Thin-Crust Skillet Pizza

Hey everyone!  I know it's been awhile.  I've been traveling the world, going to trade shows, developing my own cooking show on TLC and starting my own restaurant. 

Just Kidding.

I know you've probably been frantic about where I was since you are aware of my tendency to injure myself.  Don't worry my fellow chefs, all is well in the kitchen.  I've just been {enter excuse here}.

This week I made a Skillet Thin Crust Pizza.  My dad accidentally left a Cook's magazine at my apartment full of skillet-made recipes.  I think this is a conspiracy to get me to try these, like them, and then make them for him.  It would only be more obvious if he marked the pages of the recipes he was "going to try to make himself".

The thought of making a time-consuming tasty dinner like pizza all in a stove-top skillet in under 30 minutes sounded great!

First, I diced 4 medium tomatoes, salted them, and let them drain on a paper towel for 10 minutes.  I suggest putting the salt in the dough instead of tomatoes.  It'll give the crust more flavor... or do both.  I don't care.  I'm not the boss of you.  (Or, am I?)

Next, I mixed 1 cup of fat-free shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan and 1/2 cup of chopped basil.  Don't use fat-free cheese.  You'll see.

While that drained I started the dough.  1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, sugar and add the salt here if you want.  Mix ingredients in a food processor.  My food processor decided it didn't want to work.  It's fine, I'll just transfer it to the blender.  I think this is where it went wrong.  Most of my ingredients fell on the floor during this process. 

While blender-ing you slowly add in 1/3 cup of beer.  I opened a Sam Adam's Light when I started the recipe but had to open another by the time I got to this step.  After the beer... 7 tbsps of olive oil.  SEVEN?! I think I could've put three and we would've been OK. 

Flour hands and counter (and floor and chair and stove if you have containment issues when it comes to flour), roll dough into a tight ball and loosely cover with saran wrap for about 10 minutes.  When the dough is ready, slice in two and roll out into 9-inch circle. 

Now, heat some olive oil in a skillet till it just starts to smoke.  Add dough and make sure to poke holes in any bubbles.  This is the fun part!

Cook until bottom is golden-brown and then flip!  They made the flipping part look easy but my crust did not want to stay together because it was ultra-flaky.  I like flaky so it worked for me. 

After you flip, immediately add 1/2 the cheese and tomatoes and put the lid on so the cheese will melt in the time the bottom browns. 

This is where we run into issues with the fat-free cheese.  Because it is made from... ?... it doesn't melt in the heat our ovens and stoves produce.  Nuclear energy might be able to melt it.  Maybe.   Finished product:

I definitely want to try the crust again but experiment with my own toppings.  I didn't think it had a whole lot of flavor.  Maybe I'll try putting meat on it as well, though that would require another skillet. 

Let me know if you guys try it and how it works for you!

My Adventures in Making Pasta

I just moved into my own apartment and started a new job.  I'm 23 years old and I live paycheck to paycheck (but who isn't!?).  I had under $100 in my checking account yesterday and I decided to spend $14 on three bottles of wine at Trader Joe's because I obviously have my priorities in line.  The cheapest thing at the grocery store you can buy is pasta and at my Publix it is 77 cents a box.  In order to afford my cheap TJ's wine I have to cut back somewhere else and this week it's pasta.  Yes, I made my own pasta.

It started with the book "Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking" written by Michael Ruhlman.  I'm going to go on a bit of a rant about this book.  I'm a little bit of a nerd and love knowing the science and numbers behind things.  This book breaks down every basic kitchen staple (and even more complicated things like pate a croux) into ratios.  Basic pasta dough?  3 parts flour : 2 parts egg.  BOOM.  DONE. 

First of all check out my cool new gadget.  Most ratios are broken down by WEIGHT and not VOLUME so this purchase was necessary although he does break it down by approximate volume in the recipes, as well.

Ok sooo... I already gave you the recipe.  3 parts flour : 2 parts egg.  For two large portions I used 9 ounces of flour and 6 ounces of egg (3 large eggs).  Part of the reason I wanted to try this particular recipe so badly is because they say its fun.  You literally put your flour in a mound (mine in a bowl because of counter space) and put the eggs in the middle and stir around with your fingers!

