We Love Pizza!

Making pizza for the family has always been fun and gratifying ( it is always a sure winner in the family!). I was thrilled when the October challenge for Daring Bakers was none else than making pizza dough to your liking of toppings (wow, easy!).

The basic pizza dough recipe was taken from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart. We were instructed to leave the dough overnight and try the traditional toss to shape the pizza.

I kind of ended in the short cut method. The very minute my son sensed I am going to make pizza, he demanded right away to have pizza for dinner (i just can't resist the pleading eyes:-). I am pleased how the dough has risen perfectly, I can tell that this is going to be a good one. I used half of the dough to instantly gratify the craving of the family , I saved the other half and promised to come back to it using the tossing method.

I used ready made tomato sauce for my pizza base. My family's favorite is ham and cheese so I topped the pizza with shredded ham, mozzarella cheese, olives, and red capsicum. Baked it for 18-20mins @ 180C and voila! homemade pizza to go.

Here's the basic pizza dough recipe:



BASIC PIZZA DOUGH:">Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients:
4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

After forming the dough, i cut it into two, left the other half in the freezer while the other half, i lightly greased a deep dish to let rise the dough. After an hour, i punched it and knead again for 5 minutes and let rise for another 15minutes before using.

I also used a pizza pan with holes underneath so that the crust will be crispy. Voila! the result is a truly crispy, yummy ham&cheese pizza.

Woodlands Terrace and the Salmon Belly in Butter Chive Sauce

I had a great food discovery this weekend; thanks to my neighbor and colleague at work who showed us (together with other friends) the long street of food factories along Woodlands Terrace. The bonus is, it is only a 10minute walk from my place making this now one of my favorite place to shop on the weekend.

We visited a couple of food outlets like "Old Chang Kee" famed for their juicy squid balls, the popular salmon branded "Fassler" ( we are avid fans of their smoked salmon ), a delicatessen place supplying NTUC, a dimsum place called "Lim Keng" and "Melvados" who supply breads, cakes, and ice cream to hotels in Singapore.

I bought a couple of stuff but my most memorable would be the "Fassler" place. I am surprised to see a big selection of seafood (not only salmon) cutlets. My favorite is the bag of frozen scallops fresh in their shells. The first thing I did when I reach home is thaw the scallops, placed some sun-dried tomatoes, (which is so yummy courtesy of Melvados), sprinkled mozzarella cheese on top and baked them at 180C for 15-20minutes. I also bought frozen clam chowder soup which paired well with the wholegrain bread i bought from Melvados (cheap at $4.00 for a big loaf). Wow, i think i had one of my favorite Saturday lunch after a long time. I wish i had taken a photo; we were all thrilled to eat, we finished the big platter of scallops in a short time.

In the same food outlet, i also bought salmon belly and butter chive sauce. The salmon looks so fresh right after thawing. I instantly knew baking would be the right way of cooking these yummy belly pairs to bring out the natural oil from the fish. I added a pinch of salt, rosemary, pepper, and the butter chive sauce. You can leave this in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 180C. We just had this for lunch today and again, another big hit in the family.

The Swedish Bun

I bought paper muffin cups at the grocery one day and came across this delectable recipe at the back of the packaging. This bun is a sure delight at home, it pairs very well with a smooth cup of coffee to perk you up in the morning. My mother-in-law has been baking this for us and I am such a big fan!

Ingredients :
1 envelope active dry yeast
1/4 cup of warm water
115 g of butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
crusted seeds from 20 cardamon pods
6 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Filling:
100g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tbs cinnamon
1 egg,beaten

1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast with the warm water;
2. Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in the milk and pour the lukewarm mixture into the yeast;
3. Stir in the salt, sugar and cardamon (although in our case, we did not put any cardamon seeds, we opted to keep it plain so that the cinnamon flavor from the filling will stand out)
4. Gradually add the flour and work the dough until smooth and well blended; cover the bowl and let rise for 1 hour;
5. Stir together the butter, sugar, and cinnamon for the filling.
6. Turn the dough on lightly floured surface and knead well. Divide into 3 portions. Roll each portion into rectangle 9x12 inches each;
7. Spread with filling and roll to max diameter 2 inches (50mm);
8. Cut roll in max 1-inch pieces and place in paper cup
9. Leave to rise till double;
10. Brush with beaten egg and bake in preheated 200C oven for about 10-15minutes.

The average yield for this recipe is 30-40 buns. I suggest you halve the ingredients if you have a smaller family. But I guarantee you will crave for more, so be prepared for more...