Pizza, Popsicles, & Peaceful Mornings

I like Friday mornings in the summer.  The library is only open Monday through Thursday, so we work four 10-hour days and have every Friday off.  I've been waking up somewhat early (for me, for a day off anyway) on Fridays and enjoying the peace of a quiet morning before it gets too hot.  Lately it's been pretty hot by 9, though this weekend was a bit overcast and a little cooler than it was during the week when we had some 100 + days.

     Iced coffee on a hot day is a pleasure.  I brew up a bunch of coffee over the weekend and keep it in an iced tea bottle in the fridge; it usually lasts most of the week.  Anyway, Friday morning I was pouring my glass of coffee and remembered this very cool picture my sister posted on facebook of her coffee with the cream just added.  It was black with these swirls of white and very cool looking.  I was inspired to try getting a similar shot.  Let me tell you, it isn't easy to photograph cream diffusing through coffee. You really only get a few shots before it's too late.  That's my cool Eeyore glass mug my Big Sis brought me from Disneyland.  It's even got my name engraved on it.  I love it.

     After the photos were taken, I sat down and enjoyed my coffee and read a few chapters of my book.  I'm reading The Sherlockian by Graham Moore.  It's a mystery involving the death of a member of The Baker Street Irregulars during the society's annual festivities in New York, a missing diary of Arthur Conan-Doyle, and the killing off of Sherlock Holmes and his subsequent return.  It's good so far, but I was jarred at one point by the use of the word "fractal" in a description of 1900 London from the p.o.v. of Conan-Doyle.  The term was coined around 1975.  I suppressed my irritation and continued reading because the book is interesting and the writing good otherwise.

     Friday evening I tried a new pizza dough recipe, and I think it's probably the best pizza dough I've ever made.  I used the recipe from King Arthur Flour.  The recipe calls for 7/8 to 1 1/8 cup water.  I used 1 cup, but the dough was really sticky.  Next time I'll probably use 7/8 of a cup instead.  I turned out fine though.  I just kneaded in a little more flour once I removed the dough from the bread machine before dividing the dough and then letting it rest before making the pizza. The dough was the perfect combination of chewy and crispy.

      I had some leftover pesto sauce, so I used that instead of a standard red sauce.  For toppings I used chopped leftover chicken breast and zucchini along with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.  The pizza turned out very yummy.  The pesto was very tasty and went well with the other toppings.  This picture is from Saturday lunch.  The leftover pizza was still very good the next day.

     Aren't popsicles so refreshing on a hot day?  Sunday, I made orange and raspberry cream-sicles based on a recipe I found on Pinterest.  I didn't have orange extract, so I left that out, and I used simple syrup in place of the honey as my honey is completely crystallized and was never going to blend into the other ingredients.  The flavor was good but too subtle.  I think using orange juice concentrate instead of orange juice would have produced a more "orangy" flavor. However, the reason I decided to try this recipe was because I had some fresh squeezed orange juice in the freezer.  It came from the last bag of Willcox oranges I bought before the season ended.  They were the best oranges, sweet and full of flavor, but they were starting to mold, so I cut off the moldy bits and juiced the rest of the oranges so they wouldn't go to waste.


     The recipe is supposed to make 6-8 popsicles, but my popsicle molds must be larger than the ones used by the person who created the recipe because I ran out after filling only 4 of my molds.  I had some very ripe raspberries, so I took some of those, added some simple syrup, mashed them up, and then mixed in a little half & half and filled the last 2 popsicles molds.  The raspberry ones weren't quite sweet enough, and they were very seedy.  I think it might be better to put some or all of the mashed raspberries through a strainer to remove some of the seeds.  The other aspect that wasn't ideal was the texture.  It was pretty icy instead of creamy.  I really should have expected that, since the mixture was simply frozen instead of processed in an ice cream machine first then poured into the molds.  Freezing the mixture in an ice cream machine, even partially, would reduce the iciness in the final product.  I'll have to try that next time and let you know how they turn out.  Darn, now I'll have to buy an ice cream maker.  The things I do for this blog.

