Monday, October 19, 2009

Game-Changing Pizza Dough

Peppers on pizza

It's official: I am now turning to Michelle for all of my yeasty dough endeavors. You might recall that it was Michelle's recipe that restored my faith in homemade hamburger buns. Now she's done it again, and this time it's pizza dough.

I've posted a recipe before--it's not worth linking to it now--but my feelings about it were lukewarm at best. What I really wanted was a chewy, substantial crust with great flavor and not too much bulk. I thought that I simply couldn't get it at home, at least not without building a dedicated pizza oven on my tiny little back patio. I was wrong.

Cheesy pizza

My problem was not the oven I was using (though I remain convinced that the very best pizza comes from those extra-hot ovens), but the dough. All that fuss over kneading, all that wondering whether I should use more oil or less, feeling like I couldn't make pizza on a weeknight unless I got home from work at 4pm: it's all over. Thanks to Michelle, I'm going the minimalist route from now on.

And I'm not kidding when I say minimalist. The ingredients in this recipe can be counted on one hand. The active time is under 10 minutes, and that includes the kneading. The paltry amount of yeast will draw one of your eyebrows inexorably upward. In short, apparently there's an inverse relationship between the complexity of a pizza dough recipe and the quality of the resulting dough. This is the easiest dough recipe I've ever used. It's also the best pizza I've ever made.

Pizza pizza!

And it's not just shrug your shoulders and say "yeah, I guess it's better." This is a whole new ballgame. If you've been looking for a good, chewy crust, give this one a try. Don't be put off by the small amount of yeast, by the seemingly insufficient mixing and kneading, or by the lack of rise in the dough before you bake it. The gluten develops beautifully as the dough rests--I was amazed at how thin I could stretch the dough without it tearing--and the edge of the crust will bake up with just enough rise to give it a nice feel as you sink your teeth into it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Once you've made your dough, once you've let it rest overnight or for two nights and you're ready to bake it into something delicious, you'll need a topping. I'm certainly not one to turn up my nose at a good, old-fashioned tomato sauce and cheese pizza, but sometimes I like to branch out into something new and different, maybe even new and extraordinary. And let's be honest: sometimes I'm helped along by having a lot of something in the fridge and wanting to enjoy it before it spoils.

Sweet peppers

Yes, it's a bowl of peppers. I confess I'm not very good at using peppers. Oh, I can cook them just fine, the question is what to do with them. It wasn't very long ago that I first started liking them at all, so I'm still building up my arsenal of recipes for the summer months, when I get them by the bagful in my weekly CSA share. I've latched onto a few solid keepers, and this is one of them.

This pizza comes from Chez Panisse Vegetables, and I could eat it for weeks. It is nothing more than peppers and onion, thinly sliced, tossed with herbs and a light vinaigrette. The result: sweet and tart, with a hint of bite from the onion, gathered together and grounded by the herbs. I'm often tempted to skip the pizza and eat the topping raw, as a salad, just so that I can enjoy it sooner. But the high heat of the oven brings out an extra layer of sweetness in the peppers, and they nestle so cozily into the cheese, that the pizza version is (so far) irresistible. Did I mention that the crust is pretty good, too?

Sweet pepper pizza

Sweet Pepper Pizza

Makes two 12-inch pizzas

Ingredients

  • 3 medium bell peppers of various colors, thinly sliced
  • 1 small or 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup parsley leaves, chopped
  • 1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 4 ounces mozzarella cheese
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Pizza dough for 2 pizzas (see below)

Directions

  1. If you have a pizza stone, place it in your oven. Preheat the oven to 450F to 500F (230C to 260C).
  2. Combine the peppers, onion, and herbs in a medium bowl.
  3. Pour the red wine vinegar and 1/4 cup of the olive oil over the pepper mixture, and toss to combine.
  4. Coarsely tear, grate, or even slice the cheese, and set aside.
  5. Mix the minced garlic with the remaining olive oil.
  6. If you are using a pizza stone, dust a peel with flour or fine cornmeal. Otherwise, sprinkle a large baking sheet with the flour or cornmeal. Roll or stretch half of the pizza dough to 12 to 14 inches in diameter, and place it on the peel (or baking sheet).
  7. Use your fingers or a pastry brush to brush the garlic oil over the dough. Don't be afraid to get some of the garlic bits on the dough, and make sure to leave a 1/2-inch border free of oil.
  8. Distribute half of the cheese over the dough, then top generously with the pepper mixture.
  9. Slide the pizza directly onto the pizza stone (or place the baking sheet in the oven) and bake for 4 to 6 minutes. The pizza is done when the cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown.
  10. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Serve immediately.

