Overnight Refrigerator Pizza Dough

Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1 1/3 cups cold water
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for brushing

Instructions
1. Combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast in food processor.  Pulse until combined.  With machine running, add the cold water and process until the dough is combined and all dry ingredients are incorporated, about 10 seconds.  Let dough rest for 10 minutes. 

2. Add oil to the dough.  Process until the dough forms a smooth, tacky ball that clears the sides of the bowl, about 30 to 60 seconds. 

3. Remove dough from the bowl, knead briefly on a lightly floured surface, about 1 minute.  Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.  (After this refrigeration you can wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.  To use frozen dough, thaw in refrigerator for 8 hours before proceeding.) 

4. One hour before baking pizza, place pizza stone in oven and heat oven to 500*F.  Remove dough from refrigerator and divide in half.  Form each half into a ball and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.  Let dough rest at room temperature for 1 hour. 

5. Flatten each dough ball into an 8-inch disk and then roll or stretch into a 12-inch circle.  Transfer each circle to sheet of parchment paper.  Lightly brush top of each crust with olive oil then transfer one to pizza stone using parchment paper as a sling.  Bake 5 to 8 minutes, until crust starts to firm up. 

6. Remove crust from oven then top with desired toppings.  Return to oven and bake until toppings are bubbling and slightly browned, another 8 to 10 minutes.  Let cool about 5 minutes before slicing and serving.  Repeat process with remaining pizza crust. 

Pizza

Comments
This recipe is from One Lovely Life.  Lance put in a request for pizza quite some time ago, and I finally got around to making it.  This recipe is super easy and makes enough dough for 2 12-inch pizzas.  I doubled it with no problems to make four pizzas.  I did one plain cheese, one with sautéed mushrooms, one with sautéed bacon, and the last with pepperoni. 

This dough met with Lance’s approval although he said I could have made them a bit thicker.  Transferring the dough on and off the pizza stone with parchment paper makes the pizza making process so much easier.  I highly recommend this method!  I used Classico’s pizza sauce and was quite happy with the flavors.  I look forward to using this dough recipe for other pizzas in the future.


Beer Bread

Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup sugar
12 ounces beer (choose your favorite!)
1/4 cup butter, melted

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 375*F.  

2. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar.  Pour in beer and mix until incorporated.  Pour batter into loaf pan then top with melted butter. 

3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean and the top is browned.  Cool 5 to 10 minutes in pan before serving. 

No photo

Comments
This recipe is from The Pastry Affair, but I’ve been seeing various beer quick breads bouncing around the blogosphere for a while now.  Sadly, I used some random beer Art picked up once and, well, it sucked.  The bread was horrible and we ended up throwing it away after trying a slice.  I think I’ll try this again with a nice, mild beer.


Mini Yorkshire Puddings

Ingredients
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons beef fat drippings, leftover from Prime Rib (if you need more, use olive oil to make up the difference)

Instructions
1. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and salt.  Stir in flour 1/2 cup at a time, making sure flour is completely incorporated before adding more.  Rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or up to 3 hours. 

2. Heat oven to 450*F. 

3. Stir 1 tablespoon beef fat into batter. 

4. Put 1/2 teaspoon beef fat into each cup of a 12-cup muffin pan.  Place pan in oven and heat 3 minutes, or until fat is smoking. 

5. Carefully remove pan from oven and separate batter between cups.  Return to oven and bake 20 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350*F and bake 10 more minutes until golden brown and puffy. 

6. Remove from oven and pierce each pudding with a toothpick (or chopstick, or whatever) to prevent collapse. 

Mini Yorkshire Puddings

Comments
This recipe is from Steamy Kitchen.  I basically did everything wrong.  I forgot to read the recipe ahead of time and didn’t bring anything to room temperature.  Nor did I wait the 30 minutes for the batter to rest after mixing.  You know what?  They were still delicious!  I wished I had made more of them.  This were nice and crispy on the outside and perfect in the middle.  They were even dipped into the Horseradish Cream Sauce.  Very nice addition to a prime rib dinner. 

