Homemade Pizza

I really need to go get the "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Book," but until then I've been reading their blog online: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ , and searching for variations on the recipe. I have made two pizzas now with the basic pizza dough recipe:

2 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tbl granulated yeast
1 1/2 tbl salt
1 tbl sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1. Mix first 5 ingredients with wooden spoon.
2. Gradually mix in yeast.
3. Same as the bread, allow to rest in non-airtight container for a few hours. This makes about 4 pizzas. Before using, pinch off grapefruit sized piece form into ball and let rest on counter at least 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 500.
5. Stretch and roll out with hands or dusted rolling pin, using cornmeal and flour to prevent sticking.
6. Top pizza and bake about 7-10 minutes, keeping an eye for crust to turn golden.

My kitchen is not yet equipped with a pizza peel OR a baking stone, so the first time I ended up with the dough sticking to my cutting board. I ended up dusting a cookie sheet with cornmeal and making the pizza directly on it. Normally, you prepare the pizza on the peel while the sheet or stone heats in the oven so the pizza cooks faster and more even. A little bit of the crust stuck when it came out but all in all it worked out ok and was delicious! A decent frozen pizza seems to run between $6 and $10 and these, depending on ingredients used are more like $4 and much tastier.
I made a mushroom/spinach/fresh mozzarella and an "eggplant parm" pizza with oven baked breaded eggplant, homemade tomato sauce, Italian cheese blend and fresh tomatoes. If you do use a cheese like fresh mozzarella, be sure to top pizza for only last minute of baking or it will melt to much (as mine did). Next I think I'll try a pizza with fake sausage and maybe one with avocado and fake bacon.


My food photography skills and camera are not up to par I know, but these are much tastier than they look!

5 Minute "Artisan" Bread!

So my brother sent this recipe my way awhile ago and I just got around to trying it. I am completely hooked- it is SO easy and SO delicious. I was always intimidated by homemade bread, mainly because of the time involved. This recipe takes about 10 minutes on the day you mix it, and then 5 minutes of preparation on the day you bake it. It makes enough for 8 loaves (I halved it) and keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks. You just slice off a hunk every time you feel like fresh baked bread and then it's ready in a little more than an hour.

EQUIPMENT:

Pizza stone or baking sheet
1 cup measuring cup
1 Tablespoon measure
Flat shallow metal pan- a broiler tray or large cake pan works great
Serrated bread knife
A large bin, bucket, or tub with a NON-AIRTIGHT lid for the dough.
Pizza peel or rimless cutting board

INGREDIENTS:

6 C. Lukewarm Water
3 Tablespoons/28g Active Dry Yeast, or four packets
3 Tablespoons/50g Kosher or flake salt
13 C. All-Purpose Unbleached Flour (I use high altitude flour)

1) Put water, yeast and salt into 5-quart bowl or container.

2) Mix in the level scoops of flour. Mix with a wooden spoon or very wet hands until uniformly moist.

3) Cover loosely and leave out about two hours. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than room-temperature dough.

4) Sprinkle pizza peel/cutting board with cornmeal.

5) Coat hands with flour and sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-sized) piece with a serrated knife. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom creating a "cloak," until the bottom is a collection of four bunched ends. The bottom of the loaf will flatten out during resting and baking.

6) Place the ball on the pizza peel. Let it rest uncovered for about 40 minutes.

7) Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone/pan on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on lower rack.

8) Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow you to slash the loaf with the serrated knife. Slash a 1⁄4-inch-deep cross, scallop or tick-tack-toe pattern into the top. (This helps the bread expand during baking.)

9) Slide bread onto heated stone/baking sheet in oven. Quickly pour about a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch, and loaf sounds hollow when tapped on bottom. Allow to cool (if you can resist) before slicing.

10) Refrigerate the remaining dough in your lidded container and use it over the next two weeks. Cut off and shape loaves as you need them. The dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions in an airtight container and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking day.

