Search Results for: bread

Simple Pesto Caprese Salad

May 19, 2015 by thiscookindad 55 Comments

In researching for my initial post about salads this month (see What is a Salad?), I found that the first “salads” were just raw vegetables seasoned with a salty dressing. As I got to thinking about the simplicity of that, I got to thinking about how complicated we tend to make food and how something as simple as a Pesto Caprese Salad is easily within reach of any of us.

I have been cooking for a long time. When Beth and I first got married, I think I was on a mission to find out how many pots and pans I could use. I wanted to cook all kinds of different components and bring them all together to complete a final dish. We surely spent as much time doing dishes as we did cooking and eating. It was all about trying to bring in as many flavors as possible.

Over the years, I’ve come to find that a simpler approach to food doesn’t have to mean a sacrifice in flavor. On the contrary, focusing in on fewer flavors really allows me to bring out the best of the ingredients that I am using. It also shows me that incredible dishes are well within the skill level of most home cooks.

In fact, this is a conversation that has progressed for years in the restaurant industry. The crux of the conversation is this: to what degree is it the chef’s job to transform the ingredients into the desired dish and to what degree is it the chef’s responsibility to honor the integrity of the raw ingredients and let their natural flavors take the lead.

At home, we are pretty lucky. While we may not have the breadth of technique that a restaurant chef possesses, neither are we encumbered by the need to express a certain level of skill. In fact, it may be our lack of skill that allows us to show so much restraint.

This simple Pesto Caprese Salad is a perfect example. Caprese salad is meant to resemble the red, white, and green of the Italian flag. It is a salad of fresh red tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and the sweet, anise flavor of bright green basil. Seasoned with olive oil and salt, this is a pretty typical antipasto Italy.

To make this dish, I could show off my skill by making fresh mozzarella or blending up a batch of pesto. In reality, though, I just want a tasty lunch. If I can purchase a quality mozzarella, find a pesto that I can trust, and buy (or grow) some beautifully fresh tomatoes, all that’s left is not to screw it up.

All month long, we are talking about salads? What does “salad” mean to you? Did you grow up with a particular kind of salad? Leave a comment and share your story!

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Simple Pesto Caprese Salad

Author: Brian

Recipe type: Salad

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

8 oz. fresh mozzarella
24 oz. mixed cherry tomatoes, halved
4 Tbsp pesto

Instructions

Combine all ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Toss gently to coat. Serve and enjoy!

What is a salad?

May 5, 2015 by thiscookindad 3 Comments

Throughout the month of May, we’re going to be talking about salads. I’ll be offering my take on a number of different salads and trying a few things that you may not see every day. First off, though, I’d like to delve a little deeper into what a salad actually is.

When you tell me that you’re going to make a salad, I instantly picture a bowl full of greens, sometimes mixed, sometimes of the iceberg variety. This will be topped with cucumbers and tomatoes for certain and may come with other toppings like red onion, shredded cheese, and overly crunchy bits of seasoned bread. This will, invariably, be drowned in ranch dressing (or Italian if you’re watching those calories).

As delightfully unappealing as that may sound, I actually like a nice garden salad with my meal from time to time. It’s not that the salad doesn’t taste good, it’s that the salad is monotonous, repetitive, and overdone. I need a little more variety.

The Oxford Dictionary defines a salad as: A cold dish of various raw or cooked vegetables, usually seasoned with oil, vinegar, or other dressing and sometimes accompanied by meat, fish, or other ingredients.

In other words, salad is vegetable, meat, and sauce. The only thing that distinguishes it from any other dish is the fact that it’s cold. But what about a warm German potato salad? Or how about putting a warm ingredient on your salad? Say a poached egg or grilled chicken? Does a salad even have to be cold?

So let’s look back a bit to find out what a salad once was and what it could be.

Taking a look at The Food Timeline, it seems pretty clear that salad derives from the Latin word sal, meaning salt. Salt was a key component of salad and most of that salt was found in the dressing. We tend to think of the salad dressing as the accompaniment to the other ingredients. To me, it looks like the dressing was meant to be the main event.