Notes

  • Variation #1: season the pepper mixture with thyme and either marjoram or oregano, rather than the basil and parsley; sprinkle the crust with crushed red pepper; and add chopped parsley prior to serving.
  • Variation #2: season the peppers with cilantro and julienned hot pepper (jalapeno or serrano), and garnish with lime juice and more cilantro.
  • Variation #3: if you're feeling very adventurous, use only spicy peppers rather than bell peppers. Slice the jalapenos crosswise, and marinated them in rice wine vinegar, salt, cilantro, and olive oil.


Pizza Dough

Makes enough dough for two 12-inch pizzas

Ingredients

  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons bread flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

  1. Place 3/4 cup warm water in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water, and stir to combine. Set the mixture aside for about 5 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, flour a baking sheet or other portable board and set it aside.
  3. Add the flour to the yeast mixture, sprinkle the salt on top, and stir gently with a wooden spoon until the ingredients start to come together. You can also do this in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, on low speed. It should take about 1 minute in the stand mixer.
  4. Once the ingredients have come together, increase the speed with which you beat the dough (turn the mixer up to medium), and beat for a couple of minutes.
  5. Finally, sprinkle a clean work surface with flour (not the baking sheet you prepared earlier), turn the dough out onto the board, and knead it gently with your fingers. There won't be enough dough to knead with the heel of your hand, so I find that fingers work best. The dough should be very moist, soft, and supple. Alternatively, turn the mixer up to high speed for 2 minutes.
  6. Divide the dough in half, and roll each half into a tight little round. Place the rounds on the prepared baking sheet, giving them several inches to spread out. Enclose the baking sheet inside a large plastic bag, and tie the bag loosely at the opening.
  7. Refrigerate the dough at least overnight, preferably for 2 nights. On the day that you make the pizza, pull the dough from the fridge about 1 hour before you intend to bake the pizzas, and leave it in a warm area.

Notes

  • This dough is quite moist, so a bench scraper is very helpful when handling it.
  • I have not had great success making multiple batches of this recipe at once, but that might be due in part to the fact that the one time that I tried, I crowded the balls of dough onto a too-small baking sheet. Give them plenty of space, otherwise they'll all smoosh together and you'll have a sticky mess on your hands.
  • If you are baking with a pizza stone, try to let your oven preheat for a good hour before you make the pizzas. Your crust will be better for it.
  • I like to turn on the broiler for the last minute or two of baking. I find that in my oven, at least, it results in better browning of the crust.


There's more...

Monday, October 12, 2009

Almost-healthy Apple Muffins

Whole wheat apple muffin

I mentioned recently that one of my strategies for using up a bunch of apples is to make muffins. Well, I have a confession to make: it's not actually a very good strategy, namely because making muffins doesn't really get you through that many apples. After all, there's only so much apple that you can pack into muffins without your muffins falling apart.

Apple pile

Yet this notion persists in my head (and I'm sure that it's completely in my head) that making muffins is a good way to use up apples. Not only good, but "better" for you than making something like a pie, which would of course use up even more apples than these muffins do. And it's silly, isn't it? A fruit pie, at least the way I make my fruit pies, isn't terribly unhealthy as far as desserts go. Oh, there's the crust, but it's not so bad; and the rest of the pie is simply fruit--maybe with some seasonings, but quite little added sugar or fat.

Muffins, on the other hand... Well, let's face it: they're essentially little bits of cake. We can tweak the ingredients all we want in various efforts to turn them into something healthy, but at heart they're bits of cake. Perhaps that's why I love them so.

Muffins cooling

That said, while these muffins are still, you know, muffins, they do have a couple of saving graces. First, they contain whole wheat flour. Now, whole wheat flour alone does not a health food make, but it does bump up the nutrition value at least a little bit. At least you're getting some vitamins and fiber along with your fat and sugar. The apples help with that, too.

Peeling apples

Second, thanks to their being deliciously dark and moist, they keep better than any other muffins I've made. Most muffins lose a lot of their luster by the second day, but these keep for three or four (or five) days, meaning that you can space out your indulgence over several days. That is, you can try to space it out.

