Easy home baked pizza

This was an absolute winner  and completely my kind of a homemade pizza.

This is not at all difficult to make and has endless variations to it.

Pizza is a simple, delicious, global  delight.  There are so many pizza dough recipes one may choose from. I have a very simple pizza dough recipe that is according to  1 Base, 100 Pizzas by Rachel Carter  and one can  never go wrong with it. Pardon me, but I have done some alteration.This has been tested several times and is my favourite. 

Basic Pizza Dough

Makes two x 26cm/10 1/2 - inch round pizzas: or
four x 19-cm/7 1/2- inch pizzas; or
one x 38 x 26-cm/ 15 x 10 1/2 - inch rectangular pizza



300g strong flour white flour, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon easy-blend dried yeast

1 teaspoon salt (instead of 1 and 1/2 teaspoon)

175ml hand-hot water

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for kneading



Method:

1.  Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the yeast and salt, making a small well on the top.  Mix the water and oil together and pour into the bowl, using a round-bladed knife to gradually combine all the flour to make a sticky dough.

2.  Lightly flour the work surface and your hands and knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it has doubled in size.

3.  Cover the dough with some lightly oiled cling wrap or a damp tea towel and leave to rise for about an hour, or until it has doubled in size.

4.  Knock back the dough by gently kneading for about a minute, then divide  them into portions of any size you would like. To roll out the dough, flatten each portion and then using a rolling pin roll out on a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough to the size and shape you want. [I have skipped this> giving a quarter turn between each roll]

5.  Preheat the oven to 220 Celsius.  Place the pizza bases on the baking trays, using the rolling pin to transfer them from the work surface.

For the toppings:

200g ready-prepared tomato pizza sauce

A handful of capsicum(ball peppers) , tomatoes, onion, squash, mushroom and pineapple 

50ml olive oil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
salt and pepper
200g grated mozzarella cheese

Method:

1.  Set oven to grill, and get the vegetables ready.
2.  Wash, dry, peel and cut the vegetables into slightly larger pieces.  Put all the vegetables in a big bowl, add the olive oil and the oregano; and toss well.
3.  On a baking tray lined with baking paper, pour the vegetables' mixture and place the plate about 10- 15 cm below oven grill until the vegetables are tender and have taken color for about 5 - 10 minutes and remove the plate and set aside.
4. Turn the oven to the maximum heat and bake the crust around 10 minutes, remove the pizza crust from the oven.  Cover the crust totally with pizza sauce, then spread the cheese and vegetables. Sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper.
5.  Bake again in the maximum heat for another 5-10 minutes, until the cheese has melted.  Serve (almost) immediately. 

As if I am in the Mediterranean ...I can smell and taste it even as I am writing this..uhmmmm!
Bon Appetite!!




*PS.

The amount of toppings for your pizza would depend on the size of the pizza. If you think you have too much of your toppings prepared I would suggest you to keep and refrigerate the rest in an air tight container*.

This is a vegetarian pizza and the only outline of the toppings for any pizza. You can add your favourite toppings with a not too thick layer of your favourite shredded cheese, mushroom, red onion, tomato, capsicum, bacon, aubergine, sweet potato, potato etc and finally garnish with freshly grated parmesan if you wish. You do the same with meat pizza.

Spread only a thin layer of your favourite topping on your pizza. The thicker the layer, the longer the time it takes to be baked or else  the top is cooked but the bottom of the dough is still not baked.  It is quite natural  that not everyone would follow what is suggested in the recipe, we want to add more toppings, don't we? You see, I had a  bad experience with  pizza during my culinary study at TAFE in Sydney. What I did was the opposite. I barely scraped through my exam!

Sago Pudding with Coconut Milk and GulaMelaka

While residing in Northern Beaches in Sydney years ago, I came to know  this group of Asian ladies mainly from Singapore, Japan and the Philippines.  We gathered once a month for potluck. It was always so much fun each time we met and we all looked forward to the next meeting.  

The dishes were mostly authentic, home made recipes.  We had  the most delicious Poh Piah, Spicy Indian Curry, Malay Satay, Roast Duck, Nyonya Rojak, and very Japanese Sushi (indeed!).. every dish had a 'Wow!' factor.