Here's a video that shows the whole process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFJZPm-_2-M

And here's a link with step-by-step directions:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Artisan_Bread_in_Five_Minutes_a_Day/

Here's my first loaf:

And an "herbed"version I made tonight (I just rolled fresh rosemary into the dough). I served this with a frittata and an olive oil/balsamic/herb dip:

Mattar Paneer

It's a new decade! I had a hard time working on a new year's resolution this year. Usually it's to get in shape but I have been going to the gym pretty regularly and snowboarding keeps my high-altitude endurance in condition. The only thing I could come up with is to spend less time dwindling away on the computer (haha as I type this) and more time being creative, reading, hanging out with folks etc. I also want to try cooking new things but that is a constant in my life. Here's a hearty, sinfully good Indian recipe to start the year off right. This is a recipe from my friend Richelle who has more experience cooking Indian than I do. Although we made this together originally I managed to do it on my own and it came out great- just like it's from a restaurant.

1 package fried paneer (Indian grocery store)
heavy cream (about 1/4 C.)
1/3 cup kasuri methi leaves (Indian grocery store)
1-3 clove garlic
egg-sized piece of fresh ginger
16 oz. frozen peas
2 white onions, chopped
1/2 cup oil or ghee
1 tsp turmeric
10 oz canned crushed tomatoes
salt and sugar

1. In food processor or by hand finely mince garlic and ginger.
2. Coat large pan with oil and place on medium heat.
3. Add onion, keep covered and stir.
4. Increase heat slightly and make sure there is enough oil.
5. Cover pan and allow onion to soften.
6. Add garlic and ginger paste and a pinch of sugar and salt.
7. Fry for a few minutes, until lightly browned.
8. Add turmeric.
(at this point, you can leave it on low heat for a long time, or add a little more oil and increase heat to make it faster)
9. When onion is mushy and oil has separated, add the tomatoes.
10. Turn heat to low and keep covered.
11. Cook until dry, like a paste. Then add 1/2 C. water and bring to boil.
12. Add methi leaves.
13. Lower heat and add paneer, peas, and some cream.
14. Before serving, add enough cream to cover, and heat again.

I served this with warm store-bought garlic nan. Many recipes online add other spices like garam masala and coriander. I thought this was spiced perfectly although it is mild. You could experiment with any Indian spices and add some hot pepper to spice it up.

Frozen lunch food reviews

It has been a busy few weeks, thus the lack of recent posts. I thought I would share my opinions on a few great frozen lunches I've tried recently. While I prefer fresh food or leftovers for lunch, I keep a stock of a few entrees in the freezer in case there is nothing else on hand. Often times I will incorporate a previous night's dinner into a lunch- roasted veggies mixed with goat cheese or brie and put in a wrap, cheese, cucumber and sun dried tomato sandwich, etc. Other times I pair a pack of frozen vegetables (Green Giant Simply Steam boxes are amazing!) with an Amy's frozen burrito (the best brand I've tried) or a small wrap.

As a die-hard Kashi fan I picked up a few entrees to try. My absolute favorite is the Mayan Harvest Bake. It is an incredibly sweet and spicy mix of unusual ingredients, and a nice diversion from the usual burrito/pizza lunch fare. This dish is made up of plantains and roasted sweet potato, black beans and kale, and its covered with a spicy ancho sauce and pumpkin seed garnish, all served over seven whole grain polenta and amaranth. Some seriously fancy stuff for a frozen lunch that I can buy for less than $4 (oftentimes these are on sale at the King Soopers here). This amazing concoction clocks in at 340 calories, 9 g fat, 8 g fiber and 9 g protein. Also low in sodium for frozen food at 380 mg (16% DV).

I also tried the Ranchero beans, Black Bean Mango and Tuscan Vegetable Bake. The bean dishes are decent, especially the Mango. The Tuscan bake is a little bland. I added some spice to all of these but they still are far superior and healthier than most other meals on the market.

