Italian Bread Bowls

I have other dishes in my queue to blog about, but I have been dying to share this with you (consider this post part one of two).

Every September, I seem to have an urge for fall soups even while the weather outside still looks exactly like summer. Last year, I made creamy pumpkin soup. This year, I was looking for something cheesy.

This urge happened to correspond with an urge to dye my hair red. I am aware that that makes no sense whatsoever. Anyway, I invited my sister-in-law over to color my hair and offered to make lunch for us (hubby was out of town, drilling in Albany for the weekend). Somehow, the idea of sharing food with someone inspired me to make it a little more special.

So I made bread bowls. Because that’s a totally normal response for someone who just started a new quarter of school and has tons of reading and homework to get to.

I began by dissolving some yeast in warm water. I added a bit of sugar, too, since I had read that this helps to activate the yeast.

After about 10 minutes, it was starting to look creamy.

My baking skills were better than my photography at this point, since I evidently didn’t document the addition of salt and vegetable oil. But I added salt and vegetable oil. Then I put the yeast mixture in a large mixing bowl and started adding flour. I started with a cup of whole wheat, though the recipe called for all-purpose.

I used all-purpose for the rest of it.

Then I just started beating the dough.

This was my very first time using the bread hook and electric beater to make bread. Fun times.

After the first couple cups of the flour, I added it a little bit at a time.

When the flour was all added and the dough was pulling together, I turned it out onto a floured countertop.

And then I kneaded it for 7 or 8 minutes. The dough started off goopy and inconsistent, but it got to be elastic and consistent throughout. It was very fun to play with. Apparently I didn’t take pictures of what it looked like after I kneaded it, probably because my hands were covered in dough and flour. But here’s a picture of it after I dropped it in an oiled bowl and turned it to coat the surface of the dough in oil.

Okay, pay attention. This is my favorite part. I read about a technique to make bread rise better. Remember how I put my pizza dough outside on the deck so that it would be warm enough? I couldn’t do that this time around because it was after dark. So, I put it in a cold oven next to a pot of boiling water. The steam created a good environment for it.

Are you prepared to see how much it rose? So cool. Probably would have been even more if that cloth hadn’t kept the dough in the bowl!

I divided the dough into six bowls and put them on a greased cooking sheet that had been sprinkled with corn meal.

And did my awesome rising technique again!

Okay, this time I was less pleased with the result.

I decided to remove three of the blobs and put them on another sheet. This led to a dilemma. They were flat disks at this point. If I baked them as-is, my bread bowls would be flat. But if I re-shaped them, would I lose all the benefit of having them rise again? I was afraid that manipulating them would release all the build up gas and lead to hard, dense bread.

So I ended up leaving three alone…

And reshaping the other three.

I brushed each one with a bit of egg white mixed with water.

And finally, I sprinkled them with some Italian seasoning and a bit of coarse kosher salt. Then I took a blurry picture of it.

At this point, I was both hopeful and skeptical. I was less than optimistic about how they would turn out.

Oh! But check it out! Turns out, the reshaped bowls were the awesome ones. The flatter ones stayed flat, as I thought they might. I should have reshaped all of them. An interesting experiment, though.

Seriously. So amazing.

I tried to resist them, saving them all for the next day, but I had to give in.

Fresh baked bread is simply amazing. That’s all I really have to say about that.

Stay tuned for a post about cheddar-broccoli soup!

Husband-Friendly BBQ Chicken Pizza

I once blogged about my recipe for BBQ chicken pizza. It’s very flavorful, since it’s loaded with tons of pepperoncini peppers, red onions, and cilantro. I made it again recently when a college friend and her new husband dropped in for a visit while they were in town. Afterwards, hubby remarked that while he really liked the meal, he would like it better with far less cilantro and peppers. Previously, he’d said something about fewer onions, as well. I thought that it would probably be better to find a new recipe than simply cut back, since those were the essence of that recipe. So I did some searching online. I kid you not, this is the title of one that popped up:

“Husband-friendly barbecue chicken pizza”

Of course, I picked that one to make.

