Christmas Stollen with Marzipan

The title of this post is a bit of a mouthful, I know. But I didn’t want you to think this was just any old stollen. First, I baked this stollen in honor of the Bon Appetit holiday bake-off and party, which I was super thrilled to be asked to participate in. Second, I think that this stollen has lots going for it. Candied fruit, tons of butter, marzipan, and a delicious almond-rum filling. Some of you may be asking, “But what is stollen, anyway??” Well, I’m here to tell you. Stollen is a German yeasted sweetbread-cake thingy that is traditionally served for Christmas. It was apparently invented in Dresden, Germany, and is said to resemble the baby Jesus in his swaddling clothes. (I’m not so sure about how much my stollen resembled the baby Jesus, but it makes me giggle a little bit.)  Sometimes stollen has a yummy rope of marzipan hidden in the center (I loooove marzipan), sometimes not. It almost always has candied citrus peel (e.g., candied orange, lemon, and citron), candied cherries, and raisins. And some form of booze – usually rum, but sometimes brandy or cognac.

Find yourself some high-quality candied and dried fruit – if you can, try not to use supermarket brands of candied fruit (unless you have access to a really, really good supermarket with really, really good candied fruit). This is not to be snobbish but because the candied and dried fruit form the flavor base of the stollen. You could make your own candied peel using this Bon Appetit recipe. You can even make your own marzipan if you’re feeling really ambitious. Also – I didn’t use my stand mixer for the dough; I mixed and kneaded everything by hand. (It doesn’t take very long to make the stollen dough by hand, just a bit more effort in kneading.) I did use a stand mixer for the frangipane filling.

My stollen is based on several recipes all mashed together. The first is from an old-ish German cookbook that I found in a yard sale (and that smells, deliciously, of 50 year old stale cigarettes) from 1969 called The Cooking of Germany. It’s a Time-Life book from their series “Foods of the World,” favorite classics of mine. The second is the Luchow’s German Cookbook, originally printed in 1952. Luchow’s was a famous New York City restaurant opened in 1882. (No, it’s not a Chinese restaurant – there are supposed to be umlauts over the “u”, but I’m too lazy to add them in. I’ve baked a lot of stollen over the last couple of days, OK? I’m tired.) Finally, I used elements of Richard Bertinet’s recipe, which can be found here.

It’s common to “age” stollen, wrapped tightly, for a couple of weeks before Christmas. I think this recipe won’t last for more than 5-6 days at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap. You can also freeze your stollen for up to 3 months, but freezing may affect the texture a bit (i.e., it will likely get a bit dry). Stale stollen can be toasted and spread with (even more) butter.

Lastly, just know that making stollen is an all-day project (or at least a half-day project) due to the various risings that the dough needs to go through.

Ingredients:
Makes 4 medium-sized stollen

For the Stollen Dough:
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dried currants
1 cup mixed candied citrus peel (I used equal amounts of candied citron, orange, and lemon peel)
1/2 cup candied cherries, quartered (if your cherries are really syrup-y, rinse them in cold water first)
1/2 cup golden rum
1/4 cup lukewarm water
Two 1/4-oz. packages active dry yeast (I used Red Star brand)
1/2 cup plus a pinch of granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon peel
5 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup (one and a half sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small bits and softened
1 cup blanched slivered almonds
1 tablespoon butter, melted

For the Rum Frangipane:
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup finely-ground almond meal or almond flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons golden rum

To Assemble and Fill the Stollen:
Rum Frangipane filling (see above)
14 oz. marzipan, cut into small chunks
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

For the Glaze and Topping:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons golden rum
Confectioners sugar

Procedure:

For the Stollen Dough:

