Pizza Margherita

I thought I would tackle a recipe from Peter Reinhardt’s Crust and Crumb this week. I kept the toppings simple, since I was primarily concerned with the crust. This dough takes 3 days to make, but fear not because there’s about 20 minutes (if that) of active work for you to do; everything else is waiting for dough to rise, or letting your mixer do the work for you, or baking. I’m pretty pleased with the results; when I initially tasted the dough before baking, it had a very sweet (too sweet) characteristic from the honey. However, this was not present in the final pizza.

Poolish (makes enough for 2 batches):

2 cups (9 oz.) Bread Flour

2 cups (16 oz.) Water at 65 – 70 °F

1/8 teaspoon (0.35 grams, if you have a really precise scale) instant yeast

Add all ingredients into a bowl and whisk for 1 minute, until all lumps are removed. Cover with plastic wrap and leave out for 3 to 5 hours, until bubbly. Refrigerate overnight.

Sauce (makes enough for 2 12” pies):

6 oz. tomato paste

6 oz. water

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp onion powder

1 tsp fish sauce

¼ tsp dried basil

½ tsp dried oregano

Add everything to a bowl and stir. Seriously, that’s it. Refrigerate, covered, until ready for use.

Dough (makes 3 12” pizzas)

10 oz. poolish (freeze extra for future use)

16 oz. (3.5 cups) bread flour

2 teaspoons (0.5 oz) salt

¼ teaspoon (0.03 oz) instant yeast

2 tablespoons (1.5 oz) honey

½ cup (4 ounces) olive oil (any grade)

¾ cup plus 1 tbsp cool water (65 to 70°F)

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the dough hook attachment, start the machine on low until a dough forms, then increase the speed to medium and knead for 12 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 3 to 5 hours (depending on how warm it is in your kitchen) until bubbly. Refrigerate overnight.

Turn the dough out on a floured surface and divide into 3 equal sized portions. Unused portions can be kept in the fridge for 2 days or frozen.

Pre-rising

Finished dough

Assembly:

Once you’ve taken the dough out of the fridge and portioned it, let it sit out at room temperature in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 450°F.

On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough using a rolling pin (you’ll want to sprinkle some flour on the rolling pin as well), rotating a quarter turn each time to maintain an even circle.  You will probably want to rest the dough for 5 minutes in the middle of this process, so it can relax. Definitely do this if you find the dough snapping back too much. Roll your dough out to a diameter of a little over 12” and place in a cast iron skillet. Fold any overhand over itself to create the crust.

Ladle on about ¾ cup of pizza sauce, and top with slices of mozzarella. Place the skillet on a large burner on the stove, and turn the heat on high. Cook for 3 minutes (this gives the bottom a head start so you get a nice crust going), then transfer to the oven for 13 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place fresh basil leaves overtop. You should let the pizza cool a few minutes before eating, but if you’re like me you’ll just end up chowing down and burning the roof of your mouth. 

 

Well, it's almost a circle

 

My skillet's one hot spot

Krystal's Style Sliders

This week’s theme is guilty pleasures, which to me conjures images of food with insanely-high calorie counts, such as megafries (French fries covered in melted cheese, with bacon and ranch dressing), or something dead-simple such as grilled cheese (white bread, processed cheese). I figured I’d split the difference, and make Krystal’s style sliders.

In case you’re not familiar, Krystal’s the southern equivalent of White Castle, tiny burgers that you end up eating a dozen of at a time and feeling like crap afterwards. I’ve only eaten there once during a college road trip, but I definitely remember those sliders. My take on them isn’t an exact replica, but I think I captured the spirit of the thing pretty well. The rolls are actually a dinner rolls recipe from the King Arthur Flour website, and the sugar adds sweetness, as do the caramelized onions (Krystal’s just uses dehydrated onions, if I recall correctly). The mustard and pickle work perfectly to balance out the sweetness.

Hamburger Rolls

56 grams lukewarm water

227g warm milk (100 to 110 F)

23 grams butter (slightly less than 2 tablespoons)

10 grams sugar

½ tablespoon salt

14 grams instant yeast

361 to 422 grams all-purpose flour (I ended up using ~361g)

Add the water, milk, butter, sugar, salt, and yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit for 10 minutes or so, until the yeast starts to foam.

Add 312 grams of flour and mix with the dough hook attachment until the ingredients form a mass.  Add flour, ¼ cup (30 grams) at a time with the mixer running, until the dough forms a smooth ball (this took me about ½ cup total). Knead using the dough hook for about 5 minutes (or by hand for 10 minutes), until the dough is soft and smooth, and feels tacky to the touch.

Turn the dough out into a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 30 to 45 minutes (depending on how warm it is in your kitchen), until the dough is puffy and has risen ~50%.

Remove the dough from the bowl, and work into a rectangle approximately 8” x 12”. Cut into 4 strips, then cut each strip into 3 portions and form into balls, rolling on a cutting board to give them their shape.

Place the rolls into a 13” x 9” baking/roasting pan that has been lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray. Cover the pan with plastic wrap, and let the rolls rise for 20 to 25 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of 190°F. My rolls didn’t really brown at all by the time they reached this point, so I turned on the broiler for a minute to give them some color.

Remove, and let cool on a baking rack.

Sliders (for 2 servings a.k.a. 6 sliders)

½ large white onion, diced

1 tablespoon Butter

Scant 1/2 lb. Ground Beef (I used 80/20 Chuck)

Mustard (plain old yellow mustard, none of that fancy stuff)

Pickles

American Cheese (processed only, none of that ‘real’ cheese here)

Salt and Pepper

First, you’ll want to caramelize the onions. Heat a medium pan over medium high heat. Toss in the butter, then the onions. Let them cook for about 8 minutes, until they’ve released a good amount of liquid and taken on some color, then add salt. Cook for an additional 10 minutes or so. We’re looking for onions that have some color on them, but not full-on French onion soup style caramelized onions. You’ll probably need to turn the heat down as the onions are cooking to prevent burning. Make sure you keep an eye on them so this doesn’t occur. These can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge.

Finally, the burgers: Form the beef into 6 small patties, approximately ½” to ¾” thick. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Cook in a heavy-bottomed pan, over medium heat for about 3 minutes per side, until cooked through. Top with cheese, onions, mustard and a pickle. Serve with a side of French fries.

Cinnamon and Chocolate Chip Challah

This was my first attempt at challah, so I'm calling this one a victory by virtue of the fact that it came out vaguely looking like it should. I took a Peter Reinhart recipe (from Crust and Crumb) and added the chocolate chips and cinnamon sugar. The latter didn't quite work, since I dusted the loaf with the cinnamon sugar before baking. Maybe I should've waited until after it was baked. On the plus side, it made my apartment smell like a Cinnabon.

Ingredients:

16 ounces (3.5 cups) bread flour

2 ounces (1/4 cup) sugar

0.25 ounces (1 teaspoon) salt

0.22 ounces (2 teaspoons) instant yeast

2 tablespoons softened butter

2 large eggs, beaten

2 large egg yolks, beaten (whites reserved)

1/4 cup milk, at room temperature

½ cup water, at room temperature

6 ounces chocolate chips

Cinnamon sugar topping:

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons sugar

Method:

Combine all the dough ingredients (except for the egg whites reserved for the egg wash) in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on slow speed for 1 minute, then on medium for about 10 minutes. The dough should be tacky and pass the windowpane test.

Place the dough in a bowl, mist with cooking spray, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for one hour. Remove the dough, and knead it by hand for 5 minutes. Return it to the bowl and let it rise for another hour.

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes, to relax the gluten. Working quickly, roll each piece into a log about 10 inches long.

Lay the strands next to each other, and pinch the ends at the top (see below – though the dough in the picture needs a bit more pinching). Now comes the fun part: The numbers underneath the strands are relative to their position on the table, not the strands themselves, i.e. the strand on the right of the table at any given moment is strand 4. Cross the strands over each other using this sequence: 4 over 2, 1 over 3, 2 over 3. Repeat until you get to the end, and pinch off the excess dough. I meant to get pictures of this every step of the way, but I got really into what I was doing and forgot. To be honest, I’m surprised how easy it went.

 Anyway, more rising: place your professionally shaped loaf on a prepared baking sheet, and cover with a towel. Allow to rise for another hour.

Wash with egg wash, and cook at 375 for 45 minutes, praying to the gods of baking that everything works out, and rotating the loaf half way through. Allow to cool for 45 minitues before slicing and devouring.

Soft Pretzels

One of my favorite snacks growing up was soft pretzels. My mom used to always buy the frozen kind that came in the box, and I distinctly remember trying to get the salt from the little packet to stay on the pretzel (it never did). This recipe is a bit more involved than sticking frozen pretzels in the microwave, but the results are tasty. It’s not particularly wet dough, so it’s easy to shape. From my dutiful research on the internet, I’ve found that there are two keys to making successful pretzels:

1.       Feed the yeast with sugar.

2.      Boil the pretzels in lye before baking. If you’re not in a fight club and don’t have lye in your pantry, baking soda works just as well.

