Beer Bread. Homemade English Muffins. Have you ever thought about making English Muffins from scratch?
If not, maybe you should! They are surprisingly easy and lots of fun to make. You might not know this, but English Muffins are baked on a griddle rather than in the oven. Since I am somewhat obsessed with watching things bake and have a tendency to plant myself on the kitchen floor in front of the oven glass, I love that these get baked on a griddle where I can get up close and personal! I’ve made english muffins several times over the years, but this is my first time using Peter Reinhart’s recipe. The dough is very basic: flour, salt, yeast, a bit of sugar and shortening, and buttermilk. And a little more than an hour later, it has risen nicely. Next, I divided the dough into six equal pieces and shaped them like dinner rolls. I covered them with plastic and let them double in size, which took about an hour. I’ve found that the easiest way to bake the muffins is on a big electric griddle. Next they started puffing up! Pita Bread. Oh, am I so happy to finally have a great pita recipe.
You see, pitas themselves aren’t hard to make. Most recipes very closely, or even exactly, resemble a standard pizza dough and they’re not much more difficult to assemble. No, the trouble comes when you pop them in the oven and pray for the kind of puffiness you can pop some falafel into and end up with flatbread. Delicious, warm, toasty flatbread, but definitely not a pita. But this works! This may also be the perfect starter bread, for those of you intimidating by the bread-making process. One year ago: Almond Biscotti Deb went on vacation and all I got were these lousy pita breads! Pita Bread Adapted from The Bread Bible 3 cups plus a scant 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (16 oz./454 grams) 2 teaspoons salt (1/2 oz./13.2 grams) 2 teaspoons instant yeast (6.4 grams) 2 tablespoons olive oil (1 oz./27 grams) 1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature (10.4 oz./295 grams) 1. 2. 3. 10 Pizza-making Tips. I know, I know... you can't make pizzeria quality pizzas in your humble home oven, right?
Wrong. You can!! Look, no soggy bottom crust here. Oh yeah baby! You want to make some, don't you? Okay, wipe the drool off your keyboard and pay attention. You can thank me later :). Secret #1 Start by placing a baking stone on the 2nd lowest rack position in your oven and preheat it at 475F for an entire hour. A note on baking stones, aka pizza stones - this particular one is sold by Pampered Chef, but they're available online (see link above), in kitchenware stores, in department stores, and sometimes in grocery stores.
Secret #2 I take my blob of risen pizza dough (recipe below) and press it into a 12-inch circle on a piece of parchment paper . Secret #3 Use a pizza peel to easily transfer the wet, sticky dough to the searing hot baking stone. Secret #4 I "dock" my dough to keep from developing big air bubbles during the baking process. Secret #5 I prebake the naked crust for 7-10 minutes. Homemade Cheez-It Crackers. There are definitely foods that I used to enjoy, that I have had to stop having around the house.
Cheez-It brand snack crackers are one of the foods I have had to simply give up, such is my devotion to them. You can keep your Goldfish, your Cheese Nips, and your Better Cheddars. Cheez-Its are my dark master. I’ll go through an entire box in an afternoon, sitting in front of the television, making myself sick as I add fresh cracker after cracker into the ever-growing cracker-mush pocket tucked between my cheek and gum.
It’s disgusting, really. But oh, the humanity! Homemade Cheez-It Crackers Ingredients 1 cup flour 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small squares 1 (8-ounce) bag grated extra-sharp 2% Cheddar cheese (preferably orange) 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper Method Preheat oven to 350 degrees.