Chicken Antipasta Pizza

Pizza is such an easy recipe to change and suit your needs, toppings can be seasonal or colorful, vegetarian, or full of meat.  This pizza is a good combination of both.  Originally I made it using just the antipasta vegetables but decided it really needed something else.  At Costco they sell very yummy inexpensive rotisserie chicken that I've posted about previously and we had one in our fridge we hadn't used yet.  The pesto was also from Costco and bought two bottles when it was on sale so I used on right away and froze the second one.  We had just one bottle left in the freezer. I took out the frozen one and thawed in the refrigerator over night before adding to the chicken.  If you are looking to change up your Friday night pizza then this is the recipe for you, it's a good blend of flavors.  

I made a video of myself preparing the pizza and used that in place of the many photos I normally have in a post.  Let me know if you prefer the video or photographs for the recipe steps.

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

7 cups Hi-Gluten Flour (Bread flour may be substituted)
2 3/4 cup Warm Water
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 1/2 Tbs Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 Tbs Kosher Salt
1 Tbs Honey

Process:

Warm up water in microwave for 40 seconds.  Add yeast to water, salt, honey, and olive oil in a stand mixer mixing bowl.  Allow mixture to activate(rest) for 5 minutes.

Add flour and blend with dough hook on medium until a smooth ball forms.

Place dough in bow greased with olive oil.  Allow to rest in refrigerator overnight before using for pizza.

Chicken Antipasta Pizza

Ingredients:

1/4 of Prepared Pizza Dough

3/4 cup Shredded Rotisserie Chicken Breast

2 Tbs Pesto

1 cup Shredded Provolone & Mozzarella Cheese

1/4 cup Marinara Sauce

2 Tbs chopped Kalamata Olives

2 Tbs chopped Artichoke Hearts

2 Tbs chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes

Olive Oil

Parchment Paper

Process:

Mix pesto with shredded chicken in small bowl, refrigerate while dough rests on counter.

Preheat a pizza stone or baking steel in oven set to 525 F for at least 1 hour before baking pizza. 

Section off a ball of pizza dough and roll it in olive oil on a piece of parchment paper large enough for a 12 inch pizza.  Rest for two hours on counter.

Press the dough with fingers and use knuckles under dough to stretch the dough into a thin disk with a thicker outer edge.  

Ladle on sauce in a thin layer leaving the outer inch crust without marinara.

Sprinkle on shredded cheese then the other toppings, ie chicken, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, and sun dried tomatoes.

Using a pizza peel or inverted cookie sheet move the pizza to your stone or steel.  Bake for 5-8 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and under carriage of pizza has brown spots.  

Place pizza on a cooling rack for 3 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy!

New York Style Spelt Bagels

Remember, I promised bagels with the Neufchatel cheese?  Well here you go, a recipe for bagels. These are no ordinary bagels.  They are New York Style and are made with spelt.  What does New York style mean?  Here in New York, bagels are chewy and just a little crusty.  Do you like New York bagels?  We love bagels in my home, and the other day my friend Angela and I had bagels at Brooklyn Bagel.  I was excited to make bagels again.  The bagels were the right amount of chewy and just a little crispy on the outside, as they should be.  You can't buy bagels from a grocery store that will have those same characteristics.  This style bagel doesn't hold up to a long shelf life.  The New York bagel isn't just named for where it comes from, it is so much more.  If you aren't as blessed as I am to be in close proximity to amazing New York bagels, then this recipe will give you that opportunity.  I have made bagels before, and yes they are worth the effort and time.  Since I made the Neufchatel cheese, I wanted a bagel to spread it on.  These bagels are very yummy.  

Do you see the beautiful sponge inside that bagel?  The golden spelt?  Plus the white creamy goodness spread on top is delicious.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons Cane Sugar (or white granulated sugar)
1 1/4 cups warm Water
2 cups Bread Flour
1 1/2 cups Spelt Flour (or Whole Wheat Flour)
1 teaspoon Vital Wheat Gluten
1 1/2 teaspoons Sea Salt

 Pour 1/2 cup water, yeast, sugar, and salt into mixing bowl.  Allow to foam for 5 minutes.

Look how happy the yeast is now?  I love happy yeast.  It validates my ability to bake. 

I killed yeast a lot when I was first learning to bake bread.

Add the rest of the water, flours, and vital wheat gluten.  Mix with a dough hook.
When a ball has formed increase speed to medium and knead for 10 minutes.

