The word “love” cannot even begin to describe my feelings about ice cream. If I were less interested in my overall health, and had a fair variety of flavors… I could eat nothing but ice cream, all day, ever day. Ok, perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration, but you catch my drift.

Boiling milk cream and sugar

My first experience with ice cream was when I was only a few months old, in a papoose on my mother’s chest. My parents had gone to an ice cream parlor for dessert, and my dad said, “Let her have a lick.” My mother says, my eyes lit up and I bounced up and down until they gave me more. Oops. My first experience with green tea ice cream  was quite a few years later at a Japanese restaurant in California, and it was somewhat less dramatic; but I enjoyed it, and I have been unable to find a similarly delicious green tea ice cream locally. So I made some.

Matcha, cinnamon, cardamom, and ground pepper

For this ice cream I used the base recipe for Jeni’s Splendid ice creams… Because Jeni has it so right. I don’t say this lightly; if you are in within a few hundred miles of a Jeni’s ice cream shop, you need to go there, sample everything, you will not regret it… Unless you form a debilitating habit, in which case I apologize in advance. But the flavor combination was inspired by the flavors I’ve picked out of a spiced chai latte, and a bit of matcha powder. It’s a nice warm flavor, almost like pumpkin pie spices, with an undertone of green tea.

Green tea ice cream. YUM.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups milk (Jeni calls for whole milk… I used 1% because there’s decadent, and then there is obscene…)
4 tsp. cornstarch
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3 tbsp. cream cheese, softened
2 TBS matcha green tea powder
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions

1) In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup milk and the cornstarch; set slurry aside.

2) In a 4-qt. saucepan, whisk together remaining milk and the cream, sugar, syrup, and salt; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 4 minutes; stir in slurry.

3) Return to a boil and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes.

4) Place cream cheese, matcha, and spices in a bowl and pour in 1/4 cup hot milk mixture; whisk until smooth. Then whisk in remaining milk mixture. Pour mixture into a plastic bag; seal, and submerge in a bowl of ice water until chilled.

5) Pour mixture into an ice cream maker; process according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer ice cream to a storage container and freeze until set. (About 4 hours.)

Almond flour and confectioners sugar.

I was flabbergasted when I actually found almond flour at our local grocery store. As previously stated, we live in something of a cultural wasteland and food desert, and our grocery store tends to be lacking on the more obscure items; however, it was recently updated and made much larger, so maybe I will no longer have to drive two hours, or order food online. 

That’s what stiff egg whites look like… When you’ve pinked them

+ Almond flour and confectioners sugar

Macaroons are, by most recipes, supposed to be about the size of a quarter. This is tedious, as you have to pipe them out into little circles that size, without a peak… I run screaming from almost anything that calls for piping as I just don’t have the patience. I actually took a cake decorating class, and was terrible at it because there’s just not enough control, and it’s boring. But I’m a certified cake decorator! I more realistically view it as a certification to sit around and eat frosting while occasionally squirting it on a cake.

Piped out.

Right shape, wrong size.

The picture of the pink ones piped out is about the right size… But they ended up all wonky shaped and not good. The green picture are too big, but more like what you want them to look like. The green were from an earlier trial run that failed. 

Blue batch.

These blue guys are mostly what you actually want them to look like when they are done, with the exception of the ones that are lopsided or touching. Seriously, so hard to get exactly right.

Some of them came turned out looking nice. Sadly, most of them did not. Mostly, this was an exercise in frustration. Happy Fourth of July! Learn from my mistakes, don’t make macaroons.

Macaroons

Ingredients:

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 2 large egg whites (I used AllWhites as I was not making a recipe that calls for a bunch of yolks.)
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Pulse confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Whip whites with a mixer on high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until more foamy. Add sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes. Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until well combined.
3. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 3/4-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks.Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. As soon as you put them in the oven, reduce temperature to 325 F. Bake 1 sheet at a time until macarons are crisp and firm, about 10 minutes. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees.
4. Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
5. Sandwich 2 same-size macarons with 1 teaspoon filling. 

Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup egg whites, room temperature
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter, room temperature

Attempt number one.

To be fair, I did not force him, or even expect him to eat the rainbow pizza.. Based on his history, I expected the toppings would be a little too non-traditional for him, not to mention the threat to his manhood. I made him his own nice normal pizza with spinach and pepperoni, but much to my surprise, he wanted to eat rainbow pizza.