1. At least an hour before you start baking: Combine the raisins, currants, candied citrus peels, and candied cherries in a medium bowl. Pour the rum over the fruit, tossing to coat. Soak for an hour, and up to 2 hours.
2. Pour the lukewarm water into a small bowl and sprinkle with the yeast and a pinch of sugar, stirring gently to combine. Let the mixture stand in a warm place for 5 minutes or so, or until the mixture gets frothy and doubles in volume.
3. Meanwhile, drain the fruit mixture and reserve the rum. Pat the fruit dry using paper towels. Place the fruit into a clean medium bowl and toss evenly with the 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour. Set aside.
4. In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the milk, 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, and the salt. Heat over medium heat to lukewarm (110-115 degrees), stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and stir in the reserved rum, the vanilla extract, the almond extract, and the fresh lemon peel.
5. Add the yeast mixture to the milk mixture, stirring gently to combine.
6. Measure 5 cups of the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the yeast-milk mixture with a fork, about a cup at a time.
7. Beat the eggs with a balloon whisk until frothy. Stir them into the dough.
8. Using a wooden spoon, work in the bits of softened butter several tablespoons at a time. The dough will be very wet and buttery.
9. Spread your counter top or work board with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Flour your hands lightly, gather the dough into a loose ball, and place on the floured board. Knead the dough for 15 minutes, flouring your hands from time to time if necessary, until the dough is smooth and elastic. (The dough will be uniform in texture, all of the butter and flour will be incorporated, and it will feel very smooth to the touch.)
10. Add the slivered almonds to the reserved fruit mixture and toss briefly to combine.
11. Flatten the dough into a rectangle shape (the actual size is not important) and press in half of the almond-fruit mixture. Fold the dough over onto itself and again press out into a rectangular shape. Press in the remaining half of the almond-fruit mixture. Knead the dough very briefly to distribute the fruit and almonds. (Don’t knead for too long or the dough will discolor.)
12. Coat a deep bowl or rising container with melted butter. Add the dough to the bowl. Brush the top of the dough with additional melted butter. Drape a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) over the bowl and let rise in a warm spot for about 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in bulk.

For the Rum Frangipane:

1. Combine butter and sugar in a stand mixer (or using an electric mixer) on medium speed until pale and fluffy.
2. Add the almond meal/flour and mix until incorporated.
3. Mix in all-purpose flour, then add eggs and rum. Mix on medium speed until the mixture is light and creamy.
4. Set mixture aside in a cool spot (do not refrigerate) until ready.

To Assemble and Fill the Stollen:

1. Lightly flour a work board or counter top. Cut the dough into four equal pieces. Let rest for 10 minutes.
2. With your fingertips, shape the dough into rectangles approximately 9 inches by 6 inches.
3. Spread the rum frangipane filling onto each rectangle, leaving an inch border all the way around. Sprinkle each dough rectangle with the bits of marzipan.
4. Fold the stollen: bring one long side of the dough rectangle to the center and press the edge down lightly. Then carefully fold the other side over to the center of the rectangle, overlapping the seam down the center by about an inch. (Like a letter.) Press the edges gently. Lightly flour your hands and taper the ends of each loaf sightly, pinching gently to seal the ends of the dough. Don’t worry if some of the filling seeps out a bit – just wipe off with your fingertips.
5. Brush two 11-by-17 inch sheet pans with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Gently transfer two loaves of stollen to each sheet pan, leaving at least 4 inches between the loaves. Brush the loaves with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon melted butter.
6. Set the loaves aside in a warm place for about an hour, or until almost doubled in bulk. (You do not need to cover the loaves with a towel if you buttered them in step 5, above.)

To Bake, Glaze, and Top the Stollen:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the breads, switching positions of the pans halfway through baking, 35-40 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
2. Make the glaze: Just before the stollen loaves finish baking, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the rum.
3. Take the stollen out of the oven and immediately brush with the melted butter-rum glaze, then thickly dust with sifted confectioners sugar.
4. Cool stollen completely on a wire wrack.

Starters and Nibbles

Spicy Crock-Pot Apple Butter – Serve with cheddar or brie (or any cheese that is cheddar-or-brie-like) and crackers. Can be made several days in advance. Uses the crock-pot, which frees up your stovetop and oven. Would also be a nice sauce with turkey. And a nice host(-ess) gift.

Spicy Crock-Pot Apple Butter

Chicken Liver Mousse – Quick and easy to make. Can be made several days in advance. Serve with toast squares, crackers, or sliced baguette.

Chicken Liver Mousse on a crunchy little toast square

Manchego Cheese, Quince, and Walnut Crostini – Make the quince jam (or buy it) in advance. Toast the bread in advance. Easy to assemble.

