Grilled Pizza

Dough

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup water, room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for work surface
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast

Topping

1 1/2 pounds medium plum tomatoes (5 to 6), cored, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
3/4 teaspoon table salt
6 ounces mozzarella cheese , shredded (about 2 cups)
1 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese , finely grated (about 3/4 cup)
1 recipe Spicy Garlic Oil(see bottom of page for recipe)  or a thick tomato sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
You can top your pizza with other things too…bacon, mushrooms, chopped cooked sausage, and so on.

(For food processor directions, see the very bottom of the recipe.)
1) For the dough, mix the water and oil together. Combine dry ingredients in mixer bowl.

2) Add water/oil mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Add more flour, a tablespoon or two at a time until the dough is thick enough to be easily kneaded.

3) Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes. Cover with a wet towel and let rise for 1 hour.

4)While the dough is rising, mix the tomatoes and salt together in a bowl; after about a half hour there should be a decent amount of liquid in the bowl, which you should drain off.

5) Mix cheeses together and make garlic oil(if you’re using tomato sauce, you don’t need to make the garlic oil).

6) Punch the dough down, turn it out onto a floured surface, and divide into four pieces. Form each piece into a ball, placed on floured counter and press with hand to flatten. Let the balls rest for 10-15 minutes. This will relax the dough and make it easier to roll out. While the dough is resting, turn the grill on high heat.

7) After the dough has rested, roll each ball out into an 8-9 inch round that is about 1/8 inch thick.

Scrape the now-heated grill clean. Put a round of dough onto a pizza peel(or alternatively, you can use a floured rimless cookie sheet), and slide it onto the grill. If your grill is large enough and you feel so inclined, you can cook two at a time.

9) Cook the dough for about three minutes, checking the bottom to make sure it’s not scorching. When the bottom is nicely brown, remove it to a cookie sheet or baking peel. With the cooked side up, brush with garlic oil or thick tomato sauce, and add toppings

10) Place the pizza back on the grill, close the lid and cook for another 3 minutes or so, until the cheese is melted and the bottom crust is lightly browned. Top pizza with basil if you’re using it. Cut into slices and serve promptly.
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I like to make the dough in the mixer(I usually get frustrated with making it in my food processor), but for those of you who wish to do it this way, here’s the instructions.

To make dough in food processor:
Combine dry ingredients in food processor fitted with metal blade. While the machine is running, add liquids slowly through the feed tube. Process until dough forms a ball, about 1 1/2 minutes. If dough does not form a ball, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time until ball forms. Transfer dough to a greased bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

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Garlic Oil

4 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (4 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes(I used way less than this)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Cook all ingredients in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until garlic starts to sizzle, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to small bowl.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

1/2 cup warm water(105 F)
2 packages(4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2-5 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs

Combine yeast and water in large mixer bowl. Let stand for a few minutes.

While the yeast and water are standing, combine milk, butter, sugar, and salt, and heat in the microwave until lukewarm(105 degrees F).

Add the lukewarm milk mixture to the yeast. Add 2 cups of flour and mix well. Add 2 eggs, and mix until combined.

The dough will be sort of like a batter at this point, so before you try to knead it, add enough flour to make a relatively stiff dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic. I use a bench knife to make this process easier when the dough is first being kneaded and is still rather soft.

Put it into a bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise for 1 hour.

Punch the dough down and turn out onto a floured surface. Divide into 16 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball, and then flatten each into a disk. Place the disks onto a greased baking sheet(I have to use two sheets), cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once the oven is heated, bake the buns for 12-14 minutes, or until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on a wire rack.

Easy French Bread
makes 1 loaf

2 1/2-2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pkg(2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water(120 degrees F)

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine 2 cups flour with the salt, sugar, and yeast. Add water and beat for 3 minutes.  Beat in enough additional flour to make a soft but kneadable dough.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with tea towel, and let rise 45 minutes(an hour if your house is cold).

Punch dough down and roll into a long rectangular shape. Starting from the long end, roll up jelly-roll style.
Place seam-side down on a greased baking sheet, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise 30-45 minutes, or until doubled(it’ll depend on the warmth of your house).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk one egg white with one tablespoon of water until slightly foamy. Using a pastry brush, gently brush beaten egg white onto loaves. Using a sharp knife, make 3-4 diagonal slashes on top of the loaf.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until nicely browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Deep Dish Pizza

Ingredients

1 medium baking potato (about 9 ounces), peeled and quartered
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 3/4 teaspoons table salt

tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and whatever toppings you desire

1. Heat 1 quart of water to boiling. Add the potato, and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until tender.
When potato is cool, grate on the large holes of a box grater. Measure 1 cup of lightly packed potato(save any extra for another purpose).

