Daring Bakers: Dutch Crunch Bread

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This month I was confronted by my fear of bread baking with this Daring Bakers challenge.  Thankfully it was a successful baking experience that resulted in a tasty sandwich and picnic lunch with my little family.

Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread!

I had never heard of dutch crunch bread.  One of the reasons I really like being a part of Daring Bakers is the exposure I get to foods in other countries and other regions of the U.S. that I would have otherwise gone my whole life without knowing anything about. Making this bread made me want to go try the real thing sometime.  Whenever I find myself in Northern California I will make sure to keep an eye out for it.

We were given a couple of bread recipes to use as the vehicle for the dutch crunch topping.  I chose a simple soft white bread that I made into rolls.  The dough was so easy, smooth and lovely.  It made me really happy.  And that makes me a little weird, I know.

The topping struck me as strange when I mixed it up and did not look like the recipe said it should.  As I spread it (or tried to) on top of the risen rolls I had some serious doubts.  But they baked up beautifully and the topping lived up to its title of dutch crunch, but wasn’t striped like it should have been.  The topping adds great visual appeal and texture to the finished product.  I realized in rereading this recipe that I should have added more water to my topping to make it less stiff and easier to spread.  I used most, but not all of the topping.  Turns out I should have made half a recipe of the topping since I was only making 6 rolls!  I promise that I really do read a recipe all the way through before I start cooking, but sometimes I miss things.  Can I blame pregnancy brain for this even if it happened before I was pregnant?  Luckily there was no harm done and my kitchen didn’t explode as a result of my oversights.

Rolls Before Baking

My sandwich was not exactly one-of-a-kind, but it was simple and good.  Honey ham, white cheddar, whole grain mustard, mayo and spring mix.  I wrapped them up in parchment, packed them in my rarely utilized picnic basket along with some other goodies and picked Ben up from work last Friday and we had a nice family picnic in the park.  So even though the sandwich wasn’t groundbreaking, the experience was really wonderful.  Why don’t we picnic more often?

Below are the recipes for the bread and the topping.  Here is the link to the pdf with more detailed instructions.  Other than the rice flour (which was not hard to find at my well stocked HEB in Houston) you will have most of these ingredients or be able to get them easily.  The rolls I might make again and divide into 8 or 10 because some of the sandwich rolls I ended up with were really massive.  Thanks, Sara and Erica!

Dutch Crunch Topping

Can be halved for the roll recipe below.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons (2 packets) (30 ml) (15 gm/½ oz) active dry yeast
  • 1 cup (240 ml) warm water (105-115º F) (41-46°C)
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) salt
  • 1½ cups (360 ml) (240 gm/8½ oz) rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or glutinous rice flour) (increase by 1 cup or more for home-made rice flour)
Directions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk; beat hard to combine. The consistency should be like stiff royal icing – spreadable, but not too runny. If you pull some up with your whisk, it should drip off slowly. Add more water or rice flour as necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.
  2. Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. We tried coating it with a brush but it worked better just to use fingers or a spoon and kind of spread it around. You should err on the side of applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.
  3. Let stand, uncovered, for any additional time your recipe recommends. With the Soft White Roll, you can place the rolls directly into the oven after applying the topping. With the Brown Rice Bread, the loaves should stand for 20 minutes with the topping before baking.
  4. When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Cruch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.