So  when LL 's dessert appeared on the table one day I got so excited! Sago Pudding??? That was ages ago! Who would have thought of Sago Pudding in Sydney and that too with coconut milk and gula melaka???

I wouldn't deny to confess that I had three BIG portions! It was simply so delicious! But I wanted to learn how to make it. According to LL, you just add this and add that, boil this and sieve that...well it sounded so easy!

Sago Pudding with Coconut Milk and  Gula  Melaka

Ingredients:

3 litres of water

300g of sago
450ml of coconut milk
3 pandan leaves
A pinch of salt
A bottle of ready to use gula melaka (palm sugar)

Directions:

1.  Boil water in a large pot/sauce pan and then add in sago. Stir it continuously to keep the sago from sticking together. Cook until the sago turns translucent.

2.  Strain and wash away excess starch in running cold water and drain.

3.  Spoon them into individual glass or container.  Set and chill in the fridge.

4.  Pour the coconut milk in a small pot/saucepan. Add in a pinch of salt and the pandan leaf (screw pine) tied into a knot. Boil at low temperature and stir constantly. When it starts to bubble, remove from heat, cover with the lid and set aside to fuse for about an hour. Then strain into covered container, then set aside to cool.

6. Serve the chilled sago with coconut milk and gula melaka.   YUMMY!!!

Thai Salad

If you are a salad eater I bet you will never get tired of this and you know what I am talking about. This is a vegan, fresh, crunchy, tasty, trans-fat free sesame oil which is healthy and full of flavour and texture!  A true tropical salad from Thailand, sweet, sour and salty all at the same time-  a perfect blend of flavours  mixed  with raw bean sprout, carrot, cucumber, freshly sliced herbs, chopped chili, peanuts, pineapple, kaffir  lime leaves.

There are countless versions of Thai salad - some versions involve the addition of different cooked meat or freshly cooked prawns, raw papaya, raw mango, yam bean, taufoo. You definitely have got to try this because it is so effortless to make!

For more info you can go to Thai Salads

For 8 person

Rice Vinaigrette Dressing:

400ml rice vinegar

6 lime juice

300g white sugar

250ml fish sauce

100ml sesame oil

3 finely chopped fresh garlic

2 tsp salt

Some freshly ground black pepper

The Salad

Ingredient A:

6 fresh finely chopped red chili

1 rice bowl of chopped toasted peanuts

1 rice bowl of roasted sesame seeds

Ingredient B:

400g of  rice vermicelli (meehun) 

400g of bean sprout

2 shredded carrots 

1 bunch of spring onion, finely chopped (10 medium stalks)

1 bunch of coriander, coarsely chopped (15 medium stalks)

2 plastic bags of thai basil (remove leaves from the stem)

2 plastic bags of laksa leaf(daun kesom)  (remove leaves from the stem)

1 bunch of mint (remove leaves from the stem)

6 pcs of kaffir lime leaves - finely chopped

3 stalks of fresh lemon grass. finely chopped, only the white end part of the plant

 Salt and pepper to taste 

Methods:

1.  Prepare the Rice Vinaigrette Dressing first. Combine and whisk all the ingredients, stir until sugar is dissolved, test for taste and then cover. This has to be sweet enough while being salty and sour with a little bit of spicy chili. For this recipe I prefer it to be sweeter than salty (from the fish sauce, otherwise the flavour is not there! The flavour has to be maximum). Set aside in the fridge.

2.  Prepare ingredient A. Set aside.

3.  To prepare the salad:

Soak the vermicelli in a big bowl of  boiling water for about 5 -10  minutes, or follow instruction on the vermicelli bag. Drain and rinse thoroughly with a pair of thong, gently separate them with cold water. Set it aside to drain while you prepare the salad ingredients.

4.  Wash, drain, dry, shred, cut and chop all the ingredient B  into a big bowl. Add the drained vermicelli and toss gently with a big pair of chopstick or a pair of big thongs, until it is mixed well.

5.  Serve the Thai salad in a bowl (due to the watering effect of the vinaigrette. Top it with roasted chopped peanuts, roasted sesame seeds and preferentially with some chopped chili, coriander and spring onion or nuts. This cannot go wrong, I guarantee you. This will give you such an appetite.  Serve immediately.

