Breads and Grains

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
6 green onions, finely sliced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra for frying
1 tablespoons sesame oil
1 cup water

Instructions
1. Mix the dry ingredients together in large bowl, except for 1 cup of the flour. Add wet ingredients and mix. 

2. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Add some or all of remaining flour if needed.  (I needed to add all of the remaining flour.)

3. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap, then divide the dough into 12 pieces.

4. Form each piece into a ball, then flatten it and roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. Each dough piece should make an 6 to 8-inch circle when flat.

5. Heat oil in skillet over high heat.  Fry each pancake for a minute or two per side until cooked through.  (You could also grill them if you’d like.) 

6. Serve with Slow Cooker Char Siu. 

Comments
These is the pancake recipe which goes with the Slow Cooker Char Siu from The Cast-Iron Darling.  I ended up doubling the recipe from what you see here which gave us the right amount of pancakes for 3 pounds of pork loin. 

I would make a few changes next time, but just minor ones.  The meat and the pancakes were both great, but it would have been nice to have some green crunchy things to go along with the dish.  I’ll be serving this with some combination of shredded cabbage, sliced green onions, and sliced cucumber next time.

Shown here with Slow Cooker Char Siu.

Internet - Cast-Iron Darling

Ingredients
For the pizza dough
2 teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 ¹⁄₂ cup warm water
¹⁄₂ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
4-4 ¹⁄₂ cups flour (You can use up to 2 cups of whole wheat flour, the rest should be all purpose.)

For the dressing
1 teaspoon anchovy paste
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dry mustard
¹⁄₂ cup olive oil

For assembly
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 head romaine lettuce, shredded
¹⁄₄ cup Parmesan cheese, shaved

Instructions
1. For the dough: Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let sit for five minutes.  Add oil and salt, stir to mix.  Add flour one cup at a time, stirring to combine completely.  Dough should be a little sticky but easy enough to work with that it doesn’t stick all over your hands.  Knead dough for five minutes.  Place in a greased bowl and let rise for an hour.

2. While dough rises, heat large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until done, 10-15 minutes per side depending on thickness of breasts.  Remove from heat, cool slightly, and thinly slice. 

3. Make the dressing: Place all dressing ingredients in a container and blend with an immersion blender until thick and emulsified.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  (You could mince everything and whisk it while slowly adding the olive oil as well, but immersion blenders are so much fun.) 

4. Punch down dough and let rest five minutes.  Divide dough in half and roll, stretch or press into two 12-inch rounds.  Place each round on pizza pan or parchment paper if using pizza stone.

5. Preheat oven to 500*F.  If using pizza stone, preheat that as well.

6. Brush each dough round with 1-2 tablespoons dressing.  Spread chicken evenly over both pizzas and top each with ¹⁄₂ cup mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and dough is fully cooked. 

7. Meanwhile, toss lettuce with remaining dressing.  Allow pizza to cool for 5 minutes then top with dressed lettuce and Parmesan cheese. 

Comments
Not that long ago I tried out a recipe for Taco Pizza that my wonderful sister-in-law sent.  Ever since then I’ve been having pizza dreams and I finally managed to fit this Chicken Caesar Pizza into my schedule!  It was great!  Lance and I devoured a whole pizza between the two of us and loved every bite! 

I would make a few slight modifications next time, we both found the pieces of lettuce, chicken, and cheese to be a bit too large which sauce them to fall off the pizza.  Next time, I’ll cut things into smaller pieces so they stay on the pizza better. 

I went easy on dressing the lettuce since Lance prefers a lighter dressing on his salads.  I served the extra at the table and added more to my own slices.  If you have extra, package up the pizza slices and the lettuce separately so you can reheat the pizza without cooking the lettuce. 

Next up in the pizza experimentation – Peking Duck Pizza!

Person - Gwen

Ingredients
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
¹⁄₂ cup slivered almonds
¹⁄₂ cup walnuts, chopped
¹⁄₄ cup hulled green pumpkin seeds
¹⁄₄ cup pine nuts
¹⁄₂ cup pecans, chopped
¹⁄₂ teaspoon cinnamon
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
¹⁄₃ cup honey
¹⁄₂ teaspoon vanilla extract
Dried fruit, to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325*F. 

2. In a large bowl, stir together oats, nuts, seeds, cinnamon and salt.  In a small saucepan, melt butter with honey over low heat, stirring.  Add vanilla and pour butter mixture over oat mixture and stir until combined well. 

3. Spread granola evenly on a large baking sheet.  Bake, stirring every 5 minutes to keep from sticking or burning, until golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes.  Do not overcook; the granola will crisp more once cooled.  Cool the granola on the pan and stir in dried fruits if using.  Granola may be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.  It can be frozen for longer storage. 

Comments
My grandmother used to make the most amazing granola but I’ve never had any luck tracking down her recipe.  I found this recipe of Emeril’s a few years back and gave it a try because it calls for green pumpkin seeds, an ingredient I remember from my grandmother’s granola.  I altered it to account my own tastes; I’m not a fan of dried fruits or coconut in my granola, so I omitted those and increased the nut content to compensate. 