Soft White Rolls

Makes 6

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon (1 packet) (15 ml) (7 gm/ ¼ oz) active dry yeast
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) warm water (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (No need to use a thermometer – it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch).
  • 1 cup (240 ml) warm milk (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (We’ve tried both nonfat and 2%, with no noticeable difference)
  • 1½ tablespoons (22½ ml) (20 gm/ ⅔ oz) sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil (plus additional olive or vegetable oil for greasing bowl during rising)
  • 1½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (9 gm/⅓ oz) salt
  • Up to 4 cups (960 ml) (600 gm/21oz) all purpose flour

Directions

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer or large mixing bowl, combine yeast, water, milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit for about 5 minutes (The mixture should start to bubble or foam a bit and smell yeasty).
  2. Add in vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Using the dough hook attachment or a wooden spoon, mix at medium speed until the dough comes together.
  3. Add remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, as shown in the photo below (For us, this usually required an additional 1½ to 2 cups of flour).
  4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
  5. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled
  6. Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 6 equal portions (if you’d like to make rolls) or 2 equal portions (if you’d like to make a loaf) (using a sharp knife or a dough scraper works well). Shape each into a ball or loaf and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (try not to handle the dough too much at this point).Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.
  7. Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping as described above. While the original recipe recommends letting them stand for 20 minutes after applying the topping, I got better results by putting them directly into the oven.
  8. Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated moderately hot 380ºF/190°C/gas mark 5 for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.

 

Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

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It is hard to cook for two.  This meal was yet another reminder of that fact.  After the two of us had one big (for Ben) and two small (for me) servings of this chicken tikka, it didn’t look like we’d even touched the stuff.  We will be eating this for days, and I mean that in a very good way.  I really enjoyed this and have had no problem eating it as leftovers.  Make sure to leave the jalapeno in with whatever you need to refrigerate.  This tastes even better the next day.

This recipe is from Tasty Kitchen.  I used 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts and will use 5 or 6 next time to accommodate for the large amount of yummy sauce.  The original recipe says that it serves 6, but I think it could easily serve 8.

I couldn’t find garam masala, so I made my own.  If you have a grocery store that sells spices in bulk I would recommend buying some of these spices that you don’t use very often in smaller amounts to cut the cost a bit.  I had a jar of ground cardamom already, but a new jar was going to set me back $9.00 so I’m glad I had it.  This is what I used for the garam masala.  It was exactly 3 tablespoons, so it’s perfect for this recipe.

Garam Masala

Mix together the following spices.  Use or store in a sealed container.

  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

The only thing I didn’t enjoy about making this meal was all the ginger I had to grate.  I do love fresh ginger, and so there was no way I was going to use less than it called for.  But peeling and grating a 3 inch piece of ginger is not a task I took forward to repeating.  But since I will be making this again, I will be peeling and grating all that ginger yet again.  You can finely chop it, but I think grating it in this recipe is a better choice because then you don’t get little pieces of ginger.  If you don’t have a microplane grater, chop it as finely as you can.  If you do grate it, watch your fingertips!  Those graters are sharp.

Other than using chicken breasts and making my own garam masala, I followed this recipe exactly.  I do think you could use less cream at the end, maybe 3/4 of a cup.  But I wouldn’t eliminate it completely.

I served this with white rice, green peas and these pita bread.  Choose just one starch if you’d like, but make sure you have at least one of them to soak up the sauce.  It is delicious.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

From The Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

Chicken

  • 9 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs
  • 1 Tablespoon Ground Coriander
  • 1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
  • 1 cup Yogurt
  • 3-4 Tablespoons Butter
  • 1 whole Jalapeno Pepper, Stem Removed, Pepper Pierced Several Times With A Sharp Knife
Sauce
  • 4 Tablespoons Butter
  • 1 whole Large Onion, Peeled And Diced
  • 6 cloves Garlic, Peeled And Minced
  • 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
  • 3 Tablespoons Garam Masala
  • 1 piece Fresh Ginger, About 2-3 Inches, Peeled And Grated
  • 4 cups Crushed Tomatoes
  • 1 Tablespoon Raw Sugar (can Substitute White Granulated If Necessary)
  • 2 teaspoons Cornstarch Or Cleargel
  • 1-½ cup Heavy Cream
Serving
  • Hot Buttered Rice And Peas
  • Chopped Fresh Cilantro

