Crisp 12 Grain Pizza Crust - Making Pizza 2 of 3

I had a hard time deciding which step came first , the sauce or the crust, as when I'm making everything from scratch I usually start both at about the time.  Both steps require about an hour to produce, but no fear, that is almost all resting/simmer time.  If you are pressed for time, both can be prepared ahead of time.

Just a quick comment before we get started on this easy to make crust .  I've recently changed how I upload my photos to the web album, then onto here.  It has an option for a large file size, which limits it to 1600pixels,  instead of the 4mb original shot which was around double that.  So please , if you see a drop in picture quality let me know.  Either by posting a comment or sending me an email, the link to which is on the right hand column , near the bottom.  Thank You. 

So , now on to bread making .   I should note I prefer a crispy crust, so that is what this will produce.  I'm working on a couple of other styles, and will be posting them sometime in the, hopefully, near future:)  You will need

• A large mixing bowl, and wooden spatula 
• 1 cup 12 grain flour - no additives, just the whole grains ( some ground , some whole )
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup spelt flour - If you don't have any just add some of either above
• 3 1/2 tsp of yeast
• Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper,   
• Basil, and a clove or two of garlic ( You can add almost anything you like here ) 
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• Pizza Stone or Baking Sheet

Please keep in mind, all the above ingredients are quite flexible ..  I rarely use any thing other than a mug a Teaspoon for measuring, and never follow my original recipe ( Thanks Jean :) anymore. 

 

I recommend assembling everything before you begin, photos are optional :))

Add all your dry ingredients, and give it a good stir to blend everything.

Make a well in the middle of your flour. Then add a couple of glugs of olive oil , and a cup of water to start

I do all the mixing in the bowl now. Just with a spatula, just keep stirring it around ,  adding a bit of oil if its sticking too much.  Keep going until its a consistently thick.  Usually 5 - 10 minutes. Then place a clean tea towel over the bowl and leave it to rest.

 You can do things,  a couple of different ways here. Usually I let it rest for 30 minutes , twice knocking it back down ( remixing ) with a spatula.  

 I forgot about it for an hour,  and it had risen right to the top of the bowl!!

 If your going to be cooking this right away, now would be a good time to preheat your oven, and pizza stone.  360F is where I cook mine,   I go for the slow and lower method ( partially due to my oven not holding high temps well ) 

After it has risen,  I give it one last mix, more oil maybe required,  and divided the dough ball in two ,  saving half for the next day.  This should make 2 nice 12" pizzas...  I say should , as well...  see for you self :)

The dough will be very elastic, and a little unwieldy..  I have two methods,  this one is way more fun :)  I simply stretch the dough as far as I can in my hands, and then flop it onto the stone,  The spread it out by hand , until Ive reach my desired thickness.  

Or as in this one ( same batch , next day )  I flopped it onto the hot stone , and rolled it out .. nice and even. 

Once your crust is cooked , almost all the way ( approx 20 minutes depending on the thickness, I like to check at the 10 & 15 minute marks ) Remove it from the oven.  

 If your saving it for another day , place it on a rack to cool for about twenty minutes. I have a large freezer bag that I keep handy for flat breads, and such.  Other wise : 

Add your sauce and toppings...    and away you go.

I realize a lot of you are thinking.. this is not how to make pizza :)  Well your right,  but this is my way of making pizza , and I love it.  It allows a lot of forgiveness, its super easy , and can be all be prepared ahead of time, and even frozen if that's the way you like to do things.  :)  Please check back soon , for part 3. Enjoy!

Happy Cooking :)

Rich

Baking

Rich's Wild Hummus Pizza Sauce! - Pizza from scratch 1 of 3

The hardest thing about making this pizza sauce was coming up with a title for it! :) I think I spent more time staring at the screen trying to come up with something that will do it justice, than I did prepping the sauce. So I decided to keep it simple.  As it is my favourite , so far anyway ;)

Ive been making Pizza at home for a long time,  just not completely from scratch. I used to buy all these fresh, healthy and wonderful toppings and then pile them on top of a pre-made crust and use store bought sauce ... which between the two usually cost as much as the toppings ??  Tasted pretty good. Certainly better than frozen , or most take outs.  Still, it just never made sense to me to spend that much for sauce and bread?? So a couple of years ago I started making my own sauces, at first using canned tomatoes and paste as a base...  and finally this year with fresh tomatoes from my garden. Now that it is November here in Canada , local hot house ones will have to do :) 

This should make enough for three 12" pizza crusts, You will need:

• 3 of your favourite tomatoes, I used Ontario hot house ones for this one.
• 3 tablespoons secret ingredient ( revealed below :)
• 3 Mushrooms, usually I would use cremini mushrooms, but had white ones on hand.   
• 1/2 of a medium red onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• A few shakes of Italian Herb ( or basil, oregano, rosemary )
• 2 Roasted Red Peppers ( leftover from making hummus :) 

Roughly chop the tomatoes, mushrooms, and onion .  Mince the garlic. 