After you mix it well you knead it for 5 to 10 minutes until smooth.  Fold over and push down with the heel of your hand.  The dough then needs to rest wrapped in plastic wrap for 10 minutes.  Once it is done "resting" you cut into four equal pieces and " roll them to desired thinness and cut".  Alright.  This is where I got lost. 

First of all, oops, I don't have a rolling pin.  I got a bit creative and used a double-shot glass...  classy, yes, but I'm not giving up now! 

Second, I figured I didn't need a fancy cutting machine for my pasta.  I'll just cut it with my knife.  Ok, it'll be a little thick but maybe it will taste like fettuccine?

Third, THAT'S WHERE IT ENDS.  Now what?!  Do I let it dry?  The book stops talking about anything else relative to COOKING the pasta. Anytime I go to Italian restaurants they have dried pasta sitting in jars.  The pasta I buy for 77 cents is dried.  Am I allowed to just cook it right now or do I have to wait weeks to use these giant flaps of pasta?

Well, I put my big-girl decision-making panties on and I popped those suckers into the boiling water.

... and it expanded.  Brains for dinner anyone??

OK so it doesn't look that appetizing.  In the end it kind of tasted like gnocci but I blame that on how thick it was and not the ratio/recipe.  I ended up covering it with a sauce I made several weeks ago and froze (Giada DeLaurentiis) and some fresh ground beef.  Maybe I'll try this again when I have the tools for it.  Until then, I'll stick to 77 cent boxes of pasta. I hope you all try this and let me know how it goes!

I Need No-Knead Bread!

Out of everything I make, I feel most accomplished when I finish baking bread.   Whether it’s from the bread machine or spending hours kneading and letting it rise, it is the feeling of being able to make the oldest form of sustenance and the most basic cupboard staple.  I am a big fan of my bread machine and make my weekly loaf of bread every Sunday.  Thanks to my bread machine, I haven’t bought bread in months!  Crazy! 

For Christmas, Santa dropped a Lodge cast-iron Dutch oven and Jim Lahey’s book “My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method” down the chimney (just imagine the clatter that arose after that!).  Jim Lahey’s method involves letting the bread rise for 12-18 hours, having the yeast do the job of the kneader.  I highly suggest the book as it explains the magic behind baking bread.   He has many recipes in the book including Coconut-Chocolate Bread, Pizzas and Focaccias, and other food recipes.  He suggests, before attempting any of his other recipes to try the world-renowned “The Lahey Method for No-Knead Bread in a Pot” which I did and is as follows:

The Players:

3 cups of bread flour
1 ¼ teaspoons of table salt
¼ instant or other active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups of cool water
wheat bran, cornmeal or additional flour

The first thing I notice is the amount of yeast required compared to the machine bread.  I believe it has to do with the 18 hours of rising so it is unnecessary to use as much yeast (1 ¼ in most cases) – you don’t want your bread to become the Incredible Hulk.  Also, Lahey (as well as all other bakers) suggests you use a food scale.  Well, I don’t have one and since he mentioned there is a lot of leeway when it comes to his recipe, I didn’t worry about not using one.  The only thing I needed to vary was the amount of water.  It seemed like I needed a good ¼ cup more but that could’ve been because I didn’t use weight as a measurement for the flour resulting in too much.  

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add the water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. With a bowl scraper or rubber spatula, scrape the dough onto a gently floured work surface.  When you pull the dough out of the bowl you will notice long, thin strands which represent the developed gluten – a good thing so you do not need to add additional flour!  Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball folding the dough into itself.

3. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up.  Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

This recipe is so easy!!  The only difficult part is planning your 18 hours.  If you start it at 9PM and let it rise it should be finished about 3PM the next day.  This is best done on the weekend.  I love this recipe.  When the bread comes out of the cast-iron pot it tastes as if you were camping (and some shmuck besides you had to carry the cast iron pot) and it was fresh off the fire.  This bread is crusty and crunchy on the outside and after cooling an hour has a delicious, perfect center.  I rarely have things turn out like they do in the pictures but this bread is picture-perfect!  As a side note: the book has the most beautiful and mouth-watering pictures of bread.

Try the recipe.  Buy the book.  I highly recommend both.  Thanks Santa!!!  I will be baking other recipes from the book eventually and will post those, as well!!

STATS:
Injuries: 0
Missing/Incorrect Ingredients: 0
Satisfied Customers: Everyone Loved It!!