Normal pizza.

Also, I stuffed the crust.

So. In case you’d like to make your own rainbow pizza, here’s what I did (makes a thin crust. If you want a regular crust, double):

Spinach crust:
Ingredients:
-1/2 packet active dry yeast
-1/2 TBS sugar
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup spinach
-1/4 cup water

-1 cup all purpose flour (more if needed. Dough should be sticky, but workable)

Directions:

-Combine  yeast sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl

-In a blender or food processor puree spinach with the water

-Warm spinach and water to about 110 degrees F (Should be warm to the touch but not burn)

-Pour spinach mixture over the yeast. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.

-Stir in flour until you are no longer able to stir, then knead until elastic.

-Place dough in an oiled bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

-Put sauce, toppings and cheese on pizza, and bake for 12 minutes.

Toppings:

-Pineapple

-Purple cauliflower

-Orange bell pepper

-Tomato

Sauce (it was my easy garlic sauce):

-1 TBS garlic powder

-1 TBS dried oregano

-3 TBS olive oil

The first couple of times I made this, I had some trouble fitting all the extra stuff back into the eggplant, but I figured it out. Once you have sauteed all the flavor out of the peppers, throw your eggplant in the skillet with them, sprinkle a little bit of salt on them, and let them sweat down for 8-10 minutes. Do the same thing with the onions and tomatoes and it all fits in your empty eggplant shells.

Tomato, onion, and basil sprouts.

I have been loath to use dried herbs as of late, as the flavor impact just is not the same, but I have been similarly reluctant to buy fresh herbs from the store as they are expensive. I had a crop of basil, sage, rosemary, oregano, and thyme planted in my meager garden space in the back yard, and they had just started sprouting, when the housing area we live in decided to spray herbicides all along our fence and I lost the lot. After I finished with my tantrum, I got some new seeds and planted everything again, inside, in pots. Point is, in that last picture, those purple sprouty things are my purple basil that I plucked in my efforts to un-crowd the plants in the pot.

Ready to oven.

I cannot rave about this recipe enough. The walnut, wheat germ, parmesan crust is rich, salty, and sweet all at once. The eggplant is meaty, the tomato is bright… And with any luck, you can’t taste the peppers at all! The last time my in laws came to visit, we procured some high-quality steaks wrapped in bacon which we cooked on the grill, and I made this as a side dish. All of the steaks went unfinished, but there was no eggplant left anywhere. True story.

Ready to mouth.

Ingredients: (Makes two servings)

-1 Small red bell pepper

-5 TBS olive oil

-2 cloves minced garlic

-1/4 cup fresh chopped basil or 2 TBS dried

-2 small or one large tomato

Crust:

-1/3 cup ground walnuts

-1/6 cup wheat germ

-1/4 cup grated parmesan

-1 tbs melted butter

-1/3 cup milk

Directions:

-Slice eggplant in half and hollow. Dice the meat.

-Dice the bell pepper.

-Over medium heat, in 2 TBS olive oil, saute bell pepper and egg plant until reduced in size by about half. 8-10 minutes. Divide between shells.

-Chop onion, tomato, garlic, and basil. Add olive oil to pan, saute onion and garlic for 4 minutes until onions are very translucent. Add tomato and basil and saute for another 4 minutes. Divide between shells.

-In the blender or food processor, make a paste of wheat germ, walnuts, butter, milk, and parmesan. Spread a thin layer on top of the eggplants.

-Bake at 350 Degrees F for 45 minutes.

I apologize sincerely, but, as I made this in 2010, and was unaware at the time that I would be blogging about my kitchen in the future, I have no “work-in-progress” pictures. Just the final product.

In December of 2010, my husband, who is military, was with an aviation unit. (Helicopters.) I had been doing a lot of baking at the time, and he thought I ought to make something to impress everyone at the unit Christmas party. I says, “Well, I could make oreos, or oatmeal cream pies, or pain au chocolat, or…” And he says, “Ohmigosh, you have to make a gingerbread helicopter.” I says, “Mmm… Perhaps that’s a little ambitious, as, I have never even made a gingerbread house?” And he ran off to cut up a cardboard box to make a template out of.