This kind of turns my idea of salad upside down. If salad is about a salty dressing, then isn’t that warm German potato salad more of a salad than our “traditional” garden salad with ranch dressing? How do mayonnaise and gelatin based salads fit into this? It’s like we went from “salted mixed veggies” to “mixed veggies with dressing” to “stuff with dressing” and finally ended with “stuff with stuff”.

Over the course of the month, we’ll hit up a few of those traditional salads like a Cobb salad and that warm German potato salad. We’ll get into chicken salad, talk about bread salad, and play around with a springy rice salad. I hope you’ll join us!

All month long, we are talking about salads? What does “salad” mean to you? Did you grow up with a particular kind of salad? Leave a comment and share your story!

The Berry Best Muffins

April 30, 2015 by thiscookindad 6 Comments

I have been talking about breakfast all month and, while I tend towards the savory side of breakfast, I would surely be remiss if I did not include a few sweet things. My kids especially love muffins. Beth is kind of a fan as well! Even I am happy for the balance of sweet and tart with these yummy Mixed Berry Muffins.

Let me be clear here. When I’m talking about muffins, I’m talking about American style muffins, not English muffins. While English muffins are yeast breads that are cooked on a stove-top, American muffins are individual quick breads that are baked in the oven.

Quick breads, like banana bread, are distinguished from other breads because they use other leaveners, like baking powder, instead of yeast, which could take hours to rise. This type of batter also lends itself very well to sweet applications because it can take more sugar than conventional bread dough. In fact, for a recipe like this, creaming the butter and sugar together helps to provide the airiness needed to make these muffins light and fluffy.

Putting it all together is just about as simple as can be.

I start by creaming some butter and sugar and adding two eggs.

Next, I add in the dry ingredients, milk, and a little vanilla…

…before folding in the mixed berries. I just used a bag of frozen berries here. I allowed them to thaw, strained them, and dusted them with flour so that they won’t fall to the bottom of the batter while baking. Some people are pretty paranoid about the juice from frozen berries streaking the batter. Personally, I think it looks beautiful and adds to the overall flavor of the muffin.

I portion out 12 muffin cups and top with a yummy streusel mixture.

After about 30 minutes in the oven, they come out beautifully golden brown and fluffy with a sweet crunch from the streusel and a perfect tartness from the berries.

They are perfect with a pat of butter for breakfast or as an easy afternoon snack for the kids. Enjoy!

What’s your favorite muffin? Throughout April, we’re talking about breakfast! What is your favorite breakfast food? Anything new that you’d like to try? Leave a comment and share your stories and suggestions!

The Berry Best Muffins

Author: Brian

Recipe type: Breakfast

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups and 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ cup milk
1-14 oz package frozen mixed berries, thawed and strained
For the Streusel:
¼ cup butter, softened
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
⅓ cup all-purpose flour

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin liners.
In a stand mixer or with a hand beater, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to fully incorporate each one before adding the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, and the salt. Add this in 3 stages to the egg mixture, beating until just moist. Add the milk to the batter and beat slowly until just combined.
In a small bowl, dust the berries with 1 tbsp of flour. Gently fold the berries into the batter.
For the Streusel: Combine the butter, brown and white sugars, and flour in a small bowl, using your clean fingers to crumble it all together.
Distribute the batter evenly into 12 muffin cups. Top with the streusel.
Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

The Best French Toast

April 21, 2015 by thiscookindad 10 Comments

We’re talking about breakfast all month. More often than not, I like going for a more savory breakfast. Eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy. I love it. Sometimes, though, I get a bit of a sweet tooth and I need something a little different. One of my favorite sweet breakfasts (and my all time favorite breakfast for dinner) is French toast.

French toast isn’t really French at all, having originated as far back at the Roman Empire. Our name for it may actually be named after Joseph French, a New York innkeeper who named the dish after himself back in the early 1700’s. The French actually refer to the dish as pain perdu, or lost bread.

In many ways, this is a very accurate description. Maybe you have a loaf of bread that you forgot to put away the night before. Come breakfast time, you have a hard loaf of bread. Not wanting to throw anything away, you try to bring the bread back to life by soaking it in a mix of eggs and milk and frying it up.