Let me just say right now that I take no responsibility for what happens to your willpower after you taste these muffins. I typically think of whole wheat baked goods as heavy, perhaps tough, and not always very pleasant to eat. These muffins have blown away that particular notion. Honestly, I tend to forget that they have any whole wheat flour in them at all, and I bet you will, too. Of course, that assumes that you make them, but really, why wouldn't you?

Muffins cooling

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 generous tablespoon cinnamon (or to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed, divided
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk
  • 2 large apples, peeled (if desired), cored, and chopped

Directions

  1. Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 450F/230C. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, or grease and flour the cups.
  2. Whisk together the flours, the baking powder and soda, the salt, and the spices; set the mixture aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter until it is smooth and creamy. Add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and beat until the mixture is fluffy.
  4. Add the egg and beat well to combine, scraping down the bowl as needed.
  5. Stir in the buttermilk. If you over-mix it, the mixture might curdle, but I haven't found that to be a problem for the finished muffins.
  6. Gently stir in the dry ingredients until just combined, then fold in the chopped apples. The batter will be rather stiff, almost more like a very sticky dough.
  7. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. The cups will look like they have too much in them, but the batter should be stiff enough to hold its shape, and the muffins don't rise very much. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar over the top of the muffins.
  8. Bake at 450F/230C for 10 minutes, then decrease the oven temperature to 400F/205C and bake for a further 15-20 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
  9. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Notes

  • If you happen to have whole wheat pastry flour on hand, using 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour rather than the combination of all-purpose and regular whole wheat works fine. The resulting muffins are more delicate and might have less rise to them.
  • Batter tip: a spring-action ice cream scoop makes it easy to portion batter evenly.

There's more...

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Post-op Pudding

Double chocolate pudding

Tomorrow morning I will finally face the music. I've been listening to it (or rather feeling it) growing louder: six months ago it was pianissimo, but in the last week or so it ramped up to forte. I thought I was done with this particular concerto; but as it turns out, dentists are not infallible, and the two wisdom teeth my dentist said would never even descend did in fact come in. I suppose the technical term is "erupt," but that puts me a little too much in mind of cataclysmic explosions--not exactly what I want to think about on the eve of the surgery to have them out.

And that's what this is all about, this business of putting up a post about chocolate when I would otherwise be writing about apple muffins. (But fear not! That post is coming, probably next week.) In preparation for having a couple of teeth yanked, I have been all a bustle in the kitchen. Cool, soft food is the order of the day, so in addition to stocking up on ice cream, I've been making applesauce and pudding. Two kinds of pudding, actually: rice pudding and, as is probably obvious from that leading image, chocolate pudding.

Broken chocolate

I don't recall what made me think of chocolate pudding as good post-op fare; but as soon as it occurred to me, a switch was thrown, and it was all I could do not to rush home from work at that very moment to make it. I hadn't even decided on a recipe yet. I poked around a bit, and there are plenty of chocolate pudding recipes out there, but most of them didn't quite hit the spot. I wanted something creamy, slightly eggy, and richly chocolatey. Eventually I settled on a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that uses not only chocolate, but cocoa powder; not only milk, but cream; and three egg yolks. It sounded like it might fit the bill.

Eggs and chocolate

And indeed, it does fit the bill. Better than that, it's everything I was dreaming of in a chocolate pudding. The knowledge that I would be one very unhappy post-op patient if I ran out of pudding too quickly was the only thing that kept me from inhaling half of the batch before it ever made it into the little ramekins I had set out. I can't say that I'm looking forward to the having those teeth out tomorrow, but at least I'll have chocolate pudding waiting for me afterward.

Chocolate puddings

Double Chocolate Pudding

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated, March 1999
Makes 4-6 servings, depending on how greedy hungry you are

Ingredients

  • 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup cream
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Place your chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set it over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir it periodically until it is nice and smooth, then set aside to cool slightly.
  2. Sift together the cocoa, cornstarch, sugar, and salt, and place the mixture in a medium heavy saucepan. (Sift directly into the pan if you like.)
  3. Add the cream slowly, whisking constantly, and keep whisking until it is smooth. Add the yolks, whisk to combine, then whisk in the chocolate (gradually, if the chocolate is still very warm). Don't worry if the chocolate forms small lumps. They will smooth out as the pudding cooks.
  4. Set the pot over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly and being careful to scrape the bottom and sides of the pot, until the pudding thickens and darkens.
  5. Reduce the heat to medium-low, switch from a whisk to a wooden spoon, and stir the pudding gently as it keeps cooking. When the pudding coats the spoon thickly and reaches 200F/95C, it's done. This should take anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes.
  6. Place a fine mesh sieve over a medium bowl, and pour the pudding through the sieve. Use a rubber spatula to help it along.
  7. Stir in the butter and vanilla until the pudding is smooth. Serve the pudding warm or chilled.