Right side.

He designed me a template to look like a Chinook transport helicopter (CH-47) as they are kind of boxy and we figured it would be the least difficult of the army helicopters to manufacture out of a confection. And the next morning, when I woke up, I found myself baking parts for a helicopter.

Front

Most of it was easy, as it was mostly just large, flat areas- the chin bubble, on the other hand, took some thinking about. In the original design it just called for a few narrow flat pieces to kind of simulate roundness, but I didn’t feel that this was satisfactory. What we ended up doing was constructing a frame out of raw gingerbread dough, and baking jolly ranchers inside of it to make a window type, then while it was still hot and malleable we bent it to fit the chopper.

Left side.

That evening, we went to the mall to pillage the candy store, and nearly spent a mint (pun intended) buying a few of everything. And we decorated, and it was incredible fun. It was a huge hit at the party. My reputation for baking had begun… And I then kept it up by mailing a weekly box of baked goods when they deployed for all of 2011.

Ingredients (Note: I made two recipes to build the helicopter. For anything more than a very small house, you will probably need at least two.)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon clove
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• In a medium saucepan, heat sugar, molasses, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves to boiling, stirring occasionally.
• 2
  Remove from heat; stir in soda (it will foam up).
• 3
  Stir in margarine till melted.
• 4
  With a fork, stir in egg, then flour.
• 5
  On a floured surface, knead dough till mixed. Divide dough in half, wrap half with plastic wrap; set aside.
• 6
  Roll half the dough, with a rolling pin, about  1/4 inch.
• 7
  Cut with cutters, or use template
• 8
  Bake at 325F on a cookie sheet for 12 minutes; cool on a wire rack.

Royal cement icing:

• 3 tbs meringue powder
• 4 cups (about 1 lb.) confectioners’ sugar
• 5 tablespoons warm water
  Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).

Tamarind Paste

I had never personally experienced Pad Thai, (I know, shame on me.) but I was recently at the library in the company of a friend who was seeking a recipe for it herself. With her glowing reviews for the dish, when I discovered it on the top 50 list, and realized it called for tamarind paste, I was sold. I turned to the internet for my recipe and came across a recipe for it from Alton Brown. (<3 <3 <3)

Unaltered tofu

Marinated tofu

Tofu compressing contraption

When I told them I was attempting Pad Thai, many of my friends raved about the dish, and said that they had considered making it themselves but they were intimidated by all the ingredients. It’s a fairly long ingredient list, and there is some moderately involved prep work; some of which needs to be done the day before; but it really shouldn’t be so daunting. With an adequate supply of prep bowls, it takes about 45 minutes. (Except for the day before stuff.)

Prepped ingredients

The part that I found more involved was the cooking. Once you start, it goes fast, as, the skillet is on high heat. You really cannot walk away, or stop stirring for more than a few seconds- until you pour in the sauce.

Eggs and scallions 

Both of the recipes I have made with my tamarind paste called for sugar to counteract the tartness… However, my beef rendang and Pad Thai both turned out sour. My new theory on the subject is that the particular batch of tamarind paste I acquired is especially tart and is tainting what would otherwise be delicious dishes. The Pad Thai still turned out tasty- there were a wide range of complex flavors at play- The salty shrimp paste, the rich peanuts, the spicy chili… But the underlying tart note was distracting. What I gather from my friends who are experienced in the eating of Pad Thai, is that it is supposed to be slightly tart, but also sweet. In the future, methinks I will use more sugar than the recipes call for to tone down the tamarind.

Pad Thai

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

• 1-ounce tamarind paste
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 4 ounces rice stick noodles
• 6 ounces Marinated Tofu, recipe follows
• 1 to 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 cup chopped scallions, divided
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salted cabbage
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
• 3 ounces bean sprouts, divided
• 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped, divided
• Freshly ground dried red chile peppers, to taste
• 1 lime, cut into wedgesDirections
• Place the tamarind paste in the boiling water and set aside while preparing the other ingredients.

• Combine the fish sauce, palm sugar, and rice wine vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.

  Place the rice stick noodles in a mixing bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Once the other ingredients are measured out into separate bowls, drain the water from the noodles and set them aside. Cut the tofu into 1/2-inch wide strips, similar to French fries.