Directions

  1. Cut the chicken into 1- 1 1/2 inch pieces. Sprinkle the coriander, cumin and salt over the chicken, then stir in the yogurt until all the pieces are evenly coated. Cover lightly and let sit for 10 minutes before proceeding.
  2. Melt 1 tablespoon the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Raise the heat to medium high and quickly brown about 1/4 to 1/3 of the chicken. Transfer browned chicken to the slow cooker as it is finished, using 1 tablespoon of butter per batch, and repeat until the chicken is all in the slow-cooker. Throw the pierced jalapeno in on top of the chicken.
  3. Prepare the sauce. Return the pan to the heat and melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the onions, garlic, and kosher salt, then stir. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to lightly brown around the edges.
  4. Stir in the garam masala and ginger and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute) before raising the heat to high and adding the crushed tomatoes and raw sugar. Stir well, scraping the caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan, and bring to a boil. Pour over the chicken in the slow-cooker.
  5. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours, or until the chicken is very tender.
  6. Use a fork or whisk to stir the cornstarch or cleargel into the heavy cream until smooth. Pour into the slow-cooker and stir gently until the colour is even. Replace the lid and let cook for 10 minutes or until bubbly around the edges.
  7. Serve over hot rice and peas, topped with a generous amount of chopped cilantro.

Easy Pita Bread

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Indian food is one of those things I rarely if ever make at home, unless it’s “Indian spiced” or something that only tastes something like Indian food but is nothing like the palak paneer, tikka masala, samosas or naan you can get from your favorite Indian restaurant.  Last night I made Indian food.  I tried a chicken tikka masala recipe in the slow cooker and it turned out to be pretty tasty.  As it was cooking I realized I’d forgotten bread at the store.  So, I decided to make my own.

I know I should have made naan.  I know that pita is typically not served at Indian restaurants, but that naan or roti are the breads on the menu.  But as I started looking for recipes, pita just seemed simpler, and I desperately needed something simple.  This recipe is from an about.com article about Middle Eastern Food.  Here is the link.

The dough had me in doubt from the very beginning.  It never came together or pulled away from the sides of the bowl, so I had to add more flour.  After adding about 1/2 cup I deemed it worthy to come out of the mixer and start rising.  Still incredibly sticky.  I managed to get it safely into its bowl, covered and ready to rise, but had to do some serious hand and fingernail scrubbing to get the sticky dough cleaned up.  It rose nicely but still looked sticky, so I floured my surface very generously.  Good thing, because I still needed to have my flour jar close at hand while I rolled out the dough into a long rope and then as I rolled the 10 pita breads.

After that though, the baking was a breeze and the results were rewarding and well worth the messy hands.  I would try this recipe again with more flour from the outset, but not too much.  You can always add flour as you’re rolling out your dough, but you can’t take it away.

Pita dough balls before rolling.

 Puffed pitas in the oven. 

The only special tool you may need is a pizza stone.  You can use a regular baking sheet, but at high temps a pizza stone is the best choice.

I am thrilled about the fact that these came out so well!  Ben will tell you that I commented on this more than once last night during dinner.  A package of pitas, while convenient, isn’t nearly as yummy or as cheap as these guys.  Another benefit is that since these are hand rolled you have a much more exciting variety of shapes than those boring circles you get in the package!

Easy Pita Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 package yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
  • 3 1/2-4 cups flour (plus more for dusting)
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup warm water

Directions

  1. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.
  2. Combine flour and salt in large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Make a small well in the middle of the flour and pour yeast water in the well.
  3. Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until elastic.
  4. Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes OR mix on medium speed until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, it has been successfully kneaded.  (This may not quite happen for you, add a bit more flour but you can just transfer it to the bowl to rise, it will be fine.)
  5. Coat large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated.
  6. Allow to sit in a warm place, covered with a clean towel for about 3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
  7. Once doubled, roll out in a rope, and pinch off 10-12 small pieces. Place balls on floured surface.  Let sit covered for 10 minutes.
  8. Preheat oven to 500°F and make sure rack is at the very bottom of oven. Preheat your pizza stone in the oven.
  9. Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.
  10. Bake 3 circles at a time for 4 minutes until the bread puffs up. Turn over and bake for 2 additional minutes.
  11. Remove each pita with a spatula from the stone and add additional pitas for baking. Take spatula and gently push down the puff.  Keep baked pitas covered with a clean towel while you bake the rest.

