PIZZA in PROGRESS

Warm 1 1/3 cups water (about 315 ml.) to bath water temperature.  About 35 seconds in the microwave.

Add a packet of active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons) to the warmed water and...

a tablespoon of honey.  The yeast needs food!  Set this aside for 5 - 10 minutes.

Fit your mixer with the kneading hook attachment.  Or: rub your joints and prepare to knead.

Add 3 & 1/2 to 3 & 3/4 cups of flour to a bowl. Fluff the flour with your measuring cup before you scoop.  

Throw in a tablespoon of salt and...

2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Time to check the yeast.

Awesome.  Our yeast water is foamy and smells like bread.  This is called proofing yeast.

Mix by hand or by machine (on low) until combined.  Then knead by hand (8 minutes) or by mixer with dough hook ( 8 minutes).  Until the dough is...

Smooth and elastic.  If dough's too sticky, knead in 1 /4 cup of flour.  

Transfer the dough to a bowl coated with olive oil. Roll that dough ball around to coat with oil as well.  Cover with plastic wrap and since today, Monday, is a Day of Laundry...

I am going to let the dough rise on the dryer which is tumbling clothes dry at the moment.  Dough likes a draft-free place like our garage and it really likes gyrating on that warm dryer.  An hour and a half later...

.

The dough is ready to be kneaded a few more times, wrapped in plastic wrap and ...

put in the fridge.  Since I have six hours until dinner, the cool fridge will store the dough safely and slow the yeast down from rising out of control.

Time to pick  up the boys...sauce is coming up next!

DAWN of PIZZA

Ahhhhh.  Monday.  Day of Laundry.  Day of Groceries.  Day of Haircuts (at least, this Monday).  Day of putting back all the lightsabers, legos and yes, my Knight's work-out bench and menagerie of weights laying on the living room floor left all over from the weekend.   But today...we have our first AUTUMN DAY.  We have rain!  Well, drizzle.  Mist.  Sixty-degree temperatures.  Which is perfect weather for some indoor baking.  Will this mean cookies, a pie, a tart, bread...The GOOD FOOD fairy is feeling a taste dawn on her palate.  It is a taste for PIZZA!  Homemade gourmet pizza!  

Chef Teri, from my days at the culinary school, admonished us to make this yeast dough the night  before and let it rise in the fridge over night.  Well my friends, we are thinking about dinner in advance, but not that in-advance, so we will get it started now!  First, you will need...

A pizza stone.  

You can use the bottom of a baking sheet turned upside down...I did do this for ten years. But a pizza stone, changed my life! (Thanks Mom)  The crust turns out perfectly crisped and golden.  The pizza is not soggy.  They are inexpensive and can be found at Target or Bed, Bath and Beyond for between $15 and $30. We will also need...

Cornmeal.  

To dust your stone or  baking sheet's surface.  This way, your beautiful pizza will not stick and, unlike other flours, cornmeal does not burn.

Be back in a jiff with the first part of the recipe!

BANANA BREAD

You can make one of these if you have...

Two of these.  A fun afternoon surprise when the boys  get home from school.

TO GET STARTED:

Turn on the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease (rub the insides of your pan with shortening) an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan or walk on the wild side...use a bundt pan!

NOW FOR THE DRY INGREDIENTS:

In a medium-sized bowl, add 1 cup of brown rice flour and...

1/6 c. potato flour (I fill a 1/3 cup half way)...

and then a 1/6 cup of tapioca flour (i top off the potato flour in the 1/3 cup with tapioca flour).

Add 1 tablespoon flax seed meal.  It adds a nutty flavor, omega fatty acids (excellent for optimal brain function) and flax see meal lends moistness much like adding vegetable oil.  

1 teaspoon of baking soda and...

1 teaspoon of baking powder.  

Whisk it all together and set aside for later.

Cream together 5 1/3 tablespoon of butter and 2/3 cup of sugar until...

it looks like this. 

Mix in the dry ingredients, gradually.  It will look like this when all's said and done.

Add two eggs lightly beaten, 1/4 cup of milk and 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar.

Beat it until it looks like this.

Peel the bananas and...

 

SQUISH them up!

With your hands...I've always loved to get my hands dirty.

It's better than stress balls.

Voila!  Mashed bananas.  

Dump the mashed bananas into the bread mixture.  Now we have to fold the bananas into the mixture.  This is a different technique than stirring.  Watch:

FOLDING IN:

With a rubber spatula, cut a line through the dough...  

curve to the left and around the left side of the bowl...

When you arrive at the top of the bowl, use the spatula to fold the batter under itself, then, with your left hand (unless of course, you are left handed in which case you would have the spatula in the left hand, bowl in right) rotate the bowl a quarter turn.  Are we all thoroughly confused now?  I know I am.  Experiment with the technique.

Keep folding until the banana mush is fully incorporated into the mixture.

 Help the batter into your pan with the spatula and bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 32 minutes.

 A toothpick or skewer inserted will come out clean with maybe a couple of crumb cling-ons.

 Unmold carefully and dust with powdered sugar.  I think next time I would serve this with some cream cheese whipped with just enough sugar to give it the right amount of sweet. 

RECIPE: GLUTEN-FREE BANANA BREAD
makes 1 loaf or bundt

• 2            ripe banana, mashed
• 1 c.         brown rice flour
• 1/3 c.     split by 1/2 potato flour and 1/2 tapioca flour
• 1 T.        flax seed meal
• 1 t.         baking soda
• 1 t.         baking powder    
• 5 1/3 T. butter
• 2/3 c.     sugar
• 2             eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 c.     milk
• 1 t.         cider vinegar

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Generously grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan or 6 cup pan.
2. Whisk together dry ingredients.  Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.
4. Gradually mix in dry ingredients to sugar-butter mixture.
5. Mix in the lightly beaten egg, milk and vinegar.
6. Fold in mashed bananas.
7. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 32 minutes.

                                     

POMEGRANATE CRACKER STACKER

The Horseman, my middle guy, notified me that we would be adding a new category to the Good Food fairy blog site: The Boy's Recipes. I said, "Aye aye, Sir!"  So this is the first submission put forth by the youngest member of our bunch...

who occasionally likes to be called Soda.  (And yes, that is the horseman lying in the background. *No children were hurt in the course of the Buzz Lightyear stunts)  

Soda said that this culinary creation is called a pomegranate cracker stacker. In the grand tradition of the lunchable ham and cheese stacker. It's easy to make, says Soda.

 

"First, you put a pomegranate seed on a cracker," says Soda. 

"Then you put the cracker on top."

Well, you heard it here first folks!  A pomegranate cracker stacker.  Presented by Soda, a regular renaissance man.  When he's not out training as a star wars buzz lightyear, he's in the kitchen whipping up new recipes.  Enjoy!