  Press the tamarind paste through a fine mesh strainer and add to the sauce. Stir to combine.

  Place a wok over high heat. Once hot, add 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil. Heat until it shimmers, then add the tofu. Cook the tofu until golden brown, moving constantly, for no longer than 1 minute. Remove the tofu from the pan to a small bowl and set aside.

  If necessary, add some more peanut oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. Add 2/3 of the scallions and then the garlic, cook for 10 to 15 seconds. Add the eggs to the pan; once the eggs begin to set up, about 15 to 20 seconds, stir to scramble. Add the remaining ingredients in the following order and toss after each addition: noodles, sauce, cabbage, shrimp, and 2/3 of the bean sprouts and peanuts. Toss everything until heated through, but no longer than 1 to 2 minutes total. Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with the remaining scallions, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Serve immediately with the ground chile peppers and lime wedges.

  Marinated Tofu:

  6 ounces extra-firm tofu, not silken

  1 1/2 cups soy sauce

  1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

  Wrap the tofu firmly in a tea towel. Place the wrapped tofu into an 8-inch cake pan. Top with another cake pan and weigh down with a 5-pound weight. (Bags of dried beans or grains work well.) Place in refrigerator and press for 12 to 15 hours.

  Place pressed tofu in a 2-cup container. Combine soy sauce and five-spice powder and pour over tofu. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, turning once. Remove the tofu from the marinade and use immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 2 to 3 days.

   

Gorgeous Portobello Caps

So, the facts are; I do cook meat, regularly. I don’t hate it. Most of the time I even enjoy eating what I have prepared. A few days a week, however, I go meat free and I enjoy that too.

I have a large collection of cook books that I stole from my mother (who did not use them, and does not miss them) when I moved out of the house… And a number of them I have gotten as gifts since then. One of my favorites, hands down, is the Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas. First of all, it was published in 1972, and it looks like it was published in 1972, but it also happens to be chock-full of delicious recipes.

Bread cubes-Made from my spinach and tomato marble bread.

Ingredients:
-10 to 12 huge fresh mushrooms (1 1/2 to 2 lbs.)
-6 TBS butter
-2 garlic cloves, pressed
-1/4 tsp thyme
-1 Medium onion, chopped
-3 Stalks celery, chopped (I omit this as I am mildly allergic to celery, and my husband doesn’t like it.)
-1 Tart green apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
-1 TBS parsley
-1/8 tsp marjoram
-1/8 tsp oregano
-1 quart cubed bread
-1 cup vegetable broth (I cheat and use veggie stock cubes as they add a little bit of salt… And save some time.)

Stuffed mushrooms, up close.

Directions:
1) Wash the mushrooms very carefully and remove stems. Hollow out the mushrooms a bit with a spoon. (Save the scrapings.)
2) Melt 2 TBS butter in a large skillet. Add one clove crushed garlic and thyme and stir around for a minute or two. Add the whole mushroom caps and saute them for few minutes, moving them around so that they brown evenly. Remove and set aside.
3) Add the remaining butter to the skillet along with the second clove of garlic, the herbs, the chopped onion, celery, and apple. Chop up the mushroom stems and add them to the skillet.
Stirring often, saute the mixture until the onions are quite transparent. Add the bread cubes and toss well with the other ingredients. Salt and pepper liberally.
4) Continue cooking mixture until the bread cubes have absorbed all the butter. Moisten with a little bit of vegetable broth.
5) Stuff the mushroom caps, pressing several spoonfuls of the mixture into each one and forming a small mound on top. Butter a large baking dish (with a tight-fitting lid) and arrange the stuffed mushrooms in it in a single layer. Pour the remaining vegetable broth into the dish and cover it tightly. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 45-50 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure they are not drying out. Serve hot. Serves 4-5.

Two mushroom caps is not enough for a full meal, however, I could not fit more on the plate at once.

I would also like to note… That is PURPLE asparagus, and I was deeply disappointed at how much of it’s purple hue disappeared upon cooking.

Uncooked purple asparagus.

