Who gives a toss? Daring Bakers pizza

Tossing and turning this month. Our lovely hostess Rosa over at Rosa's Yummy Yums put it this way: "As strange as it might appear, until now, there has been no DB challenge focused on learning how to make real “Pizza Dough”. So that's what she asked us to do; make pizza like a real pizzaiolo!

The recipe came from “Pizza Napoletana” from Peter Reinhart's “The Bread Baker's Apprentice” aiming for a beautifully tasty, thin, crispy, yet chewy pizza crust. Rosa had an extra surprise for us in store: we were to toss at least 2 pizza crusts, and capture the moment by either filming or photographing yourself while tossing the dough!

I tossed, I swirled, I threw my food high up in the air (don't let my mom hear that I was having a food fight in the kitchen) I had flour all over myself but taking pics while doing it... alas.. I have some very blurry pictures and believe me, two of my kids tried to capture the moment on film but that proved to be the real challenge. No throwing pics. Not much pics at all because the batteries went out while trying. Son nr. 2 managed this one:

My family enjoyed the pizza's very much (a bit smallish mam!) but I didn't taste an actual difference in crust from this recipe compared to the others I've used. Have to admit though that the dough was very soft and perfectly suitable for swirling into a disc. It's useful to clip your fingernails because catching the dough with outstretched cat's talons made nice holes in my pizza :-(

Sauce: tomato based, flavoured with fresh basil, ground pepper and a tiny bit of salt

Topping: simple salami, mozzarella for the twins, grown ups had fresh spinach, goat cheese, mozzarella, bell pepper and pine nuts. Yum!

Thanks Rosa for a nice, very tasty and daring challenge!

For the next couple of days I'll be off to Italy to study how it should be done.... heading to Rome tomorrow morning! YAY!

Hellooo Tiger! (Dutch Crunch Bread)

My Husband once was invited to attend a seminar given by one of those motivational speakers; I think it was back in the early nineties, the corporate world all of a sudden turned from strictly business to personal coaching. Maybe they still do or return to it; wouldn't surprise me with the crises we're heading towards.

The seminar was all about changes, improving yourself, break throughs and taking matters in your own hand. Gosh now I think of it I might need some of that myself right now! Anyway he came home with his mind full of what he learned that day, a signed copy of the book and some stickers. Stickers to put up on the mirror in the bathroom. To be looked at first thing in the morning and make yourself ready for the day ahead.

The sticker said:

"Hello Tiger!"

Which you had to repeat out loud with a positive mind and convincing voice. Three times. Every morning. To the mirror.

The sticker was never put up. Never had the opportunity to hear my husband talk to the mirror. I have to confess I talk to myself. However the way I talk to myself in the mirror won't get approval from motivational speakers...

I bake bread instead. Tiger bread** maybe you recognize it as Dutch crunch. I used an 80% whole wheat-rye dough to apply the tiger topping but any bread dough will do.

Tiger Topping formula:

100% rice flour

2% salt

5% sugar

400% boiling water

2% yeast

[5% vegetable oil]

Translates to:

100 gr rice flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp yeast

400 gr boiling water

[1 tsp oil]

Mix everything to a paste, adding the boiling water while stirring vigourously (you don't want clumps like I had) and let cool to luke warm. Right before you're ready to apply, mix in the oil. Spread your shaped but not risen bread with the paste, using your fingers or a brush. It will look and feel like wall paper glue, thick and white opaque.

Cover your shaped loaves and let rest for their second rise and bake off as usual. Depending on how thick you layer it on your bread will get stark or less defined crunchy spots.

"You can't change the way the wind blows, but you can set your sails accordingly!"

** Disclaimer: I know tigers are striped not spotted, technically this is a leopard bread. I know that.

I'd like to enter this bread for a Yeast spotting (get it? spot, spot! hee hee), over at Susan's Wild Yeast.

Bread Baking Babes bake Challah / Vlechtbrood

Sara is our host in her Kitchen of the Month October, and she introduced her choice of bread to us as follows: "this bread comes from a secondhand book; The New York Times Bread and Soup Cookbook. From The Romantic Mediterranean chapter, we are making Challah!"

It can't get much better, I love a good find in cookbooks, yay for bread and soup recipes and on top of that, it has a chapter called: Romantic Mediterranean! Swooooon!!

Furthermore she said: "This is a double braided loaf, which means we'll make 2 braids for each loaf, lay the smaller braid on top of the larger braid."