Manchego, Quince, and Walnut Crostini

First Course

Easy Golden Beet Soup with Buttery Croutons - Serve as a first course. Beets can be roasted several days in advance. Soup can be made and refrigerated 1-2 days in advance (without the croutons, of course). Swirl a bit of heavy cream or yogurt on top for an elegant little touch. When I make a large meal like Thanksgiving dinner, I serve creamy soups like this in teacups – it’s just the right amount of soup so your guests aren’t stuffed before the main course.

Golden Beet Soup with Buttery Croutons

Quick Breads

Bacon Muffins – quick and easy to bake. Can be made 1 day in advance.

Bacon Muffins

Irish Soda Bread with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Black Pepper – Quickbread (no yeast) – takes only a few minutes to mix. Can be made 1-2 days in advance.

Irish Soda Bread with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Black Pepper

Cheddar-Sage Biscuits – Can be made 1 day in advance and re-heated. Sage goes nicely with turkey.

Cheddar Sage Biscuits

Sides

Broccoli Raab with Pecans – can be made 1-2 day in advance and re-heated.

Broccoli Raab with Pecans

Mashed Potatoes - can be made several hours in advance. Hold in a metal bowl over simmering water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Add more cream or milk before serving if the potatoes have dried out a bit.

Mashed Potatoes

Cranberry Sauce with Bourbon – can be made up to a week in advance. Made in the oven so it frees up your stovetop. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Cranberry Sauce with Bourbon

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower – can be made several hours in advance. Pop back in the oven for a few minutes to re-heat. Grate some Parmesan over the cauliflower for a little more richness.

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower

Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad – believe it or not, this salad can be made several days in advance. Unlike lettuce, the kale is hearty enough to not get slimy under the weight of the vinaigrette. Flavors actually get better if made a day in advance. Can be served cold or at room temperature.

Raw lacitano kale for Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad

Dessert

Apple Pie with Boiled Cider – pie can be made one day in advance. I usually serve apple pie with this Calvados Ice Cream (it’s heaven). You can omit the boiled cider to save time. Add a bit more sugar to compensate.

Apple Pie with Boiled Cider

Bourbon Milkshakes – can’t really be made in advance, but really easy to make using store-bought ingredients. And a perfect ending to your fabulous Thanksgiving meal. Give yourself a round of (bourbon-y) applause!

Bourbon Milkshake

Bacon Muffins

The Bacon Muffin is brought to you as part of a series on Brooklyn Farmhouse that showcases ye olde recipes from antique cookbooks. Sometimes recipes in old cookbooks can be a bit tricky, with unclear measurements (“a teacup”) or instructions. I have solved that problem for you by culling through my soon-to-be-vast collection of antique cookbooks, testing the interesting recipes I find, and sharing those recipes with you.

I found The Bacon Muffin in Meta Given’s The Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, first published in 1947.  This cookbook was once my grandmother’s. It’s such an interesting book – one can see the “better living through chemistry” mindset beginning to form, with lots of information about vitamins and minerals (“When you think of Thiamin…”) and lots of recipes for molded salads. But the book still has its feet firmly planted in an older way of eating, with an entire chapter devoted to game (“Muskrat Fricassee”) and a chapter called “Homemaker’s Handbook for Stretching the Food Dollar”, with sections like: Make it Yourself, Choose a Dependable Market, Use Cash-and-Carry Service (i.e., don’t rely on credit), Have Your Own Garden, and Make Use of Leftovers. And Ms. Given is clearly a bacon lover. What’s not to love about this book?

The Bacon Muffin is really more like a cross between a biscuit and a muffin. With bacon in it. The texture is a bit courser than what I normally think of as a muffin, but the batter isn’t thick enough to roll out; it’s rather like a drop biscuit that you bake in a muffin tin. The only ingredient substitution I made (aside from my Note, below), is light brown sugar for white sugar. Feel free to use either.

Note: The two slices of bacon the recipe calls for only made one tablespoon of bacon fat for me, although the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of bacon fat. I simply added 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to the 1 tablespoon of warm bacon fat, although you could certainly add melted butter or another type of oil, or just cook up another couple of slices of bacon, eat the bacon, and use the fat. The amount of bacon fat you get from a given slice of bacon will vary depending on the type of bacon you use.  Basically, you want 2 tablespoons of some kind of liquid fat.