One of the main ingredients in the rendang sauce is tamarind paste. Tamarind paste is an elusive creature that is very rare in the area of the US we live in, which happens to be a food desert and cultural wasteland. So I turned to my BFF, amazon.com and had it shipped to my house. I have never had or even seen a fresh tamarind. I know that many Asian recipes call for it, and that they flavor candies and drinks with it in Mexico… But I have never tried those either. Basically, I had no idea what to expect, but I was terribly excited. I opened it the second it showed up, to discover that it is, in fact, a richly colored deep brown red, thick goo, which is ferociously tart and slightly bitter.

My optimism is waning, but not gone, as the recipe calls for decent quantities of two of the loves of my life- fresh ginger and garlic. The recipe also called for fresh lemon grass, which I was sadly unable to procure, and also fresh chili peppers… Which our grocery store also does. not. carry. (WTF?) So I substituted some canned chilis and cried a little on the inside.

So, onion, chili, garlic, ginger, tamarind, and coconut milk, turmeric, cumin, and coriander, all go for a whirl in the food processor.

And of course, because I’m curious, I take a taste. And the sauce is still wicked tart. I am feeling less and less positive, but it still has 6 hours of melding with the meat in the slow cooker to mellow out.

I cross my fingers and pour the sauce over the prime rib chunks.

Incidentally, we do have a wonderful local butcher shop where we buy most of our meat.

So I fire up the slow cooker, and wander away. 6 hours later and the beef is tender, and pulls apart and is gorgeous, but the sauce is still tart! And remarkably non-complex for all the different flavors that went into it. I am dissapoint. However. My husband enjoyed it. I quote, “It’s not my favorite ever, but it’s damned good and I can see why it made the top 50.” So, perhaps I’m being closed minded, but I don’t care for sour meat.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs prime rib, cut into 1-2-inch pieces
• 8 red chilies, stemmed and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 stalk lemongrass, tough outer layers removed, tender insides finely sliced
• 1/3 cup tamarind paste (combined with 1/3 cup warm water)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (ground chiles, not the chili pepper spice blend)
• 1 (15 ounce) can light coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• salt

Directions

• Put the beef in the slow cooker.
• In a blender or food processor combine the chilis, onion, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, tamarind paste, 1 cup warm water, and the spices.
• Puree until smooth, then pour over the beef.
• Stir in the coconut milk and cook, covered, on the low setting for 5-6 hours.
• The beef will be tender and the sauce will be dark brown.
• Ladle most of the sauce into a small saucepan and cook over medium high heat to reduce until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes.
• Pour the sauce back in the cooker and cook on high for 30 minutes to 1 hour longer.
• Stir in the sugar and season with salt to taste.
• Serve over steamed rice.

I am always on the look out for a recipe that sounds delicious. I am always on the look out for a recipe that sounds delicious and beautiful. I am always on the look out for a recipe that sounds delicious, beautiful, and is a bit of a challenge.  I stumbled across this recipe for spinach and tomato marble bread while browsing through Mr. Clayton’s book, I immediately leaped off the couch and went rushing off to the grocery store for the ingredients I didn’t have on hand.

These guys can be baked into three loaves segregated by vegetable (fruit), but I’m partial to rolling the doughs flat, and swirling them together. I used an 8.5×4.5 loaf pan for these them… But they can be braided together, or made into round loaves on a baking sheet.  This is my moderately adapted version of the recipe.

Ingredients for each loaf:

3 1/2 cups bread or all-purpose flour (approx.)

1 package active dry yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2 TBS butter

1 egg, room temperature

Spinach dough:

18 ounces fresh spinach, stemmed and washed (to make one cup puree)

1/4 cup milk

White douh:

2 TBS milk

2/3 cup hot water (120-130 degrees F)

Tomato dough:

2 TBS milk

1 cup tomato sauce

Directions:

1) In a medium saucepan cook the washed spinach with water still clinging to the leaves, until the leaves are just wilted; about two minutes. Puree the spinach in a blender or food processor. Gradually add the milk until the spinach is pureed; set aside.

2) In a large mixing bowl, or bowl of stand mixer, combine yeast, salt and sugar. Briefly microwave your spinach puree so it is warm to the touch, but does not quite burn. Add puree to your yeast and let sit 5 minutes.

3)Add the butter and the egg, and mix briefly.

4) Add two cups of flour and beat with flat beater until well combined; about two minutes, or mix with a wooden spoon for about 100 strokes. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour 1/4 cup at a time.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.

5) Mold dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled; about one hour.