It was there allright, Sara specifically told me we were to make two (2!) loaves, each with 2 braids. I guess the Mediterranean was already romancing me because the bold is what I read.... I made one giant Challah! For the recipe in English I gladly refer you to have a pull out a chair at Sara's Kitchen table over at I like to cook. The recipe here is in Dutch. At the bottom of this post there are some more pics from the second time I baked this recipe, varying with different braids and kneading some chocolate and cinnamon in one of the top braids. Have fun, bake with us again this month and be a Bread Baking Buddy for October! Send your info (post, name and blogname) over to Sara's, she'll do a nice little round-up in about 10 days, you'll get a real Badge in return!Challah Recept
(maakt 2 broden, of 1 giga-brood)

770 gr bloem
1.1/2 ts gist
3 el suiker
1.1/2 tl zout
115 gr. zachte boter
250 ml warm water
snufje saffraanpoeder of saffraandraadjes
2 eieren (medium)
1 ei gesplitst: wit in het deeg, eigeel voor afglanzen
maanzaad (ik heb hier nigella zaadjes gebruikt)

• Laat de saffraandraadjes ong. 10 minuten in het warme water weken. Zeef de draadjes eruit. Óf in het geval je saffraanpoeder gebruikt, dit oplossen in het warme water.
  Meng 180 gram van de bloem in een grote kom (mixer met k-klopper) samen met suiker, zout, en gist.
• Voeg hier de zachte boter aan toe en klop dit samen met het saffraanwater in ongeveer 2 minuten tot een "beslag".
• Vervolgens voeg je aan dit mengsel de 2 hele eieren toe en het eiwit. (Het geel blijft bewaard om de bovenkant van het gerezen brood mee te bestrijken). Ong. een 1/2 cup bloem erbij (70 gram) en nogmaals 2 minuten flink kloppen.
• Nu de rest van de bloem toevoegen en met de hand of in de mixer kneden tot een soepel en samenhangend deeg dat van de kom loslaat. Het deeg zal wat zwaar aandoen vanwege de boter maar laat zich gewillig tot een zacht en elastisch deeg kneden. Ik vind het zelf prettig om de laatste paar minuten met de hand te kneden (of te "slaan"). Eventueel kun je na een minuut of 6 kneden het deeg even laten rusten (ong. 10 minuten), daarna nog even een paar slagen met de hand en dan is het klaar voor de eerste rijs.
• Rijzen tot dubbele omvang, dan verdelen in 1/3 en 2/3. Beide delen worden gevlochten en zullen straks op elkaar worden gezet. Dus: verdeel elk stuk deeg in drie bolletjes van gelijk gewicht, rol deze uit tot strengen van gelijke lengte en vlecht met telkens 3 strengen.

! Ook hier; als het langer rollen van de strengen wat moeilijk gaat, rol elke streng eerst tot halve lengte en begin dan weer met de eerste streng om verder uit te rollen tot de gewenste lengte. Tegen de tijd dat je de eerste streng weer moet rollen is het deeg wat soepeler geworden en makkelijker te bewerken. Het is prettig om de bovenkant van de vlecht te verzwaren met een gewicht.

• Klop de dooier los met 1 tl water en bestrijk eerst de grote vlecht, bestrooi met maanzaad. Herhaal dit voor de kleinere vlecht. Plaats de kleine vlecht bovenop de grote vlecht en duw de uiteinden onder. Laat afgedekt rijzen tot ongeveer dubbel volume.
• Afbakken op 200C, ong. 20-25 minuten

Above the golden colored slices of my first challah, below are some pics from the second time I baked; making a 4-strand braid for one lower part (resulting in a somewhat flatter braid) and a regular 3-strand braid for the upper part. I flavoured the sugar in the dough with cinnamon, and kneaded cocoa powder and cinnamon in the top braid. The other loaf was a 6-braid loaf....I want to practice some more with that one!

World Bread Day: Smiling breads are welcome!

This brings a smile to your face? Wait till you see the recipe, easy light whole wheat rolls without the rolling! Made for another World Bread Day, for the 3d time hosted by Zorra at Kochtopf or 1x Umrühren bitte! The announcement was to be found here.

All you need to make these rolls are a cutter and a pair of scissors to make them smile. Oh, and a dough recipe would be nice, this one for instance:

Dough:

1.1/2 ts yeast

250 gr bread flour

250 gr whole wheat flour

1.1/4 ts salt

approx. 260 gr milk

25 gr butter

some flour for dusting

This will make a nice, soft and elastic dough, knead by hand or machine for approx. 10 minutes. Cover and let rise until doubled.

Pat with your hands or use a roller to form into a 1 cm (3/4") rectangle and use a cookie cutter or a small empty can to cut into rounds. We need defined sharp edges here so we get maximum rise. Depending on size you'll get 15 rolls from 1 recipe. Place on a baking sheet and dust with flour. Cover and let rise for a second time.