Tip: 

You can make this in advance.  In a big bowl, gently combine all ingredients A and B together. Cover with cling wrap, and put it aside in the fridge for several days.  

Add the vinaigrette, sesame seeds and nuts only minutes before serving, otherwise your salad will be too soggy.. This is called "dressing your salad".

Baked Salmon in Black Bean Sauce

I am lucky I came across this friendly group of local ladies when I went for walks every morning (Monday - Friday) at Seremban 2 City Park more than a year ago. I enjoyed doing the line dance and the Chinese traditional exercise called qigong . The place is very popular among the locals, and it has the 'up to you' kinda relaxing atmosphere. 

I have found  the line dance in particular very refreshing because of its happy go lucky songs. They are cheerful, wonderfully light and entertaining mix of not only the popular English Oldies, but also the Chinese, Malay, Thai  and even Indonesian songs all of which make it so versatile and enjoyable ...Malaysia Boleh!

In the earlier days of my arrival in Seremban 2, some of these ladies offered to chauffeur me around, and show me where all the amenities are, for e.g; the supermarkets, the local shops, the post office, the hospitals and not to forget, the local restaurants, stalls selling food, etc...

On and off, we went out eating and, I must say, usually they were such a treat! Each time it was trying out a different joint. "Where to eat?" - a discussion of such can easily take up to 10 minutes. This is a totally new experience for me! "...where to eat, what to eat, air-con or no air-con. And of course I would prefer WITH AIR-CON please! Our discussions would be something like this "That restaurant's fish is damn good, its so fresh!" or "We do not want that restaurant because that particular dish was not good the last time we ate." so on and so forth.

I had been going out eating  with them for a while and then I decided it was high time I invited them home for a meal as a token of gratitude. I  love to share good wholesome, delicious, home-cooked food but then had not realized that I was going to serve a group of  food critiques! No kidding!

You see I had just been to Norway a few days before I hosted this lunch.  I had gone fishing there and caught a Salmon that weighed about 1.5 kg. This Norwegian Salmon was in my freezer and I was  wondering, How am I going to serve it to guests who, in my opinion, might only be familiar with Salmon  as a Sushi ingredient? My dilemma was how am I going to prepare it to suit their palate. Whaaa! Should I deep fry, stir fry, braise? Obviously, Salmon is not a common Asian staple food.  My dilemma  developed when browsing through the internet into panic! If you are unaware of this, FYI, the local people (especially the Chinese) are very particular about the freshness of their food  and more so their seafood! And it is very true!
Eventually I decided on Chinese style and you wouldn't  believe if I told you it was so easy to cook it that way. By using only a few ingredients, this 'catch-of-the-day' turned out to be a hit! I myself was surprised  how delectable it turned out  and eventually the dish was consumed and appreciated. Done, finito!



8 person

Recipe:

1 tablespoon oil

1.5 kg salmon

1 tablespoon oil

200 gm ginger (scraped, sliced thinly)

7 tablespoons  Lee Kum Kee Black Pepper Sauce

Fresh ground black pepper

Aluminium foil

5 stalks of cleaned and coarsely chopped spring onion

7 stalks of cleaned n coarsely chopped coriander

2 side way sliced red chilies

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

2.  Use a baking dish (the size is important to the size of your fish), use 1 tablespoon oil (any of your preference) to oil the dish so that the fish will not get stuck on the dish, at least it makes it easier to wash up afterwards.

3.  If the fish is still frozen, clean and scrap the fish while it is still frozen. Pat dry with kitchen towel. Cut three or four incisions on both sides of the fish. Coat/rub the fish with oil, inside out, so that the baked fish will not be dried.

4. In a medium size bowl, mix thoroughly with the thinly sliced ginger and the black bean sauce together.  Let it rest for about 10 minutes.

5.  Cover both sides of the fish  completely with the sauce.

6.  Use at least remainder of one big tablespoon of sauce and put it into the stomach. Cover the fish with freshly ground pepper.

7.  Cover the fish completely with aluminium foil.  It is advisable to pull and tear the aluminium foil, twice the length  and twice the width, so that it is underneath your baking dish. Another reason, you will not lose your grip of the hot baking dish.