Notes

  • If you chill the pudding, placing a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface will help prevent a skin from forming. The skin doesn't change the taste of the pudding, just the texture of the top layer.
  • If you can't find cornstarch, substituting flour should be fine. Just make sure that you cook it thoroughly so that the flour doesn't give the pudding a chalky feel.

There's more...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Finally feeling fall-ish

Jars

Well, it's about time. After more than a week of temperatures that felt better suited to the dog days of August than the first few days of fall, on Monday we finally got our first breath of fresh fall air. Stepping out of the office into a pleasant 70F afternoon, the air felt almost brisk. Well, brisk compared with the 90F days we've had recently.

This morning, even more so: the skies were overcast, and a breeze with aspirations of being a wind swept in cool air to replace the remaining warm. (You know fall is really starting to hit when the cats are at the window, transfixed by rustling, falling leaves.) By this afternoon, you could taste fall in the air, as if it were whispering, psst! I'm here.

Apples

And not a moment too soon. For a few weeks now I've been accumulating apples from my CSA share, and this weekend I reached a point where the word "overrun" was not an inaccurate description of my kitchen counter. Between my regular share and my extra fruit option, I get 12-18 apples per week, and even an apple a day won't make all those apples go away.

I needed to do something with them, something that would use up a bunch of apples at once and didn't involve making a lot of muffins. I love apple muffins, and in fact I've been meaning to put up a post with my new favorite recipe. But I can only make so many batches of apple muffins--even of the "they're whole wheat, so they're not quite as bad for you!" variety--before I start anxiously eyeing my waistline.

Cutting up apples

The problem, of course, was that it was still hot outside--or at least it was on Sunday, when I decided to take back my kitchen counter. I love my apples spiced, with cinnamon and cloves and allspice, and eating cozy spiced foods when it's hot outside just doesn't feel right. Get me far enough into September, though, with enough apples on my hands, and I get over my squirmy feeling about ill timed spiced apples. Weather be damned, it was (technically) fall and I was going to make my house smell like it.

Apple butter

And what better way to do that than with hours of slow cooking over low heat, with aromatic spices and fruit full of flavor? Applesauce is one thing--it's delicious, and it has its place. But for the slow cooking and the spices, it's all about apple butter.

This was my first time making apple butter, and I can't say that I'm disappointed. Not just with the results, which included making the house smell like everything that is good and delicious about fall, but with the fact that making apple butter turns out to be surprisingly easy. Did you know that you don't even have to peel and core the apples? Extra flavor hides in the peels, and extra pectin in the cores. You want both the flavor and the pectin, so you quarter the apples and cook them as they are. Brilliant!

Apples in pot

You'll need a food mill eventually, of course, as you don't want the peels or cores in the butter. And after the milling, all you need to do is cook and stir, cook and stir. Maybe you adjust the seasonings, and maybe you adjust the heat, but all it needs is a little attention every few minutes.

I do mean every few minutes, mind: you don't want it to scorch, and as it thickens it will be more prone to sticking and scorching. You definitely want to keep an eye on it, so this is not one of those recipes where you can get it going and then forget about it for a few hours. (Unless you use a crock pot.) It is a recipe that requires patience, perfect for a rainy day when you're entertaining yourself inside. Fix yourself a cup of tea, clear off a big table, and dig out a puzzle to work on as you tend the apples. I would say make sure you have some bread on hand so that you have toast for when you finish the apple butter; but in truth, there's no reason not to eat it with a spoon, straight out of the jar.