That’s all we are talking about with French toast, right? This is actually a dish where fresh bread isn’t as good. You want an old loaf of bread. For us, we sometimes wind up with too much because of our volunteer efforts. I happily take excess loaves of bread and freeze them to make bread crumbs, bread pudding, and French toast. I simply start with nice, thick, slices of whatever bread I have on hand. I’ve used French baguettes, raisin bread, even old donuts! Today, it’s slices of a basic white loaf.

Next, I whisk together 3 eggs, 1 cup of heavy cream, 2 tbsp white sugar, and a heavy pinch of salt. You could use milk, but the cream makes this French toast rich and decadent. It’s well worth the extra calories!

I let the bread soak for just a couple of minutes before pulling it out to fry up. Too much the bread can start to fall apart; too little and your French toast will be pretty dry.

In a heavy skillet over medium heat, I brown some butter (just another layer of flavor) and lay in the soaked bread. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side.

Serve immediately with Bourbon Maple Syrup and Bourbon Maple Bacon for a yummy treat any time of day!

Throughout April, we’re talking about breakfast! What is your favorite breakfast food? Anything new that you’d like to try? Leave a comment and share your stories and suggestions!

The Best French Toast

Author: Brian

Recipe type: Breakfast

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp white sugar
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp vanilla
6-8 slices of day old bread, cut about ½ inch thick
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter

Instructions

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat.
Whisk together eggs, cream, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Soak the slices of bread in the mixture 1-2 at a time.
Heat the oil and butter until frothy. Add the soaked bread to the pan in stages. Cook for 3-5 minutes per side or until golden brown.
Serve immediately and enjoy!

These Lentils are Hoppin’

March 26, 2015 by thiscookindad Leave a Comment

Continuing with our grains theme for the month of March, today we are going to take a look at lentils. I’m also going to share a very quick option for a traditional Hoppin’ John recipe using lentils instead of black-eyes peas.

When we think of grains, we typically think of cereal grains like wheat, corn, or rice. Grains, however, cover a pretty wide culinary space. Lentils, technically, are a grain legume, or edible pulse. In many ways, they are a cross between the grains that we usually think of and beans. Lentils are an important part of the diet in many Middle Eastern countries, India, and even in parts of Europe.

I love that they have much of the nutrition of beans, but cook almost as fast as simple white rice. In fact, stewed lentils served over rice are very popular in much of the world and can be prepared in less than 45 minutes, making it an easy dinner for busy weeknights.

I have learned that the key to properly cooked lentils is to wait to salt them until after they have cooked. Salt toughens up the outer shell and they take forever to cook! Without salt, they can cook up in about 30 minutes and you can still add salt after the fact. After cooking my lentils, I love to add in a little bacon and some sauteed greens and sit back with a bowl and a nice slice of cornbread. YUM!

Have you ever tried lentils? How do you prepare them? How do you feel about grains, in general? What are your favorites? Do you shy away from them? We’ll be discussing grains through March on This Cookin’ Dad. Please leave a comment and share your story.

These Lentils are Hoppin'

I used red lentils here for the color, but any color lentils would work. Just just make sure to adjust your cooking time.

Author: Brian

Ingredients

1 cup red lentils, rinsed and picked through for any small stones
2 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
4 slices of bacon, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cups baby kale

Instructions

Add lentils and water to a medium saucepan. Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 20-30 minutes or until lentils are al dente. After the lentils are cooked, season with salt and pepper.
In a large sautee pan over medium heat, cook bacon until crispy. Remove crisp bacon from pan and reserve for later use.
Add olive oil to hot bacon grease, followed by baby kale. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
To serve, top lentils with kale and crispy bacon. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Vegetable Barley Soup with Carrot Top Pesto

March 10, 2015 by thiscookindad 6 Comments

All month long, we’re talking about grains. Today, we are going to take a look at barley.

Barley is a cereal grain. It’s one of those grains that I think we hear about a lot more than we actually use. In fact, I think more people drink barley than actually eat it! It is also used as animal feed, but has a long history of feeding humans as well. Barley was one of the first staple crops, feeding civilizations across Europe and Asia for centuries before wheat became more popular.

We’ve learned over time that grains, while not inherently bad for you, are definitely better used in moderation. Instead, we should be leaning towards more veggies in our diets. A big part of my focus is how to simply incorporate grains in a healthy, responsible way. This soup is my effort to make a convenient, veggie-heavy meal that is lightly kissed with a little grain to make it a bit more substantial.

