Most Amazing Pizza

I made some delicious pizza dough from a recipe I got off of youtube. It made enough for pizza that day, an extra ball of dough I let slow rise in the fridge, and another that I froze for lately. I had previously used a recipe from Emeril Lagasse for the dough, but I found this one from a Kevin Costner look-alike to be much better. It was much chewier, bubblier, and crispier, whereas the Emeril recipe came out doughy and biscuity. I make my own marinara out of lots of minced garlic, crushed tomatoes, oregano, basil, and olive oil and cook it down on low heat for hours till the mixture is thick and saucey. The pizza above is zucchini with half tuna and half feta, it was delicious.

This pizza is zucchini, mozzarella, and grilled chicken with my special seasoning. To get my special seasoning I mix oregano, basil, cayenne, white pepper and salt and fry it in a hot skillet with about two tablespoons of olive oil. I like it to be slightly charred on the outside and still not done on the inside- once I have flipped it, I turn the heat off and cover the skillet with a plate (I like this better than a lid cause it heats the plate and also there is less air volume in the skillet so that the chicken gets cooked by heat insulation- this makes it much more tender on the inside while being very crispy on the outside. I slice my chicken breasts against the grain and use it in everything from pasta, to salads, to pizzas.
This is what my pizza looks like in the oven. I preheat it to the highest heat (250º C or about 500º F) and put it on the lowest rack- this is what works best in my oven because the top will burn if I put it on the middle rack. We agree this is the best pizza we´ve ever had. This recipe is definitely a favorite.

Braided loaves

I´ve been baking alot of bread lately and decided to shape my baguettes into braided loaves.
I made one 4 strand braid loaf and one 5 strand braid loaf with a different mix of flour which included, wheat, high gluten, semolina, and all purpose.
I began braiding by rolling out long ropes of dough and letting them rest a few minutes before braiding. This is the four strand loaf, my favorite.


Below is the five strand braided loaf.


During the second rise some of the ropes began ¨breaking ¨, which is something I attribute to weak kneading and lack of oils. Next time, I´ll fix this. They came out very well and look great with any meal. They were crispy and crunchy on the outside and chewy and airy on the inside.

More French Bread

I made French bread for the second time ever on Monday and it came out even better than before. I even got a little creative and braided three thin ropes of dough to make the baguette in the midddle. I guess these are really more like pistolettes. I really enjoyed making them. I also had two medium size baguettes from this batch that I didn´t take pictures of, but they were just as delicious. I have been looking for a flour with higher gluten content and doing research on the internet about breads and flours. In Spain, manufacturers are not required to post glutent content, but they do post protein content on packages. For making a good dough, you need higher gluten content or protein percent- between 11% and 14%, although I made these baguettes out of 10% and they came out fine. This time, to boost up the gluten, I added a cup of semolina or durum wheat which has a protein content of about 14%. I think this helped. The texture was much nicer, chewier on the inside and really crusty on the outside. Next time, I am going to make a ¨sponge¨ to add to my dough. It´s like a science experiment, I guess, because you change one thing and see what happens. I think this is the best way to learn and get the best results.

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french baguettes

Fresh bread is an indespensable part of every meal in the Mediterranean. It is not used just to make sandwiches or bread pudding. If a meal is served without bread, it is as if a meal was served without meat... simply put, no meal is complete without bread. It is consumed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My favorite place to buy bread is about a twenty minute walk from my house and when I can, I buy several loaves at a time and freeze them. However, it seems that I am always running out of bread and it´s a nuisance to make a special trip 20 minutes away just for a loaf of bread. It´s not just the convenience of being self sufficient that attracted me to bread making, but also it´s something I´ve always wanted to learn how to do. I found a recipe on youtube that requires little labor, but several hours of resting time. It really is worth it. I´ve only made it once and still need to work out some kinks, but it´s definitely a good skill to learn and won´t be hard to perfect.
Some tips on accelerating your bread rising.... turn your oven on low and use your thermometer (yeast do not like temperatures about 48º C). Turn off your oven and place several containers of boiling water in the oven along with your dough to rise. The steam from the water and the warm oven are perfect for your dough.

For the perfect crispy crust on your bread, spritz your loaves with water from a spray bottle every five to ten minutes when baking, this gives the bread a blistered crunchy texture on the outside.

Moroccan sweet rolls

Moroccan sweet rolls make a delicious tea-time treat or a lovely addition to a special breakfast table. The look like a sesame seed hamburger bun, but don´t be fooled, they taste like what I imagine a hot cross bun would taste like. They are simple to make and include basic ingredients but also include exotic anise seeds and sesame seeds. I myself never cared for anise, as the only time I tasted the spice was in Italian sausage, but this is a completely different flavor and is not bitter or licorice-y. Give this recipe a try, I guarantee you´ll love it. You can find the recipe here.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Last weekend I made some fantastic spring rolls. I followed a super easy Vietnamese recipe I found online. All I needed was to shred carrot and cabbage and mix with some soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and chili oil. Then I ¨broke the vegetables¨ which means tossing and trying to crush them at the same time. I left the vegetables out at room temperature for about four hours to let any excess what leave the vegetables.

I had some extra feuilles de brick leftover from when I made bstela. Brick, also called oarka/ warka, is a very thin dough almost like phyllo, that comes in circular sheets and is used to wrap both sweet and savory pastries alike.

To wrap the spring rolls in what is called a ¨cigar¨, I placed a large scoop at the top of the pastry circle then took the left and right flaps and folded them to meet in the center.
From the top I began tightly rolling down until I got the shape in the photo. (I made a video to explain this but it would not upload.)

This was a really great simple recipe that came out very nicely. The ingredients don´t have to be measured exactly either. I made 8 rolls and I placed half of them in the freezer. The other half I fried with some homemade wontons in hot oil and served them wrapped in fresh lettuce leaves with a homemade sweet and sour sauce. I made the sauce by sauteeing some minced onion until clear in vegetable oil and adding fresh minced ginger, garlic, chili paste, vinegar, and ketchup.

This was very simple and I loved having fresh rolls in the freezer, although they didn´t stay very long. This time, I placed them in the oven to cook, it´s healthier and alot less messy than frying. The next time I prepare these spring rolls, I´ll be sure to make a larger batch to have a quick and fancy appetizer that I only have to pull out the freezer and bake when I don´t have time.

I´ve been really busy lately and have a lot up blog-catching up to do. The uploading takes a really long time for pictures and videos, so it may be a while. I´ve been cooking and baking something new every day this week. I´ll post more pictures soon.