule as many posts to publish for me automatically as I can. So, if you don't hear from me as much, it's not that I don't love y'all! I just want to focus on this other goal for a month and see how it goes. Wish me luck!

OK...Onto today's topic...

I had a hankering for pizza the other day. I also had some leftover chicken from my spatchocking experience in the freezer, and I needed to find a way to use a decent chunk of my boring pesto. I've used pesto instead of pizza sauce before and it works really well. I got some naan from the grocery store, and I was set!

Super easy, super quick, really delicious!

Chicken & Pesto Pizza with Olives

1 piece of flat bread - naan, or pita, or whatever
pesto sauce
leftover chicken, cubed
1 slice of Black Forest ham, chopped
mozzarella cheese, shredded
pitted Kalamata olives

Assemble & bake until browned & bubbly.

Enjoy!

Pizza Pretzels - Again

In September, I made absolutely wonderful pizza pretzels, and since I had some leftover pizza sauce and mozzarella hanging out in my fridge recently, I decided to use them up by making another batch of pretzels. They were amazing! Recipe here.






After kneading and shaping and allowing the shaped pretzels to rise a bit, I boiled them in a large pot with some baking soda. I let them drain and cool slightly on wire racks before adding the toppings.










A simple slather of pizza sauce and some grated mozzarella cheese are all that's necessary...














Can we say "YUM-O!"? Into the freezer they go so I can pull one out whenever I get a craving for pizza or when I need a snack or quick lunch!

Lunch at Leo's Taverna

Pizza and fries: two of my favourite foods. Add ice cream into the mix and you have my ultimate trio of comfort food.

On Friday, I went to Nelson with my dad to do some grocery shopping at Save-On and to attend the Kootenay Artisans' Christmas Craft Fair. For lunch, we opted for a tried and true spot we hadn't been to in a while, Leo's Taverna (409 Kootenay St.). They serve Greek and Italian dishes - souvlaki, calamari, pizza, pastas. It's good food and it's very reasonably priced for the lunch menu.

I was in the mood for something totally junky, and although the pizzas looked really tempting, I saw that they had a pizza sub that was served with fries and Caesar salad. How could I go wrong with this combo? My dad opted for a chicken shishkabob that was served with rice and a huge Greek salad.

The service was slow despite there being not very many people in the dining room. But when the food came we were not disappointed. Dad loved his meal, and mine totally hit the spot. The sub was a tad cold in the middle, but it was still good nevertheless. The Caesar was a bit bland, however, and was the weakest link in the meal. For $8.95, however, it was still a good deal. My dad's shishkabob was about the same price. The two of us ate for about $20. I almost had dessert, but I was really full!

Pizza Casserole

It's casserole season - thank God! Fall is here, it's cooled off, and the oven can safely come on without heating up the house past 30C. I love a good casserole, but don't make too many. I'm not sure why; they're just not my cup of tea. But when I saw this post by Megan of Megan's Munchies, my tastebuds were tickled. Something about it really appealed to me, and last night I made this for dinner.

The original recipe came from here. This meal was ludicrously easy to make and simply delicious. I'm not the biggest fan of pepperoni - I'll eat it in a pinch if I have to, but there are other pizza toppings I like a lot more - so I used my favourite toppings: black forest ham, feta cheese, and olives. Since I won't touch KD with a ten-foot pole, I used instead Annie's shells & cheddar, which is on sale right now at my local overpriced grocery store. The recipe also stipulated one 14oz tin of pizza sauce; I used one 7.5oz tin and it was plenty. I would mix the cheese into the pasta first and add the sauce after, just because in my case I had lumps of cheese mix throughout. But, we live and learn, right?

This pan will probably provide me with four meals in total, which is always nice. I might even freeze some of it. In the end, a totally awesome supper! Thanks Megan and Lisa!

Soft Baked Pretzels: Pizza & Plain

Sometimes I outdo even myself.

Sometimes, for reasons known only to the universe, I crave pizza pretzels. My local overpriced grocery store makes and sells them, but they're not very good. Usually, they're just a bun in the shape of a pretzel (at least that's what the bread part tastes like), with some pizza sauce and some cheese not fully melted on the top. They do in a pinch - but just in a pinch. I have to be pretty desperate if I'm going to buy one from there.

About a year ago, I made soft pretzels using a recipe from Canadian Living. I was boiling water for bagels anyways, so I figured I'd do up some pretzels while I was at it. They turned out brilliantly, though I had some issues shaping them.

The other day, I really wanted a pizza pretzel, but because I'm trying to make more and buy less, and because I had some extra pizza sauce kicking around from the pizza night I had a few weeks ago, and I had some extra mozzarella from a lasagne I recently made, I thought I could make my own fantastic pizza pretzels just fine.

And so I did. I spent more time shaping them properly this time, and I only had enough sauce and cheese to do four of the eight pretzels pizza style, but still, I got excellent results.

I can't seem to find the pretzel recipe on the Canadian Living site to link to, so I'll repost the recipe here. It's from the October 2007 issue, though.

Soft Pretzels

1 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 pkg. dry yeast ( 2 1/4 tsp)
3 - 4 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp baking soda

Topping

1 egg, beaten (optional)
2 tsp coarse salt

1. Combine sugar, salt yeast, and 3 cups of flour. Add water to make a sticky dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary. I used my Kitchen Aid and developed the dough on speed 2 for about 6 - 8 minutes.

2. Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease all over, and cover with plastic wrap or a wet tea towel. Let rise until doubled in bulk.

