Soft Wrap Bread

 This wonderful bread showed up in my in-box from one of my favorite blogs.  I decided to use it for tacos.  We ate it for tacos and burritos with the rice pictured next to it, and will try for all kind of sandwiches!  I've made flour tortillas many times and found this to roll out much easier than other recipes. 

Ingredients:

3 to 3 1/4 cups (12 3/4 to 13 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) boiling water
1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) potato flour OR 1/2 cup (5/8 ounces) potato buds or flakes
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon instant yeast*

*According to KAF: this recipe works best with instant yeast because it dissolves during the kneading process, so you don't have to knead liquid into the dough. If you prefer to use active dry yeast, use only 1 cup boiling water for the initial dough, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water, and add this mixture to the dough along with the potato flour mixture. It'll be somewhat "slippery" at first, but will knead in and eventually become smooth. 

Directions:

Place 2 cups of the flour into a bowl.  Pour the boiling water over the flour, and stir till smooth. Cover the bowl and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flour (or flakes or buds) and 1 cup of the remaining flour with the salt, oil and yeast. Add this to the cooled flour/water mixture, stir, then knead for several minutes (by hand, or stand mixer) to form a soft dough. The dough should form a ball, but will remain somewhat sticky. Add additional flour only if necessary.  If kneading by hand, keep your hands and work surface lightly oiled. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 1 hour.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces (about 3 oz each), cover, and let rest for 15 to 30 minutes. Roll each piece into a 7- to 8-inch circle, and fry them without oil over medium heat for about 1 minute per side. They will be puffed and flecked with brown spots. Adjust the heat if they seem to be cooking either too quickly, or too slowly; cooking too quickly means they may be raw in the center, while too slowly will dry them out. Transfer the cooked breads to a wire rack, stacking them to keep them soft. Serve immediately, or cool slightly before storing in a plastic bag. Yield: 8 breads.

Printable Recipe

From What Megan's Making

Hamburger Buns

 Saturday we ventured into the big city and went to Ikea in Emeryville.  Between the drive and the layout of the store that's an all day trip.  We ventured to a shopping area next door, with all the usual mall shops, that's part of the old town that had been redeveloped into stores with living space above.  The restaurants in the shopping area were the usual chains, PF Chang, Wahoo's, and Coldstone.  We decided to give a The Elephant Bar a try.  Their menu was quite varied and the burgers looked so good that I decided that it was time to have burgers at home, even if it was still too damp to grill them.

I decided to make my own buns so that I wouldn't throw away the 6 we don't use!  I made the recipe into 7 smallish buns and 4 hot dog buns.  The buns were a tad small once I got the burgers together, but more than enough bread for me.  Next time I'll make a smaller burger.  I'm hoping they'll freeze well.  Good bye store bought buns!


 Hamburger Buns

1 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 packets or 1 scant tablespoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)  (I warmed water and milk in the microwave and let them cool)
1 cups warm milk (105°F to 115°F)
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoons salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
sesame, poppy or caraway seeds or coarse salt (optional)

*We give you this fairly wide variation for a couple of reasons. First, you'll find in the summer that you'll need a bit more flour to absorb a given amount of liquid than you will in the winter. This is because it's humid and flour acts somewhat like a slightly dampened sponge as a result.

Second, this particular dough should be quite slack, i.e., very relaxed in order to make soft and tender buns. So you want to add only enough more flour, past the 3-cup point, to make the dough just kneadable; sprinkling only enough more to keep it from sticking to you or the board.

Mixing: In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar and then the yeast in the warm water. Add the milk, oil, salt and 2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.

Gradually add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.

Kneading: 

Knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Because this dough is so slack, you may find that a bowl scraper or bench knife can be helpful in scooping up the dough and folding it over on itself.  I didn't have to knead a lot, the mixer did most of it.

Rising: 

Put the dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat the entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a tightly-woven dampened towel and let rise until doubled, about one hour.

Shaping: 

Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Divide into 9 equal pieces. This is done most easily by dividing the dough first into thirds, then those thirds into thirds, then the halves into thirds.