Apple butter

Apple Butter

Makes 2-3 cups

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds ripe apples, preferably ones that are good for cooking
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • whole or ground spices, to taste (cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger...)
  • sugar: 1/4 cup for each cup of pureed applesauce, or to taste

Special Equipment

  • food mill, chinois, or fine mesh sieve
  • canning jars and lids, if you intend to can the butter

Directions

  1. Fetch yourself a large, heavy pot. I find enameled cast iron well suited to this task.
  2. Rinse the apples well, taking care to remove any debris that you don't want in the butter. Cut them into quarters or eighths, depending on the size of the apples, and place the pieces in the pot.
  3. Add the lemon juice, about two cups of water, and any whole spices (if using), and bring the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer until the apples are fall-apart tender. Remove the pot from the heat and let cool slightly.
  4. When the apples are cool enough to handle, run them through the food mill (the finer the grate, the better). You might need to pass them through more than once in order to extract all of the applesauce.
  5. Measure the resultant applesauce and return it to the (cleaned) pot. Add the sugar, salt, and any ground spices, and stir to blend. Cook the applesauce over low heat, stirring very frequently, until it is very thick and wrinkles a bit when you push it around on a cold plate.
  6. If you are canning the apple butter, pack it while hot into clean, sterilized jars with approximately 1/2 inch of head space. Process the jars in boiling water, with the jars submerged by at least one inch, for 15 minutes.
  7. If you are not canning the butter, store it in the freezer or refrigerator.

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Monday, September 21, 2009

Summer goes out with a bang

Watermelon agua fresca

Fall might be just around the corner, but looking at the weather forecast around here, you wouldn't know it. Far from giving up without a fight, summer is hanging on like a bulldog with a juicy bone in what I can only hope is the last heat wave of the summer. Like many of you, I'm sure, I'm ready to trade in breezy skirts for wool trousers, and sleeveless tops for snug overcoats; but Mother Nature has other plans.

Halved watermelon

While there's not much we can do about those plans, we can at least make ourselves more comfortable until the winds change. Watermelon has a well deserved place in the pantheon of classic hot weather refreshments: cool, crisp, and juicy, it shines without any interference whatsoever. But if we're in the mood to take a good thing and make it even better--and let's face it, when it's nearing 100F outside I'll take all the "better" I can get--we can add some lime.

Stacked limes

You can squeeze a lime over slice of watermelon, of course, and for quick-and-easy, that's the way to go. (Plus, who doesn't love biting into a big piece of watermelon and feeling the juice dribbling down your chin?) But if you're looking for slightly more dignified, a tidier option (at least after the prep is done) is to take the watermelon, the lime, and anything else you want to include, and turn it all into something you sip. The Mexicans figured this out ages ago: they made aguas frescas, or "fresh waters," out of all manner of fruits and other foodstuffs. In the end, that's all this is: watermelon agua fresca, laced with lime and a hint of sugar.

I'm not going to write up a proper recipe this time, because the proportions are simply what you want them to be. You might like a lot of lime, or not much at all; plenty of sweetness, or perhaps a dash of salt. It's easy to adjust the flavors, so taste early and often. Unless you have a very small watermelon, you will probably have to do things in batches, which makes it easy to test out lime and sugar levels on a small scale before fully committing.

Quartered watermelon Watermelon agua fresca

For the first step, you'll likely want some sort of electric blender or food processor. Alternatively, you could do it by hand by pressing the watermelon chunks through a sieve, or perhaps gathering them up in a large piece of cheesecloth and squeezing until you've extracted all the liquid. (Now that I think about it, that method actually sounds like a lot of fun, if very messy indeed.) To keep things easy, though, I recommend a blender. Toss a bunch of watermelon chunks and their accumulated juices into the blender--maybe with a bit of water to get things moving--and blend until smooth.

Next up is the (slightly) tedious part: passing the watermelon liquid through a sieve to get rid of the tiny solid bits. It's a pain, but it makes for a cleaner final product--and if you're looking for a bright side, it's not as bad as passing pureed raspberries through a sieve. My watermelon, about 10-12 inches in diameter, yielded about four cups of juice. Your mileage may vary.

With juice in hand, the only thing left is to play with the flavors. You can use granulated sugar to sweeten your agua fresca, but I prefer to use simple syrup. Otherwise, you might have a hard time getting the sugar to dissolve in the cool liquid. To make simple syrup, place two parts sugar and one part water (by volume) in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, stirring often. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved, then let cool. You can store any unused syrup in a jar or bottle in the fridge; it keeps for quite a while.

Watermelon and lime

When it comes to lime, I tend to err on the side of more rather than less, but I adore lime and can't get enough of it. You might start with the juice of one lime for every two to three cups of juice, and work your way up from there. Add salt if you wish--I understand from the Suitor that salt on watermelon is a southern staple--but I confess I find the idea of a salty summer beverage a bit odd. (Unless you add tequila, in which case all bets are off.)