 Place dough in an oiled container with lid.  Allow to rest and double in size.

 Punch the dough.  Deflate its ego.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat.

I weighed my dough and figured out the weight and divided it by 32, but the recipe above
 makes 16 small bagels or 8 regular size bagels.  

Roll each dough piece into a snake, wrap the dough around your hand and roll the ends together under your palm on the counter.  I used a different method to shape my bagels,  making a ball then poking the center and creating a ring.  The first method will create a much smoother equal bagel.  

Preheat Oven to 425 Fahrenheit 

Boil the bagels for 1 minute on each side.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a parchment
paper lined cookie sheet or greased cookie sheet.

Bake bagels for 10 minutes, until golden brown.  

My family now has a lot of freshly made New York style bagels to enjoy.

Enjoy!

New York Style Spelt Bagels

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons Cane Sugar (or white granulated sugar)
1 1/4 cups warm Water
2 cups Bread Flour
1 1/2 cups Spelt Flour (or Whole Wheat Flour)
1 teaspoon Vital Wheat Gluten
1 1/2 teaspoons Sea Salt

Process:

Pour 1/2 cup water, yeast, sugar, and salt into mixing bowl.  Allow to foam for 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the water, flours, and vital wheat gluten.  Mix with a dough hook.  When a ball has formed increase speed to medium and knead for 10 minutes.

Place dough in an oiled container with lid.  Allow to rest and double in size.

Punch the dough.  Deflate its ego.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat.

Weigh the dough and divide the weight by 8 for regular size bagels.  

Roll each dough piece into a snake, wrap the dough around your hand and roll the ends together under your palm on the counter, or make a ball then poke the center and create a ring.  The first method will create a much smoother equal bagel.  

Preheat Oven to 425 Fahrenheit 

Boil the bagels for 1 minute on each side.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet or greased cookie sheet.

Bake bagels for 10 minutes, until golden brown.  

Enjoy!

Oat Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

This afternoon while at my friend Bridget's house, she ate some cinnamon raisin swirl toast.  I thought about that bread and decided I wanted to make it, but I wanted to include oats.  Oats, cinnamon, and raisins seems to go together I think, or maybe Quaker Oats Company taught me to believe that.  We ate instant Quaker oatmeal sometimes when I was a kid, and one of the flavors was cinnamon raisin. Truthfully I didn't like that flavor growing up.  I did like cinnamon raisin bread though, my mom would buy a bread from Costco, they were shaped like a hotdog bun and were as dense as a bagel and filled with cinnamon and walnuts and raisins.  I loved that bread toasted and spread with butter.  My point is, I wanted cinnamon swirl bread, but I didn't want to drive to Costco where Bridget bought her loaf, so I made it instead.  Last week I received a shipment of oat groats, so I was ready to make my own oat flour for my bread.  I looked for a recipe for the bread I wanted to make first.  I wanted an oat bread with cinnamon and raisins.  I wanted a swirl of cinnamon and raisins.  All the recipes I saw included the cinnamon and raisins mixed into all the dough instead of rolled into the dough like a cinnamon roll. Since I couldn't find a recipe.  I made one up, well mostly.  I used the recipe "American White Bread from "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes" as a starting point and re-worked it a lot for my own purposes.

The smell from this bread is heavenly.  You should make this bread.

Ingredients:

3 cups Oat Flour (I used my Whisper mill to grind oat groats)
3 cups All Purpose Flour
2 cups Lukewarm Water (Microwave water for 1 minute to get correct temperature)
1 1/4 cups Lukewarm Milk (Microwave 1 cup milk with the water)
1 1/2 tablespoons Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher Salt
1/4 cup Cane Sugar plus 1 tablespoon (white granulated sugar can be substituted)
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 cup Golden Raisins
1 tablespoon softened Butter
1 tablespoon Cinnamon
3 teaspoons Nutmeg

Place yeast, kosher salt and 1/4 cup sugar into bowl.  Add water and milk, allow to activate and foam.

 Happy, happy, happy yeast!

 Add flours, mix with dough hook.

 Beat with dough hook for 5 minutes.

Spray the inside of a large lidded container, place dough in container.  Replace lid and put
in a warm place to rest for two hours.

 Place raisins in a bowl.   Add hot boiling water and allow to plump up.  After they have
plumped up for at least 5 minutes, drain them completely.

 It's alive! Time to make some bread.

If you happen to have super long 12 inch bread pans like I do, divide the dough in half.
If you do not, then divide the dough into 1 1/2 lb. dough balls to be baked in a 9 inch
loaf pan.  Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle.  

