Basic Pizza Dough

Pizza just seems perfect right now, when the weather is so fine. It's so easy and casual (nothing says laid-back like eating with hands) and endlessly customized to individual tastes.

This is a wonderful dough, easily doubled, easy to work with. I've been using it for years, making changes and substitutes as needed, tweaking it to my liking. It came originally from breadworld.com.
I recently used one recipe-worth to make two pizzas, and I will never use it for just one again - deviding the dough in half yields the best texture and the perfect thickness. The basic recipe is as follows:

THE BEST PIZZA DOUGH 
2 1/2 to 3 CUPS BREAD FLOUR
1 TBSP. DRY YEAST
3/4 TSP. SALT
1 CUP WARM WATER
2 TBSP. OLIVE OIL

Stir yeast into water, let stand until foamy. Stir in the oil.
Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl, and pour in the yeast mixture.
Stir until a dough forms a cohesive ball. If dough seems too runny, add up to 1/2 cup more flour to make a soft dough, and stir until moistened. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, five minutes or more.  Place dough in an oiled bowl, turn to coat, and cover. Let rise until doubled, at least an hour. Once risen, punch down, let rest 15 minutes or so, and then devide in half.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Shape each half of dough into a round, about 12 inches. If dough seems tough and won't stretch, cover and let rest for ten minutes before trying again.  Brush shaped dough with olive oil. Top with whatever toppings are on hand, and bake each on a lightly floured, parchment-lined baking sheet for 20-30 minutes, or until done. Slice and serve immediately.

Chopped fresh or dried herbs can be added with the other dry ingredients to make an herbed crust. 

  

Some things I have learned (the hard way) about pizza toppings:

  

Do:

• brush dough with olive oil before baking
• top and bake immediately for the best, chewiest crust imaginable
• • try sprinkling minced garlic - it looks like Feta, but tastes better, and it gets fantastically toasty in the oven...the most excellent flavor, ever.
• be generous with the seasonings
• top with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives
• serve with something bubbly to drink, be it sparkling juice or something a bit more robust... 

Don't:

• top with arugula or other delicate greens, until after the pizza is baked (or you will end up with a disaster of crisped, dry, chip-like objects on top of you pizza. Not appetizing.)
• top with cooked white beans...they turn horribly powdery and tooth-breakingly-hard at 400F.

  

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread

I meant to take a picture of the entire loaf, but it didn't get far past the oven without being sampled.

The recipe suggested serving this with a glaze and chopped pistachios on top. Honestly, it's plenty sweet without a glaze. The pistachios are excellent just eaten by the handful on the side, especially if they're lightly salted pistachios. They really work with the bread.  Best eaten while still warm; this is good along with coffee and tea, but sublime with pumpkin butter! 

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread

adapted from the April 2012 issue

of Better Homes and Gardens magazine

3/4 CUP COCONUT MILK

1 TBSP. DRY YEAST

1/4 CUP OIL (or melted BUTTER)

2 TBSP. SUGAR

1 EGG, lightly beaten

1/2 TSP. SALT

3 CUPS FLOUR

Heat milk until steamy but not boiling. Put yeast in bowl & top with the milk. Stir to dissolve yeast. Let stand until foamy.

Heat oil or melt butter. 

Stir sugar & salt into egg to combine. Add to the oil or butter, stir. Add the mix to the milk-yeast mixture. Stir well to combine. Add to this half of the flour, stirring well to combine. Then add the rest of the flour, and stir vigorously for 3 minutes. Shape into a ball (dough is not smooth at this point).

The dough can be refridgerated overnight, well-covered, to rise, OR set aside, (again, well-covered) at room temperature until doubled in bulk.

Once risen, grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment.

Roll or shape dough on a well-floured surface to a rectangle about 12x20-inches. Brush with

1/4 CUP melted BUTTER or OIL and sprinkle with a mix of 

3/4 CUP SUGAR and 

1 TSP. CINNAMON, or to taste

Once dough is coated, cut the rectangle into 5 strips crosswise - to measure about 12x4 inches.

Stack these 5 strips, then cut the stack crosswise into 6 pieces - they will measure about 4x2 inches.

Stagger pieces in loaf pan, cut sides up. Let rise until doubled; the pieces will fill in the empty spaces.

Can be refridgerated at this point; just remove & let come to room temp before baking.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until richly golden. 

Cool ten minutes in pan, then turn out. Eat while still warm.  

Heat Wave

 It's mid-March, and already so hot that skirts, shorts, and thong sandals are the norm.

