#31 Cornmeal Pizza Dough

Again, this is a different recipe from the original recipe in the Homemade Pantry* because I was making taco pizza and wanted a cornmeal pizza crust. So I found this one from Martha Stewart. It was really easy to make up the day before and keep it in the fridge until I needed it! I decided to use my Kitchenaid to do the work, so check out the recipe here, if you want to make this by hand.

Cornmeal Pizza Crust
Makes (4) 10-14" pizzas

4 tsp. yeast
Sugar
1 1/3 cups warm water
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. olive oil (plus more for bowl)

1. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water. Let stand until yeast is dissolved and mixture is foamy. About 10 minutes. See the foam layer in photo below.

 

 

2. Combine flour, cornmeal, and salt in your warmed mixer bowl and add the yeast mixture and oil.

 

 

 

Use the stir mixer setting and mix until the dough comes together.  Then switch to the dough hook and knead the dough in the mixer for 7-10 minutes. Medium speed.

 

 

Your dough ball is a good one if it climbs the dough hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. If it is dry, add a 1/2 Tbsp. of water. If it is too sticky. Add 1/2 Tbsp. of flour. Amounts may vary.

 

Divide the dough into (4) 8 0z. dough balls.

 

 

Then add your dough balls to a well-oiled bowl. Turning the dough to coat with oil.

 

 

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise one hour at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.

 

When making pizza follow these directions......

 

Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone on lowest rack. Stretch each dough ball into a 10-14 inch round. Sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza peel or inverted baking sheet. Place dough round on top, and cover with toppings, as desired.

 

Slide rounds onto pizza stone, and bake until crisp and golden and toppings are bubbling. 5-7 minutes.

 

I did not have a pizza peel, so making my taco pizza according to the above directions was not really an easy task. I have since purchased a pizza peel:) I got it here. If you have a pizza stone, a peel really is neccessary. It's a pretty small investment....about the $ of a small take-out pizza:) If you do not have a pizza stone, then stretch your crust onto an oiled pizza pan or baking sheet and go from there.

 

*This crust was excellent for taco pizza. This fall, I plan to blog the original pizza crust recipe from the book, but I wanted to wait until I had my home-grown tomatoes to make homemade tomato pizza sauce. So watch for that this fall:)

 

 

 

 





#30 Beef Stew

There is a beef stew recipe in the Homemade Pantry, but I'm, again, going to share my own recipe. I'm sure the one in the book is great, but once I find a recipe I like, I tend to stick with it. My beef stew is a tomato based stew. There are others out there that are more of a gravy base.

Beef Stew

2 Tb. flour
1 lb. beef stew meat, cut into 3/4" pieces
2 Tb. oil
1 cup water
3 cups vegetable juice
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
1 tsp. instant beef bouillon granules
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. oregano. crushed
1/2 tsp. marjoram, crushed
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 cups potatoes
1 cup frozen cut green beans
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 cups sliced carrots (2 medium)

1. Place flour in a plastic bag. Add meat cubes, a few at a time, shaking to coat. In a large saucepan or pot brown meat, half at a time, in hot oil.

Drain fat. Return meat to pot. Stir in the vegetable juice, water, onion, bouillon, Worcestershire, herbs, and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Bring to boiling then reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until meat is tender.

 

Stir in potatoes, green beans, corn and carrots.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes more or till meat and veggies are tender. Discard bay leaf. Add salt and more pepper to taste. Makes about 9 cups

 

Super yummy. My family loves it. The only mistake I made was not making enough. Next time I will double the recipe:) I do not make it very often, but on a lazy winter weekend...it's the perfect meal to start early and have simmering on the stove. Pair it with some fresh bread...which makes for some serious comfort food. And believe it or not...it's a low-fat stew!

#29 Barbecue Sauce

Here's another bonus recipe that is handy to have in case you love BBQ, but can't seem to find a store bought sauce without a ton of high fructose corn syrup. I developed this recipe myself by combining a few that I have seen. The base of this recipe is ketchup. I know....ketchup is full of HFCS too. Right? Well, there are a few out there without it. I used Simply Heinz. Just the basics in that ketchup.

Barbecue Sauce
Makes 1 1/2 cups

1 cup good ketchup
1/4 cup molasses (mild flavor)
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh- 1 lemon)
1 tsp. dry ground mustard
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. chili powder
2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
1 tsp. worcestershire sauce

 

Add all ingredients to a saucepan and mix well over medium heat until bubbling, sugar is dissolved and thickened. About 7-10 minutes. The hardest part is mixing in all the dry mustard lumps:)

 

And there you have it...just a tad under 1 and 1/2 cups of yummy sauce. Use any way you like!

Keeps for 4 weeks in the fridge in a canning jar and tight lid and 6 months in the freezer using a freezer jar. Make sure you leave enough headspace in the jar if you are going to freeze.

#28 Popcorn

Yes....popcorn was in the book, but the author of "The Homemade Pantry" used an air-popper. In my house we use a whirly pop. So in case you eat your popcorn from the microwave (like we do, sometimes) here is how we make popcorn...homemade.

All you need is 1/2 cup popcorn, 2-3 Tbsp. canola oil, and whatever flavorings you like. Butter and salt, etc.

 

Add 2 tablespoons canola oil (or any high smoking point oil) to the whirly pop along with a few popcorn seeds. Set over medium heat.

 



 



When you hear those few seeds pop, then add your 1/2 cup of seeds and start cranking!

It takes just a few minutes and you will notice the fewer pops and there is a bit more resistance when you whirl! That is when it is done.

 

 

I then add the popcorn to a big bowl and added all the yummy stuff..like melted butter and salt. I also tried adding a little nutritional yeast flakes to my small bowl and it was pretty good. So if you want a little more nutritional benefit added to your popcorn try yeast flakes, found in health food stores.

Also,  I purchased my whirly pop online. It is stainless steel. Most whirly pops in stores are aluminum, so I paid more to get a stainless steel one.