Ingredients:
2 slices bacon, chopped finely
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons melted bacon drippings (see Note, above)

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Grease (or spray with cooking spray) a 12-cup muffin tin, or line with paper liners.
2. Pan fry the chopped bacon in a small, heavy saucepan until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and let cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and light brown sugar together until well-combined. Add bacon pieces and stir until they are well distributed and coated in the flour mixture.
4. Lightly beat the egg in a medium bowl. Add the milk and the bacon drippings and stir to combine.
5. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients all at once, stir quickly until just combined, then stir 5-6 more times until well blended. Do not stir until smooth.
6. Drop batter by spoonfuls into the greased muffin tin, filling each cup 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.
8. Serve hot. Maybe with some maple butter?

Makes 12 biscuit-y muffins.

Irish Soda Bread with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Black Pepper

Being a quarter Irish myself (I didn’t get the name “Megan Colleen” for nuttin’), this is my nod to the most American of Irish holidays, St. Patrick’s Day. Rather than a post on green beer and corned beef, I thought I’d keep it simple with a recipe that is surprisingly quick and easy. (And what’s better than fresh bread in less than an hour? Nothing!) So this might not be the most traditional of Irish soda breads, but it sure is good.

Soda bread is very much like a giant biscuit. It’s leavened with baking soda (hence the name) and baking powder instead of yeast. Like all good biscuit-like products, the key is to not over knead. This recipe is barely adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe from a couple of years ago. I always think that I’m going to experiment with other flavors, like maybe roasted garlic, cumin, and red pepper,  or brown butter and golden raisins, or…something else. But I always come back to the brown butter, rosemary, and black pepper combo, because it’s so delicious.

A tip about making brown butter: it really helps to do it in a stainless steel pan (rather than a dark pan, like nonstick) so you can see the second the butter starts to brown. You want to remove the pan from the heat immediately after this happens, because the residual heat from the pan will continue to brown the butter solids.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for topping the bread
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup rolled oats
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or substitute 1 cup white whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the all-purpose flour)
1 3/4 cups well-shaken buttermilk

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with a slipat or with parchment.
2. Add the butter to a small saucepan, and turn the heat on to medium. Swirl the butter around in the pan until the butter solids begin to turn a golden brown and start to smell delicious and nutty. Immediately remove the pan from the heat to stop the browning process. Set aside.
3. Combine the rosemary, black pepper, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour.
4. Stir in the buttermilk and the brown butter until just combined.
5. On a lightly floured counter, gently knead the dough until it has just come together, about 5 turns.
6. Cut the dough in half. Shape each half into a ball and flatten slightly.
7. Place each ball on the prepared baking sheet, no less than 4 inches apart. Grind additional black pepper over the tops of the breads.
8. Using a sharp, small knife, cut an 1/2-inch deep “X” in the top of each bread.
9. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the breads are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

A pile of whole wheat blueberry-oat scones

This is a recipe that comes out of an effort to eat less white flour, combined with a craving for scones. Although they contain quite a bit of butter, the scones are still fairly healthy with the addition of whole wheat flour, oats, blueberries, and yogurt. A bit of powdered ginger doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the butter and the blueberries, but adds a little je ne sais quoi to the baked scones. I confess that I ate more than one right after they came out of the oven. (I guess if you eat too many scones it kind of negates the point of making a “healthier” scone, but what can I say? They are good.)

This recipe is adapted from the fantastic Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur white whole wheat flour), whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar (dark or light)
1 teaspoon powdered ginger root
7 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup milk (lowfat is OK)
1 egg
2 tablespoons yogurt or milk
1 teaspoon high-quality vanilla extract
1 cup frozen blueberries tossed in 1 teaspoon flour
1/2 cup rolled oats

Whole wheat blueberry-oat scones cooling on a rack

Procedure:

1. Preheat your oven to 425ºF. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat, with parchment, or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and ginger root.
3. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingers.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, the egg, the yogurt (or additional milk), and the vanilla extract.
5. Add the liquid mixture to the flour-butter mixture, and stir until just combined. Stir in the blueberries.
6. Spread the oats on your work surface. Gather the dough mixture together into a disk an place on top of the oats. Pat the disk out to about 1/2 inch thickness (you can make the dough disk thicker if you prefer your scones thicker) and press down into the oats. Flip the disk over and press down into remaining oats. (You want a light coating of oats on both the top and bottom of the disk.)
7. Cut the dough disk into 8 wedges and transfer to the prepared baking sheet.
8. Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes, or until they are light golden brown. Serve warm.

