Homemade pizza

So I did get up to making pizza after pesto. Afterall, I did want fuss-free easy meals for the weekend. I was disappointed and horrified at first because my trusty bread machine (maybe not so trusty afterall) did not churn out the dough it usually does – smooth and soft. Instead the dough was slightly hard, and underproved. After contemplating, I decided I’d still use it – afterall if I baked mixed flour, water, yeast and oil surely it can somehow be eaten right? And the dough really was very forgiving. I kneaded it with a little more water, pinrolled it freestyle and added pizza toppings and voila! – the dough was quite good after baking. And the best part is, no need for second proving for pizza dough – just straight into the oven. I think what must have happened is it needed slightly more water for the bread machine and unfortunately sometimes I can’t judge when using it (as appose to hand kneading). If kneading by hand, I’m sure it’ll turn out well.

As for the pesto, it was a good alternative to tomato pizza base. A little goes a long way; it had a generous flavour for a little spread.

Now, I just need to check out why my bread machine acted out… I’ll have to try the recipe again with more water this time.

Pizza dough - makes 2  roughly 30cm pizza ( depending how thick you like your crust )

7 gm (2 1/2 tsp) instant dried yeast

3 tsp caster sugar

3 1/2 cups (435gm) white bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil

1. ( This is the hand knead version as I haven’t retried with the bread machine ). Place yeast, sugar and 1/3 cup (80mls) of warm water in a bowl, stir well and leave in a draught free place for 5 mins or until bubbles appear on the surface. If it doesn’t bubble discard because the yeast is dead and start again.

2. Sift flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the yeast mixture, oil and 1/2 cup (125ml) warm water and mix together. Add more water if dough is dry. Gather the dough and knead until soft and elastic.

3. Place dough in an big oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel. Leave aside for 1- 1 1/2 hours or until dough has doubled in size.

4. Once dough has proved, punch down and divide into 2. Knead briefly on a lightly floured surface for about 2 mins and shape into desired shape.

I like thinner pizzas and therefore my dough was under 1cm thick when rolled/pressed out.

5. Top with your favourite toppings and bake at 190 C for about 30mins. The thinner the dough the faster the baking time.

more cooking…

Arggghh… last night I was meant to be having a good sleep (had a busy day) but instead I was lying in bed thinking of things I wanted to try making/cooking. There are so many things to try out! So I was a bit tired this morning but managed to squeeze trying out a couple of simple recipes. Might as well take advantage of my “craze” with trying new things while I am still mobile. I can’t imagine what I’ll be at 40 weeks…

Breakfast was crumpets since I am a bit tired of bread or cereal. It didn’t turn out as bubbly as I wanted it to be but it did taste like crumpets. A healthier option to fluffy pancakes. You can have it with anything breakfast-sy eg butter, jam, honey, fruits, et cetera.

Then homemade pesto. I watched The Cook and the Chef and was inspired by Maggie to make pizza dough. So the pesto is the lead up to that. Turned out alright and made lunch for Joel using this with the crumpets stacked with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, more cheese and grilled all of it. Felt tired after therefore had an afternoon siesta then had to prepare for dinner at a friends’ place. So there was no more trying new food.

Crumpets

2 cups self- raising flour

1 tsp instant dry yeast

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 Tbsp fine sugar

1 pinch of salt

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until very smooth. Leave for 10mins. Heat and grease a frying pan. Pour batter to a size you want and cook under low heat. Cover until there are holes on the surface of the crumpet. Use egg rings for size consistency.

Pesto

1 1/2 cups fresh basil

2-5 cloves garlic (this depends on how garlicky you like pesto to be)

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup lemon juice

about 4 Tbsp olive oil to make a smooth paste

Process basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan cheese in a food processor until it forms a paste. Drizzle in lemon juice and olive oil and keep processing until smooth. The recipe I had did not have olive oil (to be healthier) therefore the pesto paste will be rougher. The paste can be divided and frozen for later use.

Pesto can be used for cooking pasta, for pizza, fish, meat, etc. and usually only needs a small quantity.

For the love of bread!

If there’s one thing my father and husband share in common, is their love for bread. My father tells me about this bun which he and mum ate which was crusty on the outside but was so heavenly fluffy and soft in the inside. He has never forgotten the pleasure of that through the years. My mother then told him that was because the bun was fried.

Anyway, when I was home in Malaysia I attempted to make bread to have him relive the experience again. Unfortunately he didn’t but it made me more aware about bread/bun making and after about 3-4 attempts my dad was impressed enough to remind me to leave him a bun dough recipe before I fly back. That is so unlike him – he hardly, Hardly cooks. What more bake! But, the best part of it was the time we spent together learning how to make bread. We attempted several recipes and he even bought bread flour and Hand kneaded the dough. After baking, the three of us ( including mum ) would eat it and make all sorts of comments on it – whether we should have used more or less of this or that, maybe it should’ve been kneaded longer and “of course”  since we didn’t use any of those “nasty” additives ours obviously wasn’t as fluffy .

Some parents still go the extra mile to make time for their adult children despite their busy lives.  ( my mum stills works part time all days of the week and dad still has his usual working hours plus being on-call for 3 hospitals ) This is only an example of how they love me – I hope I will be as great parents as they are. The Bible calls for us to honour our parents that we will live long in the land which God is giving us. We should keep remembering to give them respect and credit they truly deserve.

One thing I learnt about myself – I just can’t do as good a job as my bread machine in kneading. So all the bread/buns I make now my trusty bread machine does the first knead. I follow through with the second short one and the baking. The bread machine just can’t bake as well as my oven.

This is the basic recipe I use to make bread/buns (western type). I hope you have fun trying!

7gm ( 2 1/2 tsp ) dried instant yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, 1 tsp caster sugar. Stir well to combine and leave in a draught free place for about 10mins until froths/bubbles and slightly increased in volume. If not discard and start again.

4 cups (500gm) bread flour (high protein flour)

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp whole milk  powder

1 Tbsp caster sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup warm water

Since I use a bread machine so the order of things are a little different from hand kneading. I add in the following order – warm water, vegetable oil, yeast mixture, then the mixture of  sifted bread flour, salt, sugar, milk powder and caster sugar. Choose the dough setting. ( it should knead and prove for the first time ) After it’s ready, punch down to let air out. Knead briefly by hand – about a minute, then shape and put in a bread tin ( 22 x 9 x 9 cms ) and cover to rise for about 45 minutes – 1 hour or until dough doubles in size.  Glaze with a beaten egg mixed with 1 Tbsp of milk. Bake in oven on the middle shelf at 210 C for the first 10mins then reduce to 180 C and bake for another 30- 40mins. Check if it’s ready by turning the bread out and tapping at the bottom. If it sounds hollow it is ready.

Bread is best eaten on the day of baking, however can be tightly wrapped and frozen for 3 months and when required thawed then refreshed by baking at 180 C for 10mins. ( I have never done this – as the bread is usually eaten quite quickly ). Enjoy with butter/jam/et cetera, et cetera.