8.  Bake for about 20 - 25- 30 minutes, depending on how well you would like it to be baked.

9.  Remove from oven, sprinkles with the wonderful prepared Asian herbs on top.

10. Serve immediately. 

Bone Appetite!

Tip:

Do you know that baking is the easiest way of food preparation. It enables you to control the cooking temperature.  Your work station is always clean, does not involve a lot of cleaning after cooking.

Just came out from the oven.

Sprinkle with some wonderful delicious Asian fresh herbs.

Ready to serve. Bon Appetit!

The Asian Walnut Red Bean Bread

I got so excited when I saw these artistic beautiful made Asian Read Bean Bread in so many of the Asian Food Blogs. Not only they are so popular, you can even get them from the local bakers' stalls. I always wanted to learn how to bake that kind of bread, not until I have found out I have already a copy of such recipe book which I have bought some time ago (found it in one of the stacks of many cook books I have collected!). As I was glancing through this recipe book called the Bun Lovers by K.S.Lee. and I have found the artistic pictures of Walnut Red Bean Bread in page 19.

 

I have never baked Asian Bread before nor have used high protein flour(HPF) prior living here in Malaysia.  Back then in Sydney, Australia, yes I have found the HPF in the Asian shops, not knowing what to do with it, even though I was told that HPF is meant to make bread!! Didn't know what to think, what to do with it, never heard about it!!  Nor have I not do my homework enough to know what high protein flour is then..???!!  Besides, I am quite sure that high protein flour is mainly used by the Chinese in South East Asia.   

 

In Seremban, it is a bit troublesome to find HPF.  Mind you HPF is only obtainable in certain local Chinese shops and at the bakers' shops .  Not in even Aeon and Tesco.

 

The many different bread flour which can be found in Denmark and  in Australia have given me a total new experience and explanation of how these flour work.  They give you a incredible 'flour fragrant' smell once you open the flour bag; the smell is like smelling to the fresh grain.  You could imagine  the taste and the flavour of your baked bread using this particular flour. For example, the famous Danish Bread using the Rye Wheat Flour produces the stable Rye Bread for their ever popular 'Open Sandwich' (I will come back to this later).

 

After several experimenting the usage of High Protein Flour, I have found that this flour works wonder. The texture, the taste and the sponginess is a total story comparing with the usage of the local normal wheat flour or normal flour (or it is the same flour after all!), where they are less sponging and taste dull. Has it got to do with the flour that has been sitting on the shelves in the supermarkets or at the flour manufacturer's warehouse for too long even though the expiring date is still valid?? What about the control of the temperature??

 

Perhaps the accountability of the weather has something to do with it.  The hot and high humid temperature in a shop has certainly influence the quality and the condition of the products.  Even though the availability of local produced flour can be obtained easily, the quality and the result of the flour is not the same as I have experienced before.  And the packaging..has it got any influence..??

 

I think part of these, this is therefore, the baking shops equipped themselves with additives like 'bread softerner', 'bread improver' 'double action baking flour' etc etc..Mind you, I have no idea the exiting of such product and not in the habit of using these.  Perhaps I should..one day, and find out what it is taste like.

 

All the ingredients can be obtained from the local supermarkets and the Chinese Sundry Shops.

 

Before you start baking, please read the recipe at least twice (2 times) or even 3,4 times, to understand its content.  Do exactly what it is stated, do not change the amount of the ingredients or else the flavour and the texture will be different. Get all the ingredients ready as mise en place.

 

 

Walnuts and Red Bean Rolls

 

Ingredient:

320g high protein flour

6g instant yeast 

1/8 salt

30gcaster sugar

230ml milk

1/2 teaspoon bread improver (I skipped this)

50g walnuts (chopped)

40g butter

 

Filling:

510g  red bean paste (ready made from the local Chinese sundry shops)

 

Garnishing:

20 walnuts

 

 

Method:

 

1.  Divide the red bean paste into 30g each portion,press lightly.  Keep aside.

 

2. Combine all ingredients in a mixer, mix well with medium speed until to be a dough.

 

3.  Add in butter, continue beat with medium speed until a smooth and elastic dough is formed. Rest dough for 1 hour.

 

4. Divide dough into 40g each portion, roll into round.  Wrap with some red bean paste and seal.  Form into oval shapes with a rolling pin.

