Let's do the twist

Sunday is family dinner night around here.  It's the only night that we always eat together.  We occasionally pull it off on a weeknight, but way more often than not, I feed the girls early and then J & I eat later.  Early is relative, of course.  The parent who picks the girls up from school/daycare gets home with them around 6:30 or so.  The other parent doesn't get home until after 7:30.

Since that doesn't leave me with much time or energy for cooking during the week, Sunday is also my day for meals that are more involved, or that just take more time.  A lot of times, it's something that makes lots of leftovers that I can eat for lunch during the week.  Tonight's spaghetti and meatballs is a good example of that.  I try to save the things I know the girls won't eat for me & J to have during the week (as long as they're relatively quick to make).  I want B&G to try new things (and they're really pretty good about that), but I get tired of hearing about how unhappy they are with some of my menu choices.

Last weekend, I tried something new that I was pretty sure they'd enjoy.  A few days earlier, my friend Tracey had a great new dish on her blog.  That's not unusual, since Tracey posts all sorts of good things. =)  But this was one that I wanted to make right away--Pretzel Dogs!  I regularly make my own dough for mini pigs-in-blankets, but it never occurred to me to wrap them in soft pretzel dough.  In fact, I realized that I've never made pretzels at all.  I've been meaning to, but just haven't gotten around to it.  

The great thing about this dough is that it doesn't take long at all to make.  The dough is straightforward to mix up (I used my dough whisk for the initial mixing) and can be kneaded in your stand mixer.  I did some machine kneading, then finished by hand.  The dough is really nice to work with, and it needs less than an hour to rise.  Then you portion out the dough, roll it into ropes, and wrap them around hot dogs that have been cut in half.  I only did five hot dogs (so 10 pieces), using 60 grams of dough for each piece.  I formed the remaining dough into 4 rolls (similar to hamburger buns).  The pretzel dogs are boiled in a baking soda solution for about 30 seconds each.  I boiled the rolls as well, but had to flip them over halfway through the time, since they don't roll the way the hot dogs do.  Finally, the dough is brushed with egg wash, sprinkled with salt (I even had actual pretzel salt!), and baked for about 15 minutes.

The verdict?  These were fantastic!  I definitely think they've earned a place in our regular menu rotation.  Jamie ate his with mustard, which sounds appropriate for pretzels as well as hot dogs.  The rest of us don't really like mustard, so we used ketchup.  But what I really want to try with them next is cheese sauce...  

I'm excited to try my hand at other pretzels as well.  I can't believe it's taken me this long to make them.  If you'd like to try these pretzel dogs for yourself, you can find the recipe on Tracey's blog.  My friend Abby made them, too; I love her cinnamon sugar bites for dessert.  I'm also submitting these Pretzel Dogs to Yeastspotting; be sure to check out all the other delicious yeasted creations.

Pizza, pizza?

When I first read that this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Pizza Rustica, I figured that it would go over well here, since everyone in the family loves pizza.  Then I actually looked at the recipe and realized that it wasn't pizza in the traditional sense.  Instead, it's an Italian pie, filled with cheeses and prosciutto and eggs.  The twist with this one is that the dough is sweet instead of savory.  I knew that my husband would probably like this dish, since he likes the contrast of sweet and salty/savory.  My girls are fans of pretty much anything with a ricotta filling, so I figured there was a decent chance that they would eat it without complaint.  It feels like we've been in a rut lately as far as meal planning, so I was excited to try something new for dinner.

I decided that I wanted to make a tart rather than a pie.  Since I knew the tart pan would be shallower than a pie pan, I used my 10" pan.  For the filling, I used my favorite whole milk ricotta and substituted Asiago cheese for the Romano.  I almost forgot about the pepper, and ended up grinding some on top of the tart filling after it was already in the pan, before I added the lattice strips.  The dough was very nice to work with--easy to roll out and put in the tart pan.  I used my fluted pastry wheel to cut the strips for the top.

For baking, I preheated the oven to 375ºF since I was using a metal tart pan.  I placed the tart on a baking sheet and put the sheet pan directly on my baking stone in the lower part of my oven.  I usually do that for pies and tarts to ensure that the bottom crust bakes well and doesn't end up soggy.  The tart took 35 minutes to bake, at which point it was puffy all over and starting to brown.  We let it cool somewhat, but it was still warm rather than at room temperature when we ate.  I warmed up some of our usual pizza sauce to serve on the side.  

