Salted Focaccia with Rosemary

In early October MiL and sFiL visited for MiL's birthday. Since MiL is by far the coolest and most thoughtful MiL ever, she brought me an awesome little tasty treat.

But not just any tasty treat. You see, whenever time happens upon a traditional gift giving occasion most people seem to fall back on the tradition gender role-type gifts. Men get ties or tools, women get bath stuff. And ya know, bath stuff is great. But I've got a hole shelf-full at this point. (OK, not anymore. I've used it all up by now. I'll take more bath stuff now...but that's not my point.)

Sure it seems appropriate, and we chicks always react the same way, "Oh thank you! You shouldn't have. No, really, you shouldn't have! Oh yes, it does smell amazing! Wherever did you find such an intoxicating scent?"

But you want to know what we're really thinking? "Holy crap this smells like someone dipped road kill in gardenias/vanilla/lavender."

Seriously.

But that's not what kills me about generic gift giving - it's the complete lack of originality. (And because some bath stuff really does smell freakin' awesome.) It's that people won't take the time to think of a gift someone might really appreciate. Now, I'm not one of those people that rushes out to buy a gift at the slightest hint of an occasion. I do birthdays and I do Christmas, and even then it's pretty tame - but the gifts I do buy I buy for a reason. It's not - oh hey, that's cute and less than fifteen bucks, I'll buy them that. It's truly something I think they will really enjoy, it's me showing them how much I appreciate who they are and what they mean to me. Or it's something that they really wanted and asked for explicitly. That always makes gift giving crazy easy.

Now, all that rambling was about MiL bringing me a pretty little present when she visited, because MiL takes the same care and attention to gift giving (just like my mother, I'm blessed to have so many lovely ladies in my life) that I do. It's obvious that she's really thought about the person she's purchasing for. Now, obviously this was a 'just because' gift and completely unnecessary (I never think a gift is mandatory, not for any occasion. Not even birthdays or Christmas. I'd much rather just have the company of good people.) and for that it was even more appreciated, because MiL is just such a nice person.

Now, what is this fabled gift you may ask? Actually, what you're probably thinking is "Get the frig on with it SB before I go do more important things like check my Facebook page for the eighteenth time today." Well, her lovely gift was this:



Oh yeah, that's right - 18 year balsamic. This shit hits your tongue and angels sing. It's a pedicure and someone cleaning your house for you at the same time. Oh yeah. It's that good.

So at this point you must be asking, "What the crap does all this gift giving and vinegar gots ta do with focaccia, SB?"

Well, I'll tell you.

It's freakin' tasty ass vinegar and I had crap for olive oil. Everyone knows when you've got prime balsamic you can't bastardize it with a bunch of other garbage. (Mr. TA likes to dip french fries in balsamic...odd, but tasty.) So, my plan was to buy some choice olive oil and make some homemade focaccia. And then, I would sit down in a completely silent kitchen, the scent of fresh baked focaccia lilting through the air - sunlight in my face and a song in my heart and I would eat the whole goddamned loaf of bread in one sitting, dipping every morsel into the vinegar of the gods.

Only problem was I couldn't find a decent olive oil. I'm not mixing my precious baby balsamic in some friggin' Bertolli. No sirree. So, when Mr. TA and I went down to Paso Robles for our anniversary this month I was elated to find a whole store completely dedicated to olive oils. I tried about 5 and settled on one that was perfect. Fresh and crisp with just a little grassiness. It took Silver in some competition in Los Angeles this year. It was outstanding. It was hugely out of the price range I'd usually consider for non-essential items, but I'd been looking forward to this for a really long time.

So, I bought a bottle and carted it home, anticipating my gluttonous encounter with bread and vinegar.

How was it?

Amazing. It was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. I'd never paid that much money for a bottle of olive oil in my life, but it was the perfect accompaniment to the sweet balsamic and salty focaccia. A luxury I'm so glad I allowed myself. The flavors melded together yet remained independent, mingling on my palate so cleanly. It was vinegary-olive oily-bready nirvana.