I actually cooked the asparagus at the same time and just tossed them with olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper.  Then I spread them out on a baking sheet and popped them on the shelf underneath the muffin tin.  This worked out quite well!

Shown here with Prime Rib, Horseradish Cream Sauce, and roasted asparagus.


Naan

Ingredients
2 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt, whisked until smooth
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour in bowl or pie plate, for dusting
1/4 cup butter, melted

Instructions
1. For the dough, dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water and set aside until frothy, about 5 minutes. Mix in the yogurt and oil.

2. Place the flour and salt in the food processor and process until mixed. With the motor running, pour the yeast mixture into the work bowl in a thin stream and process until the flour gathers into a ball and the sides of the processor are clean. (If the dough seems too sticky, add some more flour through the feeder tube, or add some more yogurt if the dough is dry and hard.) Transfer to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap or the lid of the bowl, and place in a warm draft-free spot until it doubles in volume, 3 to 4 hours. If keeping for a longer period, refrigerate the dough.  (Note: Both times I’ve made this I’ve needed to add extra yogurt.)

3. To roll and cook, the naan breads, with clean, lightly oiled hands, divide the dough equally into 6 to 12 balls and cover with foil to prevent drying. Working with each ball of dough separately, place in the bowl with the dry flour, flatten it with your fingertips and coat well with the dry flour. Then transfer to a cutting board or any other clean flat surface and, with a rolling pin, roll into a 7- to 8- inch triangle. (If the dough sticks to the rolling surface, dust with more flour.)

4. Place on large baking trays or, if you have a separate broiler, place on the broiler trays - 3 to 4 per tray. With a basting brush or your fingers, lightly baste the top of each naan with water.

5. Preheat the oven to broil or preheat the broiler, and place the trays, one at a time, 4 to 5 inches below the heating element and broil until small brown spots appear on the top surface, about 1 minute. With spatula, carefully, turn each naan over and cook until the other side is golden, about 30 seconds. Transfer the naan breads to a platter, baste lightly with butter, if you wish, and serve hot.

Note: If you have a good cast iron pizza pan, or similar, heat this under the broiler and then transfer dough to pizza pan in oven instead of cooking on trays.  This will help cook it on both sides at the same time better than a baking sheet. 

Naan

Comments
This recipe is from 1,000 Indian Recipes by Neelam Batra.  The naan shown here has a little turmeric and fresh, minced garlic added to the butter baste at the end for garlicky naan.  I feel like this is the first recipe I’ve tried to make naan at home and I’ve now made it twice.  Both times it turned out great!  I didn’t include minced garlic the second time, just a plain butter baste at the end.  I’m pleased with both the texture and the flavor.  Some day I’d like to try cooking this in the Big Green Egg at high temperature, but that might take a bit more planning and coordination than I’ve spent until this point. 

Shown here with Basic Chicken Curry (Har-Roz ki Murgh Kari).


Tabbouleh

Ingredients
1/2 cup fine bulgur
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup boiling water
2 cups fresh parsley, finely chopped (preferably flat leaf)
1/2 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
1 pound tomatoes, cut into small pieces
1/2 cucumber, peeled, cored, and cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions
1. Stir together bulgur and 1 tablespoon oil in large bowl.  Pour in boiling water, stir, and cover tightly.  Let stand 15 minutes.  Drain bulgur in sieve, pressing with spatula to remove excess liquid, then return to bowl. 

2. Toss with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and other ingredients. 

Tabbouleh

Comments
This recipe is from epicurious.com.  My mom suggested that we make Tabbouleh because it’s something she loves.  I’d never had it before, but was willing to try, so I tracked down this recipe.  It’s great!  Flat leaf parsley works better than the curly stuff, but  if you can’t find the flat stuff, the curly will still work.  It’s a lot of chopping, but comes together easily enough.  It's even better the second day when all of the flavors have had time to meld more. 

If you can’t find bulgur at your store, try looking for tabbouleh mix and just remove whatever seasoning packet it comes with.  I have to get bulgur at my local health food store because it’s not available in any form at my normal groceries. 

Shown here with Chicken Shawarma, pita bread, Tomato Relish, and Tahini Sauce.



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