The verdict?  This went over pretty well!  As predicted, Jamie liked it; Brianna did, too.  Gillian didn't like the prosciutto, but said she might eat it without the meat or with regular ham instead.  The girls weren't sure what to think about the slight sweetness of the crust; I might try a less sweet version next time.  The tart was good both with and without the tomato sauce, but J pointed out that the sauce brought some nice acidity to the table to balance all the rich ingredients in the tart.  I can definitely see myself making this again, and maybe playing around with the filling ingredients.

If you'd like to give this a try for yourself, you can find the recipe on Emily's blog or Raelynn's blog.  To see what everyone else thought of this week's selection, check out the Links.  

Wordless Wednesday - Thyme to make tart crust

Timing is everything

I really need to schedule things better. Or maybe just schedule them, period.  When I originally learned that the new Dorie group was going to be posting on Fridays, all I thought was that it was nice that it was several days away from Tuesday.  I didn't really think it through.  To get something posted on a Friday, I really need to be working on it on Thursday.  Well, around here, Thursday is the worst day of the week.  We're all worn out.  Yes, we're probably more tired on Friday, but by the time we get to Friday morning, we all know that the next day is Saturday, and a chance to relax.  Thursday, we're almost as tired, but a lot more cranky, knowing that we have another day to get through still.  Ugh.

So forget actually accomplishing much of anything on Thursdays.  Unless I have something really solid planned for dinner, it ends up being pretty random.  Then it's a race to get kids to bed before they completely melt down, followed by getting my stuff organized so I can crash, too.  The moral of the story?  If I stand any chance of being able to post something for French Fridays with Dorie, I'd better get it done the weekend before!  And now you know why you haven't seen a post from me since the first week. =)

I'm still behind, but I'm trying to catch up.  Last weekend, I finally got a chance to make Gerard's Mustard Tart.  I was really looking forward to it, because I love leeks.  I made it for the small party that we had for Gillian's birthday.  It probably sounds like a strange thing for a 4-year-old's party, but there were as many adults as kids.  And Gillian's best friend is French, so I thought her parents would enjoy it.  We also had some savory snacks made with puff pastry (that's another post), fresh fruit with chocolate/peanut butter dipping sauce, and Cheetos (the poofy ones, not the crunchy ones).  The last was a specific request from Gillian. =)  And of course, cake.

Fortunately, the tart was pretty easy to make in between the other things that I had to do.  I made the tart dough, but it didn't get a 3-hour rest in the fridge.  It got about 30 minutes in the freezer.  It was still pretty nice to roll out, though.  I decided to use my rectangular tart pan for easy serving.  I froze the crust while working on cake assembly, then baked it.  I did use weights to keep it from shrinking too much. (I have a bunch of dried black beans that I keep just for pie weights.)  After baking it for 20 minutes, I removed the foil and weights and baked it for 7 minutes longer.  I let it cool while prepping the filling ingredients.  I went with 2 carrots that I cut into short julienned pieces, and three small leeks that I quartered lengthwise and then cut crosswise into half-inch pieces.  I don't have a steamer (or didn't, until I bought new rice cooker this week), so I sautéed them in a bit of butter and olive oil until softened (and seasoned them with salt and pepper).  I put the vegetables in the tart crust and then poured the custard filling (eggs, cream and mustard) over it.  I baked the tart for 23 minutes, until it was browned and puffy.  I let it cool until just warm before serving.

The verdict?  Wow, this didn't last long at all.  The best compliment of all was that it was eagerly eaten by our French guests.  Jamie and I really liked it, too.  Gillian wouldn't try it (and I didn't force the issue, especially since it was her party).  Brianna sampled it and said that "it was okay, but it's not my favorite" which is her polite way of saying that she didn't like it all that much.  We will definitely be having this one again; I'd like to play around with the veggies.  