Ah, Love, Thy Name is Bread Machine.

I got a bread machine for my birthday (Thanks, Mom!).

This is the one I got. Photo from Amazon.com

 I've been wanting to make my own bread.  Like most processed or prepared foods, the ingredients on loaves of bread in the store contain a LOT of ingredients.  I've been thinking a lot about the ingredients in prepared or processed foods. When I read the back of a package, I wonder why there are so many ingredients listed when the recipe for making the same thing contains half (or fewer than) that number.

     Example, Wonder Bread (which despite being made by the defunct Hostess Foods is not gone forever as it has been sold to another company) has 29 ingredients listed on its package--29!  Now, not all store-bought breads contain this many ingredients, but even Milton's 100% Whole Wheat Bread, arguably a much healthier choice than Wonder, contains 14 ingredients. Also, all store-bought breads seem to contain soy in one form or another.  Now, I'm not anti-soy.  I like soy sauce and the occasional bean curd stir fry. I do have a problem with the fact that so much of soy is GMO. Also, it's the general problem I have with all these added ingredients in food.

     How many ingredients are there in a homemade loaf of bread?  I'm glad you asked.  It depends on the recipe you are making, but for a basic white loaf, the bread cookbook I have calls for 9.  Some of the bread recipes call for fewer, but 6 - 10 ingredients is usual among the recipes.  Also, all of these ingredients are recognizable.  Water, honey and/or sugar, butter or oil, flour, yeast, and salt are the basics. Some recipes call for dry milk powder for added protein and wheat gluten for protein and to make the bread softer. However, no artificial ingredients or colors are called for and no weird fillers either.

     I've made bread before, but it never turned out all that well.  It was edible, but not super tasty.  I never seem to be able to knead the dough properly.  The bread machine solves that.  The first thing I made with my bread machine was a loaf of the above mentioned white bread.  I ran the whole bread machine cycle from mixing to baking.  It turned out well. My problem was that I had no bread knife.  That didn't deter me for long, I just hacked off pieces and ate them.  I ended up freezing half the loaf until I got a chance to find a good bread knife.

     The next thing I made was pizza dough. This time I just ran the dough cycle on the bread machine, which mixes, kneads, and rises the dough, but doesn't bake it.  I made one batch with all white flour and one batch with half white and half whole wheat flour.  They both turned out great.  Perfectly chewy, crusty pizza dough.  I had a couple of friends over, and we made individual pizzas with lots of yummy toppings including pepperoni, sausage, zucchini, onions, and lots of cheese.  Makes me hungry just thinking of them.

     Then I made sticky buns.  Oh my goodness, these were stunningly delicious.  I found the recipe for Morning Sticky Buns in Beth Hensperger's The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook (Harvard Common Press, 2000).  The buns came out perfect.  I couldn't believe it.  The best thing about these was that the insides didn't end up too gooey.  The caramel topping was wonderfully gooey, but the bun itself was soft, but fully cooked, not underdone and doughy like they can be.  I highly recommend them for a special treat.

Morning Sticky Buns

Recipe by Beth Hensperger from The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

Ingredients

For the dough:
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

For the cinnamon filling:
3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

For the caramel:
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 cup light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans

1. To make the dough, place all the dough ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer's instructions.  Program for the Dough cycle; press Start.  The dough ball will be soft, yet at the same time smooth and springy.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon for the filling in a small bowl.  Set aside.

2. To make the caramel, 10 minutes before the end of the Dough cycle, grease the sides and bottoms of a 13-by-9 inch glass or metal baking pan. (I prefer to use a metal or disposable aluminum pan if I will be rising the buns overnight in the refrigerator--a glass pan cold from the refrigerator could break when placed in a hot oven.)  Combine the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a small skillet or heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.  When the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat.  Immediately pour into the baking pan.  Spread evenly over the bottom with a rubber spatula.  Sprinkle with the nuts.  Set aside.

