Homemade Pizza topped with Mushrooms, Basils, and Honey

This pizza is one of the product I prepared yesterday.   To store the proofed dough overnight in refrigerator, for tonight's dinner, I wrapped it tightly in a saranwrap and then in a plastic bag, then in a plastic container of the similar diameter as the dough.

The recipe is for two portions of single size pizza.  

Ingredients are reduction of full recipes by 3 from Nancy Silverton's Mozza cooking book.  Modification is substitution of wheat germ with hemp hearts and Bread Flour wth AP Flour.

Ingredients:  

7.3 oz warm water

0.33 tsp yeast

8.66 oz flour + more for dusting

0.166 oz rye flour, dark or medium 

0.5 tsp organic Hemp Hearts 

0.5 tsp honey

0.33 Tbsp kosher salt 

EVOO

Preferment:

Mix 3 oz of warm water with pinch or 1/8 tsp yeast, 2.3 oz of flour. 

Mix well with spoon and cover with plastic and place in microwave oven with a bowl hot water, if your microwave has internal rack. At 800 Watt power microwave for 17 seconds. Stop and let it rise.

To prepare Dough:

Using paddle head, Mix the rest of the flour, yeast, rye flour, hemp hearts in the mixer.  Premix honey and the rest of the warm water in a small measuring cup.  Add to flour mixture.  Mix for 30 seconds.  Add preferment. 

Mix at low for 2 minutes.  

Add salt.

Mix for 4 minutes, and see if the dough is starting to form - not shaggy.

Change to dough hook, knead until the dough become tacky and dough leaves the side of the bowl.

Spray a bowl lightly with vegalene.

Place the dough in to rise.  Cover.

To store overnight, place the dough over a sprayed saranwrap. Wrap the dough tightly and place in a zip lock bag.  Then place in a plastic container of the same size.   Place in refrigerator.

To Bake Pizza:

Organic Tomato Sauce mix with minced garlic and chopped basil

12 oz Mozzarella cheese block cut into small slices or pieces or shredded

Pre-sautéed mushrooms

Fresh Basil leaves

Pizza paddle 

Some semolina flour...2 Tbsp

Remove the dough from refrigerator and let sit for 30 to an hour depending on your kitchen temperature.

(Read thru once first the following steps). 

Remove all oven racks or move them to the top.  (They are not used.)

Preheat home gas oven to 460'F with baking stone directly at the bottom of the oven.  

Turn the dough out on a well floured work surface.

Dust the pizza paddle with some semolina flour and set aside.

Divide the dough into (approx) 7 oz each

Using flour coated fingers press the dough into disc form, but leave 1 inch outer rim alone.

Then with a floured knuckles (of your hands) place the dough over and flip flop the dough over opposite each to extend the dough slightly.  As this is a 'personal' size approx. 10" size pizza 2 to 3 toss over is sufficient.  Transfer the dough at last toss onto pizza paddle. 

Top with sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, Basils, except the 1 inch rim of the crust. 

Open the oven door and with a controlled single push slide the dough over to the baking stone.

Set the timer to 8 minutes.

Into 5 minutes, open the oven and brush the outer edge/crust of the pizza with olive oil.  Bake till cheese is slightly brown. 

Remove the pizza with paddle.

Drizzle with wild honey.

Slice with pizza cutter.  Serve

Polly's Rum Cream filled Ponchiks

It seems the Eureka always happens when you least expect it.  And especially when you got the perfect tasting filling without a recipe.  This is my sixth day since my surgery.  Beside feeling weak all week long today I felt the need to move around a bit more to keep my circulation going.  Then, I end up with three bread category products.   Bread, doughnuts, pizza dough. Thursday, I managed to bake Morocan chicken pies enough to last me three days plus cabbage pancakes and paella rice Polly style.  I can't move around as usual but I decided to make small portion size of each. 

What I am really happy is the pastry cream fillings I made for the Ponchiks.  It turned out 99% and even tastier than the ones I used to buy from European Deli. 

The ponchik dough recipe is the same one I posted in my previous blog http://rockdavinci.blogspot.com/2010/05/ponchik-your-ponchik-then-there-is-my.html
or if you would like to try my modified recipe - and for a small batch, it is posted at the bottom of this page.

 As for the Cream Filling it's difficult to describe. 

The filling is a combinations of 2 Cups of meringue frosting for cake that didn't work out ... that I kept frozen and thawed out in a small pot over a low heat.  

1 cup of milk - half for starch slur 

1/4 to 1/3 C Potato Starch mixed in 1/2 C of milk. 