If you'd like to try this recipe, I highly encourage you to get yourself a copy of Around My French Table.  It's on page 154.  For this month only, you can find the recipes here, on the FFwD site.  The group is quite flexible, so feel free to join in on the fun (if you haven't already).  And to hear what everyone else thought of the tart, check out the Links.  

Check back in the next few days to hear about my great class at Central Market with Dorie!

A tale of two strudels

When will I finally learn not to wait until the last minute to make my monthly Daring Bakers recipe?  Once again I found myself in the kitchen on the day before the post is due, finishing baking so I could take pictures and put a post together.  But hey, at least I'm not doing it on posting day this month! =)  I had originally planned to make this month's recipe while Jamie's parents were here, but that didn't happen.  Then I was going to do it on my day off last week, but I got sick.  And this past weekend got away from me, between bagels and brownies.  Fortunately I had this afternoon off, so there was one last chance.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.  

My first thought on reading the selection at the beginning of the month was "Wow, now that will definitely be a challenge!  Strudel kind of scares me."  But that's why I joined this group, right?  Once I read the recipe, it didn't seem as scary, and it promised not to be too time-consuming.  Which turned out to be a really good thing, since I waited so long!  There really weren't any special ingredients needed.  In fact, the only requirement was that we had to make the strudel dough--the filling was completely flexible, sweet or savory.

As I was driving home after working this morning, I was still trying to decide what to make.  I've had some apples sitting in the bottom of my fridge for a while, and I figured I'd just use them.  But then I started trying to figure out what to make for dinner, and it hit me.  Why not make two strudels--one savory and one sweet?  I could divide the dough in half.  I was kind of worried about having too much strudel anyway, and I didn't think it would keep well.  

I mixed up the dough, which didn't take all that long.  It was very easy to work with, and quite nice to knead.  Since I knew it had to rest for a while, I left it covered on the counter while I went to pick the girls up from schools.  (It rested for about 2 hours.)  I was kind of afraid of trying to stretch out the dough successfully with the two of them underfoot, but I was running out of time.  And it actually worked out a lot better than I expected.  Before I started playing with the dough, though, I prepared my filling ingredients.

For the savory version, I sauteed some leeks.  Then I diced some red potatoes (skin on) and sauteed them as well.  I didn't cook either of them completely, but wanted to give them a head start to make sure they would cook through in the oven.  I also chopped some fresh thyme leaves and shredded some fontina cheese.

I got out my rolling pin, but didn't even use it.  As soon as I divided the dough in half, it started stretching.  I transported it over to my kitchen table, which I'd prepared with a floured tablecloth.  I stretched the dough a lot like I stretch pizza dough, working around the edges, and stretching it over the backs of my hands.  It got really thin really quickly, but I managed to keep it from developing a lot of holes.  I was pretty impressed that I could see the pattern of the tablecloth so clearly through it!

Once it was big enough, I drizzled the dough with some melted butter which I smeared around (carefully) with my fingers.  Then I scattered crisped bread crumbs over the whole thing.  I layered my filling ingredients across one end of the dough and trimmed the thick edges from all sides of the dough. (Brianna had fun playing with the scraps.)  

Then, as instructed, I used the tablecloth to help roll the strudel over on itself until it was all rolled up.  

I carefully transferred the roll to a parchment-lined baking sheet and drizzled a bit more melted butter on top.  Then it went into a 400 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

While that one was baking, I mixed up ingredients for the sweet version.  I diced a bunch of fresh peaches and put them in a bowl.  Then I added some sugar, a bit of freshly ground nutmeg, some ground ginger and a teaspoon or two of cornstarch.  I didn't really measure anything, sorry. =)  I repeated the assembly process and soon had the second one ready for the oven.  Brianna tried some right after dinner when it was still pretty warm, while Jamie and I waited until after the girls were in bed (our reward for surviving the bedtime shenanigans).

The verdict?  My mom is surely looking down on me and laughing.  This is probably revenge for all the dinners I complained about as a child.  Even though she tasted and claimed to like all the components that went into the savory strudel, Brianna refused to eat the finished product.  She picked some of the peaches out of the fruit version, but left most of that on the plate, too.  Gillian wasn't much better.  Jamie and I really enjoyed both.  The combination of flavors in the savory version was similar to other dishes I've made, so it wasn't surprising that we liked it.  The texture was very nice as well.  The fruit version was a bit softer, probably from the excess juice, but still very tasty.  