Warm a small saucepan with some splash of sunflower oil, add most of the garlic and onion , saving a pinch of each..  sizzle for a couple of minutes.

Add the chopped mushrooms , and continue for a couple more minutes. 

Remove from the pan, reserve this for a little later. 

In the same saucepan,  drop in the tomatoes, red pepper, and the raw garlic & onion saved from above.  A few cracks of fresh black pepper , a pinch or two of sea salt, Italian seasoning and a couple of glugs of olive oil. Simmer on a medium heat, stirring every ten minutes or so. Set a timer for 45 minutes, it should get you close. 



After about 45 minutes,  it should looks something like this..  not quite solid,  but getting a thicker.  If its too watery , you can turn up the heat , and reduce it alot quicker while stirring more frequently.  I'm usually prepping the rest of the pizza toppings , or baking the crust while this is simmering so I go for the low and slow method and will just leave it simmering for another 20 minutes if needed. 



Add in the special ingredient :) My Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic Hummus ( See link below for a how to ) the reserved onions and mushrooms.

 http://richfletchersgoodfoodrevolution.blogspot.com/2010/11/roasted-red-pepper-garlic-hummus.html

Just give it a quick stir and a few minutes simmering to help blend the flavours.

If you have one, use your stick blender.. or transfer to a food pro or blender. 
I MUST add at this point,  blending in a small saucepan does NOT work !! lol

I recommend transferring to a medium/large heat resistant measuring cup for the blending process :) 

   

And that is it , you have an amazing ,healthy and tasty pizza sauce .. all that is left is to spread it on your pizza crust or flat bread :) 

I hope you liked my new favourite pizza sauce. Please check back soon, or sign up for the email notifications, for part two .. how to make your own 12 grain pizza dough : ) I was hoping someone could help me out with a better title ? Any suggestions ??  

Happy Cooking!

Rich 

    

Pizza Sauce

Easy Chili Chicken Flat Bread - Creative Leftovers

Lost for a dinner idea?  Or just tired and not in the mood to prepare something large ? All you need some extra roasted or BBQ'd chicken ( a half a breast per person ,  or a leg or thigh each )  A few of your favourite veggies, some flat bread and cheese.  , and you can be eating great in 20 minutes :)  A little longer if you want to make your own flat bread first , but that's a post for another day ! 

Since this is about keeping it simple and easy , Ill keep the banter to a minimum and just show you how its done... 

Rough chop your favourites I chose Portobello & White Mushrooms, Red Bell Pepper, Onion, and Jalapeno Peppers ( These you might want to chop a little finer ) there is also a clove of garlic minced in there somewhere.   

I prefer to slice the chicken , but any method will work fine.  This was a honey/chili roasted breast.

Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic Hummus

You've seen them. At the grocery store , all those stacks and stacks of plastic tubs with different colours , and flavours gleaming at you from near the deli isle :)  I used to stop there every week, and drop $5 on a small tub of Hummus... usually it was a roasted garlic , or red pepper.  That was before I started making my own. My first attempt was almost identical to this posts version, Which I must say I enjoyed immensely. So  I thought Id try to recreate how it all happened for me and share.The best part is that after my second batch turned out as well as the first I swore myself off the store bought, and now enjoy a healthier, tastier and cheaper hummus made by me, with my tastes in mind.  Plus I get to control all the ingredients, which can be as few as three. I do try not to add more than eight or ten , as you tend to start losing some flavours. 

Okay, enough babbling.  Time to show you how easy this is. 

The most cost effective way to make this is to buy a bag of dried chick peas ( also called garbonzo beans ) , If you can find organic ones, grab them. Besides the lack of chemicals, I find them to have a better texture. .   

  Pour them into a bowl, and pick out any green or black ones. They always mention to look for stones too, but I have yet to find one. 

The dried peas do require an overnight soak.  If you don't have the time or the patience for this step ,  buy some good quality canned ones and skip the next two steps :)  If your in Canada the PC Organic Chick Peas are really good for canned ones

Dried chick peas NEED to soak overnight . Make sure the are well covered in water and simply soak for 24 hours.  I think the alternative is to boil them for 4 hours, but I have not tried this. 



Once they have soaked, or if you are using canned ones instead. You will need to give them a good rinse, and have a double check for any funny coloured ones.  Notice one on the right that slipped thru the initial inspection. 

Next up, add them to a large pot of boiling lightly salted water. You will want lots of water, about 4 cups for every cup of peas.  The packages always say to boil for 45 minutes, which is fine for using the  chick peas in dishes, for hummus I like to add more water at the 45 minute mark and boil for a further 30 minutes.

If, like me and using the whole bag. You will have way more garbonzos than you know what to do with. Give them all one more good rinse. Then I like to freeze the extra  in 3 cup portions.  That way the next hummus you make will eliminate all the above steps.