The beauty of this recipe is that it takes virtually no time. A can of tomatoes, a quart of vegetable stock, and some frozen veggies are all you need to get started. Pour it into the slow cooker first thing in the morning and you are 90% of the way there. Toss in a little barley when you walk in the door from work (or have your kids do it when they get home) and it’ll be done just in time for dinner.

One of the keys to making this dish great is the Carrot Top Pesto. I buy a lot of my carrots with the tops still on because I know that I am getting a fresh product that way. Still, I find it difficult to find something to do with the carrot tops. Well, I decided that I would try to make a pesto with them to go with my soup. The tops, a handful of roasted salted pumpkin seeds, a dash of parmigiano-regiano, and some olive oil were all blended together for a lovely condiment. It turned out fabulous and was even great as a topping for some crusty bread on the side!

What I love most about this soup is that I can make it on Sunday with no effort and have a healthy lunch available for me and my wife throughout the week. It’s hard to top that.

How do you simply incorporate grains into your food? How do you feel about grains? What are your favorites? Do you shy away from them? We’ll be discussing grains through March on This Cookin’ Dad. Make sure that you leave a comment and share your story.

Slow Cooker Vegetable Barley Soup with Carrot Top Pesto

Author: Brian

Recipe type: Soup

Ingredients

Soup:
1-28 oz can whole, peeled tomatoes, hand crushed
4 cups vegetable stock
4 cups water
1-16 oz. package frozen mixed vegetables
½ cup pearl barley
salt and pepper to taste
Pesto:
2 cups fresh carrot tops
½ cup roasted, salted pumpkin seeds
½ cup grated parmigiano-regiano
⅔ cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

For the soup: Add the first 4 ingredients to a slow cooker. Set on low for 8 hours.
About an hour before serving, add the barley.
Just before serving, season with salt and pepper.
For the pesto: Combine carrot tops, pumpkin seeds, and cheese into a small food processor. Grind together.
While continuing to process, slowly add the olive oil.
After all has been incorporated, season with salt and pepper to taste.
To serve: Top the soup with the pesto.
Enjoy!

What is a Grain?

March 3, 2015 by thiscookindad Leave a Comment

This month on This Cookin’ Dad, I’ll be focusing on grains.

Grains are kind of a hot-button issue for some. There’s ever the argument of whole grains vs. refined grains. For those living on a budget, refined grains like white rice are a cheap way to stretch a meal. For those who choose not to eat meat, grains provide a healthful alternative to meats. For those carb-free or paleo types, grains are the enemy. If you get all three of those types into a room together to talk about food, you just might see bloodshed!

In my view, there is little better than a chunk of crusty bread slathered in softened butter, or a bowl of warm oatmeal sprinkled with slivered almonds and drizzled with honey on a cold, snowy morning. I also find comfort in my favorite bowl of gumbo, knowing that it just wouldn’t be the same without that sticky white rice. Health points aside, brown rice just wouldn’t be the same.

Still, research shows over and over again that too many refined grains just aren’t good for you. Research is now even showing that some of those whole grains that are so good for you, might not be so good for you, causing blood sugar spikes and inflammation that leads to pain issues and worse.

My goal over the course of the month is to show just how easy it can be to incorporate these grains into your daily diet, sometimes in a supporting role, sometimes as the star, but always with a mind to health and moderation. I’ll also expand my focus beyond the common cereal grains, bringing a category of grains called pulses (think lentils and peas) into the conversation.

How do you feel about grains? What are your favorites? Do you shy away from them? We’ll be discussing grains through March on This Cookin’ Dad. Make sure that you leave a comment and share your story.

Tortillas

February 25, 2015 by thiscookindad 1 Comment

A long time ago, I was asked to write about my favorite food. The problem then, and now, is that I don’t particularly have a favorite food. That having been said, over the past few years, I have taken a particular liking to tacos. I’m not talking about the tacos that we all grew up with. You know what I mean…bright yellow, stale corn tortilla shells filled with overcooked ground beef seasoned straight from the packet…ummm, yum?