6) In clean mixing bowl, combine sugar, salt, and yeast. Microwave your tomato sauce and milk until very warm to the touch, but not quite burning. Pour tomato sauce over the yeast mixture and let sit for 5 minutes.

7) Add the butter and the egg, and mix briefly.

8) Add two cups of flour and beat with flat beater until well combined; about two minutes, or mix with a wooden spoon for about 100 strokes. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour 1/4 cup at a time.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.

9) Mold dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled; about one hour.

10) Combine yeast, sugar, and salt in clean mixing bowl. Pour warm water and milk over your yeast mixture and let sit 5 minutes.

11) Add the butter and the egg, and mix briefly.

12) Add two cups of flour and beat with flat beater until well combined; about two minutes, or mix with a wooden spoon for about 100 strokes. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour 1/4 cup at a time.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.

13) Mold dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled; about one hour.

14) Once your dough has risen, dump each dough out onto an oiled work surface. With a knife, divide each ball of dough into three approximately even pieces.

15) One at a time, using a rolling pin, roll your dough segments out  so they are approximately 15″x8″.

16) Place your flattened dough segments on top of one another, making three stacks of dough, each including one layer of red, one layer of green, and one layer of white dough. Roll them up tightly, lengthwise, so you end up with a small loaf shape that fits in your pan.  Cover each of your three loaves with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for 40 minutes.

17) 20 minutes before baking, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

18) Bake 40 minutes, until golden brown.

19) Remove from oven and allow to cool briefly before turning out of loaf pans onto a metal rack to cool completely.

I can’t rave about this bread enough. It’s gorgeous when you slice into it. It is soft and has a delicate vegetable flavor. It makes fabulous sandwiches that should impress everyone, especially when you tell them you made it yourself!

Why did I make a scary pizza? I made a pizza to look like the Necrinomicon; the book of the dead because I chose to title my blog “the Gastronomicon, the Blog of the Fed” as an omage to HP Lovecraft, and the Evil Dead movie trilogy. I thought it was clever. Also, I make delicious pizza, and with part of a bachelors of fine art under my belt, I had a lot of fun making it into a frightening face.

I did eat it. Although I must confess it was not my tastiest pizza- It was rather a lot of garlic, and only black olives otherwise, I will share my basic pizza recipe and you can go ahead and choose your own toppings.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 TBS Active dry yeast

1 TBS Sugar

1 Cup warm water (105-110 degrees F) {You can replace your water with a cup of warm beer and your sugar with honey for a bit of a change of flavor.}

1 tsp salt

2 Cups flour (I do one cup unbleached all purpose and one cup whole wheat)

(If you want to make a thin crust pizza, just halve this recipe.)

Directions:

1) Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a large bowl. Allow to sit until the yeast forms a layer of foam on top of the water-about ten minutes.

2) Mix in salt, and flour- stir with a spoon, or mix with dough hook if using a mixer, until it forms a uniform ball. Add flour if needed to keep if from being too sticky, and then knead by hand on a smooth surface, or knead with dough hook until well mixed.

3) Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise for an hour.

4) Punch your dough down and briefly knead on a smooth surface. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

5) Roll out your dough to fit your pizza pan, or baking sheet- should be about a quarter of an inch thick.

6) Add your sauce, cheese, and toppings and bake for 12 minutes. Slice and serve.

My suggestions for sauce:

I usually use a can of UNSALTED tomato puree, 16 oz… And simmer that with a couple cloves of minced garlic, dried basil, 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano. I let that simmer over low heat until the volume is reduced by about half… 30-40 minutes depending on how low you have your heat set.  This makes a fair amount of sauce, so depending on how much sauce you want on your pizza, you may want to save some. I also occasionally make a green sauce of garlic, and steamed spinach I have put through the blender.

My cheese preferences lean towards fresh mozzarella, but I’m not above using the stuff that comes pre-shredded in a bag because it makes for a lot less work.  Provolone and parmesan also work quite nicely.

I don’t reccomend only topping your pizza  with garlic and black olives… My favorite toppings are banana pepper, spinach, fresh basil, onion, mushroom, sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts, broccoli… I could go on forever. I would have toppings 6 inches thick if I thought I could do it. But the toppings depend on what kind of sauce you are using, and the other toppings you are putting on.

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