3. When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, press Stop and unplug the machine.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Roll it into a 12-by-15 inch rectangle.  Add the filling:  Leaving a 1-inch border around all the edges-spread the surface evenly with the 6 tablespoons soft butter, then sprinkle evenly with the sugar and cinnamon, which will be quite a light filling.  Roll up jelly-roll fashion starting from a long edge, and pinch the seam to seal.  With a serrated knife using a gentle sawing motion, cut the roll into 12 equal portions, each slice about 1 1/2 inches thick.  Place the slices close together on top of the caramel, spiral cut side down.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise at room temperature for 45 minutes, or until puffy and even with the rim of the pan.  (The rolls can be refrigerated before this last rise, covered tightly with a double layer of plastic wrap, leaving the rolls to rise to rise slowly and be baked in the morning.  Remove the pan from the refrigerator and let rest for 20 minutes before baking.)

4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

5. Bake the buns until the tops are brown, 30 to 35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let stand no more than 5 minutes on a wire rack.  Place the cooling rack on top of the pan and, securely holding the hot pan with oven mitts, invert the pan on top of the rack, taking care not to touch the not caramel.  Let cool for at least 20 minutes, then transfer to a serving plate.  Pull the buns apart and serve warm.

Sorry for the lack of photos.  I never seem to plan ahead these days for taking pictures for the blog.  I'll try to do better in the future.

Some references:
Wonder breads 29 ingredients: http://theysmell.com/wonder-bread-ingredients/
Milton's 14 ingredients: http://www.shopwell.com/miltons-100-whole-wheat-bread-whole-grains/bread/p/0654192088
The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook on Amazon.com

Not So Good The Second Time Around

I decided to make some Thai food Tuesday night because I was alone for dinner and had leftover rice. Also, the last time I had leftover rice I made fried rice with soy and ginger, so I wanted something different. This time, I used some red curry paste and fish sauce, coconut milk powder, low-fat milk and water. I let it simmer for a few minutes then added 1 1/2 cups frozen veggies and cooked until they were warmed through. I then mixed about a teaspoon of corn starch in a little water and stirred it into the sauce to thicken it a little. I then added 1 1/2 leftover rice and let it all simmer for another 7 or so minutes. I crushed up a tablespoon of roasted peanuts and sprinkled it over the top. I ate half and saved the other half for lunch the next day. It was great when I ate it for dinner, but it didn't keep as well as some foods do. When I reheated it the next day for lunch, it didn't taste as good as the first day. I'm sure you've noticed that many foods taste even better the second day than they do the first...chili, spaghetti, etc. This is not one of them. It was, however, very yummy freshly made.

Tonight I made pizza. It did not turn out well this time. The crust was good (about the only thing that did turn out well). I used some leftover red sauce, mozzarella, cheddar, and Parmesan along with prosciutto. I have to say, I think the prosciutto was not good. I've used it before for pizza, and it is very good. This time, I think the prosciutto was off. I can't remember the actual day I bought it, but it was this month. It's a cured meat; a type of Italian ham, so I thought it would still be good, but that did not turn out to be the case. So, a disappointment. I ended up cutting off several hunks of the crust and eating them with a little butter along with the veggies I nuked to go along with the pizza.

I'd planned to use some of the prosciutto when I make risotto this weekend, but that's not going to happen. I think I'll make a veggie one instead. Maybe add in a little smoked Gruyere. We'll see. I'll post after I make it.

After I posted the not-so-appetizing picture of the roasted vegetable and chicken bake, I looked up some information on photographing food. I found a couple of good blog articles from people who blog about food and take picture for their blogs. One of the main suggestions was to use natural light to take the photos. That's a great idea, except for the fact that it's winter and it's dark by the time I even start making dinner. I guess I'll have to experiment during the day shooting leftovers or maybe my lunches. I think my mom has one of those natural light lamps tucked away somewhere. Maybe I can try using that to take some photos. I might also use my film camera as well as my digital camera to see if that makes any difference. I know a lot more about my film camera than my digital camera. I'll experiment and post some of the results.