Then I cleaned up my kitchen later that night and knocked the bottle of olive oil off the counter and shattered it on the floor.

Yeah...

I was speechless.

But hey, my floors are hella shiny now.

And the focaccia? The best, easiest bread in the universe. Light and fluffy, crunchy with salt - perfect for dipping and easy to whip up in under two hours. In fact I've already made it again today.

And hey, it goes really well with balsamic vinegar and olive oil...just so you know.



Salted Focaccia with Rosemary
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) warm water
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) olive oil (plus additional for drizzling)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups (14 ¾ ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons course Kosher salt, for sprinkling on top
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1) Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, and drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom.

2) Combine all of the ingredients, and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 60 seconds.

3) Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes, till it’s become puffy.

4) While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.

5) Gently poke the dough all over with your index finger.

6) Drizzle it lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and rosemary.

7) Bake the bread till it’s golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.

8) Remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sesame Beef Buns

Have you ever been surfing the interwebs, minding your own business, ignoring the laundry to be folded, and run across a recipe that just screamed "Make me! Put me in your tummy!"? Well, such was the case with this recipe.

I know, what you're thinking, "SB, what in the heck were you thinking? It's MSN! Those people don't know a recipe from a cup of playdough!"

And you know what?

You'd be right.

Whoever developed this recipe obviously never tested it.

In conception this recipe sounds pretty delicious, savory beef mixture wrapped in a very slightly sweetened yeast dough and baked to perfection. Right? Wrong.

I realized this while I was making the dough. I don't know why I didn't think about the fact that 1/3 cup water, plus 2 eggs, plus 3 tablespoons oil is way too much liquid for 1 3/4 cups flour...but I didn't. Cuz I'm fun like that. So, after tinkering away and fixing the dough ingredients and totally changing the filling recipe I made my own.

Cuz I'm fun like that.

Sesame Beef Buns
Makes about ten buns

Dough

1/3 cup warm water
1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast
3 1/2 tablespoon(s) sugar
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon unsifted bread flour
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
2 large eggs, warmed to room temperature and beaten
2 tablespoon(s) vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Filling

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon peeled, finely chopped fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup finely chopped green onions
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Black sesame seeds, (optional)

Egg Glaze

1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk

In small bowl combine water, yeast, and 1/2 tablespoon sugar; stir to dissolve yeast. Let stand until foamy -- about 5 minutes.

In medium-size bowl, or bowl of your stand mixer, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, and the salt; stir in yeast mixture, eggs, and oil, mixing until combined. Add remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead dough, adding as much of remaining bread flour as necessary to prevent stickiness, until smooth and elastic -- about 8 minutes. (Or switch the the kneading hook on your mixer and let it go to town for about 5 minutes)

Place dough in oiled bowl and turn to bring oiled side up. Cover with plastic wrap and clean cloth and let dough rise in warm place, away from drafts, until double in size -- about 1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare filling:

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; add ginger and garlic and cook 30 seconds. Stir in beef, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes. Cook until beef browns. Remove from heat and stir in green onions and sesame seeds. Set aside.

Grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper. When dough has doubled, punch down and shape into a 10-inch-long log. With serrated knife, cut log crosswise into ten 1-inch-thick slices. On lightly floured surface, roll out one slice to a 4-inch round. (I found it easier to weigh each piece of dough. Mine were 65-70 grams each.)

Roll out or press just around the edge of round so that the middle is slightly thicker and the round is 5 inches wide. Fill center of round with 1 heaping tablespoon beef filling; gather up edge to form a pouch and pinch together tightly to seal bun. Turn bun over and gently shape into a ball; place seam side down on greased sheet.

Repeat with remaining slices and filling. Cover beef buns with clean cloths or plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare Egg Glaze.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush buns with Egg Glaze and sprinkle, if desired, with sesame seeds. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until well browned. Cool buns on wire rack; serve warm.

Daring Pizza

It's that time again, ya'all. No, not time for fried squirrel and banjo pickin'. Time for the October Daring Baker's Challenge!