Lean cuisine meals are slightly cheaper than Kashi and often on sale, so I tried a few of these as well. My old standby is the macaroni and cheese. I mix in frozen veggies (peas or broccoli usually) and it is fairly filling and healthy, though high in sodium. (290 calories, 7 g fat, 15 g protein).
The butternut squash ravioli is tasty but a pretty skimpy portion for an entire lunch, though higher in fiber and lower in sodium than the mac and cheese.
Lean cuisine pizzas are surprisingly good for cooking in about 4 minutes. They come with a crisping tray, an ingenious way to get a microwave pizza fairly crispy. I've tried the roasted vegetable and spinach and mushroom "deep dish" varieties. The roasted veggie was pretty tasty and had a decent amount of veggies on it. The spinach was a little soggy and there weren't man mushrooms on the other kind. I put crushed red pepper and garlic powder on these to spice them up a bit, but they were pretty filling and healthy for pizzas, with less than 400 calories and 10 grams of fat.

Tasty Cereals!

I was at Target the other day and had to make a mid-week grocery run, so I picked up a few things there. They have decent prices on a lot of my staples, like kashi cereals and morningstar farms products. I also enjoy their generic store brand, Archer Farms. I picked up a new kashi cereal called "Honey Sunshine," and an Archer Farms cereal called "Cinnamon start with protein." Generally we only buy kashi Golean, as it is chock full of protein and fiber and keeps you full until lunch, but I was getting fairly sick of this twiggy cereal though so I thought I'd branch out.

Both of these cereals are very tasty and make a great breakfast or snack. The Honey Sunshine has an appreciable nutrition content: 100 cal/1.5 g. fat/6 g. fiber/2 g. protein. I've been looking for an easy pre-workout snack and I think this would be great, with or without milk. It's best to avoid slow-digesting whole grain before a workout, but it's low enough in protein and fiber that I think it would be alright about an hour before the gym. The Cinnamon start cereal tastes exactly like cinnamon toast crunch, a beloved childhood favorite of mine. But unlike the sugar-loaded kids' cereal, this packs a nutritional punch with 190 cal/2 g. fat/4 g. fiber and an astounding 15 g. protein (not really sure where that is coming from).

The best thing about these cereals is the dessert I just concocted- sprinkling a little of each over a half cup of Dreyer's (Breyer's on the east coast) yogurt blends vanilla frozen yogurt. It tasted like a cinnamon filled fried ice cream and was a very filling evening snack for about 150 calories. MMMmmmm!

Eldorado Canyon: Rattlesnake Gulch Trail

A few weekends ago we ventured to Eldorado Canyon State Park, only about a 20 minute drive from Boulder. The $6 entrance fee was well worth it. We did an easy 2.8 mile hike up Rattlesnake Gulch Trail to the ruins of the Crags Hotel, which burned down in 1912. The trail follows and old wagon road and leads past beautiful views of the canyon. The ruins of the hotel are not that impressive, but it does give one a deep sense of history standing in the former hotel fountain and looking out what was once a window with a sweeping panoramic view. I am a huge fan of ghost towns and historic ruins so this place was a big hit for me. There are pottery shards and glass littered all over the ground so that it literally sparkles in places. Further past the hotel ruins there is a gorgeous view of the continental divide, which made a great lunch spot for us. It is also fun to watch the multitude of rock climbers make there way up the park's many cliff faces. FYI, www.protrails.com is one of the most comprehensive and well researched hiking databases I have ever used. They have detailed trail information, directions, and photos and it's free! Check it out!



Jay next to the fireplace ruin.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

This is a tasty and rich fall dish. Wild mushrooms are my favorite and they really shine in this risotto. I served mine with oven baked Quorn cutlets (my usual substitute for chicken). Defrosted Quorn is easily breaded, topped with a little parmesan and baked for about 20 minutes. Recipe from recipezaar.com.

• 5 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used veg. broth, and you may not need this much)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 lb wild mushroom, sliced (oyster, crimini, shiitake)
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry sherry (I used dry white cooking wine)
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated (about 2 oz)
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

1. Bring chicken broth to simmer in medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low; cover and keep broth hot.
2. Melt 3 tbsp butter with olive oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped shallots; sauté 1 minute.
   
3. Add wild mushrooms; cook until mushrooms are tender and juices are released, about 8 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat.
   
4. Add sherry and simmer until liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Add 3/4 cup hot chicken broth and simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently.
   
5. Add remaining hot chicken broth 3/4 cup at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes. Stir in Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh thyme. Serve warm.