3. Punch down the dough. Cut into 8 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into a 20" rope. Form into a circle, crossing the ends left over right above the circle 3" from the end. Pick ends up and cross left end over right again. Bring ends over and under to bottom of circle, overlapping by 1/4" to create a pretzel shape; press to seal. Place on parchment-lined baking pans. Cover and let rise for 15 minutes.

4. Add 2 tbsp baking soda to large, wide saucepan of boiling water. (I added 2 tbsp of honey, but this is optional.) Boil pretzels, 3 at a time, turning over once with slotted spoon, until puffed up and set - about 1 - 2 minutes. Transfer back to baking sheets and let cool slightly.

5. Brush with egg wash, if using. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 400F fro 25 - 30 minutes, rotating if necessary, until golden brown and bottoms sound hollow when tapped. Transfer to racks and cool.

As for the pizza toppings, I just brushed on some sauce and sprinkled on some mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. I didn't egg wash these ones, though I did for the plain.

The result: awesome. I took a couple hiking the next day and froze the rest so I'll have them around the next time I get a craving.

Homemade Pizza

According to my brother, I make the best pizza. He'd even rather have mine than the stuff from the local, gourmet-ish pizza place two blocks away at Idgie's. Well, who am I to argue? This week, he requested pizza and yesterday I made two for a family dinner.

It was a bit of a team effort. I made the dough, caramelized the onions (recipes and method for these two items are here), and did the baking and assembly. My dad provided ground buffalo (he has a ton and wanted to get rid of some to free up room in his freezer), buffalo pepperoni from a local butcher, campari tomatoes for his portion of the pizzas (my brother and I hate tomatoes), and some sharp cheddar cheese to blend with the low-fat mozzarella I bought.

It's always advisable to saute down your veggies when making pizza because otherwise, they'll lose their liquid in the pizza-baking process, making for a watery pizza. Taking the time to caramelize the onions creates a great flavour contrast for your pizza: sweet with savoury. It's worth the work!

I love buffalo meat: it's lower in fat that regular beef, is more humanely kept, isn't full of hormones and other iffy chemicals, and it has a great, rich flavour. The buffalo pepperoni was wonderful, too, and not too spicey.

We finished off the meal with ice cream my dad brought. What could possibly be better, for someone like me, whose two favourite foods are pizza and ice cream? My brother was also in heaven - and both of us came home with left-over pizza; he'll take his for lunch today, and I plan on eating mine for breakfast.

Pizza Time

Aaaah...the power of advertising!

I saw an add for something having to do with Philly Cheesesteak on the TV. I can't remember if it was a pizza ad from Panago or a Subway ad or what, but all it did was induce a craving for Philly Cheesesteak. In that regard the ad was successful; unfortunatly, I was more compelled to make my own version than go out and purchase whatever was being advertised.

I knew we had a spare striploin kicking around, as well as onions and peppers. I went out and bought a second steak, cheese, and pizza sauce. I made my own crust. This was a very hearty pizza that fed four of us. And it was superb. Please take the time to caramelize the onions - it's worth the extra effort, trust me!

For the crust:

2 1/4 - 2 1/2 cups bread flour (or all purpose, if that's all you have on hand)
1 package quick yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp)
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup very warm water
2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
cornmeal

In a large bowl, combine the flour yeast and salt. Add the water and oil, and stir to form a soft dough. Develop until smooth and elastic. Cover and let it rise until double in size - about 1 - 2 hours depending on room temperature.

Meanwhile, start the caramelization of the onions.

4 large onions, thinly sliced (I used a food processor)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Put the onions in large frying pan and sprinkle on the sugar and salt. Cover and turn the stove on to medium high. You want to sweat out the liquid from the onions, and the salt aids in that. Once there is a lot of liquid in the pan and the onions look like they're about to drown, take off the cover and reduce the heat to medium. You now are waiting for the water to evaporate, and this will take several mintues. After the water has evaporated, stir the onions frequently, not letting them sit too long in one place. Eventually, they'll turn a lovely caramel colour which should be uniform. This entire process took about half an hour, and I used a non-stick saute pan which worked wonderfully.

Meanwhile, slice very thinly one green pepper, and once the onions are done and removed to cool, start sauteing the pepper in the same pan.

As the peppers saute, you'll need to prep the steak. I used two steaks, one striploin and one sirloin tip that weighed approximately 600g. Slice thinly and put in a bowl with 2 tsp vegetable oil and Montreal Steak Seasoning and garlic powder to taste (I used a couple of tsp of Montreal Steak Spice and 1/2 tsp garlic powder). Or you can marinate your steak any way you want to, but at the very least make sure it's seasoned well with salt and pepper.

Saute the steak to medium in the same pan you did the onions and peppers in, once you've removed the peppers to let them cool. Don't overcook the steak since it's going in the oven soon.

Back to the dough now. Punch it down and roll out to a rectangle approximately 9x13" (alternately, the Fleischmann's recipe book from whence this recipe came says you will get two 12" rounds from this recipe). Place it onto a large sheetpan (12x18" is best and what I used) that has been lined with parchment paper and sprinkled with cornmeal. Spread with pizza sauce and top with the onions, peppers, steak, and a mixture of grated mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, or a blend of your choice equalling about 3 cups.

Bake in a hot oven - 450F or so - for 20 - 25 minutes, or until golden on top and the crust is browned underneath (use a spatula to gently lift the pizza to check its underside for doneness).



Enjoy!