This month's host was Rosa, of Rosa's Yummy Yums. She did a lovely job hosting this month and presented us with DB's first ever pizza dough recipe! Selected from “The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread” by Peter Reinhart, the recipe was a thin crust pizza dough, using a cold fermentation technique. Our real challenge though, was to toss our pizzas like real pizzaiolos - and capture on film the hilarious aftermath.

Pizza is one of Mr. TA's all time favorite foods, so I've made pizza at home several times before, using all different types of recipes for the dough. This one seemed a little pretentious at first, what with all the chilling and the resting, and the blah, blah, blah. But, you know, it really made a difference. This was, by far, the best pizza dough recipe I've ever used. This will henceforth be my go-to recipe for making MR. TA his favorite meal. It was perfectly thin, with great flavor. Crispy and chewy, supporting the toppings ideally but without being doughy. This really is the recipe for pizza dough if you're a thin crust pizza lover. And if you prefer Domino's or whatever...then you're gross. I'm just sayin...


C'mon. Check out that crust. Tell me you don't love it.

Well, after thoroughly dousing my kitchen floor with flour and cornmeal, I succeeded in my task. Mr. TA took the picture of my throwing dough around my kitchen, refusing to shut off the flash (whatev.) like a big pain, and I almost speared it on this giant Indian paper star I have hanging from the skylight, but it ended up turning out OK.



That is, if you discount the deer-in-the-headlights look I have. Apparently my pizza was threatening to attack me or some BS. (My debut on my own blog and I look like a dumbass...whoooo) I don't know...

I used three of the six dough balls I made. Each dough ball made a ten inch pizza, more than enough for Mr. TA and I. The first one I made was Mr. TA's favorite, Margherita. Just a simple marinara sauce, topped with whole milk mozzarella, sliced tomato and fresh basil after coming out of the oven. Drizzle with a little high-quality olive oil, and a sprinkle of kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper and you've got heaven on dough.



The second pizza was my favorite, pepperoni with mozzarella and sharp cheddar with a healthy smattering of raw onion. Oh yeah, babe. That's some pizza. This one actually reminded me of a pizza I had in Costa Rica, straight out of a giant clay, woodburning pizza oven in the middle of nowhere. Talk about memories. Though, this time I wasn't getting the shit bit out of me by mosquitoes. I didn't get any pictures of this one (that turned out at least) or the third one, a sausage and pepperoni with mozzarella. But let me tell you, they were delicious.

I want to thank Rosa again for such a wonderful challenge. Also, my heartfelt condolences to Sher's family. I didn't know her, but she sounds like an amazing lady.

I urge you to check out all of the other Daring Baker's creations, there's some pretty fantastic ones out there..

Olive, Fig, & Prosciutto from Gourmet or Gourmand
Blueberry, Mascarpone & Dulce De Leche from The Hungry Housewife (OMG omnomnomnom)
Grilled Chicken with Parmesan Tomato Sauce from Sugarlaws
Honey, Pistachio, Date & Banana from Tea Factory
Apple Cinnamon Streusel from Baking Obsession (Oh god yes...)

And so many more...

~ BASIC PIZZA DOUGH ~
Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients:
4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled - FOR GF: 4 ½ cups GF Flour Blend with xanthan gum or 1 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup corn flour, 1 cup oat flour, 1 ½ cup arrowroot, potato or tapioca starch + 2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast - FOR GF use 2 tsp
1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar - FOR GF use agave syrup
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

DAY ONE

Method:
1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.
The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

Or

2. FOR GF: Add the oil, sugar or agave syrup and cold water, then mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough.

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

Or

8. FOR GF: On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the number of desired dough balls from the refrigerator. Place on a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with a gluten free flour. Delicately press the dough into disks about ½ inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil. Lightly cover the dough round with a sheet of parchment paper and allow to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

Or

10. FOR GF: Press the dough into the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough).

NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time.
During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping.
In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again.
You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

Or

11. FOR GF: Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

Or

12. FOR GF: Place the garnished pizza on the parchment paper onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.

Or

13. FOR GF: Follow the notes for this step.

NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.

