Sunday, August 3, 2014

Best Homemade Pizza Dough

I use to always buy the pre-made pizza dough. I had several people tell me how easy it was to make pizza dough. Once I started working with yeast and making bread I finally decided I should try it. It really is very easy to make at home. You can make it whenever you feel like pizza and don't have to worry about running to the store to get dough.



What You Need
Makes one 14 inch pizza

1 ¼ tsp Dry and Active Yeast
1 ½ tsp Honey
¾ cup Warm Water
2 cups Flour
½ tsp Sea Salt
1 tbsp Olive Oil


 
What To Do

Step 1: In a medium bowl gently mix the warm water, yeast and honey. Let set for 5-10 minutes until dissolved and starting to bubble.
 

Step 2: In your mixer bowl add flour, salt and olive oil. Add the yeast/water/honey mixture. Mix until the dough comes together. Add a little more flour if the dough is too wet and add a little more water is ehe dough is too dry.

Step 3: Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 mins or let you Kitchen-aid knead the dough for 3 mins (I do this step by hand).


Step 4: Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Spray the top of the dough with a little oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 45 mins or until double in size.
 

Step 5: Punch the dough to remove the air. On a lightly floured surface  roll out dough into circle (roughly 14 inches in diameter).


Step 6: Transfer pizza crust onto a floured baking sheet. Cover with a light coat of olive oil and let rise again for about 20 mins.

Step 7: Top with your favorite toppings. Bake at 400°F for 10-15 mins. Enjoy!



Saturday, August 2, 2014

Mexican Biscuit

This is my favorite Mexican pastry. I always have them for breakfast when I go to Mexico. It took a bit of searching but I finally found a recipe for them. Once I did I had to translate it to English, convert the measurements from weights to volumes, then tweak the recipe to perfection. It took some work but I think I have perfected it. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do :)



What You Need
Make 32 Biscuits (depending on size)

5 tbsp Warm Milk
1 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1/4 cup Sugar
1 3/4 cup Flour
2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/3 cup + 1 tsp Shortening
3 tbsp Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs



What To Do

Step 1: Place the warm milk, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Let set for 5-10 mins until it starts to bubble.


Step 2: Place the flour and baking powder in the bowl of your stand mixer (you can also mix by hand if you don't have a stand mixer). Add the milk, yeast and sugar to the flour and baking powder. Then add the butter and shortening. Mix together until it becomes a sandy mixture. Then add 1 egg, salt, and vanilla until everything comes together.


Step 3: Once mixed, kneed the dough. You can do this by hand for about 5 minutes or in the mixer (using the dough hook attachment) for about 3 minutes. I do it in my mixer. This is a little harder to do by hand because the dough has a lot of fat in it. It tends to stick more then other doughs.

 

Step 4: Sprinkle your surface with flour. Be a bit generous since the dough is extra sticky. Roll out the dough to about 1/4-1/3 inch thick.

 
 

 Step 5: Using a cookie cutter (or if you don't have one a jar) cut circles out. Keep re-balling up the dough, rolling it out and cutting more circles until you have used up all the dough.

 

Step 6: Place all the biscuits on baking sheets lined with parchment papers. Then make a circle in the middle of each biscuits. I use a frosting tip to do this. Make sure to make an indent and not go all the way through the dough.

 
 

 Step 7: Brush biscuits with egg. Let rise until the biscuits have doubled in size, about 45 mins.


Step 8: Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a baking tray to cool. Enjoy!