When fully risen and the rolls are all nice and puffy, get at them with a pair of scissors; use your imagination and snip from four sides, you'll get cloverleaf breads (background top picture). One snip on top will bring some smiles to your rolls.

Bake for 6-7 minutes on 210C convection oven, turn rolls upside down and bake the underside for another 5 minutes.

Eat, enjoy and have fun! I made these for a party, doubled the quantity dough and got almost 35 tiny rolls, served them with mini hamburgers, lettuce, tomato, red onion and tiny cornichons.

Not a difficult dough, no intricate instructions, but when organizing a party and in need for some home-made breadrolls it's nice to have an easy standby.

Lavash gets dressed; Mozzarella Pizza

Short post, the Husband is cooking his success and my failure dish (scalloppini) tonight and I'm baking cookies to take to my father in law when we go to visit tomorrow. I loved the dough that made the Daring Bakers lavash recipe and made it again.

This time I doubled the quantity, added some flavours and divided in 5 equal dough balls. Rolled them out to a desirable thin pizza and kept the toppings very very simple. Simple is good, especially in pizza. Kids raved, DH and I smiled happily.

Feel good food.

Thinnest crust Pizza

(adapted Peter Reinhart's lavash recipe in the Bread Baker's Apprentice)

Dough:

(Makes 5 smallish pizza's)

3 cups bread flour

60 gr semolina

1 tsp yeast

1 tsp salt

scant tbs dried oregano

sprinkling of freshly ground pepper

1 cup water

1.1/2 tbs honey

2 tbs olive oil

Topping:

Sauce:

1 chopped tomatoes, canned

1 small can concentrated tomato paste

1 garlic clove

1 tbs olive oil

fresh oregano

pepper / salt

fresh mozzarella, sliced

salami

couple of button mushrooms

grated cheese

some gorgonzola

Knead a dough that's soft and elastic, let rise until doubled. Divide in equal portions and ball. Cover with a teatowel while you proceed to roll out the dough one by one. Use the back of a spoon to dress with tomato sauce and top. Please, the crust is very thin and will collapse under the weight of heavy toppings. Don't. Keep it simple. Really.

Doughballs each weighed approx. 130 grams. Bake in a moderately hot oven (yes to stone!! but a baking sheet heated with the oven works well) until rims and topping are golden. Enjoy Enjoy!

Inspiring posts:

- Alsatian pizza or Flamme küche

- thin crust pizza dough recipe

- BBB potato pizza

- and this is just witty banter in Dutch

Is it really really broken? Dutch Boterkoek

No, not yet, but like almost every appliance in this house (including the house-owner) it's not functioning at its utmost. "It" is the oven and I made sure it's not listening in on this conversation. I know it's not going to be replaced soon so we need to be friends for a while longer. Not broken completely, but also not functioning at it's best are my washer, the fridge, and the stove. The oven. I was very happy with the oven in this house when we first moved, but I think I gave it a real workout and it's now resembling it's main user..... Still heating up (slower than usual) has a bit of trouble keeping it's temperature even, a bit hot here and there and colder in the extremities. Can't bake a decent cake.

Sometimes I wish they would shut down completely in that I have the ultimate excuse to replace. I'm having a bit of trouble replacing something that is still functioning. I mean my brain is not functioning properly at times and I wouldn't want my husband to go and replace me for a younger upgraded model.

Edit: Aaargh! I know I shouldn't have said this out loud. Draft post. Not good. Noticed I mentioned almost every appliance in my kitchen besides the microwave? Guess what happened last week? Yep, Microwave shut down. Off to the happy baking grounds.

Comforting recipe not using melted butter:

Cashew nut buttercake

(from "Koekje" by Cees Holtkamp & Kees Raat)

75 gr raw -not roasted- cashew nuts

75 gr sugar

75 gr boter softened

pinch salt

pinch fresh ground pepper

75 gr ap flour, sifted

optional: PX sherry/dessert wine for dipping purposes (?!)

- Using a food processer, ground nuts and sugar to a fine powder.

- Add butter, salt and pepper and stir to blend with a wooden spoon.

- Add the sifted flour and knead to dough.

- Lightly flour your workspace and proceed to roll out a disk 24 cm wide.

- Line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper and butter the sides, transfer the dough disk to the pan.

- In a pre heated oven 170 C, bake for 18 minutes.

After 10 minutes cooling, slice and serve. It's quite rich and usually is served in small pointy slices. This recipe suggests you dip your slice in a glass of sweet dessert wine or sweet (PX) sherry.