Curried Chicken and Rice Soup

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This is a great meal if you’re looking for a nice alternative to chicken noodle soup.  This hearty chicken and rice soup is flavorful, loaded with veggies and has a nice crisp flavor thanks to the fresh herbs and lemon juice added at the end.  The curry isn’t overwhelming, but gives the soup a nice spice that makes it a unique chicken soup.  It’s great with the herbs and lemon.

We really enjoyed what was most likely the last hot soup we’ll have for a while.  I have a feeling that the weather is just not going to get cool enough for soup until October or November.  Oh, Houston.  If you live somewhere that is still experiencing or expecting a cool and rainy day, take advantage of it and give this soup a try.

I used this recipe from the Food Network kitchens as my starting point for this soup and then changed a few things to create a soup that had more of the things I like.  I’m sure it’s still great without the changes I made.  I added more carrots and celery, more broth, more rice, pureed only some of the soup instead of all of the rice mixture, added spinach and put lemon juice right in the soup instead of serving it with lemon wedges.  I also changed the cooking method a bit by doing it all in one pot instead of cooking the soup base and rice separately.

Since this was my first time to make this and I was kind of figuring it out as I went, I didn’t measure exactly how much broth and water I used.  Luckily, you can add as much or as little liquid as you want near the end of the cooking to get the consistency you want in this soup.  When I reheated this soup last night for dinner I added a little more broth since it had thickened up overnight in the fridge.  Soups are so forgiving, one of the many reasons I love them.

To make getting this meal on the table quicker and easier cook the chicken ahead of time and refrigerate it, or shred a rotisserie chicken.  If you do this, you will still need all the chicken broth and water called for below.  Slice the onion and chop the carrots and celery and store them in baggies or containers, the onion should be in its own container since it goes in before the carrots and celery.  You can chop the herbs and store them as well, but I think they lose some of their flavor if they are chopped too far in advance.  I’d recommend chopping them while the rice is cooking, but I doubt there would be much difference in flavor if they sat in the fridge for a few hours, just make sure to store them in covered containers to keep them from drying out.

Curried Chicken and Rice Soup

Adapted from Food Network Magazine

Ingredients

  • 2 bone-in chicken breast halves, skin removed
  • 5-6 cups low sodium chicken broth, divided
  • 4-5 cups water, divided
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
  • kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 large carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch coins
  • 4 large celery stalks, cut 1/2 inch slices (you may want to halve the stalks if they are very large)
  • 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 cup white rice
  • 3-4 ounces baby spinach leaves (left whole or roughly chopped)
  • 3 tablespoons chopped dill
  • 3 tablespoons chopped mint
  • 1 large lemon, juiced

Directions

  1. In a large pot, heat 3 cups of water and 3 cups of broth over medium heat.  Once liquid starts to simmer, add chicken breasts, a pinch of kosher salt, peppercorns and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil, cover, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
  2. Remove chicken from broth and let cool until you can handle the chicken and shred it.  Strain the bay leaves and peppercorns out of the broth and set the broth aside.
  3. In a large saucepan or dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat.  Add the onions, sugar and a pinch of salt.  Cook, stirring frequently, until onions begin to soften.  Add carrots and celery and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
  4. Add curry powder, stir and cook for 1 minute.  Add the rice, stir and cook for about 2 minutes, then add 3 cups of the reserved broth.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.
  5. After rice is cooked, take about 2 cups of the soup and puree it in a blender or food processor until smooth.  Add it back to the soup along with the chicken.  At this point you can add more liquid to achieve the consistency you’d like in your soup.  I added equal amount of broth and water, probably a cup of each to start with, but you can do what looks right to you.  More broth for a soupier soup, less broth for a more stew-like soup.
  6. With heat on medium low, stir in spinach and herbs.  Let simmer for 5-10 minutes until spinach is wilted down.
  7. Stir in lemon juice.  Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Rainbow Cake