Now the fun begins, assemble all your flavours.  I'm using organic garlic, black sesame seeds ( for garnish ), Tahini Paste, L&P, Sea Salt, Black Pepper , Olive Oil, Of course chick peas ( I used 3 1/2 cups of boiled ones. ) and as in my first attempt a jar of fire roasted peppers these were water packed ones.   

Chuck everything into a food pro.  I only chop the garlic, the rest is whole.  I used 2/3rds of the jar of peppers,  you can use more or less. But I have a plan for the remaining 1/3.  (Future Post Hopefully)  plus I added a shake of my chili powder and a few pinches of basil at the last moment. 

I usually start it up on slow speed with a few good glugs of olive oil.. once it gets going I increase the speed and add oil until you like the consistency.

Don't forget to stop and have a good look and taste, It may seem like your adding a lot of salt,  but your making 4 cups of hummus .. that is quite a lot.  ( 4 grocery store tubs worth! )

Once you've reached the consistency you're looking for. ( I don't like it lumpy ,  but do stop before it gets creamy ) Pour it, with the help of a spatula into a resealable container.  I also like to sprinkle something on top.  This time its black sesame seeds and coarse sea salt.

That's it, you now have 4 cups of an amazing roasted red pepper and garlic hummus :) About 4 times what you'd get in a prepackaged one at the store , all for about the same price as one 1 tub.   PLUS you should have at least a few packages in the freezer.  Now all that's left to do is grab yourself some homemade bread and veggie sticks and you've got a great lunch , or even a light dinner.  Or like tonight, a great late night snack. 

Happy Cooking!

Enjoy :)

Rich

Never Buy Ready Made Again - Easy 4 Pepper Salsa

By the time I have finished typing this post, we will have surpassed One Thousand Page views!! Wow!! That's Amazing!! So I would just like to say a quick Thank you for all your support in helping to get our ( Yours and Mine )  Good  Food Revolution off to a great start!  So Thank you all!!  Now back to your regularly scheduled post :)

I love making Salsa ..  Its such a great way to use up the extra tomatoes and peppers in the summer, which is when I usually make one a week just to have on hand. I use it for burgers, stuffing for meat , sides for lunch , nachos, quick flat bread pizzas...  you'd be amazed at how many different ways you can use a good salsa!    So you can imagine my delight when I walk into a local grocery store, in November and find fresh Ontario Tomatoes and Peppers!! (Hot House) and they didn't even want a fortune for them :)) 

The ingredients! Red Onions, Tomatoes, Anaheim Chili Poblano and Red Peppers, fresh Garlic,Sea Salt, Black Pepper and Lea & Perrins. All local except the avocado, and that didn't end up in the salsa lol. I used it as a topping after the fact.  Missing from the picture is : Olive Oil, Basil 

The peanuts were not used :) They were simply my snack while preparing food,  As I was also making homemade Focaccia bread and roasting a couple chicken breasts for later

.

Grab yourself a large resealable container ( preferably glass not plastic :) Start chopping and adding, doesn't matter what order , as you will be mixing it later .  The size of the chop depends on how you like your salsa .. I like mine chunky!  So I usually finely chop a small amount and rough chop the rest ( garlic and hot peppers I always chop finely )

Just keep chopping and adding until your bowl is full or you run out of vegetables. The mushrooms are for the chicken breasts I was cooking...  but they almost got added to the mix. 

 Now at this point , you will want to add a good glug of olive oil, A few pinches of dried basil, several splashes of Worcestershire Sauce, and freshly cracked sea salt and black pepper to taste. Then mix well before the next step.

I remove 1 cup for every 5 cups of salsa I make , and proceed to blitz it, using a stick/hand blender, into a thick paste.  You can skip this step for really chunky salsa , but it wont have that sticky effect . That makes salsa great for dipping and scooping.

  Add the salsa paste back to the bowl, and give it a good stir.

And there you are simple, easy, great tasting 4 Pepper Salsa. I would recommend letting it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours before eating, but you don't have to . 

Now I realize a lot of you are asking  WHERE is the Cilantro ??  I've got to say , I'm not a fan. I do enjoy the taste , but the smell... well I won't say what I think it smells like.  Then again , the smell of skunk doesn't bother me .. So I know I'm a little different in that department.  So for all you Cilantro lovers... now is the time, grab your fresh herbs, and add as much as you like!  I won't be able to smell it, so its OK! 

This was a medium heat easy eating salsa, you can easily make it hotter, just add another chili or a few jalapenos to the mix or for ALOT hotter go for a habanero or scotch bonnet. Or if milder is your taste, remove the chili pepper, and add a few more sweet peppers, yellows and orange one look and taste great . 

That's one of the best things about salsa , you can adjust it to just about any flavour or heat level.  

I encourage everyone to give this a try, and let me know how it works for you!! I'd love the feedback, even email me a picture and Ill save them for a future post!     

Happy Cooking!

Rich