I’m talking more about what tacos are really meant to be. Fresh tortillas wrapped around deliciously spiced strips of meat or fish and topped with a myriad of toppings that go well beyond the typical lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. Personally, I love shrimp, fried fish, and shredded pork with nothing more than a little cabbage and a squeeze of lime juice. The flavors are clean and simple and you can really taste each ingredient without hiding them behind loads of stuff.

Up until now, I have always relied on store bought tortillas for my taco fix, but I thought, with it being bread month and all, that I should really think about making my own fresh tortillas and seeing how that ups the intensity of my taco game. It is way easier than I thought it would be. Just grab a bag of masa (I used Maseca brand) and add a little salt and water. Mix by hand until it form a smooth, soft dough.

Pinch off about a tablespoon’s worth and roll into a little ball. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Grab your tortilla press and go to town. You can use a rolling pin, but it’s tough to get them thin enough. Besides, the Norpro Cast Aluminum Tortilla Press that I used only costs about $13. Well worth it to save all of that time!

A quick turn on the griddle and they are ready for filling. They are chewier, tastier, and definitely more authentic than the tortillas that I usually buy, so I’m happy to have been able to add this technique to my repertoire. Enjoy!

What are your favorite taco fillings? Are you all about the bread? Throughout February, I’ll be focusing on how to make breads in all different forms. What is your favorite? Leave a comment and share your story.

Tortillas

Author: Brian

Recipe type: Bread

Cuisine: Mexican

Ingredients

2 cups masa
1¼ cup water
1 tsp salt

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix by hand until a smooth, soft dough forms. It should not stick to your hands. If the dough is too sticky, add more masa. Too dry, add a touch of water.
Separate the dough into 2 Tbsp portions, rolling into little balls. Between two pieces of wax paper on a tortilla press, flatten each of the balls, forming your tortillas.
Cook each tortilla on a hot griddle for 1-2 minutes or until filling with air and slightly charred.
Enjoy with your favorite toppings!

Biscuits

February 19, 2015 by thiscookindad Leave a Comment

Is there anything better than a light, fluffy, buttermilk biscuit? Ok, so maybe there is somewhere in the world, but you’d surely have to look for it. A little smear of jam, some ham with a touch of mustard, or smothered in sausage gravy…Really, I’ll take a good biscuit just about any way I can get it.

On the one hand, the biscuit is unbelievably easy to make. It’s only like 5 ingredients. Seriously, how hard could it be?

On the other hand, fewer ingredients typically means needing more skill to pull those ingredients together. Getting the biscuit just right, with a crisp exterior and soft flaky interior is more than a little intimidating and, to be perfectly honest, I’ve shied away from it for years! It’s so much easier to just buy one of those cans from the dairy section!

Well, it may be easier, but that sure as hell doesn’t mean that it’s better. What kind of lesson are we teaching our kids when we always take the easy way out? I’m not saying that we always have to choose the most difficult path, but I do think that we should show them the difference and let them know that, sometimes, the extra effort (the extra love even) is worth it.

First, you start with your dry ingredients. One tip I learned a long time ago when it comes to baking is to keep your small piles of ingredients separate from each other. In white flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder all look exactly the same. Place them in the bowl in the order that they show up in the recipe and you’ll never forget your place.

When you add your vegetable shortening (or butter, or lard), you really want to incorporate it well. I mix mine by hand because it is surely a feel thing. Keep rubbing your hands together between the fat and the flour until you get a crumbly consistency. It should hold together when you squeeze it, but crumble apart when you let it go.

Add your buttermilk and mix gently until thoroughly combined. Let it rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes before pouring out onto a floured cutting board, rolling it flat, and cutting with a round cutter. The dough will be very soft. That’s good! That means it’ll be light. Just use plenty of flour on your cutting board, rolling pin, and cutter.

Once you get them all cut out, place them on a lightly greased pan. Make sure you leave plenty of room around them so that they can rise up nicely. I brush on a little melted butter and sprinkle with a touch of black pepper. YUM!

After a turn in the oven, they come out ready to soak up some gravy, pair with some jelly, or sandwich some yummy sausage. Enjoy!

How do you eat your biscuits? Are you all about the bread? Throughout February, I’ll be focusing on how to make breads in all different forms. What is your favorite? Leave a comment and share your story.