Mornings are quite warm; so much so that the dew is burned off by 9. The daffodils are beginning to wilt! It probably won't last, but for the moment, it's time for lighter fare in general; granitas, fruit salads, iced tea, and, of course, limeade. 

 Limeade sweetened with lavender syrup is especially refreshing.  The lavender brings out the floral undertones of the lime juice, without overpowering, and adds a subtle herbalness that is utterly quenching. Plus, it turns out a pretty, pale-pink drink.   



But that's really beside the point. Once the limes are squeezed, this is a very quick recipe. 

To make

Lavender Limeade

Bring to a boil

1 CUP WATER  &

1 heaping TABLESPOON LAVENDER BUDS

Add 1/8 CUP SUGAR

and stir.

Let sit to infuse for several minutes, to taste. Strain into a pitcher. Add

1/4 CUP KEY LIME JUICE 

to lavender syrup. Stir and pour over ice. Garnish with lavender buds (optional).

Enjoy!



Peach Blossom Cookies

This is a perfect little recipe which I've adapted from We Sure Can, a gorgeous book on canning & preserving. They're thumbprint cookies, but I like to call them 'blossoms' because they look like those peanut blossoms that make the rounds every year around the holidays, and because of the peach trees blooming now.

These are ridiculously fast to put together - you will be having cookies in no time flat. 

 This is a great way to show off a particularly good batch of jam, especially homemade.

PEACH BLOSSOM COOKIES

1 1/4 CUPS WHOLE-WHEAT PASTRY FLOUR

1 TSP. BAKING POWDER

1/2 CUP ORGANIC SUGAR

3 TBSP. LIGHT OIL, SUCH AS SUNFLOWER 

1/4 CUP FRUIT JUICE; EITHER APPLE OR ORANGE

1 TSP. VANILLA

1/8 TSP. SALT

ABOUT 3/4 CUP OF PEACH JAM*

a pinch of cardamom, nutmeg & cloves, optional  

Preheat oven tp 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, combine remaining ingredients, all but the jam, and then add to the flour mixture.

Mix well, until all ingredients are moistened.

Wet hands to prevent the dough from sticking , and shape into 18 equally-sized balls of dough. Place them, equally spaced, on the baking sheet.

 Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven. Make a small well in the center of each cookie with your thumb.  Fill each well to the top with the jam, about one tsp. each. Sprinkle cookies with cardamom, nutmeg & cloves, and return them to the oven, baking up to 10 more minutes, until the bottoms begin to brown.

Remove to a wire rack and eat while still slightly warm.

These are best eaten the day they're made; although, dunked in tea the next day, they're still quite delicious.

*Other jams are wonderful as well; apricot was used in the cookies shown below:

Pancakes + Strawberry-Citrus Compote

Weekends are better when they involve pancakes. I'm just sayin'.

Especially when they're topped first with maple syrup, & then with a generous heap of homemade compote.

I love this pancake recipe; I love that it's simple. I love that it tastes perfect - not too sweet, but sweet enough. I love that the whole wheat flour and oats in the batter lend a delicious crumb and nutty bite.

But mostly, I love that it's 100% from scratch - no boxed mix here.

Pancakes  w/ Strawberry-Blood Orange-Tangelo

Compote

For the pancakes:

2 CUPS COCONUT MILK

2 TBSP. BUTTER

2 EGGS

1 CUP WHOLE-WHEAT FLOUR

1 CUP ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR

1/2 CUP ROLLED OATS

1/4 CUP SUGAR (scant)

4 TSP. BAKING POWDER

VANILLA, to taste - 1 1/2-2 TBSP.

Melt butter over low heat, along with 1/2 cup of the milk.

Once melted, add remaining milk and stir. Turn off heat.

Add vanilla while whisking. Add eggs, whisk til combined.

Should be a very smooth texture.

Combine flours, baking powder, sugar, and oats.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, & stir til mixed.  Will be lumpy.

Heat a frying pan over low heat with about 2 TBSP. peanut oil.

Tilt to coat bottom of pan evenly. Drop one generous 1/8 cupful of batter in pan at a time and cook until top begins to bubble and lose its sheen on edges, flipping to cook both sides.  Adjust heat setting accordingly, if pan gets too hot or too cool. 

Add oil as needed, and be sure to tilt pan before dropping in batter and between flipping each side of pancakes.  Makes approx. sixteen 4 1/2" cakes.  Top with maple syrup &/or compote. 

For the compote:  

Handful strawberries, hulled (fresh or frozen)

3 segments of a peeled tangelo

1/2 a peeled blood orange

a squeeze of key lime juice

scant 1/4 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients. If strawberries are quite big, cut in quarters. Squeeze citrus segments to release some juice & check for seeds. Top all with the sugar, let sit 5 minutes to macerate.