This recpie comes from http://www.10thkitchen.com/2012/02/soft-pretzels-and-beer-cheddar-fondue/

Ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees)
1 cup bread flour
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened
Vegetable oil, for bowl and baking sheets
1/4 cup baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon water
1 tablespoon course grain Kosher salt

Make the dough:

Add the yeast, 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt, and 2 teaspoons sugar to a cup of water. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes. The yeast mixture will foam up and look like a science experiment. While you’re waiting for the yeast, add the flours to a large bowl and blend in the butter using a pastry cutter (or a butter knife), until the butter is the size of pebbles. Add the yeast mixture, stirring to combine all the ingredients. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray, add the dough, and spritz the top with spray as well. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour, or until doubled in size.

Shape the dough:

Break the dough off into 12 equal sized portions (I used my scale – each dough ball came out to about 2 oz). Roll the dough back and forth, starting from the middle and applying pressure outward, until you have a rope shaped piece of dough about 16 inches long. Cross one end of the dough over the other, forming a not quite figure 8 (see pictures for what I hope will be a better explanation). Pick up the two ends, twist and flip up to the top, forming a pretzel shape. Let the pretzels rest on a baking sheet, covered with plastic wrap for 15 minutes.

Bake the pretzels:

Preheat your oven to 475°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and add ¼ cup of baking soda and 1 ½ tablespoons of sugar. Boil the pretzels 3 at a time, for 1 minute on each side, until puffed up. Rest the boiled pretzels on a rack. Combine one egg with 1 teaspoon of water, and beat to create an egg wash. Place the pretzels on two baking sheets, and brush with the egg wash. Sprinkle with kosher salt, then bake in the over for 15 minutes.

Chessy Caprese Bread

Here’s another one for the “ehh, it turned out good, but it needs some tweaking” file. This could probably be split into two loaves. Inspired and adapted from http://smittenkitchen.com/2012/02/cheddar-beer-and-mustard-pull-apart-bread/

Ingredients:

Dough:

15 oz all purpose flour (divided)

4 oz (1 stick) butter

9 oz water

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, room temp

Pesto:

2 cups basil leaves

¼ cup pine nuts

1 clove garlic

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Scant ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Additional ingredients
1 ½ cups mozzarella, shredded

1 tomato, sliced thin

Instructions:

Melt the butter and add the water. Let cool until the mixture is between 110° and 116°F. In a mixer, add 8 ounces of the flour, along with the yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix it around a bit, then pour in the butter/water mixture and mix on low. Add the remaining 7 ounces of flour and mix until incorporated. Add the 2 eggs and mix until incorporated. Switch to the dough hook attachment and knead on low for 3-4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a bowl that’s been sprayed with cooking spray, cover, and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Meanwhile for the pesto:

Add the chopped garlic and pine nuts to a food processor and whiz a few times.

Add the remaining ingredients and process until it’s the consistency you’re looking for. Season with salt and pepper.

Assembly:

Roll out the dough on a well floured surface into a 12”x20” rectangle.  Use a brush to coat the dough with pesto. Grab a pizza cutter and slice into strips. Stack the strips on top of each other, layering with mozzarella and tomatoes along the way. Once the strips are piled on top of each other, cut into squares and place into a greased bread pan or two (like I said earlier, you might be able to get 2 loaves out of this… I squeezed it all into 1). Cover loosely and let proof for 30 – 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the top starts to brown.

Bread and Leek Pudding

This recipe was adapted from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home book. The recipe for the brioche is in there as well (it’s actually in all his cookbooks), though I’m sure you can Google it as well. This was my contribution to Christmas dinner, and it was a big hit with everyone. Perfect for any sort of Sunday roast dinner.

Ingredients:

•          1 loaf of brioche, cut into 1” cubes
•          2 cups leeks, rinsed and cut into 1” pieces
•          4 tablespoons butter
•          1.5 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
•          1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
•          2 large eggs
•          2 cups milk
•          2 cups heavy cream
•          Nutmeg
•          Salt
•          Pepper
•          ¾ cup Havarti cheese
•          ¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Sauté the leeks over medium heat for about 5 minutes, seasoning with salt, until they soften. Add the butter, stir everything around, reduce the heat to medium low, cover and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, toast the bread cubes in a 350° oven for 20 minutes, until lightly golden.

Toss the bread, leeks, rosemary and thyme in a bowl.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the milk, heavy cream, nutmeg, salt, and pepper

Sprinkle about 1/3 of the cheese on the bottom of a 8” x 11.5” baking pan. Add ½ the bread mixture, top with 1/3 of the cheese. Add the remaining bread mixture, and toss on the rest of the cheese. Pour in the milk and cream mixture and let the bread soak for 15 minutes. Bake in a 350° oven for an hour, or until the bread on top is brown and the custard is set.