easy yummy homemade pizza

Who doesn't love pizza? You'd have to be pathologically insane not to. Someday, I would love to own a wood burning oven to have that authentic pizza crust taste. In the time being I need to figure out where to buy a pizza stone from. For now, I have the usual stove-oven fixture that seems so un-foodie of me to admit! Gasp. I am a fraud. (And if you haven't already figured, not a real chef.)


Really simple pizza dough (makes 1 pretty-large pizza)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 packet instant yeast *

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

Warm water

*it's a lot of yeast, the recipe was given to me like this but I'm sure you could even use half, or if doubling the recipe, use the same amount of yeast as here.

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, making a little well in the centre. Pour the olive oil and some warm water into the well. Incorporate wet ingredients into the flour making a sticky dough. (Have 350 ml water ready to use but only pour in a little at a time - or you might find your dough is too sticky and in need of more flour.) On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for 5-8 minutes. Cover with a cloth and allow to rise until double in size, about 25 minutes.

In the mean time, grate cheddar and/or parmesan and cut some mozzarella into little chunks. Use a ready-made tomato-based pasta sauce (like Woolworths Arrabiata) or make your own simple sauce for the base. Prepare any toppings you enjoy - cube chicken and toss with garlic, spices and mustard till cooked. Saute mushrooms, onion rings and green peppers then drain well on paper towels. Chop roma tomatoes, feta, fresh basil and olives.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celcius.

Uncover and punch down the dough. Generously drizzle and spread olive oil into a pizza pan or any baking pan. Roll out dough - or pat directly into pan to your desired thickness. Brush olive oil onto the entire top part of the crust, and bake at 220 for 12-15 minutes until browned. If you bake your crust before topping, it won't get soggy and taste doughy in the middle. Then top pizza with tomato-based sauce, sliced vegetables, chicken, cheese, basil and herbs. Bake at 220 for a further 5-8 minutes, till cheese melts. Serve immediately!


I didn't have any mushrooms or black olives this time but those are awesome additions. I usually only prefer vegetarian pizzas but really enjoyed this chicken one, perhaps because the chicken was shredded and scattered, hence not overpoweringly meaty.

I think I'm gonna be making pizza again today.
Yum. I just love this super crispy crust.

Donna Hay's Pavlova

About three years ago, I was browsing through Joy of Baking and came across this beautiful dessert that was so weird to me. The only meringue I'd ever tasted was on a lemon meringue tart in a coffee shop and I hated it. Way too sour for my taste. And with my family, baking was super traditional - puddings, biscuits, cakes and the likes. That's probably the reason why I have a reputation in my family as being an adventurous baker, which can be mistaken for 'awesome' but let me assure you, some of the new recipes I try have sad results.

But not the pavlova. That was amazing. Light and sweet, and perfect with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries. It was so refreshing to have something sweet after dinner without needing much of an appetite. The only problem I had was the lovely marshmallow interior wasn't high enough. However, thanks to Masterchef Australia and Donna Hay, that issue was fixed - and beautifully, I might add. It was just a little something in the method that they mentioned during the episode.

Ingredients

4 egg whites (room temperature)
1 cup castor sugar
2 tablespoons maizena
2 teaspoons white vinegar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C

2. Place the eggwhite in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with your handmixer, and whisk until stiff peaks form (This is the part I'm talking about - if you do this before adding sugar, you'll have a great marshmallow interior!). Gradually add the sugar, whisking well, until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Add the cornflour and vinegar and whisk until just combined. Shape the mixture into an 18cm round on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. (With a rubber spatula, shape your pavlova a bit higher and smaller than you want it to be - it'll get slightly flatter and wider during baking. It doesn't have to be 18cm, I didn't measure mine.)

3. Reduce oven to 120°C and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven.

4. Decorate with your desired toppings only when ready to serve, or the meringue begins to 'weep'. Otherwise, it can be stored in an airtight container for several days.

In this picture, I topped the pavlova with vanilla flavoured whipped cream and a mixed berry coulis since I didn't have fresh berries!

I love that this dessert uses just one mixing bowl. Less cleaning is always a bonus. If any of you try the Donna Hay method and get that lovely fat marshmallow layer inside, firstly - YAY - and second, let me know.

date and pecan loaf

I've been meaning to bake this cake for months now. It's been in one of Mum's many hardcover cookbooks, pencilled in and fading. One evening my sister, sister-in-law and I sat around the kitchen table copying recipes from Mum's books - chocolate coconut squares, a standard vanilla butter cake and this cosy warm date and nut loaf. My sister makes it often, doubling the recipe because one loaf isn't enough for her family, and sadly, Mr. B and I are already halfway through and it hasn't even been 24 hours. I love dates; next time I actually want to add in another cup.

The usually sticky Durban has been unusually cool and rainy for the past two days - so yesterday evening was the perfect evening to bake this cake. It smelled amazing! I love how rustic a loaf cake is. Perfection! I couldn't resist a slice straight out the pan before last night's supper. Post-supper, I tried a slice with some seriously-awesome Kerrygold butter (It's the pot of gold you find at the end of the rainbow - or in your local supermarket, and it's magic on your tongue! Pricy but your palate will thank you for it.)