Our grandmothers used a shallow low-rimmed pan, you can use a springform pan (22 cm) or a cake pan, perhaps a pie plate will work? In case of a spring form I would suggest wrapping the outside of the bottom and up the sides with tin foil in case of butter-leakage.

the original Dutch recipe for "boterkoek" is not using nuts and results in a nice tender crust with a soft rich center, this one is somewhat more crumbly but I really liked the flavour!

Gadgets that work: I'd like you to meet Al

Al who?

Al Dente?

The guy in black that times your pasta and serenades you with aria's from famous opera's when he thinks it's done. (Technically, not completely "done" of course).

Just boil your salted water, put him in the pan together with the pasta...and wait for the right opera!

After 7 minutes, he performs the Triumphal March from Aïda....

after 9 minutes, you hear the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco....

after 11 minutes, it's La Donna è Mobile from Rigoletto...

Al comes in 4 colours, hands already tied, feet nicely anchored in a barrel with cement. As the instruction booklet says:"I've got a small hole in my hat. Take care - this is not a production defect. It merely ensures that I don't explode while in the pan. In real life holes in the head of a maffiosi typically have different reasons. The dents in my barrel have been put there for visual reasons and have no influence on my mode of functioning. As in real life, mafiosi for cost reason are drowned with used barrels only."

Al was a birthday present from a friend, isn't he fun?

Previous Pasta recipes:

- four cheese macaroni

- pasta e pesto (in Dutch, Nederlands)

- broccoli terrine with parmesan and pasta

- spring pasta (with salmon and asparagus)

- canneloni (with spinach and ricotta)

Het leven beschouwd

Zo af en toe, als je het niet verwacht, vang je een kleine glimps op van hoe je kinderen groot aan het worden zijn. Wat hebben ze meegekregen, hoe hebben ze dat vertaald, hoe denken ze er zelf over... De eerste keer is vaak als kleine kinderen aan het spelen zijn en je hoort jezelf terug uit de mond van je kleuter. Meestal een "Aiaiai"-moment... (Praat ik echt zo? Oh chips ik praat echt zo!).

Dan zijn er de opmerkingen die de juf/meester op school als uitleg bij de tekeningen zet: "dit is ons huis, dit zijn wij en mamma is er niet bij, die staat in de keuken." Moeder, lichtelijk bezorgd: Eeh, knul ik sta toch niet altijd in de keuken? Antwoord: Nou mam, ik vind het makkelijker om jongetjes te tekenen dus ik dacht ik zet jou er gewoon niet bij, maar dat heb ik maar niet aan de meester verteld. Pfff gelukkig!

We slaan even een paar jaar en meer dan een paar onthullingen over, en zijn aanbeland in de brugklas... En je dacht dat het klaar was? Nee hoor, luister: de opdracht: maak je paspoort. Voor het vak levensbeschouwing. (Onthouden he? Levensbeschouwing).

Na de gebruikelijke rifraf van naam, woonplaats, hobbies, vriendjes, gezin etc. komen de moeilijker vragen....

Boos word ik = "als iemand het de hele tijd verkeerd doet"

Idool = (heb ik eigenlijk niet mam, vind ik zo'n onzin dus ik heb maar wat ingevuld)

Bescheiden = Nee

Verlies = Als ik verlies word ik heel boos

Gelukkig ben ik met = en goede vriend

Opvoeding = ik mag best veel als ik bijv. klaar ben met mijn huiswerk. Mijn ouders zijn best streng, als ik iets doe wat niet kan krijg ik straf.

Levensbeschouwing: ik ben niet gelovig. Ik heb ook niet iemand nodig die op mij neerkijkt.

Geweldig kind he? Super eerlijk, kent zichzelf erg goed, weet de dingen op waarde te schatten (de goede vriend!). Tja en hij gelooft niet. Onze schuld natuurlijk, kun je zo'n kind niet kwalijk nemen. We zijn wel van de waarden en normen hoor, zie "opvoeding". En zijn perceptie van geloven is dat er iemand in de hemel is die alles ziet. Kind is net 12 dus dat "neerkijken op" moet je in dit geval letterlijk nemen. Ik ken de knul vrij aardig toevallig, wat hij erbij denkt is waarschijnlijk dat het niet zoveel nut heeft als er iemand een beetje meekijkt naar wat mensen aan het doen zijn. Zet niet zoveel zoden aan de dijk, als je iets ziet wat je niet bevalt moet je er iets mee doen. Kijken alleen...

Staat er een vraagteken bij. Krijgt 'ie een 6. Zegt 'ie: ja, wat had ik dan nog meer moeten doen, poppetjes tekenen?