Typically the fruit juice for agua fresca is cut with water, so that it's more of a flavored water than a juice. Plain water does the job just fine, but I find that sparkling water (such as club soda or, if you prefer, mineral water) takes the "refreshing" factor and kicks it up a level or two. Either way, whether you use sparkling or still water, you'll have a drink that's brilliant for beating the heat--and giving summer a sweet sendoff.

Setup

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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Big Sur Burger Buns

Hamburger

Confession time: I like meat. Despite my awareness of the ethical and environmental problems of producing it, despite my efforts to eat less of it (largely successful, photographic evidence to the contrary notwithstanding), and despite my budget's plaintive pleas for me to get my protein from dirt-cheap beans rather than organic, sustainably and humanely raised animals, I like meat. In particular, I like hamburgers. They're not good for me, and they're not good for the planet, but taste buds don't lie.

Mindful of those truths, I typically indulge my appetite for hamburgers only when I have the quasi-justifiable excuse of feeling anemic, which works out to every few months and/or when I've just given blood. Last weekend it was the latter. At my local blood bank one has the option of giving not one unit of whole blood (red blood cells + platelets + plasma), but a double unit of only red blood cells. It's a pretty cool process, but I won't go into it for fear of driving away readers who might be squeamish. (Focus on the pretty pictures, people. Food! Pretty pictures!)

Hamburger buns (I)

Anyway, they were low on my blood type, so I did the double donation, the result of which was one exhausted and woozy blogger. Perfect time to be working with fire, right? Perhaps not, but in any case, burgers were on the menu. And where there are burgers grilling, there must be buns waiting.

There are plenty of hamburger buns to be had at the shops near me, ranging from eggy and fluffy brioche rolls to firmer, chewier ciabatta-like ones. Many of them are very good, but I haven't been satisfied with simply purchasing my hamburger buns. That's not to say that I wish to give up store-bought buns forever. After all, there are few things that take to being rushed more poorly than yeasted doughs, so when you're pressed for time, there's no shame in a good purchased bun. But I would at least like to demonstrate to myself that, given the time and the inclination, I can make a respectable hamburger bun.

Grilled hamburger buns

As it turned out, producing a satisfactory bun was more difficult than I thought it would be. Originally it was a Gourmet recipe that piqued my interest, but after reading about Deb's disillusionment, I was less enthusiastic. I turned to a recipe that several readers mentioned in the comments of that post, one from King Arthur Flour, and was promptly disappointed. My buns looked nothing like the ones in the picture; they were flat and insipid-looking, and the taste did not improve my opinion of them. A little while later, I went back to that Gourmet recipe (but for hot dog buns, not hamburger buns), and I was as unimpressed as Deb was*.

Now, keep in mind that I've never claimed to be particularly adept at yeasted doughs, so some of these failings might be down to me and not the recipes. If you've been longing to try either of those recipes, please don't let me be the one to dissuade you--you might have better luck than I did. But whether due to yeast-ineptness or mediocre recipes, this was starting to get frustrating.

Lettuce and sliced tomato

Then, just in time for my weekend burger plans--and just in time for Labor Day grilling, should any U.S. readers (or expats) have burgers on the mind--my mom reminded me about the hamburger bun recipe in our new favorite cookbook, The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook. Another confession: I have never actually eaten a hamburger at the Big Sur Bakery. All but one of my meals there have been for dinner, and the burger is only on the brunch and lunch menus. That said, 1) I have it on good authority that they are excellent, and 2) I have all the confidence in the world in Michelle's recipes. That was enough for me to try their hamburger bun recipe, so I refreshed my stock of yeast (the recipe calls for an eye-popping 1 1/2 tablespoons, or nearly 3 packets) and got to work.

First sign of success: this dough is a joy to work with. Okay, that doesn't necessarily presage a stellar finished product, but it does make me love this recipe that much more. Second sign: it rose beautifully. Not just the dough rising (which, let's be honest, probably had something to do with all that yeast), but the buns as they baked. They rose into a Goldilocks-approved not too flat, not too puffy bun with a lovely dome on top of a good-sized base. Sealing the deal were the baked buns' mild, pleasant flavor and soft-but-substantial crumb.

Hamburger buns (II)

If "mild and pleasant" sounds like damning with faint praise, let me explain. This is not a fancy, flashy bun. That's not the Bakery's style. Simple, down to earth food is their style--simple, down to earth food done really, really well. True to that ethos, this bun is a good, hearty, solid foundation on which to build your burger--whether your burger be meat- or veg-style. But I think it's obvious which style mine is.