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  And happy birthday to my sweet niece Maren who is having a great 2nd birthday party in Brooklyn today that we are sadly not attending.  My parents will be there to help celebrate the big day with my sister’s family.  Happy Birthday, Maren!

We don’t really do St. Patrick’s Day, but I was seeing so many fun rainbow and pot o’ gold crafts, snacks and baked goods on blogs and on Pinterest that I just had to make this rainbow cake.  I’d originally seen rainbow cakes in layers, which I think is so beautiful and orderly.  But I do not have enough cake pans of the same size, nor do I have the patience and willingness to make 3 cakes, then wash and dry the pans and make 3 more.  So I found this rainbow cake on Hostess with the Mostess who links to Omnomicon’s tutorial for making this fun and easy rainbow cake that only requires you to have 2 cake pans of the same size!  Perfect.

I used the cake recipe from Omnomicon, which is simply 2 white cake mixes and 3 cups of Diet Sprite.  No oil, no eggs, no joke.  So I suppose this cake could be considered “good” for you.  But then I used a not so good for you buttercream instead of the cool whip and pudding frosting that she uses.  The cake in its entirety is kind of like ordering a diet coke along side your big greasy hamburger.

The cake recipe honestly had me a little worried.  Was this diet soda thing really going to work?  Well, it did!  For the most part anyway.  The cake took a little longer to bake, about 40 minutes, and even then it was so moist that it fell apart a little after being removed from the pans.  One layer split almost totally in half, but I was able to squish it back together with the help of a bit of frosting.  It was also stickier than normal cake mix cakes.  I let the cakes cool upside down on racks and when I went to take them off I had more breakage because it had stuck to the rack.  Again, frosting repair was needed.  Here is but one of my frosting repair jobs.

But even with the problems that made cake assembly a little difficult it was oh so very tasty, moist and delicious.  I think with cupcakes you could use this cake mix + diet soda method and be quite pleased with the results since you don’t have any layering to do, and there’s less guilt involved.  I think you might only get 12-18 cupcakes out of one cake mix and 1 1/2 cups of diet soda.  2 cake mixes and 3 cups gave me what a cake mix with the usual eggs and oil would have.  But there might be some deflation due to mixing the batter once all together and then again to make the colors.  I don’t know.  I am not a scientist.

Dividing and coloring the cake batter was pretty simple.  I used a scale to get the same amount in each of my 6 bowls, but you could easily eyeball it and not suffer any serious consequences if you were a little off.  You really should use gel colors if you want the lovely bright colors.  The food coloring you use for dyeing Easter eggs won’t cut it.  I used Wilton gel colors.  If you do any cake or cookie decorating at all, you should have some of these.

Grease and flour 2 8-inch cake pans and fill the first pan with red, orange and yellow.  Pour the red in first, right in the center of the pan.  Follow with the orange, also right in the center and try your best to make it a circular shape (mine was kind of amoeba shaped) and the do the same with the yellow.  In the second pan fill with green, blue and violet.  If you are a science nerd you noticed that I left out Indigo from ROYGBIV.  Feel free to divide your batter into 7 and make yourself some indigo colored batter, but I took a short cut and liked the ease and equality of 3 colors in each pan.

