Cooking Tips for the New Year

Cooking Tips for the New Year

The New Year has come, and January itself is about gone. I think it is appropriate then that I offer some tips to make your cooking and baking life easier in future. A lot of times in life, it isn’t always the expensive gadget or appliance, it’s often the little things that really count. Every cook has a repertoire of tricks and techniques, as I’m sure you all do. Perhaps you’d like to share a few with your fellow readers, and if so, I can post them via a future, or next, blog. Just drop me a line at suevanslooten@ripnet.com, and I’ll be happy to take a look at them. They will also get posted on my website at www.svanslooten.com. We can all learn something from each other that way. So, let’s get cooking on this.

1.     Parchment paper-Not just a fancy waxed paper. Parchment can be worth its weight almost in gold when it comes to baking. I always use it to line cake pans, sweet breads, etc. Also, with fussy cookies, or sticky ones like macaroons, it is indispensible. It will really save you a lot of headaches when it comes to turning out your favourite product. It’s also useful for cooking fish packets and goodies like that. Plus, as it is greaseproof, if it isn’t too soiled, you can reuse it. It also tends to not burn as easily as paper would.

2.     Instant read thermometer. In baking, it is very handy indeed to know if your product is done. The instant read will tell you at about 190 F., you bread is basically done. In candy making, well, don’t attempt it without one. I’ve done it, but....the results were good, I just find the thermometer takes the guess work out of it. Ditto for any kind of cheese or yogurt making.

3.     Dough whisk-heck, you could do a whole blog on this one. We even gave one away a couple of years ago. It is wire crazy loops mounted on a handle. The only place I know where you can get one is King Arthur Flour, and it’s worth going all out for the big one. If you want to make bread, this is the device to have. Even for just mixing dry ingredients together it’s great, but when it comes to mixing a loose, still ragged bread dough, you will wonder how you managed to survive all these years without one.

4.     Olive oil. Use this instead of vegetable oil in your bread and cake recipes. If you use the light tasting stuff, you will never know that pumpkin bread or brownies, or zucchini bread was made with olive oil. I just made an applesauce cake with it-delicious! In fact, I think it tastes even better. You then don’t have to rely on commercially made vegetable oils, which are garnering question marks about their quality and integrity. Besides, millions of Romans, Greeks, and their modern day counterparts, can’t be wrong.

5.    Jar Key. This is one of those little gadgets that really will make life easier, as when you get a particularly stubborn pickle jar, jam jar, or what have you. Many a time I have struggled to turn the lid, to no avail. Enter the Jar Key (see red item in photo). Hook it on, lift it up, and the vacuum seal breaks. Now you can open your jar. 

6.    Spray Oils. This may seem like an obvious one, but I’m sure someone is still struggling to grease fancy shaped pans, etc. I keep two varieties on hand, maybe three. The first is an all purpose canola oil type. The second is the baking type, which has flour in it, particularly useful for baking. The third, although I don’t usually keep it on hand, is olive oil. They do work really well, and are a true convenience. The one caveat I have is, don’t breathe the fumes, and I question what’s really in the propellant, namely isobutane and propane. This is particularly true with the baking one with flour. Improperly used, you can have a real flamethrower on your hands.

7.    Kitchen torch. Speaking of flame throwers, this one is more fun than anything else, but if you really do want to caramelize that brown sugar on your crème brulee, this is the tool. They’re really just mini versions of the standard propane torch, only they usually take butane as their fuel. Note to parents: High school age boys find these fascinating. (Hint to the wise:  Don’t use the standard torch, you won’t have much left.)

8.    Butter. Is better. We all know about the dangers of trans-fats in margarine by now, so without sounding like a broken record, don’t use it. It also just doesn’t work well in cookies, cakes, and generally not at all in pies. If you want to get grossed out by one of industrial foods more questionable products, read the history on this one. You’ll never touch the stuff again. Shortening is also questionable for the same reason, but there is an alternative if you don’t want to go the butter route, and that’s the trans-fat free stuff. It is a vegan product that works very well. It is generally much more expensive however, but, if you feel it’s worth it, go for it. I’m thinking of pies here, so you could also go the lard route. Or, 50/50 butter and shortening works very well too. 

9.    And last but not least: Time. Trying to cook or bake in a rush is not only very stressful, but can often times lead to disaster. No on wants to be like Marge Simpson when she’s late for the bake sale. 

You can drop Sue a line at suevanslooten@ripnet.com, she’d love to hear from you.

Some interesting cooking tools.  Photo by Sue Van Slooten

Sheryl's Pizza

Pizza.  Probably one of the Italy's most important culinary contributions to American cuisine.  Pizza started to come ashore just after World War II, after GIs returned from Europe.  There’s been no looking back since.  In the last few years, we North Americans have really upped our pizza game, employing the best ingredients, exotic toppings, and great crust.  There’s always the crust divide:  Thick or thin?  How do you cut the pie?  Squares or triangles?  I say, let the battle begin, because nothing could be tastier. 