Hamburger close-up

Big Sur Burger Buns

Makes 6 large buns, 7-8 smallish ones

Ingredients

  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast (from 3 packets)
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the bowl
  • 3 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions

  1. Warm the milk in small saucepan over low heat until it's a yeast-friendly 105-115F (40-45C), then turn off the heat, pour the yeast over the milk, and stir to combine. Set it aside for a few minutes, or until it's foamy.
  2. Meanwhile, use some of your spare softened butter to butter a large bowl, and set it aside.
  3. In another large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with half of the flour, and stir to combine. (If you're using a stand mixer, do this with the dough hook on low speed.)
  4. Once the mixture is relatively uniform, mix in the softened butter, then the sugar, salt, egg, and remaining flour. Beat (or turn the mixer up to medium) for a couple of minutes, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for a few minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. (Alternatively, turn the mixer up to high speed, and beat for another couple of minutes.)
  5. Place the dough in the greased bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, which should take 45 minutes to 1 hour.
  6. Turn the dough back out onto your floured surface, and divide it into 6-8 pieces, depending on how big you want your buns. Cover them with a kitchen towel while you take them one at a time and roll them into a neat little ball. Once you've rolled all of the pieces, let them rest under the towel for 10 minutes to relax the gluten.
  7. At the end of the 10 minutes, use a rolling pin to flatten the balls slightly into little rounds. They will expand during the second rising, so err on the small side. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place the rounds of dough on the parchment. Either cover the dough with a large sheet of plastic wrap or place the entire pan inside a large plastic bag and tie it closed. An oven bag works for this, if you have one, or simply a (clean) trash bag.
  8. Place the pan back in a warm spot, and let the buns rise until they've once again doubled in size. This should only take 30-45 minutes, so keep an eye on them.
  9. While they're rising, preheat the oven to 375F/190C
  10. Remove the plastic wrap or bag from the pan. Brush the buns with water and sprinkle them with sesame seeds.
  11. Bake the buns until they are puffed and golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.



* As it turns out, the ingredient lists for Big Sur Bakery recipe and the Gourmet recipe are virtually identical (the Gourmet recipe is simply twice the Bakery recipe), except for one key difference: the Bakery recipe uses nearly twice as much yeast. I also assembled the ingredients in a slightly different way, which also might have made a difference. Whatever the reason, the difference in the finished product was striking.

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Facing Down Eggplant

Pizza and olives

Remember a wee while back when I said I used to be a picky eater? Well, to be completely honest, I haven't outgrown all of my picky eater dislikes. I've gotten over the majority of them, but a few of them linger. Eggs are the biggest one, but not far behind them is eggplant.

Eggplant (I)

I won't go into all the reasons I dislike it--after all, this is a blog about liking food--I'll just say that overall, I try to steer clear. I can appreciate it aesthetically, and I'll grant that its smooth, shiny skin is pleasant to the touch. Eating it, however, is just not for me.

Olives on the patio

Of course, it's never that simple. In addition to the cold, harsh reality that sometimes we need to eat things that we don't much care for, just for the sake of politeness, there is the small matter of my weekly installment of the season's bounty. There are certain fruits and vegetables that my CSA farm doesn't grow, despite all my wishing that they would. Peas and tomatillos are among them; sadly, eggplant is not.

Eggplant (II)

Now that we're in high season for the fruit-bearing nightshades, alongside the tomatoes and peppers I'm getting eggplant. Fortunately for me, I have a mother who not only loves eggplant, but also lives close enough that I can dispense with the eggplant fairly easily. Still, I feel a duty to try, at the very least, one or two recipes to see if I can get myself to a point where I can use the eggplant myself--and hopefully even enjoy it. I've become a convert to the theory that you can like anything as long as it's prepared in the right way; surely there's an eggplant recipe out there that will win me over, right?

Sliced eggplant

So, when I saw this recipe in a recent issue of Gourmet, I flagged it. It's been my experience that sometimes a previously objectionable vegetable will become palatable when cooked with very high heat, and I was hoping that that would be the case with my eggplant. Rather than sauteing it, baking it, braising it, or what have you, this recipe calls for grilling it. And if there's any iffy fruit or vegetable that isn't improved by grilling, well, I haven't tried it yet.

Grilling eggplant

The grilling wasn't the only thing this recipe had going for it: it's pizza. Hard to go wrong, right? And it's grilled pizza, to boot. (You could, of course, do it in the oven if grilling isn't an option.) Toss in some cheese, some olives, and some garlicky olive oil, and I was on board.

Olives
Pouring olive oilSwirling oil with garlic

If you've never grilled pizza before, or even if you have, it can be a little scary. Perhaps "thrilling" is a better word. Ordinarily, making pizza is a straightforward affair that involves, at its most complicated, sliding the prepared pizza from a peel to a pizza stone, and back again once it's cooked. Everything's flat, everything's solid, and unless you're a little overzealous in the jerking motion you use to transfer the dough to the stone, it's hard to lose the dough along the way.

Fire

On the other hand, when you grill pizza, it's a bit more hair-raising, or at least it is for me. I have this constant fear that I'm going to drop the dough either wholly or partially down through the grill grate, and that it will be ruined in any number of different ways. Covered in ash, burned and blackened, misshapen, and so on. At first I figured that I'd approach it the way I do pizza in the oven: prepare the dough on the peel, and slide it quickly (hopefully effortlessly and perfectly) onto the grill. What could go wrong?

Dough squishGrilled pizza doughBrushing oil on pizza dough

Well, I realized that I had to brush one side of the dough with oil and put the dough on the grill with the oiled side facing down, that's what. So much for my effortless sliding. In the end, I put the dough on the peel (not before shaping it beautifully and oiling it on a different board, necessitating an awkward transfer to the peel and resulting in the loss of the beautiful shape) and in one determined-but-not-quite-fearless motion, flipped it over, oiled side down, onto the grill. Success! I don't have a picture of the dough on the grill, but trust me, it worked perfectly. Nothing slipped through the cracks, it was aligned directly over the coals, and I was on my way to grilled pizza.

Pizza

Not just that, I was on my way to a good grilled pizza. You know what? Grilled eggplant isn't half bad. My faith in the principles of "anything's okay if you cook it right" and "everything's better with high heat" remains intact. It's a curious combination--the smoky eggplant, the briny olives, and the slightly nutty provolone--but somehow it works. I wouldn't say that this is my favorite pizza ever, but it's one I'll make again.

What foods have you had trouble convincing yourself to like? Are there particular recipes that helped you like them? Please share!

Dinner

Grilled Eggplant, Green Olive, and Provolone Pizza

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 2 medium or 1 large clove of garlic, minced
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 1/4 pound eggplant, cut into rounds 3/4-inch thick
  • 1 pound pizza dough, store-bought or homemade (see note), at room temperature
  • 5 ounces grated provolone cheese
  • 1/3 cup coarsely chopped pitted green olives (about 12-18 olives, depending on size)
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
  • salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

  1. Prepare your grill for medium, direct heat. The coals are ready when you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grill grate for 3-4 seconds.
  2. Combine the garlic and olive oil in a small bowl, and stir together.
  3. Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with garlic oil, and sprinkle them with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
  4. Place the eggplant slices on the grill. Cover the grill and cook the eggplant, turning once, for 6-8 minutes, or until tender and browning. Transfer the slices to a plate and, when cool enough to handle, cut them into rough 1-inch pieces.
  5. Roll or stretch the dough (see note) into a rectangle approximately 12 by 10 inches on a large baking sheet or a pizza peel. Brush it with with the garlic oil.
  6. Flip the dough onto the grill so that the oiled side is facing down. Brush the top of the dough with more of the garlic oil, then cover the grill. Cook the dough until the underside is beautifully golden, about 2-3 minutes (start checking after 1 1/2).
  7. Use some long tongs to transfer the crust back to your baking sheet or peel, grilled side up. Brush it with a bit more oil, then scatter the cheese, olives, eggplant, and parsley over it.
  8. Slide the crust back onto the grill (topped-side up, obviously), cover, and cook a further 3 minutes or so, until the underside is golden and the cheese is nice and melted.
  9. Transfer to a cutting board, slice, and serve.

Notes

  • This recipe is a fairly good basic pizza dough. It's easy, it's reliable, and I think it tastes pretty good. The dough is even better the next day--it's easier to work with and has better flavor--so don't hesitate to make it a day or two ahead of time. You could even mix it up before work and just let it rise in the fridge until you get home!
  • When shaping the dough, I find that it's easiest to get the dough started with a rolling pin, and then switch to stretching it by hand. I hold it near the edges and work my hands along the edge, so that it stretches under its own weight. It develops a flat bed and a nice swell of a crust.

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