Biscuits

Author: Brian

Recipe type: Bread

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp white sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, diced and very cold, plus 2 tbsp melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions

Combine first 4 ingredients in a mixing bowl.
With your hands, a pastry blender, or two forks, combine the flour mixture with the butter until coarse crumbs develop.
Add ¾ cup buttermilk, stirring gently until just combined. Add more buttermilk if the mixture looks too dry. It should be sticky, but not "wet". Allow to rest in the fridge for 15 minutes before continuing.
Turn your dough onto a floured cutting board. Fold and gently roll out the dough until flaky and about ½" thick. Cut with a heavily floured round mold and place biscuits onto a lightly buttered sheet pan. Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with a little pepper.
Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Enjoy with butter and jam or however you choose.

My Little Pizza Boy

February 12, 2015 by thiscookindad 1 Comment

My 5-year-old son is absolutely in love with pizza! He’s always called it pizzi (peet-see) and it’s hilarious to watch up jump up and down for the “pizzi man” when we order out. Those pizza guys surely know that they are appreciated and you should see the smiles on their faces!

One of my big missions with my kids, however, is for them to know where food really comes from. They should understand that, while you can surely order a pizza from the local shop, there are still ingredients and a process that they use to make that. They should also know that, when we have the time, this is something that we can do at home as well as, if not better, than the local shop.

It’s funny. As much as my son loves pizza, my oldest daughter was, for years, deadset against it! My biggest testimony to food from home being better is that she would only eat the pizza that we made at home. That surely makes this pizza daddy smile!

My typical shortcut is to buy pizza dough, roll it, stretch it, and then add my toppings. I think, however, that it’s about time that the kids learn how we make the dough in the first place!

As always, I start with my assistant. Knowing that he’s still little and impatient, I have everything set up for him before he even comes into the kitchen. I get the yeast started and measure everything into easy containers for him, so that when I do call him in, we can get right to work.

We get all of the wet ingredients going, then we start adding the flour.

He just loves to watch that mixer go to work!

Once the flour is mostly incorporated, we get a shaggy dough.

A lot of times, I’m happy to let the mixer do the kneading work, but you still need to know what the dough should feel like. The only way to accomplish that is to knead by hand sometimes. I get it started and bring it together before letting him take over for a spell.

Once the dough is smooth and elastic, we pop it into an oiled bowl to rest in the fridge for 24 hours. This allows the dough to develop slowly, meaning a fuller flavor in the final product.

Even in the fridge, we get a nice rise out of the pizza dough.

We punch it down, divide it in half, and stretch each half out onto sheet pans, being careful not to tear it. If necessary, let it rest for 5-10 minutes before stretching again.

Cover with a towel and let it rest for about an hour before topping with whatever toppings you choose. The great thing about making your own pizza is that you can totally personalize the tastes for your family. Everyone can choose their own toppings and you don’t have to order 3 or 4 pizzas to make everyone happy! We went with plain cheese, pepperoni, and some prosciutto (finished with a little basil) for the adults.

Cook in a super hot oven for about 25 minutes, cool for about 5, and all will be right with the world!

With the other half of the dough, I was able to make some cheesy breadsticks. I spread out the dough and sprinkled on some cheese. I even made some with a little Olive Salad Spread. YUM!!

Are you all about the bread? Throughout February, I’ll be focusing on how to make breads in all different forms. What is your favorite?

My Little Pizza Boy

Author: Brian

Recipe type: Dinner

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

1 envelope dry active yeast
1½ cups warm water (105-110 degrees F)
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for coating bowl and sheet pans
2 tsp kosher salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
Your favorite toppings

Instructions

Add yeast, water, and honey into the workbowl of a stand mixer. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Add oil, salt, and 2 cups of the flour and mix to combine. Add remaining flour, one cup at a time, until fully incorporated and a shaggy dough forms.
Remove dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set into the fridge for about 24 hours.
Prepare two sheet pans with olive oil.
Remove dough from fridge, punch down and divide in half. Stretch one half of the dough onto each of the prepared sheet pans taking care not to tear it. Cover with a dishtowel, set in a warm place, and allow to rise for 30-45 minutes.
Top with your favorite toppings, taking care not to overload the dough. A light coating of sauce, a sprinkle of cheese, and a couple of other toppings are all you need for a great pizza!!
Enjoy!

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