Pizza Dough - It was edible!

I am pushing the limits of my yeast therapy. BMP used a bread recipe that calls for instant yeast, I have gone on to the next step and used regular yeast. Yes it's very exciting! I will not fear proofing! I will admit I thought the first batch failed and threw it out to start again. It turns out my definition of bubbling yeast was different then what I read in my instructions. There really should be pictures of what yeast looks like when it's proofing. Thank god for the internet!!!

My pizza dough wasn't perfect, I gave it 7.5 out of 10. It was edible, it was also a little cardboardy, but I think I may not have kneaded it enough and then stretched it out too thin!! But it was edible, which is the important thing. Oh and not just edible by me, I had a friend try it as well.


On a more comical note( really I should invest in video surveillance for the kitchen) getting the dough on the pizza stone. I do sometimes take things too literally and should have put the dough on the pizza stone before dressing it. Fortunately I didn't have everything on it before I realized what I had done!! But it was edible! Well except the one piece I flung on to the floor.

Mom! Guess what I made!

Well this week I have taken a turn back to the kitchen, and last weekend I baked bread and I made soup. Now, these my seem like minor things to you, but... yeast scares me and I don't like hot liquid, Weirdo... I know...let's start with yeast.


I have a fear of yeast. It seems funny, but I never made bread with my mother, I didn't do any cooking with my mother, that I remember, so I lack a certain foundation. Also someone(K) scared the crap out of me talking about how she proofs her yeast, having to turn on the oven and get the water to a certain temperature, it's sounds very much like hard science. Other ...er.. less type A cooks, told me if it feels warm on your wrist that good enough. Even with this advice I was still too chicken(and a little too lazy) to try. The fact is the only way to conquer yeast fear is to work with yeast. And since I can't take a "cours de Boulangerie" like Clotilde from Chocolate and Zucchini( I Love you!), I had to settle for second best, BMP.

Last year Bread Master P(BMP as she will now be known) had agreed to show me how to bake bread. I was excited, but we didn't get around to it, I was working, other commitments blah, blah blah... Finally a fabulous new cookbook A passion for baking, spurred me to action. I must bake bread. And so we did... And it wasn't a brick and it was delicious and we worked with instant yeast. Yeah I know, I didn't exactly conquer the beast, but I baked bread, that's important!! Next and it will involve proofing yeast, pizza dough.


Vache Qui Rit Soup

On to soup. I don't like hot liquid. I think I taste like hot flavored water, and I don't like it. It's not the way water is suppose to taste. I like my water cold and tasting like water, but not swampy. I don't like coffee, tea, soup or even hot chocolate. Occassionally at Christmas I might indulge in a Hot Chocolate, but really just hot flavored water, I don't get it. Anyway... I hadn't planned on making soup, I was grocery shopping at ODB (old dirty Bramare the worst Superstore EVER) and was shocked SHOCKED to discover they had put in a cheese carousel. It's a big deal, ODB usually doesn't have vegatables after five, now they are selling Hallomi, you have no idea how big a deal that is. I saw the package of Laughing Cow's Vacke Qui Rit and decided I would try Laura Calder's recipe for Vacke Qui Rit soup. I loved it. Look at me I'm evolving!!

Mother's Day Surprise

Well it's been a long hard winter of knitting and not so much baking, I obviously had to eat, but I didn't really do much in the way of inspirational cooking. I did sneak home for Mother's Day and surprise my mom with a Sunday dinner. I thought it turned out well and I had good reviews from the guest although not my mother. Roasted Chicken, Warm Potato Salad with Bacon and Peas, coleslaw and for dessert toasted pound cake with ice cream and Nigella's Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce. Very good. I didn't however take any pictures. I promise pictures for her birthday celebration.

Nigella Express

I am very excited to start watching "Nigella Express" on Food Network. I am thinking I may run out and buy a copy on the way home from work!! Here's a preview:

Finishing 2007

Well Christmas is over for another year. I'm not quite finished eating all the crap I got for Christmas, but I am getting close!! Next week proper eating will prevail again.

I had a great Christmas, I had 2 perfect traveling days(which never happens), I ate lots of whatever I wanted and I didn't have to do dishes on Christmas Day(not sure how that happened but...) . I got some wonderful gifts including 2 cookbooks- Giada's Family Dinners and Baking by Flavor, a fancy cookie press, an immersion blender and a pizza stone.


After my disastrous incident with the spiral cookies, I questioned my abilities and my desire to bake ever again. This being the season of forgiveness, however, everything was made right again, thanks to the Peanut Blossom Cookie. They were very simple to make, no weird ingredients, they actually made the amount the recipe said they would, they looked perfect, everyone really enjoyed them, and most importantly my mother asked for the recipe!!(That's a REALLY big deal!)

If you've never been to the Joy of Baking, and you are a baker, check it out. Stephanie Jaworski is wonderful. I have made two recipes, so far, from her site and have had no problems. I like her little history of the item and that she lists the cookbook that she used.

Now that baking season is over it's time to get back to real food. I'm feeling slightly compressed in my shirt today, so it's not a moment to soon. This weekend I will be trolling my books for some sensible meals. So I guess my next challenge is cooking for the whole month of January. That's seems like a easy goal, but no meals out, not being lazy and running out for lunch. Getting up on time to make breakfast and lunch. It could literally be the end of me.

-C

Well at least someone is baking cookies!

-C

Crappy Crap Crap Weekend

I was really looking forward to this weekend. It was my 3-day weekend. I had Friday afternoon off and I don't have to be to work until Tuesday at 1pm. I was going to nap, knit, bake, wrap presents, and go bowling. The best laid plans...

I couldn't knit anything to save my life. I wasted sugar and a cup of butter (real butter, not margarine. BUTTER!) on what are now door stops. The washer broke down and I am going to have to bring my laundry home to my mother's like a freshman. My hands are raw from wringing out wet towels, which I have been drying for 2 days. (And don't tell me to go to the laundromat). No presents got wrapped, bowling was canceled. I HATE this weekend.

On Friday before I left work, I came across what looked like a great cookbook Better Homes and Gardens Classic Cookies. The pretty pink and white spiral cookies on the front won me over and I wanted to make them! What a mistake. I knew the instant I started putting in the flour it was all wrong. There didn't seem to be enough of the other ingredients to mix with the flour it took a lot of work to incorporate the flour and then I had to work the dye into half the dough. So bad.



Check out video footage of the best tasting door stops anywhere, 'cause yeah, it tasted fine. I just can't roll it out or do anything to it. Oh, did I mention there was shoveling, 'cause there was an hour of shoveling wet heavy snow. The shoveling was the final straw. I had to resort to store bought cookies.

Just to prove someone had a good weekend here is a picture of my cat Griffin and some of his "Yarn Art".