This bread has a similar method to cinnamon rolls. 

Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg on dough.  I gave measurements for the recipe but really
 you can eyeball it to see how much you want.  Sprinkle half the raisins on the dough.

Roll dough tightly to form a loaf shape.  Tuck the sides under themselves and squash if
 necessary to fit into a buttered loaf pan.

Brush with a mixture of 1/4 cup milk and 1 tablespoon cane sugar (white sugar also works).

Allow to rise until doubled, and brush again with milk mixture.

Preheat Oven to 350 Fahrenheit

Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled.

Bake for 30 minutes on the middle shelf in preheated oven.

Remove bread from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Slice to your desired thickness and bring out the butter to spread.

Enjoy!

Oat Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread 

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

3 cups Oat Flour (I used my Whisper mill to grind oat groats)

3 cups All Purpose Flour

2 cups Lukewarm Water (Microwave water for 1 minute to get correct temperature)

1 1/4 cups Lukewarm Milk (Microwave 1 cup milk with the water)

1 1/2 tablespoons Active Dry Yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher Salt

1/4 cup Cane Sugar plus 1 tablespoon (white granulated sugar can be substituted)

1/2 cup Raisins

1/2 cup Golden Raisins

1 tablespoon softened Butter 

1 tablespoon Cinnamon

3 teaspoons Nutmeg

Process:

Place yeast, kosher salt and 1/4 cup sugar into bowl.  Add water and milk, allow to activate and foam.

Add flours, mix with dough hook.

Beat with dough hook for 5 minutes.

Spray the inside of a large lidded container, place dough in container.  Replace lid and put in a warm place to rest for two hours.

Place raisins in bowl.  Add hot boiling water and allow to plump up.  After they have plumped up for at least 5 minutes, drain them completely.

If you happen to have super long 12 inch bread pans like I do, divide the dough in half.  If you do not, then divide the dough into 1 1/2 lb. dough balls to be baked in a 9 inch loaf pan.  

Roll dough out on a floured surface into 1/2 inch thick rectangle.  

This bread has a similar method to cinnamon rolls. 

Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg on dough.  I gave measurements for the recipe but really you can eyeball it to see how much you want.  Sprinkle half the raisins on the dough.

Roll dough tightly to form a loaf shape.  Tuck the sides under themselves and squash if necessary to fit into a buttered loaf pan.

Brush with a mixture of 1/4 cup milk and 1 tablespoon cane sugar (white sugar also works).

Allow to rise until doubled, and brush again with milk mixture.

Preheat Oven to 350 Fahrenheit

Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled.

Bake for 30 minutes on the middle shelf in preheated oven.

Remove bread from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Focaccia

My children love focaccia, especially my oldest son. I have noticed the pattern, have you?  Yes my children are obsessed and love all foods that are bread, and yes we will NEVER be changing our food lifestyle and remove bread (provided none of us finds out we have a health reason to remove gluten).  I really feel so much sadness for my family and friends who for many reasons are unable to have bread, gluten, or anything related.  I shed a tear for you and pray that heaven has bread for you that surpasses what we have here.  Focaccia is Italian flat bread.  It has a lot in common with thick crust pizza.  We LOVE focaccia and we want to slowly convert all of you.  Are you ready? Seriously are you ready?  Oh wait you are reading this and not sitting next to me.  Moving on now,  I really should stop talking to myself now.

 Look at that soft, garlic infused oil, salty goodness.

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1/2 ounce active dry yeast, 2 cups warm water (microwave for
30 seconds), 1 tablespoon sugar, 5 1/2 cups flour, olive oil, and 1 tablespoon salt.

 Pour yeast, sugar, and water in mixing bowl, allow to rest for 10 minutes.  Yes ten minutes, I know that is a LONG time especially for my friends who  have trouble with letting yeast rest.

 Ten minutes later, we have happy yeast.  Look how much foamy goodness has developed?

 Add flour, salt, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Mix with hook attachment, when a dough ball forms knead on medium for ten minutes.

Add olive oil to bowl and rub ball of dough.   Cover bowl with plastic wrap and put in a warm place for 30 minutes.  I have a large wood cutting board that I proof my dough on.  Since today was a cloudy cold day and my kitchen window was not warm, my cutting board was preferred over my cold granite counter top.  After 30 minutes, punch that dough, take the wind out of it sails, show it who's boss, then let it rest from your beating for 30 minutes.