If you want to give this one a try, head over to Linda's blog for the recipe and instructions.  It really was much easier than I expected.  And be sure to check out the Daring Bakers blogroll for lots of other great strudel creations.

Dough scraps make great playdough. =)

Pie time

When I first started this blog last December, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to blog about.  I do a lot of baking, and like experimenting with recipes.  I do cook as well, every day.  We very seldom eat out--saves money, and I generally like doing it.   Of course, there are days when dinner consists of pretty simple things like frozen ravioli.  =)  I enjoy trying new savory recipes and do sometimes make notes about them in my notebook.  But the vast majority of my notes are about things I've baked, and I ultimately decided that I would just blog about baking.  Of course, sometimes dinner involves baking, too.

If I had to pick a favorite food, it would definitely be pizza.  I love pizza.  In pretty much any form, but my favorite is thin crust pizza.  That's one thing that I miss about the east coast.  Austin tends toward Chicago-style pizza.  But we do have a few options, including a great New Jersey transplant.  We make pizza at home on a weekly basis, all from scratch.  People always seem so surprised when I tell them that.  "You make the crust?  Yourself?  Every week?"  I can't quite duplicate real pizzeria crust, since my oven only goes to 550 degrees F, but I keep trying. Using my baking stone helps as well.  And I've learned to make a big batch of dough and freeze half of it, so I don't actually have to make dough every week.  =)  Over time, I've played around with different recipes, and pretty much settled on my go-to dough.

And then came the October Daring Bakers challenge.  This month's host was Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums, and she chose Pizza Napoletana from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  I have this cookbook, and have liked everything I've made from it so far.  The pizza was on my to-do list, but I hadn't gotten to it yet.  Rosa gave us a lot of flexibility, but did set a few requirements.  Something saucy.  Some sort of topping.  And tossing.  Yes, tossing the dough, as opposed to rolling it out.  With pictures. =)

One thing that's different for me about this dough recipe is that it uses cold water.  I've used room temperature water, but not cold.  Peter Reinhart had an article in Fine Cooking earlier this year that had some tips in in that I applied to my usual dough recipe, including a slow rise in the refrigerator.  This recipe has you do the same.  I actually don't do an overnight rise--I make the dough first thing in the morning and leave it in the fridge all day (usually at least 10 hours), and that seems to work quite well.  The recipe also calls for less yeast than I'm used to, which helps make for a thinner crust. 

Since I make pizza every week, I was able to try this dough a couple times during the month.  The first time, I made it as written, except that I didn't add any sugar.  I was making it from my copy of the book, which doesn't have any sugar in the recipe, and I didn't realize that until after the dough was already made.  As directed, I divided the dough into 6 balls.  I put three in the fridge to rise and put the others in the freezer.  When it came time to shape the dough, I couldn't believe how easily it stretched.  It was actually a little too thin.  I always shape dough by stretching it over my hands, not rolling, but there was no chance of tossing--it was just too stretchy.   But we topped it and baked it and it made for some very tasty pizzas.  

Which leads me to another thing that people can't believe.  My favorite pizza is plain cheese.  Tomato sauce and mozzarella, maybe with a little parmigiano reggiano on top.  Whenever I'm in a group that's ordering pizza, people give me a hard time because I want pizza with no other toppings.  But you know what?  It always gets eaten, and not just by me. =)  I do like mushrooms on occasion, but one thing I don't like is pepperoni, which is why my husband and I make our own individual pizzas.  He loves everything, but usually goes for pepperoni and black olives at home.  And he adds provolone cheese and maybe a bit of romano on top.  A few years back he switched to turkey pepperoni and loves it because it's less greasy.  

The frozen dough from that first batch worked fine as well, but I decided to tweak a few things when I made my second batch of dough a couple weeks ago.  When I made it the first time, I used all bread flour and the full 2 ounces of olive oil.  I cut the oil back to one ounce, hoping to make the dough a bit less tender.  And I tried one of the side-bar variations in the recipe and substituted white whole wheat flour for 10% of the bread flour.  I also increased the yeast just a little bit.  After kneading the dough in my mixer, I put the whole batch of dough in one of my dough buckets and put it in the fridge for the day.  That evening, I divided it into 6 portions of dough (and froze half of them).  