I love this stuff.  It’s delicious; works well as cereal, with ice cream, or in parfait form as shown here.

Internet - Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients 5 ounces whole wheat flour (about 1 cup)
10 ounces bread flour (about 2 cups)
¹⁄₄ teaspoon yeast
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons table salt
7 ounces water (³⁄₄ cup plus 2 tablespoons), at room temperature
3 ounces mild-flavored lager (¹⁄₄ cup plus 2 tablespoons), such as Budweiser
2 ¹⁄₂ ounces sourdough starter (¹⁄₄ cup)
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Instructions
1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, starter, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 6 hours.

2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has double in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 1 to 1 ¹⁄₂ hours.

3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500*F. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor sharp blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch long, ¹⁄₂-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425*F and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210*F, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Cold Rise Variation: For a stronger sourdough flavor, you can refrigerate the dough during step #1 after mixing it.  Ten hours before you plan on baking the bread, remove the dough from the fridge and continue with step #1 but allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 8 hours instead of 6.  Continue with the rest of the recipe as printed.  In theory, the longer the dough chills the stronger the sourdough flavor will be.

Comments
After lots of experimentation, I finally spent time reading up on no-knead sourdough bread baking.  I found that the solution was a very simple one, and that I just needed to reduce the rest and rise times.  That knowledge, and a few tweaks, gave me what I feel is absolutely perfect sourdough bread.  I had lots of fun with the experimentation, even if most of it did prove to be in vain!

Person - Gwen

Ingredients
For the pizza dough
2 teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 ¹⁄₂ cup warm water
¹⁄₂ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
4-4 ¹⁄₂ cups flour (You can use up to 2 cups of whole wheat flour, the rest should be all purpose.)

For assembly
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1 packet taco seasoning
1 (16 ounces) can refried beans, optional (I used vegetarian refried beans since I’ve always liked them the best.)
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 cup red taco sauce (I used Old El Paso since it’s the only brand my store carried that didn’t have HFCS.)
2 cups cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend, shredded
3-4 plum tomatoes, diced, or 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 cups lettuce, shredded
Black olives, sliced, optional
Sour cream, for serving

Instructions
1. For the dough: Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let sit for five minutes.  Add oil and salt, stir to mix.  Add flour one cup at a time, stirring to combine completely.  Dough should be a little sticky but easy enough to work with that it doesn’t stick all over your hands.  Knead dough for five minutes.  Place in a greased bowl and let rise for an hour. 

2. Punch down dough and let rest five minutes.  Divide dough in half and roll, stretch or press into two 12-inch rounds.  Place each round on pizza pan or parchment paper if using pizza stone. 

3. Preheat oven to 500*F.  If using pizza stone, preheat that as well. 

4.  Brown meat in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add taco seasoning and cook according to package directions.  Add refried beans, if using, and stir to soften and mix.  Add green onions and stir to combine. 

5. Spread ¹⁄₂-1 cup taco sauce onto each round of dough, depending on how saucy you like your pizzas.  Spread half of meat-bean mixture on top of each pizza.  Top each pizza with half of the cheese.  Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted and dough is fully cooked. 

6. Allow pizza to cool for five minutes then top with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and olives, if using.  Serve with sour cream and any remaining taco sauce.

To cook from frozen: Preheat oven to 400*F and bake until cheese is bubbly and pizza is heated through, about 20-30 minutes.

Note: I used two disposable 12-inch pizza pans because I don’t seem to own proper pizza pans.  I should rectify that some day.  I preheated my pizza stone in the oven and cooked the pizzas one at a time on the stone in a disposable pan.

Comments
This recipe is from my aforementioned awesome sister-in-law.  She mentioned the recipe on facebook and it sounded right up my alley so she was sweet enough to share it with me!  It was scrumptious.  I used half whole wheat flour as per her suggestion and that worked perfectly.  The dough had a nice texture and flavor, plus I can tell myself it’s healthy.  I had to use grape tomatoes instead of plum tomatoes since the plum tomatoes at our store were not looking so great. 

One of the nice things about this pizza is that it’s easy enough to make through step 5 and then serve all of the other ingredients as toppings table side, if you wanted to make it more like a taco night.  Avocado would probably be a great topping as well for those who love it, like me. 

The recipe makes two good-sized pizzas and the three of us completely polished off one of them.  I wrapped the second one up without the lettuce and tomatoes and have it in the freezer to reheat for a future meal.  The pizza was definitely a winner and I already have visions of making more pizzas like this in the future.  It would also be extremely easy to vegetarianize by omitting the meat or replacing it with soy crumbles and using vegetarian refried beans.

Person - Nikki Little

Ingredients
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 cloves garlic, grated or minced (Grating on a microplane works very well.)
¹⁄₄ teaspoon sugar
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon pepper
12 (1-inch) slices Italian bread (I got more slices from my loaf, so I just made them all.)