I always start with the crust.  I’m not a huge deep dish fan (although if presented with it, it will certainly get devoured), but fall somewhere in between.  I feel the crust should be a vehicle for holding the rest of the pizza, but if your crust is inferior, so will be your pie.  I will give you a King Arthur Flour (KAF) recipe later, and the link to their website, www.kingarthurflour.com.   There are many recipes out there, but adding herbs, cheese, and some extra olive oil to the mix makes much tastier dough. It’s almost impossible to have too much flavor.   Did I mention garlic?  Never can have too much of that either.

As for your toppings, the sky is literally the limit.  If you happen to go to Italy, even Florence, you will note that the local Il Bar (il bar is like a café, but also serves coffees and alcoholic drinks, but is not quite a bar in our sense) serves many, many versions of pizza, with toppings that at the time I never saw on a pizza over here.  Like eggplant?  Pickled, roasted or just plain strips?  Now we see that here, and we’ve expanded our list of selections to match the Italians.  Pizza started in Napoli, or Naples, but spread throughout most of Italy.  Many Italians used to say, maybe fairly, maybe not, that the further north you went, the less it resembled pizza.  I thought the Florentines did a decent job.  One would hate to ask what they thought of ours.  Let’s not go there, but dive directly into a hot, crusty pie, with tomato on the crust, gooey cheese, and anything that tickles your fancy, even anchovies (which I don’t think are so bad, but some can’t stand them).  A dressing of good olive oil, herbs, veggies......

KAF’s The Crust:

·  2 teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast

·  7/8 to 1 1/8 cups lukewarm water*

·  2 tablespoons olive oil

·  3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

·  1 1/4 teaspoons salt

*Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

That’s it.  To this mix, I would add maybe ¼ cup grated Parmesan, and a teaspoon of mixed Italian herbs (or whichever ones you like).  Note that I usually use the bread machine on the dough cycle (but sometimes do it by hand).  Here’s their method:

Directions

1) If you're using active dry yeast, dissolve it, with a pinch of sugar, in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you're using instant yeast, you can skip this step.

2) Combine the dissolved yeast (or the instant yeast) with the remainder of the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together—by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—till you've made a soft, smooth dough. If you're kneading in a stand mixer, it should take 4 to 5 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. Don't over-knead the dough; it should hold together, but can still look fairly rough on the surface.

3) To make pizza up to 24 hours later, skip to step 5.

4) To make pizza now: Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow it to rise till it's very puffy. This will take about an hour using instant yeast, or 90 minutes using active dry. If it takes longer, that's OK; just give it some extra time.

5) To make pizza later: Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 45 minutes at room temperature. Refrigerate the dough for 4 hours (or for up to 24 hours); it will rise slowly as it chills. This step allows you more schedule flexibility; it also develops the crust's flavor. About 2 to 3 hours before you want to serve pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator.

If you go to KAF’s website, you will see directions for all kinds of things to do with the dough for rectangular, whatever.  I will leave the shape and size up to you.  There are also quite a few other pizza crust recipes there, including one for sourdough.  Now for the fun part:  The construction. 

I take about half the recipe for each pie.  If the dough has rested a while, it will be easier to use, but if you can’t wait, keep calm and carry on.  Also, you can add their dough conditioner or about 3 tbl dry milk to help with the “snap back.”  Use a floured board or other surface, and roll the dough out to fit your pan, in this case a 12” pizza pan.  Rolling pins really make getting the dough a uniform thickness much easier.  You may want to put a little cornmeal on your lightly greased pan before you place the dough in.  You are now ready for your toppings.

This is the truly creative part, aside from shaping your dough.  I really prefer my pizza with a tomato sauce layer, but some leave it out entirely.  It’s all a matter of taste.  You can use 2-3 tbl. per pie of canned or homemade sauce.  Sometimes I have little frozen containers of leftover sauce I’ve made, and they come in quite handy.  The next thing, as you see in the photo, is sliced mushrooms, julienned sundried tomatoes, finely sliced onion, and sliced black olives.  You can put whatever you like on your pizzas:  Ham, thinly sliced tomatoes, finely minced garlic, seafood like shrimp (or the aforementioned but much maligned anchovy), peppers, pineapple, feta, like I said, the sky is the limit.   I have heard of using sweet potato, but don’t think I’d go that far.  All of the measurements here are strictly to your liking.  Put on as much, or as little, as you think you would like.  But don’t overdo it, a 3” pie isn’t going to bake through completely!  Then layer on LOTS of mozzarella, a good 2-3 cups of shredded.  Per pie.  Sprinkle on top some garlic powder, Italian herbs, and drizzle with olive oil.  Voila!  You are now ready for the oven.  There are various ways to bake your pizza, but right now we’ll go for the simplest.  The home oven with basic pizza pans.  Heat your oven to about 425 F.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, but keep a good eye on the process.  What you want is a nicely browned crust, melted slightly browned cheese, and is sort of bubbly.  If the cheese is white or just melted, bake a couple more minutes.   Once your pizza is baked, let it cool for 2 minutes, to set up a little.  Then the best part:  Enjoy!

Pizza with mushrooms, black olives, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes. Baked on the Big Green Egg.  Photo by Sue Van Slooten

You can check out what Sheryl is up to at Gold & Treasure Coast SlowFood, www.SlowFoodGTC.org.