Preheat Oven to 450 Fahrenheit

I freeze peeled garlic, so I pulled out four small cloves of garlic and put them in a small glass cup with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  This will work with fresh too.  Microwave for 30 seconds.

 Place garlic in a press, and squish it into a bowl.  Or you could mash the cloves with a fork in a bowl.

 See what happens when you beat your dough down, it grows even bigger to spite you (It should thank you really).  No really it got bigger.  

No dough was harmed in the making of this focaccia.

 Add 1-2 tablespoons olive oil to two 9 inch cake pans, or 9x13 rectangular pan (round is better though). 

 Divide dough between pans, and squash it into the pan, use your fingers to dimple the whole surface.  Pour garlic and oil on each focaccia, and sprinkle with course salt.  At this point you could add herbs, onions, cheese, tomatoes (your choice).  Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes, check after 20.

 After baking, remove from pans, cool slightly.

Slice with a pizza cutter into slices.

Enjoy!

30 Minute Dinner Rolls

I needed to make bread for dinner tonight really fast.  While searching the internet I found the recipe to use here.  I followed the recipe mostly, with only a slight change of oil.  The rolls smelled divine and my children were very happy to come to the dinner table tonight.  When I get my WonderMill back next week, this will be a recipe I'll be testing with spelt.

Preheat oven to 400 Farenheit

 Look at those.   Can you smell the yeast yummy goodness?

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water (warmed up in microwave
for 30 seconds), 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons active dry yeast, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt,
1 egg, and 3 1/2 cups flour (420 grams).

 Add water, sugar, yeast, and oil to mixing bowl.  Mix until combined.   Rest for 15 minutes.

 Add flour and salt.   Mix until combined.

 Place parchment paper in cookie sheet, use a Silpat or spray with cooking spray.  Form dough
into 12 balls (my advice make them smaller than mine and use flour), I wore gloves and rubbed
olive oil on my hands.  Allow to rise for 10-15 minutes.

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.   I brushed mine with olive oil.

Enjoy!

Soft Pretzels

I think I am allowed to say that I'm a New Yorker.   A friend of mine (my daughter's Girl Scout troop leader), said I'm a New Yorker now.  As a New Yorker, I can say I am in love with soft pretzels.  Of course, as a California girl I was making them way before I ever came to New York.  My pretzel skills really amount to trying out different recipes and finding the perfect one and not straying from that recipe.   Actually, I did stray from it a tiny bit today, and I have no intention of going back.  This recipe is wonderful, except the pretzels get eaten so fast, and I only ate one.  You don't need New York water, or to be a monk, to make these (A monk created pretzels as both a lesson in how to pray and a treat for children to pray). 

 Soft delicious, salted pretzels.  I want one right now.

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1 1/2 cups warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons sea salt,
1 package active dry yeast, 22 ounces bread flour (about 4 1/2 cups), and 2 ounces melted
unsalted butter.

 Bloom yeast in warm water, sugar, and salt, about 5 minutes.

 Add flour and butter.

Mix with dough hook until it cleans bowl, about 4 to 5 minutes.

 Remove dough from bowl.   Oil bowl and put dough back.  Cover with plastic wrap and put in
warm place.  In my case my kitchen window is warm.  Let rest for 50-55 minutes or until
dough has doubled.  

Preheat oven to 450 Fahrenheit.

 I weighed my dough and separated it into 16 equal portions. 

 Pour 10 cups of water into deep sauce pan or any deep sided pan.  Add 2/3 cup Baking Soda
and turn burner to high.

 Roll dough using fingers, spreading your fingers as you roll.  DO NOT FLOUR YOUR
WORK SURFACE!  You need that dough to be a little sticky so you have traction to roll it
into a long rope.

 Make a U shape with the dough.

 Cross over, and...

 Bring the ends down to make a pretzel shape.

 Place rolled pretzels on parchment paper, ready to be boiled.

 Boil pretzels for 30 seconds and remove with slotted spoon back to parchment paper.

Place pretzels on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.  Combine 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon
water in bowl.  With a pastry brush, brush egg wash onto the pretzels.  At this point, if you
want salted pretzels add it now.  I have the salt grinder from Costco, so I set it to the coarsest
setting and cranked that over our pretzels.

Bake pretzels in 450 Fahrenheit oven for 12 minutes.  Remove and let cool on wire rack.
I like my pretzels with mustard, but you can decide what you will serve yours with.

Enjoy!