I’ve been making my own pizza dough for a few months now. When I first made it, I had no problems. I’m not sure what star was shining on me, because I’ve had problems with it ever since. The next time I made it, it was far too gooey and I ended up adding a ton of extra flour to make it work. It was a struggle but eventually worked out. When my friend and her husband were in town recently, I tried to avoid the goopy problem by using less water, but then I felt like the dough was too dry (then again, I also forgot the olive oil because I was trying to talk and cook at the same time, oops).

This time around, I was super careful with every aspect of the dough. As you can see in this picture, I used less than 1 cup and more than 3/4 cup. I also actually measured the temperature to get the best results from the yeast.

When I was done mixing the dough, this is what it looked like.

It didn’t rise a ton last time and I thought that might because I didn’t put it in a warm enough place, so this time I put it outside on my balcony.

Oh yes, that helped!

I’ve started using a sprinkling of corn meal on my pizza stone. I think it helps with texture and keeps it from sticking. Plus, I’m a copy cat and other people do that.

I found that the dough was too elastic for a rolling pin and actually ended up picking it up and using my fists to stretch it out, just like what I’ve seen REAL chefs do. I felt pretty awesome about it. I even thought about taking a video to post here, but then I came to my senses and remembered that no one comes to my blog to see me. So then I didn’t. Anyway, here’s my dough on the stone.

Okay, now to start preparing the toppings. Like my other recipe, this one calls for red onions.

Unlike my other recipe, this one says to caramelize them in olive oil. The other recipe leaves them raw. I knew this way was going to be much better.

When they were about done, I put them aside in a bowl and re-used the pan to fry some bacon. I cut the slices in half just so they’d fit, but ended up using 6 whole strips of bacon.

Okay, time to start assembling!

First, I slathered the pizza crust with some barbecue sauce. I used a combination KC Masterpiece (Original) and Famous Dave’s Devil’s spit, since that’s what I had on hand. Really, I should have made my own, but let’s be honest – this was already a lot of work.

Next, I covered the pizza with leftover chicken from my slow cooker BBQ chicken the night before.

And then the onions, and also the bacon, crumbled and torn into little pieces.

Then the recipe called for a half cup of gorgonzola.

As I sprinkled it on, I tried to figure out the difference between gorgonzola and bleu cheese. I decided that gorgonzola is just an Italian variety of bleu.

The recipe called for some diced, fresh jalapenos. I opted for whole slices from a jar, but not very many. I wasn’t convinced that they belonged on this pizza (and I’m still not).

This part is odd. The recipe called for a tablespoon each of paprika and garlic powder to be sprinkled on.

I couldn’t do it. It just seemed like far too much of both. I sprinkled a lot of both, but not the whole tablespoon. I didn’t want to have gone through all this effort only to ruin the pizza by over-seasoning it.

Finally, top with grated mozzarella. For the first time ever, I bought fresh mozzarella and grated it myself.

Turns out, it’s really soft and moist and hard to grate. The texture was very different from the grated mozzarella I usually buy. I managed though. And ate all the pieces that looked weird, just to save hubby from them.

Here’s the pizza topped with everything:

Popped it in a 425 degree oven and we’re good to go!

I think the temperature was a bit too high, as the cheese didn’t have the texture that I was looking for, but whatever. It worked out.

I liked it, a lot! Caramelizing the onions got their flavor under control and added a sweetness that worked with the tang of the barbecue sauce. The smokiness of the bacon also went well with the sauce.

Hubby said he really liked this recipe. His only complaint was that it was too spicy and left his mouth burning. I suppose that’s what I get for using a barbecue sauce called “Devil’s Spit.” I won’t do that again.

I definitely think that this recipe just nudged my old one out of the rotation.

Oh, and in case you were wondering the crust was perfect!