Date and Nut Loaf
Ingredients:

125 g unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 and a half cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped dates, pitted
3/4 cup water, hot/boiled
1 tsp baking soda

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 F. Lightly grease a standard size loaf pan - or you could make these into cupcakes like my sister does sometimes.
Place the chopped dates in a medium bowl. Drop a teaspoon of baking soda in 3/4 cup hot water, stir once and pour this mixture over the dates, stir and leave to sit.
Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar in your stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until just combined.
With a wooden spoon, mix in the pecans and date mixture.
Pour into loaf pan and bake at 180 for 45-55 minutes, or if making cupcakes - for 20 minutes. Check to see if the cake is cooked through by inserting a pairing knife into the middle of the cake - if it's done, the knife will come out clean, without any sticky cake batter. Turn out onto wire rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

I was trying to be chef-y and added orange zest to the batter. The taste is a bit subtle though, next time I think I'll squeeze the juice out too and add it to the dates in place of some of the water. I think powdered cinnamon or coffee would be an interesting addition to this cake too. It's a fairly basic recipe that can be played with, probably.

Truthfully, it tastes awesome as is. I think I'm watching too much Masterchef. Mr Max hears me saying things like, "I'm gonna infuse the cream with blueberries..". It would be so awesome to meet Gordon Ramsay some day, and eat at his restaurant! But it would suck to cook for him. I don't think I'd ever cook ever again if he criticised my food.

Back to the rustic date loaf - it tastes great with a cup of sweet tea. This cake, is probably one of the only cakes I don't want any icing or syrup on.
Dig in!
H

How to: macaronnage

I found this awesome video by chef Nini. If any of you are having problems with the technique this will be sure to help!



- H

mac-crazy

... i just wanted a blog: mac-crazy: "I am crazy obsessed for macarons. For making them. It's all I think about, it's all I Google these days. It's seriously nutty (awful pun in..."

Chocolate Hazelnut Self Saucing Pudding

I think I'm an Oompah-Loompa! (Short little people who constantly crave cocoa beans). This is the only possible explanation for my sudden and intense craving for chocolate. Thoughts of hot chocolate, chocolate brownies, choc chip cookies (this one is Max's fault!) occupy my mind the whole day.

Determined to satisfy the craving once and for all, i decided to try out a recipe for a Chocolate Hazelnut Self Saucing Pudding.

Hot, gooey and chocolatey! Just purr-fect!

Hazelnut Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

(Serves 6-8. Recipe can be doubled)

1/2 cup of milk

40g dark chocolate / Lindt milk chocolate

50g butter

1/3 cup cocoa

1/2 cup self raising flour

1/4 cup hazelnut meal*

1/3 cup castor sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup water

40g butter, chopped (extra)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Stir milk, chocolate, butter and half of the cocoa in a small saucepan over low heat until smooth.

3. Combine flour, hazelnut meal, castor sugar and half of the brown sugar in a medium bowl.

4. Add the chocolate mixture and egg. Stir until combined. Divide mixture among prepared dishes. (I used 6, 9cm ramekins).

5. Stir the water, extra butter, remaining brown sugar and remaining cocoa in a small saucepan over low heat until smooth.

6. Pour hot mixture gently and evenly over pudding.

7. Bake pudding uncovered for about 25mins. Leave to stand for 5 mins, top with ice cream and then chocolate hazelnut sauce.

* To make your own hazelnut meal, simply roast hazelnuts in a pan over low heat and then grind.

Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce

1/2 cup cream

2 Tbl brown sugar

50g dark or milk chocolate, finely chopped

1/3 cup Nutella

Method:

1. Combine cream and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, removed from heat.

2. Add chocolate, stir until smooth.

3. Add in Nutella.

Instead of Nutella, I bought a Chocolate Hazelnut paste which is sold at Checkers. It tastes just as good as Nutella but costs a lot less!

Any left over hazelnut sauce makes a great topping for ice cream.

got extra egg yolks? make icebox cookies!

I can't believe it has come to this, but seriously - how much chocolate mousse, crème brûlée and pots de crème can one eat? At one stage, I found egg whites to be the nuisance and eventually began making Pavlova to even out my yolk to albumen ratio. Now, with macarons on my mind, I'm always on the hunt for recipes that use egg yolks (and don't include the three, rich French desserts I mentioned). I could just throw the yolks away but that makes me feel wasteful.

Anyway, I tried out the All-in-One Cookie Dough recipe by Martha Stewart. Here's what you can do with some of those egg yolks you have after making macarons and Pavlova:

Ingredients

• 250g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add yolks, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Add vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour; mix just until combined. Wrap in plastic; chill until firm, about 1 hour. To make ahead: Refrigerate up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 3 months.

• I made the dough and then followed her instructions for Icebox Cookies:
• On a large piece of parchment or waxed paper, gently form 1/2 recipe all-in-one cookie dough into an 8-inch log.
• Fold one short end of paper over log; wedge a baking sheet against log. Holding other end of paper at an angle, push baking sheet against log while pulling on paper, creating a smooth, compact log.
• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Gently roll log in desired topping to coat; wrap in parchment. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Unwrap log, and place on a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, slice into 1/4-inch-thick rounds.
• Place rounds on parchment-lined baking sheets, 1 inch apart. Bake until pale golden, 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.

I'm not a huge fan of baking biscuits and I usually hate not dipping them in tea (both of these are inherited traits), but these biscuits tasted awesome on its own also. Don't underestimate the plain ordinary biscuit.. they are soft, crumbly and have this homey buttery flavour that makes you want more.

If cosy were edible, this biscuit is it.