Pizza Dough

This recipe is courtesy of Tyler Florence
Makes 2 pizzas
Ingredients
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cups 00 flour, plus more for dusting
Directions
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir gently to dissolve. Let the mixture stand until the yeast comes alive and starts to foam, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Turn the mixer on low and add the salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated. When the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium; stop the machine periodically to scrape the dough off the hook. Get a feel for the dough by squeezing a small amount together: if it's crumbly, add more water; if it's sticky, add more flour - 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix until the dough gathers into a ball, this should take about 5 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over itself a few times; kneading until it's smooth and elastic. Form the dough into a round and place in a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let it rise in a warm spot (i.e. over a gas pilot light) until doubled in size, about 1 hour. This is a good time to stick a pizza stone in the oven and preheat them to 500 degrees F.
Once the dough is domed and spongy, turn it out onto a lightly floured counter. Roll and stretch the dough into a cylinder and divide into 3 equal pieces. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes so it will be easier to roll out.
Roll or pat out a piece of dough into a 12 inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Dust a pizza paddle with flour and slide it under the pizza dough. Brush the crust with a thin layer of olive oil, and top with your favorite flavors. Slide the pizza onto the hot stone in the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the crust is golden and crisp. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Popovers

These little guys are so light and airy that it's hard not to eat all of them. They're great served with a roast beef and a nice rich gravy poured right in the middle. The trick to great popovers is using bread flour.
1 cup bread flour
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup whole or non-fat milk, warmed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or oil, melted
3 large eggs
2 to 3 teaspoons vegetable shortening
Serving suggestions: Butter and jam
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, butter, and eggs. Make a well in the flour, pour in the milk mixture, and whisk to make a smooth batter. Set batter aside for 10 minutes.

Heat a non-stick or well-seasoned 6-cup popover pan in the oven for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and brush the inside of the cups with the shortening. Ladle the batter into the cups and bake for 20 minutes, without opening the oven. (Do not open the oven during baking.)

Lower the heat to 350 degrees F. and continue to bake the popovers for 20 minutes, at this point they will be golden brown. Right after removing the popovers from the oven, poke each one with a paring knife to release steam. Turn popovers from the pan and serve immediately with butter and jam.

Blueberry Orange Bread

This is great with either orange or lemon
Bread
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 egg - well beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon grated orange or lemon rind
3/4 cup orange juice
1 cup blueberries

Glaze
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange or lemon rind


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease loaf pan.
In large bowl sift together the first 5 ingredients.
Combine remaining ingredients in smaller bowl, except for the blueberries.
Add liquid ingredients to the dry mixture and blend lightly.
Gently fold in blueberries, and pour into loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.
Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Autumn has finally arrived, and nothing celebrates this colorful season better than our favorite orange veggie ...the pumpkin!

Ingredients:
3 cups granulated sugar
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C)

Grease and flour three 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, or 5-6 mini loaf pans

In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, vanilla extract and eggs, and beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl add the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt to the flour and stir with a whisk to break up any lumps.

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture in batches, blending after each addition until combined. Gently, fold in chocolate chips and nuts (if desired). Bake for ~1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove pans from the oven and allow to cool for ~5 minutes. Remove bread from pans and cool on wire racks.

Do not allow it to completely cool in the pan, as it will become soggy

Five Minute, Artisan Bread

I admit, that I enjoy cooking great meals. Homemade bread with a great crust however, has always alluded me. I love it, but can’t seem to make it. Sure I can made great quick breads and bread use a bread machine, but somehow I always find myself attracted to the fresh bread at the grocery store like a magnet.

I have spent hours in the kitchen kneading and watching dough rise but still couldn’t seem to make anything close to what I wanted. Now that I’m taking some time off from work I set out to find the right recipe, and I am very happy to say that I think I found it. I actually made good, artisan-quality fresh bread that requires little time commitment. Leave it to me to find this now, when I have plenty of time for the usual kneading and waiting for the dough to rise. I found out about no-knead bread. The first time I tried baking using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method.

This method uses steam to make a chewy, crisp crust just like the batard loaves I would by at Whole Foods. This bread is not airy and full of holes, and it’s not lightweight and squishy on the inside. This bread is substantial and worth the small amount of time required. Just a few minutes mixing 4 ingredients in a bucket, no kneading, refrigerate up to 14 days depending on the type of bread you make, then shape it, let it rise, and bake it. The Five Minutes refers to the amount of actual hands-on work for making the basic loaf of bread. You want a baguette or a batard to have with soup or appetizers, or you want a nice pizza dough, or you get a phone call saying someone is coming over for dinner and you want a nice loaf for the meal, and you can have any of those with just a few minutes of active work. You still have to plan for rising time and preheating the oven, which are not factored in to the equation, but overall this method is one of the easiest I’ve ever tried.

I baked my first loaf on a pizza stone. I just placed it on the hot pizza stone because I don’t have a peel and it worked fine, although the pretty slits I made in the dough didn’t make it.

If you haven’t tried this before the authors Jeff and Zoe have some You Tube videos demonstrating the technique, which are very helpful for bread baking.