If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

Cinnamon French Toast

When I made the Cinnamon Bread the other day I knew it would make some stellar French toast. And did it, you ask. Oh god yes it did. There's two trick to make this outstanding:

1. Soak the bread in the egg, really soak it in. It'll take several minutes for the egg to permeate the density of the bread.

2. Fry it in bacon fat. My mom told me about this once, but my ass can't handle cooking a whole lot in bacon grease. But, I was cooking bacon at the same time I was soaking the bread and...well, you see what happened. And folks, let me tell you, it's friggin' tasty.

P.S. The picture looks like garbage, but the taste really stands out. I can't recommend this enough if you love French toast.

Cinnamon Bread

Continuing on with my cravings for sweets that aren't really all that sweet I decided to make some cinnamon bread today. I've been experimenting with yeast breads lately, and been having a marginal amount of success. The dinner rolls went well, so I opted to manipulate that recipe instead of trying a whole new one. I'm a creature of habit, I can't help it. Once I find something that works for me, I very rarely change my ways. This isn't so great being married to someone in the military, though. There are many things that get changed with very little notice and we have little to (more often) no control over it at all. But hey, at least I've got some bread that I can control the heck out of, right?

I was going for a little bit more swirl action when I constructed this in my mind's eye, not so much the giant "C" I did achieve. I guess I should just be clever and tell everyone it's "C" for cinnamon, eh? I'm really not that clever. And what would happen is I ever made a Pecan bread? I'd be screwed.

This actually turned out much better than I thought it was going to. The bread is light and fluffy with just a hint of cinnamon, with a tasty cinnamon sugar streak right through it. This is so destined to be made into French toast in the morning. Or get toasted with some butter. Or be used to make a PB & J. Or, or, or...



Cinnamon Bread

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

In a mixing bowl combine warm (110 F) water with the yeast and let bloom for 10-15 minutes. When yeast is foamy add sugar oil, salt, and cinnamon. Stir well. Add 2 cups flour, mix well. Add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time. You may not need all the flour depending on the day, sometimes it uses it all and it’s still damp, other days I only need about 3 2/3 cups. Add enough to get it to form into a ball and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for ten minutes, until smooth and elastic. Try to knead in as little flour as possible, remember – the more flour you knead in the dryer and denser it will be. When dough is smooth and elastic, place in oiled bowl and allow to rise until tripled in size, about 90 minutes to 2 hours. Punch down the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 10 by 8 inches. Brush surface with beaten egg. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and spread evenly over the dough, leaving a ¾ inch border around all sides. Roll up the dough, jelly roll style and pinch the ends and seam. Place into a 9x5 bread loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm area and allow to rise until dough crests 1 ½ inches over the rim of the pan. Heat the oven to 400 F. Place loaf into the oven, turn down to 350 degrees. After 15 minutes, cover with tented tin foil and bake for a further 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Let cool near to room temperature before slicing.

Dinner Rolls

Enter the best recipe for dinner rolls. Ever. So, I'm a bit of a bread snob - that's why I don't often try to make it myself. It seems like every time I do I screw something up and it ends up like a dense, floury, rock.

Without fail.

Every time.

I am no God of the Breads

Except this time.



This time I used a recipe I found on My Kitchen Cafe. It's the best recipe. Ever. I followed the directions exactly and it paid off big time. I was surprised at the large amount of yeast called for, and even more surprised when my dough tripled in volume in the specified hour. I made mine a little large, I'd probably make them smaller next time - I'd also be a little more gentle when applying the egg wash right before baking. I was a little too rough and a couple of them deflated. Though, surprisingly, they were still nice and fluffy.



I really cannot recommend this recipe enough. If you're like me, which is terrified of making your own bread, try this recipe. It was too easy and tasted exactly like I wanted it to. No floury yuckiness, and light and fluffy as air.

I think I'm going to go make some now...again.