Chocolate Babka
Is cooking not the best hobby in the world? Look at what I get to do! and then at the end of it, I eat everything. It’s like being a poppy farmer and an opiate adict at THE SAME TIME.
This first picture probably qualifies as a minor failure. I tried making a chocolate babka, although I think I messed up the yeast causing a failure in big fluffy dough.
That, and I tried halving a recipe which always ends up in disaster for me. Kids, learn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions in class. It actually comes in handy. I know, who knew? Not I, said the English major. Nevertheless, I will conquer this chocolate babka one day. Of course, that’s merely because the whole purpose of making the chocolate babka is to let it go stale and make some really awesome weekend brunch french toast. (recipe via Smitten Kitchen).
While I was assembling this mini-slide show I realized that I have a very strong affinity to making pizza/pie/things cooked in dough, which is in direct opposition with my total distaste for making breads of any kind. I find muffins to be the epitome of wasted calories. Bread, in my view, is a vehicle for the other delicious things that nature has to offer, whether it be simple – olive oil, salt and pepper – or an entire pizza stuffed to the gills with fresh veggies and even fresher mozzarella.
Homemade Onion Pizza
Some of my first dates with The Boy involved assembling homemade pizza and cooking it on a pizza stone. It remains one of the most fun activities we share together, that is if you count arguing about how the pizza should be made and what should go on it a fun activity. Seriously, we’ve fought more about pizza making than anything else.
Homemade Onion Pizza
I knew there had to be a better way than the way we were going about it so when I moved into my new bachelorette pad, he bought me a pizza stone. Over time we’ve really perfected our recipe and now I honestly believe we probably make one of the Top 5 Pizzas in the D.C. metro area. I mean look at that crust, with the yeasty dough bubbles! Gorgeous. The Washington Post can go ahead and get in contact with me now to confirm.
Homemade Pizza
- Pizza stone
- Pizza peel or back of a cookie sheet
- Cornmeal
- Dough from Simply Recipes (letting the dough sit for 24 hours adds complexity of flavor)
- The Best Mozzarella you are willing to buy
- 8oz can of Tomato Sauce
- Your imagination, for the rest
Set your oven to the highest it’ll go and let it heat up for at least 30 minutes. Once your dough is rolled out (and if it just came out if the fridge and doesn’t actually let itself be rolled, let it sit for 15 minutes or s0), put it on your peel or cookie sheet liberally sprinkled with cornmeal. Test to make sure pizza moves. Add toppings as you desire. Using a firm wrist, slide the pizza onto the stone. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Obviously none of these are required but we’re aiming for the Top 5 Pizzas in the D.C. Metro area, aren’t we?
Speaking of the Washington Post, I decided to get creative when they announced their annual original tomato recipe contest. I don’t normally like tomatoes so I knew this would involve blending tomatoes with other flavors I found palatable.
BLT Galette
I love galettes, ever since I made this butternut squash and caramelized onion galette and I watched Julia Child make galettes on an episode of Baking with Julia. It is so easy and so classy and you can go wild with flavors and even go sweet over savory. I knew this would be a great way to showcase the tomato.
Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t come up with a good way to make this recipe work within their ten ingredient limit. But here it is for posterity, my original recipe for BLT galette:
Pastry
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 to 6 tablespoons ice-cold water
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
Toppings
- 1/2 cup Herb goat cheese separated into chunks
- 1lb pepper bacon, cooked until just before done (still chewy), cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- One pound of cherry tomatoes
- Arugula
- Olive oil
- Balsamic vinaigrette
Assemble the pastry dough according to these directions. Cook the bacon in a skillet until desired consistency, ideally just before you would say “It needs another minute or two” (it’ll finish cooking in the oven.) Slice tomatoes in half. Roll dough out to about 16 inches and put on a cookie sheet – some will hang over the side, this is fine. Leaving 2 inches all around like you would a pizza, spread out the goat cheese chunks, tomatoes, and bacon. Fold over dough, pleating it onto itself so that it sticks. Brush liberally with beaten egg for nice golden color. Sprinkle the crust with sea salt. Bake for 35 minutes or until crust is golden.
Meanwhile mix 1 part balsamic vinaigrette with three parts olive oil, pinch of sald and pepper and mix with arugula. When galette is done, remove from oven, allow to cool for several minutes before topping with arugula. Voila!
BLT Galette
To finish up the “things cooked in dough”, it seems fitting to finish with a less free-form item and do a proper tart. I saw this recipe on 101 Cookbooks a while ago and it stuck in my head immediately. I think it’s obvious that I actually adore tomatoes, so long as the juices mix with some sort of melted cheese and they are placed within some sort of dough-like vehicle.
Lasagna Tart
It’s pretty obvious that I took some liberties with Heidi Swanson’s fine recipe here. I used white whole wheat flour instead of the whole wheat pastry flour because I don’t regularly shop at Whole Foods and what sort of plebeian grocery store carries whole wheat pastry flour? It still tasted fine if a little dry. I definitely uppd the amount of olive oil to compensate.
I added some of my favorite fresh mozzarella on top to make it more lasagna-like and topped it with fresh basil and oregano from the garden, which The Boy managed to show up with right when I was about to pop it in the oven. Otherwise those herbs would’ve made it right into the tart itself.
Lasagna Tart
I wouldn’t say it tasted like lasagna but the tart was delicious and fresh, like summertime, which is what I totally crave in this weather. Highly highly recommend. (Lasagna Tart recipe from 101 Cookbooks).
Two other recipes that I recently made but didn’t capture on film:
