Near Perfect Pizza Dough!

I call this "near" perfect because everyone's tastes are subjective. But this recipe makes a darned good one!

I've never liked homemade pizza for one simple reason, the crust always sucked. I happened to be channel surfing with my (then) 3 year old son one afternoon, and he told me to stop when he saw Emeril. Yeah, I think my boy's gonna be a chef someday. Emeril was showing how to make this pizza crust, and whaddya know, it works! I've been using this one for a couple years now. I've also been tweaking it here and there to get it just the way I like it. I'll just give you the basic recipe and then tell about the adjustments I made after that.

First:
1 cup hot water (between 105 and 100 degrees [F])
1 package, or 1 tsp of quick rise yeast
1 tsp sugar
stir together in a small bowl and let the yeast activate for 10 minutes. You'll see that it will begin to get foamy.

Then:
in a mixer (I use a Cuisinart) put in
1.5 cups of flour
1 TBS olive oil
1 tbs salt

Add the activated yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and mix (With the Cuisinart's "K" attachment) until smooth.

(Then switch to the Cuisinarts "dough" attachment and) add
1.5 cups of flour
slowly to the mixture. When it's all in there, turn up the mixer to a somewhat high speed and mix for about 3 minutes more. You may have to add a little more water or flour to get the consistency right. You don't want it too dry where the flour doesn't all absorb. You don't want it too wet where it's sloppy. It should be all together and just a tiny bit sticky. Nothing should be sticking to the sides of the bowl.

Smear 1 TBS olive oil in a large bowl (I use the same cuisinart bowl. Why dirty up another one?) and place the dough ball in it. Roll it around to get it all covered in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm, quiet place for 90 minutes. I use a slightly warm oven. BE CAREFUL! You're shooting for an oven temperature of about 110 degrees to start. Then just keep the oven off, with the temperature slowly decreasing over the course of the 90 minutes. I've found that the yeast really likes the slightly warmer than room temp. to keep working. If you start off at more than 110 degrees the yeast die off because it's too hot.

After 90 minutes, the dough will have just about doubled in size. Place it on a well floured surface and LIGHTLY punch down. Let the dough rest again for 10 minutes. At this point you can spin or roll the dough into whatever shap you want (square, round, oval, whatever). Add your toppings and bake at 475 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

I have used this recipe for all sorts of pizza crust: Round, Square, deep-dish, thin, calzones, stromboli...

For calzones, don't use sauce. Add all your toppings, carefully fold it over to make a "pizza pocket" and press down the edges to seal. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Have warm sauce on the side for dipping.

For stromboli, you can use sauce (traditional) or you can have it later on the side for dipping (I like that better because it's not as sloppy an end result, and besides, my kids like to dip!) , your choice. Basically, make a pizza and roll it into a "loaf". Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

I've found that a 100% whole wheat crust is really difficult to pull off. It's just too heavy and doesn't rise very well. The best "straight up" whole wheat crust I've been able to make has been a 50-50% mixture of whole wheat and white flour.

I also have ben experimenting with corn flour and gluten flour. Corn flour adds a nice flavor but it's lack of gluten destroys the texture and elasticity of the dough. It can't stick together and falls apart. Gluten flour is great because it adds sooo much protein to the dough, but it tends to make the dough TOO elasticky (is that a word?), making the dough difficult to shape into a large enough pie. You'll stretch out the dough to cover the pan, and you can just watch the dough shrink right back down to the original size of the dough ball.

I also have been experimenting with adding nutritional yeast to the dough to give it more protein and B vitamins, as well as imparting a great parmesan cheese-like flavor.

If you are going to substitute any of the flour quantity with corn flour or nutritional yeast, you'll have to also substitute into the recipe some gluten flour, at a 2:1 ratio. Example: This recipe calls for 3 cups of flour. Substituting 1/2 cup nutritional yeast, you will also need to substitute in 1 cup gluten flour, with 1 and 1/2 cups of white or whole wheat flour remaining.

Wine Pairing

Does red wine go with a tofu stir fry? I'm using red miso... Oh well, after a couple glasses, it won't matter anyway.

Vegan Ricotta... Outstanding!

This is simply an awesome substitute for ricotta made out of tofu. Use it in lasagna, manicotti, or whatever else you like. It's so close to the real thing even your staunchest carnivores will have a hard time figuring out it's vegan.

Ingredients
1 pound firm tofu, pressed
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
handful fresh basil leaves, chopped fine
dash fresh black pepper

Directions
You should first press the tofu. Place the block of tofu in a pan, pie plate, or shallow/wide bowl, and place something else similar on top. Add a few pounds on top and let it sit. I use two pans and an old 10 pound dumbell plate on top, but whatever you have handy will work. After about 20 minutes you'll see that about a 1/2 cup or so of the juice has been pressed out of the tofu.

In a large bowl, mush the pressed tofu up with your CLEAN hands, until it's crumbly.

Add lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper and basil. Squeeze through your fingers repeatedly until it reaches the consistency of ricotta cheese. May take 2-5 minutes.

Add olive oil, stir with fork. Add nutritional yeast and combine all ingredients well. Cover and refigerate until ready to use.

Use this instead of ricotta filling in your favorite Italian dishes. It's simply outstanding, really!

You Get What You Order

Our oldest, Miss Prima is a remarkably old soul. She can sometimes see through the most complex, grown-up situation and boil it down to the simplest terms.

Tonight, as I was tucking her into bed, she began to explain to me how some kids in her class were giving her grief about her continued belief in Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy. We went round in circles for what seemed like hours about how God only makes people because he loves them, about how He came up with the concept of free choice. He created this world, and all of us because he wants us to love him back, but he doesn't want to force us. Otherwise, how would he be able to decide who gets to go to heaven or not? If someone chooses not to believe in Santa Claus et al, then I guess they will no longer be visited by said same. Hey, it's their loss in the long run.

I was wrapping up my "sermon" when her light bulb clicked on. "Oh, you get what you order in life!", which has been something we've been trying to teach her for what seems like forever. "Yes!", I replied, "You do!"

She went on, "If you believe that the Tooth Fairy is nothing but some guy in a tutu, then that's all you're gonna get: Some guy in a tutu."

"Yes, dear. You're absolutely right."

Earthlings

I watched this documentary the other day. It has changed my life.



I simply can no longer be a part of a food chain that condones the abuse and downright torturous treatment and slaughter of God's defenseless, innocent creatures.

Whatever your belief system is, whatever your opinions on how the universe was created, or who, if anyone, was behind it all, I believe we all have the same general idea about it. The differences lie in the details that fit one's own version. I personally believe that a Supreme Perfect Being had a hand in creation, that it was "His" idea and doing in the first place that got this whole thing rolling. Where we went from there, or how long it took us to get here is anybody's guess. Insert your own belief system in there, trace your own path, but it's pretty clear to me that we all end up in the same place. We're on this big blue-green marble spinning around in space TOGETHER, and probably for a reason.

I believe that the overwhelming majority of religious and even spiritual belief systems have two central tenets in common: 1) There is something/someone "out there" that is bigger and better than us, and everything is a result of his/her/it's will. 2) We should be excellent to each other.

Even if you believe that the universe and everything in it was created simply by some random, massive, complicated chain of physical and chemical reactions, I don't know of anyone who will disagree with #2.

That's what I'm stuck on after viewing this documentary. I don't see the way we treat animals as "being excellent to them". Now, having my beliefs steeped in Judeo-Christianity, I do believe that humans have been purposely elevated to a higher position. (You may not, and that's fine for you.) I believe that along with our higher status, as well as our right to use the animals, vegetables, and minerals God has put at our disposal, comes a higher level of responsibility to be caretakers. Get it? TO "TAKE CARE". We, as a species, have completely failed in this responsibility. Sure the others are "lesser" species. I do not intend to convey upon them the same rights as humans, but being sentient (they feel pain, they are conscious of their own existence, they are aware) means that they do have some rights, in my book. They have the right to exist, to live (even if it's just to be our food) , but also to be treated with diginity and care.

I don't wish to tell anyone that they should no longer eat meat, or wear leather, or use animal products at all. I can't make you do that. Even if I were in a positon to, I would never mandate you do. What I do respectfully implore you to do is to take a serious evaluation of your principles, of your morality. Ask yourself "Is this right? Is this fair?" I answered "no" on both counts, in case you haven't already figured it out.

From this point forward, when it comes to food and sharing of recipes on this blog, they will mostly be of the vegetarian, even vegan variety. Truthfully, I will probably not go completely vegan myself. I will probably continue to eat meat and consume animal based products like dairy and eggs. I will make sure however, that what I do eat is as cruelty free as possible. There are ways, I've checked. I'll be sharing this with you in later posts. I think that there are many more people out there who would choose to go that route but are reluctant because they don't know how to prepare a lifetime's worth of meals without meat. I've done some checking, and let me tell you, you'd be amazed at what's out there. I must warn you that it will take more thought, planning and effort to cook and eat this way, but I think the end result will be worth it.

Dog Tricks

Me, to the family dog: "Here, girl! Sit for the cookie! Sit! Sit!"

Our dog, a dachshund: "I AM sitting!"

Fried Gluten Flour Steaks

Sounds strange, doesn't it? Obviously, those of you who are allergic to gluten, this recipe is not for you. The others should definitely check this out. This is an excellent meat substitute, super high in protein, and very low in carbs. The only fat comes from the oil you fry the pieces in. This will make a pretty big batch, filling a 9 x 13 baking dish with little finished gluten "steaks". It may seem like a lot, especially this being a brand new recipe for you. But don't worry, if you're kids are anything like mine, they'll gobble it all up, and you won't have very much for very long!

You'll need to find gluten flour. You can get it at most vegetarian/health sections of your local supermarket, or at a more organic, health food store. You might even be able to find it in the bulk food bins, check around. It's much more expensive than regular flour, so it's worth shopping for the best price. Gluten is simply the protein half of the wheat kernel. It is generally used as an additive to doughs made with low-gluten flour, such as rye flour, to give them elasticity they can't muster on their own.

You can eat these steaks "as-is", add various gravies, or you can even make a vegetarian chicken parmesan by topping with cheese and marinara sauce.

3 cups gluten flour
1 pkg onion soup mix
1/3 McKay's Chicken Seasoning (again, to be found in a health food or organic section. I don't know of any other brand of seasonings that'll work, so if you can't find McKay's, I don't know what to tell you. I guess you're on your own!)
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup white flour
Mix all above dry ingredients

add 3 cups water and mix very, very well, probably by hand at the end. make sure there are no lumps. You're making a big batch of dough, basically.

divide into several long tube-like sections,

cut off pieces and press into little steaks

boil pieces in the following broth for 45 minutes:
6quarts water
1/3 cup Mckay's seasoning
1 pkg onion soup mix

once that's done, dredge pieces in flour (or a flour and bread crumb mixture) and pan fry in vegetable, canola or olive oil until golden brown.

You can let the pieces cool between boiling and frying. I've heard you can even freeze the boiled peices and fry them later, but I've always just done the whole batch.