Playing the Greatest Hits

Now that I have a set of recipes that the family tends to like I find I'm playing the greatest hits over and over.  I'm sure once the season changes I'll throw in some different hits but for now life is easier this way.  Do you find you play the classic meals every week?  I think this is often the case.

Sundays I spend baking up bread for the week, making the cinnamon rolls, making up the waffles that I freeze for our morning breakfast and an extra batch of cookies to keep on hand.  If your in the kitchen anyway...then why not make it all.  Oh, and I almost forgot the extra batches of pizza dough to keep in the fridge to pull out if requested and the pizza is requested often.

This probably makes the blog boring...but the real purpose of the blog was to keep track of what new recipes I was making so I could remember what works and what not to ever make again.  The process has been good but making new recipes all the time can be a challenge 1. to have all the ingredients on hand and 2. to have the time to research what it is I'd like to make.

wow..I just looked outside and it's snowing again.  Good thing I started the cinnamon rolls...those are the best with hot coffee on a really cold day.  And so winter is here to stay.

Quick and Easy Dinner

Last night Owen had hockey practice and Anne had dance.  Something quick and easy that I often forget to make in a pinch but works well is stir fried rice.  I have a wok but you can make it in a skillet.

You will need
the equivalent of 2 cups uncooked rice...cooked (can be cooled or hot)
vegetables..I use broccoli, shredded carrots and colorful bell peppers...the mini's work well...sometime I use been sprouts and mushrooms

I buy big bags of basmati or Jasmine rice form costco so I always have some on hand.  basically the cooking ratio is 1 to 1 1/2...1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups liquid

I made 2 cups of rice so used 3 cups of water

oil the wok and add in the vegetables on med high heat, add some water for steam and cover until steamed...sprinkl with a hint of ginger and soy sauce, cook for a minute more, and then set aside.  Add more oil (2-3 tables spoons)  to the wok and mix in 2 eggs to scramble up...after eggs are cooked through...add rice, sprinkle with ginger and a generous amount of soy sauce.  Stir it up until combined and add the vegetables back in.  Stir it all together and it's ready to eat!

Here are the directions again in case these seem confusing.

baking bread, pizza dough and cookies on a snowy day off

It's my day off and I'm loving it.  Bread dough is rising, kids are at school, snow is falling and going to make a few batches of pizza dough to keep on hand.  Later I will make more cookies and then sit back and cozy up.

Best Pizza so far

I think I'm becoming a sourdough starter fanatic.  Yes a FAN of using starter.  I just made the best tasting pizza crust so far.  Up until now it's been good but this was better and it only took a half hour to rest rather than 3 hours of rising end resting.



Ingredients:
1 1/2 c mature Sourdough starter
1 T olive oil
1 t Salt
1/4 t Sugar
1 1/2 c Flour

Stir together, knead a bit and set it aside for a half hour ...makes a great tasting crispy thin crust... I used this recipe for two pizzas but if you want a thicker crust then use it for one and let it rise for a bit after it's been shaped.

Ciabatta...fresh from the oven

This bread is so much easier than I could have imagined!

It's not that I'm a bread fanatic or anything...I just find it a nice challenge to try to make the kind of bread that I love.  This one finally turned out as good or better than bakery bread.  I used no processed yeast.  Recipe below.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup sourdough starter
• 1/2 Cup and 1/2 tablespoon water
• 2 1/8 Cups of unbleached flour

You want to mix this until the thick starter holds together and is well mixed. You want a dough that is smooth and elastic. Put the thick starter in a clean bowl and cover it. I like using my KitchenAid's mixing bowl because it has nice straight tall sides. Let te thick starter rise in a warm place for 12-15 hours until the thick starter rises sky-high and then collapses back onto itself. If your house is warm, this could happen faster, maybe even 8-10 hours. But in general, slower is better here.

• 1 2/3 Cup Lukewarm water
• 1/4 Cup Lukewarm milk
• 5 Cups unbleached flour
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 Teaspoons salt

Mix together the thick starter, water, milk, the olive oil, the salt and about 1/3 of the flour. You can mix this with a wooden spoon, your hands, or your mixer on a medium speed. This will break up the thick starter, and the mix will be like soup. I mixed with my hands...it's the easiest as long as the phone doesn't ring.  However you are mixing this dough, add the rest of the flour gradually while continuing to mix the dough.

Cover the dough in the mixer bowl and let rise for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until at least double in bulk. I let it go longer because I had to go to a hockey game...oh well.

Get two baking sheets and sprinkle them with flour. Take a spatula and carefully spoon out half of the still very sticky dough onto each. Try not to deflate the dough too much, although it will deflate some, you can't really help it.  Since ciabatta means slipper in Italian, try to make each loaf the length of a man's shoe. If you spoon the dough out to one edge, and sort of use your spatula to guide it in a ribbon down the baking sheet you can preserve the light strands or striations in the dough, which will look nice when it's proofed and baked. The loaves will probably be about an inch thick. If you want to give them a nicer shape, flour your hands lightly and neaten up the edges into an oblong. Think shoe, not loaf! Think rustic - don't make the loaves over-neat and perfect, you want a rustic look. Flour your hands again and very gently pat the tops of the loaves to flour them, or sprinkle them with flour if you're afraid of smushing them.

Let them rise (proof) for 30-40 minutes, or until a little less than double.  I usually let it rise in the oven with the light on for 30 and then take them out and preheat the ovens for the last few minutes.  At this point I put a shallow pan of water in each oven to make it humid...usually fill it about a half inch deep.

Preheat the oven to a solid 425 degrees. Bake for 25-30 minutes until very light golden brown.  Try not to overbake the bread.

Cool on a rack
Another Ciabatta recipe that looks good and uses yeast (if you don't have sourdough starter)