2 to 3 TBsp of Gold Rum

Big drop of Madagascar Vanilla paste

1 beaten egg

Heat meringue over low heat in a heavy bottom steel pan. Use whisk to stir.

Mix half of potato starch with 1/2 C of milk.   Stir well with spoon. Add beaten egg and stir well.  Scoop some warmed up meringue mixture out of pot and add to egg mixture.  Stir well.  (Egg should not curdle up at all.)

Add egg milk slur into the pot and rest of the milk.  

Increase the heat to medium.  Keep whisking.  About 5 minutes.   Add rum and vanilla paste; It should start to thicken.   Keep stirring until it thickens enough to lift up and sticks to the whisk.  Set aside.  

Fry the raised dough.

Pipe the filling into hot Ponchiks.

And ... Eat!!

 

The texture of this Ponchik is so soft, it disappears in the mouth magically.

All right, here is the recipes.   The original recipe is found at http://mypersiankitchen.com/persian-pirashki/

The following recipe and methods have been modified to fit my kitchen tool and for the product result.
Polly's "Small Batch" PONCHIK filled with Rum Cream  
Makes 8

Instant Dry Yeast 1/4 tsp

Flour 1-1/2 C + 1 Cup more for worksurface

Sugar 1 TBsp

Salt - Pinch
Warm Water 1/4 C

Oil 1 TBsp

Yogurt 1/4 C <<< ***Polly's Substitute with 1/4 - 1/3 Cup SOUR CREAM

Egg 1

Deep Frying Oil - I used EVOO
Deep fryer pot
Wire rack over the baking sheet
Paper oil catcher/paper towel

Dough Preparation:

With Paddle attachment, Combine dry ingredients in the electric mixer bowl at low speed or by hand.
Then, add, water, oil, and Sour Cream.   Beat with paddle attachment until shaggy dough forms, then, add egg. 

At medium speed, beat until the dough start to be sticky.   About 5 minutes.
Then, switch to Dough Hook.  Scrape the side and bottom of the bowl.
Increase the speed to medium high - about 4 on your Kitchen Aid mixer, and knead until the dough is tacky and comes away from the side of the bowl.   About 20-25 minutes.
Add 2 Tbsp more of flour, if needed, but no more.

Tranfer to a greased bowl with lid to proof until double in size.   I just use a plastic container, sprayed lightly with vegalene, cover, and proof till double in size.

Forming the dough into Ponchik:
Spread 1 Cup of flour over the work surface.
Unlike other Ponchik blog I posted, this batch's Dough is very sticky and soft in this recipe.
With dough over the well floured surface, coat the top of the dough with the flour also.
Roll out the dough gently with a well floured rolling pin.    About 1/2" high.   Do NOT push down on the dough.
With a good size Ring cutter.  I used 3-1/2 inch ring.  Flour its rim, and poke a dough out, and transfer to a Silpat on a baking sheet.

To fry:
Heat EVOO, Medium high (adjust as you go during frying)
Gently slide the dough into the heated oil.
Carefully roll it over when one side is golden brown.
Remove the fried Ponchik over the wire rack over the baking sheet.
When cooled to the touch, transfer them to 'tempura' paper/paper towel to catch remaining excess grease.

Pipe the cream in.
Sprinkle with Powder Sugar, if you wish, and serve.

Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies

Everyone loves creamy cheese frosting on the cake.   To make it easily transportable, there are recipes for cupcakes and this Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies.
Basically, the cake becomes the cookies and creamy frosting is between the two carrot cakes cookies.

I made this a few years ago.  The recipe was shared by one of my son's co-worker. I thought it's time to revisit and enjoy them with family.

Ingredients:
1-1/8 C Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick (1/2 C) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 C sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C walnuts, chopped (switch with other nuts are all right)
1 tsp Ceylon Cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 C (2 medium) peeled and coarsely grated carrots (I just used mini food processor)
1/2 C raisins

Directions
1.  Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 350'F
2.  2 backing sheets with silpat or parchment paper
3.  Whisk/Shift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a bowl. 3 times.
4.  In a large bow, beat together butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
5.  Mix in carrots, nuts, and raisins with a wooden spoon/spatula, then add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
6.  Drop 1 TBspoon batter, 2 inches apart.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch.
Remember to switch position of sheets halfway through baking.

7.   Cool cookies on sheets on racks 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.
8.  While cookies are baking, prepare frosting.   With an electric mixter, blend the cream cheeses, butter, and confectioner's sugar in a small bowl until smooth.
9.  Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese filling in between.   I used pastry bag.