 

5. Make a few diagonal slits on the centre, slip from both side, roll up like knots. Arrange on a baking pan, leave to rise, until double size.

 

6.  Glaze with beaten egg, place walnut on the centre.  Bake in preheated oven at 180C fron10 - 15 minutes until cooked.

 

Taste best when it is freshly baked.



 

 

 

Purpleberry Multigrain Lemon Cranberry Loaf Bread

I thought I recognized the name "Purpleberry Multigrain" flour when I was at a local baking ingredient's shop some time ago.  I thought that was very intriguing..As long as I have been baking the European bread, one seldom add in some other (foreign) flour to their baking.  [Well forgive me if I was wrong!] I bought it without any hesitation even though for this little sachet of flour which  weighs only 250 gm for Rm4.90, which I thought it was quite alright!

And I was right!  I thought I remembered seeing this recipe in this magazine  My Nourishment, dated back April - June 2011, which I have bought way back then from the local book shop, when I just arrived from Sydney.  

Never heard of Purpleberry Wholegrain Flour..  

For information please go to the sites:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callicarpa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_corn

Oh yes, while in Sydney, I had Purple Berry Smoothies aka Achai Smoothies. It  tasted very good,, feeling energetic (naturally), heavy and full!  Regarding Purple Corn,  I saw these people from the Amazon consuming them.  Thanks to the Discovery Channel!!.  Wow, my horizon has widen and am recollecting my thoughts..How wonderful..

Well, it stated Purpleberry Wholegrain Flour is The blend of Purple Wheat and Purple Corn with high fiber grain.

According to the United States of Agriculture Association, the Purple Berry is among the highest fruits for antioxidants, even higher than blueberries and cranberries.  And not just that the magazine My Nourishment  stated Purpleberry Multigrain are Cancer Prophylactic properties, contain   high fiber, they are natural, pleasant aroma and shelf stable.  

Actually, I  did not plan to bake nor was prepared to, because reading through the recipe, I discovered there were three ingredients which were not available in my pantry.  I presume I could substitute them with some other similar ingredients...Indeed I am going to do that because the changes was so small..

Pardon me I have done some changes to the original recipe. I will italic to my version and I have doubled its portion. 

Purpleberry Multigrain Lemon Cranberry Loaf Bread

Ingredients:

400 g bread flour

100 g purpleberry wholegrain flour 

50 g caster sugar

1 tsp salt

15 g milk powder

12 g Fermipan brown instant yeast [saf-instant]

330 g UHT full cream milk (chilled)

40 g Cobram Estate Australian extra virgin olive oil with lemon oil    (lemon twist) [Colavita extra virgin olive oil] 

100 g Ocean Spray dried cranberries (to sprinkle) [added coarsely chopped apricot and some mixed fruits]

 Method:

1.  Place the bread flour, purpleberry, wholegrain flour, caster sugar, salt, milk powder, coarsely chopped apricot  and brown instant yeast into a mixing bowl equipped with a dough hook.  Start the mixer on low speed and gradually pour in the full cream milk.

2.  Add the olive oil and continue to knead the dough in the mixer until it is fully developed and well-incorporated.

3.  Take a small sample of the beaten dough and stretch it with your fingers.  The dough should stretch into  a thin sheet without tearing.

Have tried to do as stated. I know it did not look good. There was a little hole..But you know, quickly reseal the hole so that nobody sees you???    On top of that I did not know I had my shadow with me..how embarrassing..

4.  Remove the dough from the bowl and mould it by hand into a smooth ball.

5.  Set aside the dough in a bowl and cover it with cling film.  Leave the dough to rise for 1 hour until it doubles in size.

6.  After that, punch down the dough and portion it into 280 g each.  

7.  Let the portions rest for 10 minutes.

8.  Next, flatten the dough by rolling t into a rectangular shape with a rolling pin.  Fill the surface of the dough with the dried cranberries.  Roll up the dough tightly with your hand.

9.  Place the dough into a loaf tin and leave it to rise for about 50-55 minutes until doubles in size.

10.  Pre-heat the oven between 190 Celsius  and 200 Celsius and bake it for about 20 - 25 minutes, until golden brown.

The texture was soft, chewy and flavorsome