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position, place rimmed baking sheet on rack, and heat oven to 425*F. Using fork, beat butter, garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper in small bowl until combined. Spread butter mixture evenly over both sides of bread.

2. Arrange buttered bread on heated baking sheet and bake until golden brown on first side, 8 to 10 minutes. Flip and bake until golden brown on second side, about 5 minutes. Serve. 

Comments
This recipe is from the 2009 Cook’s Country Annual.  On the one hand, I think garlic bread is one of those things that most people make well and never look at a recipe.  On the other hand, I am not one of those people.  This garlic bread was fantastic.  It was extremely crispy and had a very pleasant garlic flavor that wasn’t overwhelming at all.

Cook’s Country 2009

Ingredients
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup medium pearl barley
¹⁄₂ cup slivered almonds or pine nuts (I always use pine nuts due to nut allergies.)
¹⁄₄ cup butter or margarine or oil (I’ve always used olive oil.)
¹⁄₂ cup fresh parsley, minced
¹⁄₄ cup green onions, thinly sliced
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper
28 ounces chicken broth

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F. 

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté onion, barley and nuts in butter until barley is lightly browned.  Stir in parsley, green onions, salt and pepper. 

3. Spray a 12- by 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.  Transfer barley mixture to pan.  Pour broth over barley mixture and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the barley is tender and the liquid is absorbed. 

Comments
A few years ago, we had a vegan at Christmas dinner and my mom found this recipe to make for Christmas dinner.  We used olive oil and vegetable broth to keep the dish vegan and it was fantastic.  I’ve made the original, non-vegan, version which is shown here a few times and the guys are always surprised that it tastes as good as it does.  They end up having seconds and I just smile. 

Shown here with steak and Mustard Cream Pan Sauce.

Person - Mom

Ingredients
15 ounces all purpose flour (3 cups)
¹⁄₄ teaspoon yeast
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons table salt
7 ounces water, at room temperature (³⁄₄ cup plus 2 tablespoons)
3 ounces mild-flavored lager (¹⁄₄ cup plus 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Instructions
1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has double in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.

3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500*F. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor sharp blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch long, ¹⁄₂-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425*F and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210*F, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. 

Notes: Cook’s Illustrated recommend Budweiser, so that’s what I used.  Please also be aware that the black knob on Le Creuset bakeware will melt when exposed to the temperatures this recipe uses.  If you don’t have an aluminum knob, take the black knob off and stick some tinfoil or something similar into the hole.  If you use another brand of Dutch oven, please make sure you know its specifications. 

Comments
This recipe is from the 2008 Cook’s Illustrated Annual.  It’s a modification of the No-Knead Bread that you can find anywhere online.  Since I bought 7 ounce bottles of beer, I ended up doubling this recipe and baking two loaves.  I let the dough sit for 8 hours with one loaf and 18 hours for the other loaf.  I was super impressed with how the bread turned out.  The texture was fantastic, the taste was phenomenal, and the crust was just perfect.  It was also ridiculously easy from start to finish.  I might never go back to the bread machine again!

Cook’s Illustrated 2008

Ingredients
12 ounces center-cut bacon, chopped
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced
3 cups cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 450*F. 

2. Brown bacon in a 10-inch cast iron skillet or similar oven safe skillet.  Add the garlic and jalapeños and sauté until softened.  (At this point I remove some of the bacon fat by carefully pressing a few paper towels into the skillet.  Just to remove some of the fat, not all of it.) 

3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper and mix well.  In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs and melted butter.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. 

4. Quickly pour the cornmeal batter into the hot skillet.  Stir gently to distribute the bacon mixture and then place the skillet in the oven.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until firm and golden brown on the top.  Let sit for 5 minutes, turn out on cutting board, and cut into wedges for serving. 

Comments
I’m a lover of cornbread, but not a fan of the sweet cake-like variety that passes for cornbread in many places.  I like a more savory cornbread and it took me a while to find this recipe.  Then I found it, made it, and life was good.  It’s very flavorful, dense, and just all around awesome. 

Shown here, although messy since I was cutting it into smaller wedges than usual, with Beef Chili with Bacon and Black Beans.

Internet - Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients
-- 1 ¹⁄₂-Pound Loaf –
³⁄₄ cup sourdough starter
¹⁄₂ cup fat-free milk (Or ¹⁄₂ cup water and 2 tablespoons dry milk.)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons honey
3 cups bread flour
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

-- 2-Pound Loaf –
1 cup sourdough starter
³⁄₄ cup fat-free milk (Or ³⁄₄ cup water and 3 tablespoons dry milk.)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons honey
4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 ¹⁄₄ bread machine yeast

Instructions
1. Place all ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions. Set crust on dark and program for the Basic cycle; press Start. (This recipe is not suitable for use with the Delay Timer.)

2. When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Comments
This is another recipe from the fabulous The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook.  It was very challenging to wait for the loaf to fully cool before slicing, but I managed.  Then I ate half of the loaf with Brummel.  It was perfect.  This is just what I want sourdough bread to be, nice and tangy with a great crust.

The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook