Hawaiian Pizza

My next entry after soooooo long. I need to test out the new oven so was thinking what should I try to bake this weekend. My initial plan was butter cake. But change of plan. The boy went for a pizza making excursion on Fri. He came home telling me he did not have enough of the pizza so I volunteered to try making pizza this weekend and he ok. But his enthusiasm did not last at all. I ended doing everything with no help from him at all!

As per the boy, their version of pizza only consists of chicken ham, mushroom and cheese. (Initially he said onion but he quickly dropped this ingredient when he decided he prefers not to have onions in his pizza).

Anyway getting the ingredients dun seem too difficult, the dough will be more tricky. But I have a bread machine (or so I thought!) The first dough was a major failure, it was so sticky! I had to bring out my mixer and beat the dough after trying to knead by hand for quite awhile to no avail. Even the mixer had a hard time beating up the dough. In the end I decided to just flatten it on the plate and placed the ingredients on top.

Though 2^nd time the dough was much better. Must be my fault to not measure out the flour properly earlier. My 1^st dough was only enough for 1 pizza and 2^nd dough are meant for 2 pizzas! Major failure in the measurement! Anyway 2^nd dough was less crispy but I added much more ingredients and the pizza sauce this time. So it’s definitely more juicy 2^nd round! Hubby prefers the 2^nd pizza (more juice, hence also thankfully the dough is thicker too).

** Come to think of it, I actually did a few rounds of bread using the breach machine but I failed to post it here. I must revive this blog of mine again.

Anyway here’s the recipe I’d gotten off the website for the pizza dough:

Pizza Dough

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/218729/bread-machine-thin-crust-pizza-dough/

Prep (1h 10 min)

Cook (5 min)

Ready in (1h 15 min)

Ingredients

¾ cup warm water – 100 to 110 degrees F (40 to 45 degrees C) (*I use tap water the 2^nd time, but need to add more water after the 1^st round of mixing)

2 cups all-purpose flour (*I added 350ml of all purpose flour and 50ml of bread flour. Think for more crisp, can use all-purpose flour entirely)

½ teaspoon salt (*I put slightly less than ½)

¼ teaspoon white sugar

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions

1.       Pour the warm water into the pan of the bread machine, and add the flour on top of the water. Sprinkle with salt and sugar, and top with the yeast. Set the machine on the dough setting, and posh the start button. When the machine signals that the dough is finished, transfer to a well-floured work surface.

2.       Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

3.       Roll or stretch the dough into thin crust about 14 inches across. Leave dough thick at the edge. Place the dough onto a 14-inch pizza baking sheet, and brush the dough with the oil oil.

4.       Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes before removing to top with desired ingredients for final baking.

(*I did not follow the directions at all. Only make use of this recipe for the ingredients. Added the ingredients in the following order.

Water - Olive oil – All-purpose flour – Bread flour – Salt (one order of the pan) – Sugar (another corner of the pan) – Yeast (dig a well in the middle of the flour and put the yeast in the middle, without touching the water, salt and sugar)

Then I used mode 8 (abt 10 min of mixing) to mix the mixture. (it was too dry when the machine completed the 1^st round of mixing). Added abit of water and press mode 8 to mix the 2^nd time and to keep checking if the more water is required.

Once the 2^nd mixing is done, I selected mode 9 for fermentation (approx. 2 hrs) to mix and proof the dough.

While the bread machine is proofing the dough, I prepared the pizza sauce as well as the ingredients needed for my pizza.

Otherwise another website which I used for dough, pizza sauce and toppings

http://www.mywoklife.com/2009/05/homamade-hawaiian-pizza.html

Ingredients

Pizza Dough:

1 cup of plan flour and 1 cup of bread flour (if more crisped pizza crust desired increase plan flour to make a total of 500 grams)

1-1/2 teaspoon of instant yeast (about 8 grams)

½ teaspoon of salt

1-1/2 tablespoon olive oil

¾ cup of luke warm water

Toppings (enough for two 8” – 9” pizzas):

4 slices of leg ham, quartered, sliced or cut into small pieces (*I bought 100g of honey glazed ham from Cold Storage)

½ small cup of pineapple cubes (used canned pineapple rings and cut into chunk cubes) (*I bought a can of pineapple cubes and cut them further. Seemed like 1 can is able to cater for 4 pizzas)

50 gram of Mozzarella cheese, diced (*I bought a packet of cheese for pizza which contains Mozzarella, Permesan and Cheddar)

4 tablespoons each of pizza sauce for 2 pizzas (*I used half of the prepared pizza sauce)

(*I also added 2 mushrooms sliced, 1 yellow onion sliced or 5 cherry tomatoes sliced)

Optional: Sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese

Pizza Sauce: http://www.mywoklife.com/2009/05/simple-homemade-pizza-sauce-recipe.html

1 can tomato puree (8 oz.) (*1 can of puree bought from Cold Storage)

1 tablespoon of minced onion (*1 yellow onion, diced)

1 tablespoon of sugar (*Added at random)

¼ teaspoon of salt (*Added at random)

½ teaspoon of Italian herbs (*Sprinkle at random)

Sprinkle of coarse ground black pepper (*I did not add)

1 knob of butter

Method

1) To make pizza dough: Combine flour and yeast in large mixing bowl, add water and briefly mix with spatula or wire mixing spoon. Then add in oil, and mix all ingredients well. Add enough flour (the extra flour should be added by teaspoons) to make soft but not-too-sticky dough.

2) Knead dough with bare hands until soft and elastic, about 5 – 10 minutes. Knead dough either in the large mixing bowl or on lightly floured table top. You may also pick up the dough and knead it using both hands, coat your palms with some flour as and when the dough appears a little sticky.

3) When the dough is formed, leave it in the large mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature for about 1 hour. The dough should be doubled in size.

4) In the meantime, prepare pizza sauce!

5) When it has risen, ‘punch’ the dough on lightly floured table top to deflate. Dough should remain soft but pliable.

6) Divide dough into half. Roll out each half into 8 or 9 inch circle with ½ cm thickness, using wooden roller. You may able use your finger tips to pat the dough to form a nicer circular shaped pizza base, and it put it out a little to the edge to create slightly bulgy crust round the circle.

7) Lightly grease the surface of the pizza base with a thin layer of olive oil. Then, spread a thick layer of pizza sauce, followed by topping of generous amount of ham, pineapple chunks and Mozzarelle cheese dices, on the entire surface evenly. Place whole pizza on a lightly greased pizza pan (stainless steel or disposable aluminum pan), if you do not have a pizza baking stone at home. (*For both times, I spread the dough directly onto the pan. Greasing the dough with olive oil prior spreading the ingredients will be good so the dough do not get soaked. Then spread the pizza sauce. Lay the onion and/or tomato, mushroom, ham and pineapple on top. Sprinkle the cheese) Bake as per below!! Once out, I sprinkle more cheese on top and let the heat remnants to melt the cheese. Yumz!)

8) Preheat oven with 200C for 10 minutes. Place pizza in the middle rack of oven and bake for 20 minutes, till crust lightly browned and cheese melted. Serve warm.

To create more cheesy taste: Once pizza is baked, remove pizza pan from oven. Spirinkle some grated parmesan cheese on top, and let it melted with the remaining heat after baked. It’s optional.

Add also some chicken meat, bell pepper (capsicum), tomato, and/or onion, to make it a premium one. You may even change to your desired toppings, as your wish. There’s absolutely no hard and fast rule for any homemade goodness!

1 slice of homemade Hawaiian pizza counts about 160kcal.

Tips: If you have the pizza peel, do your topping on the peel directly before placing in on the pizza stone of your oven for baking. Otherwise, do the topping on the pizza pan and bring for baking directly with it.

If you wish to bake only 1 pizza, store the remaining pizza base in the freezer

Method (Pizza Sauce)

Heat up medium sauce pan with a knob of butter over low flame. Add minced garlic and onion, fry till fragrant. Pour in tomato puree, salt and sugar. Stir briefly, and add in Italian hers and coarse ground black pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes with low flame. Heat off, and let it cool down.

Reserve for later use on pizza crust, or store in the freezer for future uses when completely cooled.

(*I did not fry the garlic and onion with butter. Just dump the puree, onion, sugar, salt and Italian herbs in one pan and stir. I believe frying with butter will be more fragrant)

Mini Choc Chip Pancakes

This is a success. Both the guys love it.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mini-chocolate-chip-pancakes/?scale=4&ismetric=1

Ingredients

125g or 1 cup all-purpose flour (I used cake flour)
25g or 2 tablespoons white sugar
10g or 1 tablespoon baking powder
2g or 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
235ml or 1 cup milk (full cream fresh milk)
30g or 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
85g or 1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips
 

Directions

1. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Beat egg into milk in a separate bowl until thoroughly combined. Pour melted butter into flour mixture; whisk in milk mixture to make a smooth batter. Fold chocolate chips into batter.
2. Heat a small nonstick skillet over low heat; pour about 1/3 cup of batter into hot skillet and cover with a lid. Cook pancake until browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes; flip pancake and cook covered until other side is browned. Repeat with remaining batter. (I used a soup spoon to scoop one spoon into the middle of the pan and let it cook for about a min, flip over. Remove it from pan in less than a minute)

Raisin and Seed Bread

Followed my recipe entirely from the below..

http://food-4tots.com/2009/06/09/raisin-and-seed-rolls/

Recipe: Adapted and modified from Daily Delicious.

Make: 9 small rolls

Ingredients:
200g bread flour
1 tsp instant dried yeast
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
25g unsalted butter (soft)
140ml whole milk (I used fresh milk)
50g raisins (If you are making single loaf, use 100g raisins)
2 tbsp water (I used water)
Handful of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds
Egg wash – 1 egg plus tbsp water

Methods:

1. Soak raisin in hot water for 5 minutes.  Drain, pat dry and set aside.
2. Grease baking sheet or cover baking sheet with grease-proof .
3. Put flour and yeast in a mixing bowl, whisk to combine, add sugar and salt and whisk again.
4. Make a well (a large hole) in the centre of the flour mixture. Pour milk into the well. Use a large spoon (or pastry scraper) to stir the ingredients to make soft dough.
5. Turn the soft dough out onto a floured work surface.  Rub in the butter. Knead for 10 minutes until dough is smooth, shiny and elastic.
6. Roll the dough into a square sheet and sprinkle raisins on top. Knead lightly to incorporate the raisins into the dough.
7. Place the dough in a lightly buttered bowl and cover it with tea towel or cling wrap. Leave dough to rise in a warm place, until it doubles its size.  This would takes about 1-1½ hours.
8. Preheat oven to 180ºC.
9. Take the dough out of the bowl. Gently knock back the risen dough with your knuckles to deflate it.
10. Divide the dough into 9 pieces. Dust your hands with flour and shape the dough into rolls. Place the rolls on the baking sheet, leaving some space between each roll to allow the rolls to rise and spread.
11. Cover the rolls loosely and leave to rise in a warm place for another 30 minutes, till the rolls have almost doubled their size.
12. Brush each roll with egg wash and gently press the seeds on the top of the rolls. Bake for 18 – 20 mins until they are well risen and golden brown.
13. Leave the rolls to cool on the baking sheet.

Note:

1. To check whether the dough is well kneaded, try stretching part of the dough into a thin sheet without breaking.
2. Instead of making rolls with this sweet bun dough recipe, you can make a single loaf or any other shape you like.
3. You can mix the seeds into the dough, instead of pressing the seeds on the top of the rolls as instructed in Step 12 .
4. If you are a novice in baking like me, watch this video clip on how to knead the bread dough.
5. For step-by-step instructions with photos (only applicable for steps 1-9), you can refer to the original recipe or hand kneading instructions.

Updated on 24/08/2009:
Soak raisins with a bit of tap water for a while, drain and squeeze away excess water. Put raisins in a plastic bag and keep overnight (or 2-3 hours if you are making these rolls on the same day). This is to avoid the raisins from absorbing too much moisture from the bread. If you omit this step, the bread will turn dry the next day.

Almond Crisps

Since I have some egg white leftover from making the mayonnaise, I decided to give this recipe a try.

Recipe from food4tots again.

http://food-4tots.com/2011/05/18/almond-crisps/2/

Almond Crisps Recipe
Source: Adapted and modified from Agnes Chan's Baking Make Easy (蓝赛珍，轻轻松松学烘焙) (*took it from food4tots)
Make: 26-28 crisps

Ingredients:
2 large egg white (about 64g each with shell) (*normal eggs was used)
50g plain flour (*i used cake flour)
60g castor sugar (note 1) (*i used 55g)
30g butter (melted)
100g almond flakes
1/8 tsp vanilla essence (optional) (*did not add)

Preparation:
1. Thaw egg white at room temperature.
2. Sieve plain flour twice (*only did it once)
3. Melt butter with double boil method. Put butter in a small bowl, transfer to a saucepan filled with water. Heat the pan with medium flame until the butter melts. Stir occasionally. Set aside to cool down.
4. Line baking tray with grease proof paper (I used GLAD BAKE non stick baking and cooking paper) (*so am I!)
5. Preheat oven at 170 degree celsius. (*my oven was set at about 150 degree celsius instead)

Method:
1. In a mixing bowl, whisk egg white with a hand whisk until you see white bubbles. Add in sugar and beat in circular movement until the sugar dissolves.

2. Add in flour and mix till no traces of flour and lump-free. (*i used spatula to mix in the flour)

3. Use a spatula to fold in almond flakes until well-combined.

4. Stir in melted butter and mix well.

5. Spoon 1/3 or 1/2 tablespoon of mixture on the baking tray. Spread out into a round shape (about 2cm diameter) or any other shapes you like using a spoon (note 2).

6. Bake at 170 degree celsius for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. If there is uneven colour among these crisps, rotate the baking tray towards the last 2 minutes (note 3). (*i used about 150 degree celsius for about 10-12 minutes).

7. Remove from the oven, leave to cool and then store into an air-tight container. (*i left mine from afternoon till night, then kept, it had already lost its crisps, so better to keep earlier).

Notes:
1. I had cut down the original amount of sugar from 90g to 60g. (*I further cut to 55g).

2. The layer must be very thin and even (no overlapping of seeds) so it will be very crispy. You can spread the batter with either the back of the spoon or your wet fingers.

3. You may have to bake these crisps in 3 rounds. The unbaked mixture can be left in the room temperature.

4. If you want your almond flakes to be more flavourful, you can bake them in a preheated oven at 170 degree celsius for 10 minutes. Use a spatula to stir them once in every 5 minutes.

5. These crisps will become crispy and crunchy after they have cooled down completely.

6. If these crips have not turned golden brown after 10 minutes, then bake at 160 degree celsius for another 2 minutes. You can flip over the crisps when doing this step.

7. It is important to use quality parchment paper so that the crisps will not stick to the paper after baking. I used Glad brand.

8. If these crisps turn soft, you can reheat them for 2-3 minutes at 150 degree celsius in a preheated oven.

* I had refrigerate my mixture for about 30 minutes before spooning onto the baking tray.

Oven Baked Matchstick French Fries and Hashbrown

Which kiddo does not love french fries? My boy is no different. With the potatoes sitting at home, why not give it a try. Not in favour of frying so went for a slightly healthier version, baked.

Adapted the recipe from this link:

http://minimalistbaker.com/crispy-baked-garlic-matchstick-fries/

Since I did not exactly follow the recipe, as mine is a much much simpler version, so let's just have my version here. For a more flavourful french fries, do refer to the link.

Baked Matchstick French Fries Recipe

Ingredients
1/2 potato, washed and skinned
Olive Oil

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg celsius
2. Chop potato into matchsticks by halving, halving once more, then cutting into wedges, then strips.
3. Wash and rinse the potato until the water is no longer cloudy.
4. Put the potato into a bowl, add in the olive oil. Mix well.
5. Line the baking tray with the baking paper.
6. Arrange fries in a single layer, making sure they aren't touching over overlapping. This will help them crisp up and cook evenly.
7. Bake for 25-35 minutes, tossing/ slipping at least once to ensure even baking.
8. Remove from and serve when cooled.

Baked Hashbrown Recipe
Frankly this recipe is a failure, it's basically another version of the above, served differently

Ingredients
1/2 potato, washed, skinned and shredded
Olive Oil

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg celsius
3. Wash and rinse the potato until the water is no longer cloudy. Squeeze as much water out as possible.
4. Put the potato into a bowl, add in the olive oil. Mix well.
5. Line the baking tray with the baking paper.
6. Arrange potatoes on the baking paper.
7. Bake for 25-35 minutes, try to flip at least once to ensure even baking.
8. Remove from and serve when cooled.

 

This apparently fails because the hashbrown does not hold it's shape. Something is missing. A quick search on the Internet confirms that I had butter lacking in my ingredients, perhaps 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted will do the trick. I was also thinking about adding egg, which should be able to hold the form.

Another trick mentioned is to use a mould to give the hasbrown the thickness and shape. As can be seen on my potato, mine is so shapeless.

Potato Salad

Not my first time doing this dish. Hubby loves this and had being pestering for me to make. Since I had my home-made mayonnaise, decided to prepare this dish using my own mayonnaise.

My original recipe came from here:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/red-skinned-potato-salad/

One thing I like about the recipe from All Recipes, it allows me to see the ingredients in both US or Metric units (or course I go for the Metric). It also allows you to indicate how many servings you are going for and the recipe will adjust according. Quite cool!


Red Skinned Potato Salad Recipe

Prep: 1 hr
Ready in 2 hrs

Ingredients:
makes 12 servings

910g clean, scrubbed new red potatoes
6 eggs
455g bacon (*I used to just put in bacon bits, bought off the shelf)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
475ml mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and set in the refrigerator to cool.

2. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop.

3. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

4. Chop the cooled potatoes, leaving skin on. Add to a large bowl, along with the eggs, bacon, onion and celery. Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste. Chill for an hour before serving.


However today I decided to cut short quite a fair bit of ingredients and steps, hubby seemed to like this just fine too. He did complained the lack of bacon bits though.

The simplified recipe (for one serving)

Ingredient:
1 potato (normal potato)
1 egg
1 onion, chopped
Mayonnaise

Method:
1. Washed and skinned the potato. Chopped up the potato. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add chopped potatoes and cook until tender but firm. (chopped potatoes cooked much faster, poked a fork through to determine it's ready). Drain and set aside.

2. Place egg in the saucepan and put to boil. Let it simmer boil for another 3-5 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop.

3. Throw the potato, egg and onion into a large bowl. Add mayonnaise and mix well. Chill before serving.

How to Pasteurized Eggs at Home

In case we are not able to buy any pasteurized eggs, we can actually do it at home. Erm, hopefully I do not need to go through this hassle. Hee, lazy me.

Anyway got the instruction from this link.

http://dawnviola.com/how-to-pasteurize-eggs-at-home-2-ways/

Pasteurize at home: 
You can pasteurize your eggs, two ways, at home to reduce the risks of Salmonella:

The Outside Method:
Salmonella is usually found on the outside shell of the egg. When you crack the egg, bits of the shell come in contact with the egg white and yolk, contaminating the whole egg. The Outside Method pasteurizes the outside of the egg only.

Pasteurize only the amount of eggs you’ll be using right away. Remove eggs from fridge and allow to sit on the counter for 20 minutes. Add eggs to the appropriate sized pan (if you’re pasteurizing one egg, use a small pan; if pasteurizing a dozen eggs, use a pan large enough to hold them + the water) and fill with enough water to cover the eggs by at least 1″. Clip a thermometer on the side of the pan and bring the water to 140°F. Set the timer for 4 minutes, and allow the eggs to sit in this temperature until the timer goes off. Remove the eggs, and place in a paper towel lined plate, bowl or pan. Place the pan with the eggs in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes. Use immediately.

The Inside Method:
If you’ll be cracking and mixing eggs to be included in a raw recipe, such as a salad dressing or mayonnaise, you can pasteurize the egg whites and yolks in any liquid that will work with the recipe — water, lemon juice, flavorings or milk. Add 2 tablespoons of the liquid for each beaten egg or egg yolk (2 egg yolks, 4 tablespoons liquid.) Cook over low heat in a small pan, stirring constantly, until it just begins to simmer, mixture will be thick. Using a soft spatula, scrape the mixture into a chilled bowl, allow to cool for 3 minutes, and use in your recipe.