The verdict?  I liked my variations better--the dough was easier for me to work with.  I liked the additional flavor and texture from the whole wheat flour.  It's amazing how just a small amount can make a difference.  I'll probably continue to play around with the recipe--for one thing, I like some semolina flour in my pizza dough.  But I'm sticking with the cold water and smaller amount of yeast (my old recipe used 2 teaspoons).  On the whole, this was a very successful challenge for me.

Check out Rosa's blog for the original recipe and complete method.  Here are the ingredients for my variation:

2 ounces white whole wheat flour (King Arthur)

18 ounces bread flour (King Arthur)

1 3/4 teaspoons table salt

1 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons olive oil

14 ounces cold water (from the fridge - 40 degrees F)

And here's my standard sauce recipe:

Easy Pizza & Pasta Sauce

3 to 4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 to 3 teaspoons olive oil

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

pinch of kosher salt

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds (don't let it brown).  Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Stir in the seasonings, including salt to taste.  Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Leave the sauce chunky or puree it with an immersion or regular blender until smooth.

And don't forget to check out the Daring Bakers blogroll for more wonderful pizza ideas!

Alternatives

This month's Daring Bakers challenge comes to us from Natalie of Gluten a Go Go and Shel of Musings from the Fishbowl.  They chose Lavash Crackers, from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  (Yay, a cookbook I own!)  Now I've made crackers before, but this challenge had a twist--we had to make it either vegan or gluten-free (or both).  And Natalie and Shel requested that we come up with a dip to serve with our lavash that was both vegan and gluten-free.  So there was lots of opportunity for creativity with this one!

I decided to go with the vegan option, since I wasn't sure how much time I'd have to play around this month, and the recipe was already pretty much vegan.  There was a tablespoon of honey in the original recipe; I substituted Lyle's Golden Syrup for that.  I've had a jar of it in my pantry for a while but I didn't open it until this challenge.  Boy, is that stuff tasty!  The texture is similar to honey, so I thought it would be a good alternative, and I double-checked their website to make sure it was vegan.  Other than that, the dough is just made of flour, salt, yeast, oil and water.  

The dough was very nice to work with.  I kneaded it by hand, something I don't do all that often.  (It made sense, due to the texture and small quantity of the dough.)  After rising, the dough was quite easy to roll out.  Unfortunately, I didn't get it as thin as I would have liked.  Next time I'll divide the dough in half to make it easier to roll out very thin.  Or try running it through my pasta machine, a suggestion from some of the other Daring Bakers.  I topped part of my dough with sesame seeds and another part with kosher salt.  The sesame seeds didn't really want to stick, though, even though I went over them with the rolling pin to work them into the dough.  The salt worked great, though.  I did one large sheet, and broke it into individual crackers after baking.  I had to bake my dough longer than the listed time because it was a little thick, but the crackers finally turned out pretty crispy.

For my dip, I went with a variation of a dip I've made before.  It's mainly white beans with some roasted garlic and rosemary.  I usually use some chicken broth in it, but I just thinned it with water to keep it vegan.  I also discovered at the last minute that I didn't have any lemons in my fridge, so I used lime juice instead.  I tried to list quantities for the recipe listed below, but to be honest, I just kind of wing it.  =)  

The verdict?  Everyone here really liked the crackers with salt.  I do want to try again to make them thinner.  The dip ended up quite tasty with the changes I made.  Want to give these crackers a try yourself?  You can find the recipe here or here, or check out Peter Reinhart's book for yourself.  And my dip recipe can be found below.  

Garlic & Rosemary White Bean Dip

1 15-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed (I used Great Northern beans)

4 large cloves roasted garlic

2-3 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

one lime, cut into quarters

2-3 teaspoons water

Place the beans and garlic in the bowl of your food processor.  Drizzle them with the olive oil.  Add the salt, pepper, rosemary and the juice from a couple of the lime quarters.  Pulse the mixture until it's smooth.  Add some water to thin the dip if it seems too thick.  Add additional salt, pepper and lime juice to taste.