Use your favorite recipe for vanilla frosting or the one below.  I love the white frosting against the bright colors of the cake.  This cake is a lot of fun.  It would be great for a kid’s (or adult’s) birthday party.  You can use the same method with cupcakes, just layer the colors with teaspoons of batter.  In a 9×13 pan it might be hard to get good layers, so you could just randomly dollop colors for more of a tie-dyed effect.  If you do bake in something other than 8-inch cake pans, refer to the baking times and temps on the box of cake mix and then check for doneness, adding more time if needed.

Rainbow Cake

From Omnomicon

Ingredients

  • 2 boxes white cake mix
  • 3 cups (24 ounces) diet lemon-lime soda

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Mix cake mixes and soda together until well combined.
  3. Divide batter evenly into six bowls.
  4. Color each bowl of batter red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.
  5. Grease and flour 2 8-inch cake pans.  Pour red, orange and yellow batter into one cake pan, starting with red, yellow on top of that, and then orange.  Repeat with green, blue and violet.
  6. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until tops bounce back when pressed lightly or cake tester inserted into the the center comes out clean.
  7. Let cool in pans for 10-15 minutes then remove and let cool completely on racks.
  8. Level cakes if desired, then layer one cake on a plate or cake stand.  Frost with vanilla icing, top with second layer of cake and put on a crumb coat of icing.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
  9. Finish frosting the cake with the remaining icing, chill until ready to serve.

Simple Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients

  • 3 sticks of butter, softened
  • 4 1/2 to 6 cups of powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2-4 tablespoons milk or cream

Directions

  1. Beat butter until smooth, then add in powdered sugar.  Start with 4 1/2 cups, then add more in 1/2 cup increments to achieve a thick but still spreadable consistency.
  2. Beat in vanilla and milk, starting with 2 tablespoons and adding more if needed.
  3. Use to generously frost a layer cake or 24 cupcakes.

Butternut Squash, Spinach, Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Pizza

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I made this in December, back when butternut squash was a more appropriate and more seasonal ingredient but life gets ahead of me sometimes (and by that I mean ALL the time) so it is just now making its way onto the blog.  So bookmark for the fall, or ignore all that stuff you hear about seasonal eating and make it anyway!

This was one tasty pizza.  With all these yummy ingredients, how could it not be?  I love every single thing on top of this pizza on its own and together they are just perfect.

I found this recipe in my search for vegetarian dinner options on epicurious.  If you or someone you’re cooking for needs some meat, add some crumbled bacon for some meaty flavor and a nice crunch.  This really is a great vegetarian pizza with such terrific flavors that you won’t miss the meat, or at least I didn’t.

The trick to making this without finding yourself with an incredibly messy and hot kitchen at the end of the day is to prep all your vegetables earlier in the day and refrigerate them.  Roast the squash, caramelize the onions and saute the spinach all before lunchtime (or the night before if you’re doing this on a work day) store them all in separate tupperware or plastic bags and they’re ready to go on the pizza for dinner.  Prepping has become the key to dinnertime sanity for me.  And it’s smart for working folks, stay at home parents or people who just despise cleaning a bazillion pots and pans after having enjoyed their meal.

I used a store bought pizza dough ball (you can sometimes find these in the freezer section of your grocery store) but making your own is not too hard if you plan ahead.  I used this recipe for pizza dough not too long ago and it was easy to make, easy to work with and tasted great.  I followed the instructions up to the baking.  Instead of pre-baking and freezing my crusts, I divided the dough into 4 balls (keep it in one ball for one large pizza), placed them on a greased baking sheet, covered lightly with a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and put the pan in the fridge until I needed them (about 4 hours).  When I was ready, I formed them into crusts, topped them and baked them.  Once you get the hang of it, pizza dough at home is really easy.  If, like me, you didn’t have the foresight this time around to make your own dough, a frozen one is good.  Make sure to thaw it out overnight in the fridge, or on the counter for a few hours in its original packaging so it doesn’t dry out.