Heat over warm-low until bubbling. Serve warm over pancakes.

Makes about 1 cup.

Apricot-Lemon Teabread

It's as good as it sounds.

A tea loaf that actually has tea in it? Makes sense to me. 

Apricots are on my mind lately; it is only a matter of months before the blossoms,

festooning the trees right now, turn to luscious, delectable fruits. For now, the dried fruit will have to do...

This loaf is a cross between a cake and a bread, with a fine-crumbed texture and not-too-sweet flavor. The tastes of both the lemon and the apricot really come through strong when accented with that of the tea.

Basically any tea will work here, whether herbal or regular. I like to use a tea with a note of citrus, like Pekoe, Earl Grey or English Breakfast; or a tea with a floral aroma; rose, lemongrass, ginger, cardamom. Chai also works.  If you like the tea you're using, you'll like the end result in this loaf.

It is even better the next day, as the flavors have had time to meld and develop. 

Toasting slices of this turn it into something truly devine. 

Glazed Apricot-Lemon Teabread

adapted from Relish

1 1/4 cups coconut milk

4 Teabags OR 4 TBSP loose TEA*

1 CUP ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR

3/4 CUP WHOLE-WHEAT FLOUR

3/4 CUP + 1 TBSP. SUGAR, divided

2 TSP BAKING POWDER

1/4 TSP. SALT

1 EGG, beaten

1/4 CUP SUNFLOWER OIL

1 TBSP. LEMON JUICE

1 TBSP. LEMON ZEST

1/2 CUP DRIED APRICOTS, chopped

Heat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a 9"x5" loaf pan.

In a small saucepan, heat milk over medium heat until hot but not boiling; it will be steamy. Remove from heat and add tea, whether in bags or loose. Cover, let steep 7 minutes or so. Remove any milk from teabags, or strain mixture to remove loose tea. Let the tea-infused milk cool.

Dredge apricot pieces lightly in a bit of flour to coat; this helps prevent

them from sinking to the bottom while baking.

Stir together the flours, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, lemon juice & zest, and 1 cup of the tea-infused milk. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring only to moisten.  Fold in the floured apricot chunks.

Spoon into prepared pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

To make the

Glaze:

Stir the reserved 1/4 cup of milk tea with 1 tablespoon sugar until sugar is dissolved.

Brush over top of loaf while still warm. 

Let bread cool in pan 10 minutes or so, then turn out to serve.

*Black teas, like English Breakfast & Earl Grey, are good choices,

or try floral-tasting, herbal teas, such as rosehip or lemongrass 

Rice Pudding, in a Crock Pot

Rice pudding. The ultimate comfort food. 

This tastes very close to my mom's version, which is pretty damn good. Only it's made in a crock-pot, not stovetop, and there is no dairy to speak of.

And I left out the raisins.

This is nice with raisins, by the way (tried at the urging of Mom). Personally, I adore it just plain, chilled to icy-cold perfection - it makes the most indulgent breakfast.

 But it works as a backdrop for just about any topping you can think of - pear slices & chopped pistachios; thin slices of kumquat & star anise pods; halved dried figs & rosewater; etc. Dressed up like that, it becomes classy enough for dessert.

There are three ingredients essential for the flavor of this rice pudding:

vanilla, lemon zest, and cinnamon. 

The trick is to add each in moderation, to achieve the right balance. Too much of any one, and it will overpower the other.  So, add small amounts of the vanilla & cinnamon after adding the zest, and taste, taste, taste. You want to enhance the prominent Basmati rice, to accent it.

Speaking of which: the Basmati rice adds a complex note. Plain white rice can be used, but the pudding will lack the depth Basmati lends. 

My Rice Pudding

1 CUP BASMATI RICE

3 CUPS WATER

3/4 TABLESPOON AVOCADO OIL

Rinse rice three times.

Put into a five-quart crock pot; add water & oil. Stir.  

Cook on high until rice is mushy - took a couple hours in my (ancient) model.

Stir every 30 minutes.

Once mushy, mix in

1 CAN FULL-FAT COCONUT MILK*

1/8 CUP WATER

1 1/2 TABLESPOONS CINNAMON

ZEST OF A LARGE LEMON

 1/2 TABLESPOON VANILLA EXTRACT

1/2 to 3/4 CUP AGAVE NECTAR 

Turn crock pot to low, simmer 15 minutes (or so) until flavors are melded.

Serve hot or cold.

*It should be pretty solid in the can. If not,

 add two cans of the lesser-fat kind.