Shape each piece into a ball. For hamburger buns, flatten the balls into 3 1/2-inch disks. For hot-dog buns, roll the balls into cylinders, 4 1/2-inches in length. Flatten the cylinders slightly; dough rises more in the center so this will give a gently rounded top versus a high top.

For soft-sided buns, place them on a well-seasoned baking sheet a half inch apart so they'll grow together when they rise. For crisper buns, place them three inches apart.

Second Rising: Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes. 

Baking:
Fifteen minutes before you want to bake your buns, preheat your oven to 400°F. Just before baking, lightly brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash and sprinkle with whatever seeds strike your fancy.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 190°F. (A dough thermometer takes the guesswork out of this.)

When the buns are done, remove them from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. This will prevent the crust from becoming soggy.

Adapted from King Arthur Flour by Carol 

Spinoccoli Pizza

As I stated when I began this blog, I was inspired by Annie's Eats to write about what I'm cooking  as a record for myself, and an easy way to share recipes with friends and family.  I was surprised to find home made pizza on Annie's list of easy dinners, it's easy when Papa Murphy does it, but all that dough preparation easy?  I looked at her recipe, which reminded me of the recipe that I used when I was not working and had lots of time to cook by Jeff Smith in The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian.  I had two of his books and used them often when Kaci was a baby.  I was intrigued to try Annie's method for prepping the dough ahead and freezing it.  I also love white sauce on pizza rather than tomato based sauce and am trying to make as many meat free meals a week as I can, so this pizza fits the bill.

I removed the pizza dough from the freezer in the morning and it was ready to go when I arrived home.  The recipe was on the table in an hour and was the best pizza I've had in ages.  The texture and flavor of the dough was marvelous.  I was concerned that making a white sauce would be a pain, but it went together easily while the pizza dough sat out to rest.  No more Papa Murphy's Pizza or TJ's dough for us, this is just too good.  Can't wait to try other versions on this pizza, and I still have enough for 1 pizza in the freezer!

Check out Annie's Eats for step by step directions for the dough.

Basic Pizza Dough

Yield: enough dough for 2 medium pizzas or 4 calzones

Ingredients:

½ cup warm water

2¼ tsp. instant yeast

4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting

1½ tsp. salt

1¼ cup water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup.  Sprinkle the yeast over the top.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the bread flour and salt, mixing briefly to blend.  Measure the room temperature water into the measuring cup with the yeast-water mixture.  With the mixer on low speed, pour in the yeast-water mixture as well as the olive oil.  Mix until a cohesive dough is formed.  Switch to the dough hook.  Knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1½-2 hours.

Press down the dough to deflate it.  Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Form each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball.  (If freezing the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at this point.)  Cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.

To bake, preheat the oven and pizza stone to 500˚ F for at least 30 minutes.  Transfer the dough to your shaping surface, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal.  Shape the dough with lightly floured hands.  Brush the outer edge lightly with olive oil.  Top as desired.  Bake until the crust is golden brown, and cheese is bubbling, 8-12 minutes.

Spinoccoli Pizza

Ingredients:

For the white sauce:

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. flour

¾ cup heavy cream or half-and-half

1 clove garlic, smashed

Salt and pepper, to taste

6 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

For the pizza:

Pizza Dough

Olive oil, for brushing

½ cup packed baby spinach leaves, torn

1 cup very small broccoli florets

2 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

2 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Grated Parmesan

Directions:

To make the white sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until bubbling and light golden, about 1 minute.  Whisk in the heavy cream and garlic, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens and bubbles.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the grated Parmesan until completely melted and smooth.  Discard the garlic clove.  (Note: This will make a bit more sauce than you need for the pizza, but with a little extra cheese it makes a great dipping sauce for crust.)

To make the pizza, preheat the oven and a pizza stone at 500˚ F for at least 30 minutes.  Roll out the pizza dough into a 12-14 inch round.  Lightly brush the perimeter of the dough with olive oil.  Spread a thin layer of the white sauce over the crust, leaving a border clear around the edge for the crust.  Sprinkle the torn spinach leaves over the white sauce.  Evenly distribute the broccoli florets over the dough.  Layer evenly with the shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.  Finish with additional grated Parmesan, if desired.  Transfer the pizza to the preheated pizza stone and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the crust is lightly browned, about 10-12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Source:  Annie's Eats