When I made this pizza I had a large squash, so I cubed the entire thing (probably ended up with 4 cups) and roasted it all.  You can use any leftovers tossed with some cooked pasta and goat cheese for a simple vegetarian pasta dinner, or you can use it at meal time for your toddler (which is the direction I chose to go).  The instructions below are for roasting just 2 cups, so if you plan to roast all your squash just increase the oil and seasonings.  It might also take more time to get a good roasted color if your pan is more crowded, so stir the squash and check them for tenderness every so often after the 25 minutes of cooking time recommended below.

My biggest problem with pizza is getting it from the pizza peel or cookie sheet onto the stone in the oven.  Here is a sweet and humorous home video (not my own) that shows you how to do it.  The trick is to do it quickly and use enough corn meal so it slides easily off the peel.

Note:  You may not use all of the onions or spinach.  Just add to the pizza what looks good to you.  Enjoy!

Butternut Squash, Spinach, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizza

From epicurious.com

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cubed butternut squash
  • 1 6-ounce bag of baby spinach
  • 1 medium sized yellow or red onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 6 ounces of goat cheese
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil
  • corn meal
  • 1 ball of prepared pizza dough, thawed if frozen
Directions
  1. Roast the Squash:  Heat oven to 400°F.  Toss cubed squash with a drizzle of olive oil just so it is lightly coated, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper.  Spread out onto a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes until squash is tender and lightly browned, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and to brown squash more evenly.  Set aside or cool and put in a container and into the fridge if you’re baking the pizzas later in the day.
  2. Saute the Spinach:  Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add a teaspoon of chopped garlic, let cook for 30 seconds, then add spinach and a pinch of salt.  Saute, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted down and most of the liquid has evaporated, 8-10 minutes.  Spread a few paper towels on a plate and pour the spinach onto the towels to drain some of the liquid.  Set aside or refrigerate in a container.
  3. Caramelize the Onions:  Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add onions, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.  Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes until onions are light brown.  Add 2 tablespoons of water and cook an additional 5 minutes.  Onions should be very soft and brown in color.  Set aside or refrigerate.
  4. Heat oven to 450°F and heat your pizza stone or you can use the back of a cookie sheet, but don’t preheat the cookie sheet.
  5. Take your pizza dough and either roll it out on a floured surface using a rolling pin or use your hands to stretch it out into a round.  You should have either a 15 inch circle or a 10 by 16 inch rectangle.  Lay your dough on a pizza peel or the back of a cookie sheet coated with corn meal.
  6. Brush olive oil on the outer edges of the crust, then top the pizza with the squash, spinach, onions, crumbles of goat cheese and thyme.  Transfer pizza to pizza stone or place cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until cheese is melted and crust is lightly browned.

 

Sprinkles Strawberry Cake

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There is something just plain fun about making layer cakes.  I shared this thought with Ben as I put the finishing touches on this cake that I’d started working on almost 24 hours earlier.  Cookies, cupcakes, brownies, bars, etc. are great because they are typically pretty easy, not terribly time consuming, you can make enough for a big group, and they are hard to screw up.  Cakes, on the other hand, can be troublesome for me because I worry about them not turning out and then not having a single thing to show for my hours spent in the kitchen.  Not to mention you have a big, sugary, calorie laden commitment on your hands…unless you’re giving the cake away or serving it to at least 12 people.  You also are not as free to taste test with a cake.  You can sneak a cookie, or a cupcake (or 2) without being found out, but steal a slice of cake before it’s served and everyone notices the big gaping hole and the crumbs you’re trying to wipe from your mouth.  Despite all that, making a layer cake is therapeutic and the end result is more rewarding than a batch of cookies.  I feel the same way about pie.  They are both big glorious circles of sweet goodness, meant to be displayed on a pretty cake plate and served on those lovely dessert plates you never use.  Am I being too dramatic about baked goods?  I guess it wouldn’t be the first time…

For some reason I was in the mood for strawberry cake, maybe it was all the pretty pink cakes I’d been seeing on Pinterest.  I’ve made Spinkles strawberry icing before, but never the cupcakes.  So I printed the recipes off of Martha Stewart and headed to the store, a girl on a mission to make a delicious cake.  I was pretty excited about it.