2. Combine 3 cups of flour, yeast, and salt in a mixer bowl. Add warm water and two tablespoons oil(the other four tablespoons are for oiling the pans), and beat for 1 minute. Add grated potato, and beat for another 2-3 minutes. Add enough remaining flour to make a manageable dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes, or until smooth and elastic, adding more flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Place dough in a bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise in a warm place for one hour.

3. Pour two tablespoon of oil into each of two round 9 inch cake pans. Tilt the pans to ensure even oil coverage.

Punch dough down and divide in half. Press each half into a 9 inch round, and gently place into the oiled pans. Cook’s says to let the dough rest for 10 minutes and then pat the dough up the sides of the pan. I have never been able to do this successfully(the oil makes the dough slide right back down!), but the pizzas have been fine.

4. Cover the dough with a wet tea towel, and let it rise for 30 minutes, or until soft and puffy. Meanwhile, place a pizza stone on the lower rack of the oven and heat the oven to 425 degrees. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can instead place a rimless baking sheet on the lower rack of the oven.

5. When the crusts have risen, poke them all over with a fork, and place them in the oven on top of the pizza stone or inverted baking sheet, and bake for 5-10 minutes(I usually do 10 minutes), or until lightly browned. This will help the dough to develop some structure so that the toppings won’t make it fall and go flat.

6. Take the pizzas out of the oven and add tomato sauce, cheese, and desired toppings. Bake on pizza stone or baking sheet for another 10-15 minutes or until cheese melts. I sometimes move the pizza stone to the middle rack of the oven for this, because I have problems with my crust getting too brown if I leave it near the bottom of the oven(my oven tends to be hotter at the bottom than at the top).

7. Move the pizzas to the top rack of the oven and bake for 5 minutes, or until cheese turns spotty brown. Use a knife to loosen the pizzas from the pans, and turn out onto a cutting board. Cut into wedges and serve.

Basic Rolls
A picture filled version with more text is here.

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon salt

2 packages(4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
4 1/4-4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1. Combine milk, sugar, butter, and salt in glass measuring cup or bowl. Microwave(or heat on stovetop) until the butter is melted and the mixture reaches 120-125 degrees.

2. Combine yeast and 2 cups flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add warm milk mixture and eggs and beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour and beat for an additional 2-3 minutes. Mix in as much of the remaining flour as you can by hand.

3. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let rise in a warm place for one hour.

4. Punch dough down, divide in half, and follow instructions below to shape the rolls.

Cloverleaves: Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Take half of the dough and divide it into 12 pieces. Cut each of these pieces in three(you will have 36 pieces). Roll each piece into a neat ball, and place three into each muffin cup.

Knots Grease a large cookie sheet. Take half of the dough and divide it into twelve pieces. Roll each into a 6 inch strip and tie into a loose knot. Place on greased cookie sheet.’

Rosettes Follow instructions for knots, but after tying the knot, tuck one end into the middle of the knot and one end underneath the knot to form a rosette shape.

5. Cover rolls and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.

6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool on wire rack.

English Muffin Bread

6 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 packages(4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
cornmeal for dusting pans

Combine 3 cups of all-purpose flour with the yeast, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a mixer bowl.

Heat liquids to 120-125 degrees(I do this in the microwave). Add warm liquids to dry ingredients in mixer bowl, and mix for 2 minutes. It will be rather runny at this point.

Add remaining flour and beat for two minutes. The dough should be quite thick at this point.

Spray two 9×5 inch loaf pans with nonstick spray and then sprinkle with cornmeal.

My recipe says to pour the dough into the pans, but this dough is way too thick to pour. I usually try to roughly divide it in two using a metal spoon, but I normally get it wrong and have to take some dough from one pan and put it in the other. You don’t have to worry about it being pristinely neat…the lumps and bumps will straighten themselves out as the dough rises. You do want the pans to have relatively equal amounts of dough, though, or the loaves will need different baking times.

Cover with a wet tea towel(the type of towel that is not fluffy!) and let it rise in a warm place for an hour.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Turn the loaves out of the pans and cool on a wire rack. Here’s what the finished product should look like.

Like English Muffins, this bread is at its best when it’s toasted and buttered(jelly is a good addition too). Because this dough has very little fat and sugar(which are preserving agents), it will only stay fresh for a few days on the countertop. It freezes well, though, so if you aren’t going eat it all promptly, it’s a good idea to put it in the freezer. We usually eat one loaf for dinner and then I freeze the other one to use on a busy day.