I doubled the cupcake recipe to make two 9-inch cakes.  I made 150% of the frosting.  At first I thought about doubling it but when I realized that meant 4 sticks of butter I decided we would just make do with less, and it was plenty.

The cake is dense, not too terribly sweet, and not at all like the strawberry cake you can make from a box.  I wonder if it’s even possible to create a cake from scratch that is close in texture to a box mix.  If you know of a recipe, please send it to me!  Those soft textured cakes do tend to fall apart when frosted and stacked too high, so a dense cake is probably better when you’re planning on stacking 4 layers.  I usually grease my cake pans, line them with parchment circles, and then flour them.  Somehow I’d managed to run out of parchment and not buy any more.  So with a bit of fear I simply greased and floured my pans.  They came out perfectly!  That was a nice surprise.

The frosting is SWEET.  Quite possibly too sweet, not for me, but for the average person.  I like sweetness and sugar…a lot.  If you are not as much of a sweet fan, maybe use half butter and half cream cheese for the frosting to give it a little tang.  Now that I am thinking about it,strawberry cream cheese icing sounds pretty incredible, so I might have to try it myself.  The frosting has little strawberry seeds, and some people may not like that.  So, use a sieve to strain the seeds from the puree if you’re one of those people.  I like my frosting stiff when I frost a layer cake so that it doesn’t start to fall off the cake.  In order to achieve this I had to add more powdered sugar than the recipe calls for (which explains the sweetness) but really does make frosting and decorating less stressful.

Here are some tips for layers cakes that I’ve found helpful.

  • Bake the cakes and let them cool completely.  I like to do this either in the morning or the night before.  If I do it the night before I wrap the cakes in plastic wrap overnight so they don’t dry out.
  • Make the frosting on the thicker side.  (Unless you’re frosting a really delicate cake.  It will pull on the cake too much and cause it to fall apart.)
  • Level your cakes so that when stacked the cake is not domed or slanted.  I use this, but some people are amazing and are able to just use their eyes and a serrated knife.
  • If you’re slicing the cake layers in half, measure to be as close to half as possible.
  • Use an offset spatula for frosting.  It is just easier, buy one.  I use them for loosening the sides of a cake from the pan as well.
  • When you start frosting, plop a little frosting in the center of your cake plate and center the bottom layer on it.  This will keep the cake from moving around.
  • After layering, put a thin coat of frosting on the cake (your crumb coat) and then chill it for at least an hour.  This will allow your next layer to be smoother and free of crumbs.
As far as decorating goes, there are so many beautiful things you can do.  I am not so great at the decorating.  I used my extra frosting to pipe around the bottom and top of my cake.  Here is a great resource from King Arthur that will help you.  This kind of thing takes a lot of practice, so you’ll have to practice, and probably mess up.  When I was piping the top edge I noticed I’d started using more pressure as I was going around the cake so that when I finished there was a huge difference in the size of the rope.  I carefully wiped off what I’d done, smoothed the icing and did it again.   A good way to practice, if you ever find yourself with extra icing, is to use different frosting tips and just pipe onto wax paper.
I hope you think of an excuse to make a layer cake!  If you can’t, then try this recipe for cupcakes.

Strawberry Cake

From Sprinkles via Martha Stewart, doubled from cupcake recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 1/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 4 large egg whites, room temperature

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans; set aside.
  2. Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 2/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
  4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
  5. With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
  6. Divide batter evenly among prepared cake pans. Bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer cakes in pans to wire racks and let cool for 10 minutes.  Then, carefully remove cakes from pans and let cool completely on wire racks.

Strawberry Frosting

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed (I used fresh)
  • 1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
  1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy.
  3. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and about 6 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.
  4. Use frosting to top cupcakes or cake.