King Cake for Mardi Gras

One of my closest friends is from New Orleans, and last year we made King Cake together to celebrate Mardi Gras. She has since moved to Seattle, but I miss her and thought that I’d make King Cake again this year, in honor of her and of New Orleans. King Cake is basically a type of brioche, usually iced and decorated with sugar in the colors of Mardi Gras (green, purple, and gold). My friend, being a King Cake purist, refused to entertain the idea of stuffing the cake with what are apparently now-common fillings like cream cheese, and I have to say that I think she’s right – the cake is sweet, rich, and delicious enough without the addition of heavy fillings. She proclaimed our version New Orleans-y and I believed her – given the fact that I’d never had a King Cake before!

Since the 1930s, a New Orleans tradition has been to insert a baby doll trinket into the cake as a representation of the baby Jesus or, as some report, simply because one New Orleans bakery accidentally received an impossibly large shipment of tiny plastic baby dolls. Other traditional items put into the cake for good luck include pecans and beans. If you want to insert a bean, pecan, or especially a plastic baby doll, do it after the cake has baked and cooled.

This recipe is adapted from one on Fabulous Foods.

Happy Mardi Gras!

King cake before icing and sugaring commenced

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 tablespoons instant yeast
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 teaspoons (divided)
1/2 cup warm water (110ºF)
4 cups all purpose flour (plus potentially more for the dough)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons kosher salt
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup milk, warmed slightly
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons cinnamon

For the egg wash:
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk

For the icing and topping:
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3-4 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Purple, gold, and green colored sugar

Special Equipment: A stand mixer

Procedure:

For the cake:

1. Combine yeast, 2 teaspoons sugar, and warm water in a small bowl. Set bowl in a warm place until the mixture starts to bubble up and doubles in volume, about 10 minutes. (Discard mixture and start over if yeast doesn’t bubble. Sorry!)
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, lemon zest, nutmeg, and kosher salt together. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast mixture, egg yolks, remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and warm milk. Using the dough hook, gradually add the flour mixture, then the softened butter until combined. Knead dough, adding flour a tablespoon at a time (if necessary) until the dough is smooth, shiny, elastic, and pulls away from the sides of the mixer bowl – about 10 minutes.
4. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and transfer dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
5. Butter a large baking sheet, or line the baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.
6. Punch down dough. Give it a good punch or two; it feels kind of good. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon and form into a cylinder, transfer the cylinder to the baking sheet, then twist the cylinder into a circle. Pinch the ends of the circle together to seal completely.
7. Loosely cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft free place to rise again; about 45 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375ºF. Combine the 1 tablespoon milk and the beaten egg for the egg wash.
9. Brush sides and top of the cake with egg wash. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown on top. If it begins to over brown, cover with tinfoil.
10. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Forming the king cake ring

For the icing and topping:

1. Combine the sifted confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and water until the mixture is smooth. Add more water or lemon juice if the mixture is too thick.
2. Spread icing on the cake and immediately sprinkle the colored sugar on the cake in alternating rows.

1) It helps to have a large baking stone in your oven. We keep our stone on the bottom of the oven at all times The stone helps to regulate the temperature of the oven, even when not cooking pizza. It’s also pretty, pretty good to cook bread and pita on.

2) Preheat your oven for at least an hour. We usually preheat the oven for 2 hours (if you can stand the extreme heat in your kitchen!) to ensure a super hot oven. Our oven will reach temperatures of about 600°F or slightly higher, which I think is pretty hot for a very basic, unfancy gas oven.

3) If you want to get serious about pizza making, invest in a pizza peel.  A peel is the wooden paddle-like thing that pizza makers use to transfer the pizza to the oven. We have a comically large pizza peel that we got at a restaurant supply store, but I’ve seen smaller versions designed for the home kitchen. (Note: You only really need a pizza peel if you’re going to invest in a baking stone. The two go hand-in-hand.)

4) Let your dough rest in the refrigerator at least overnight, and for up to three days. If you must have pizza immediately, you can leave it out on the counter and let it rise for an hour or two, but the flavor of the dough really develops nicely if you let it sit for longer in the fridge. Also make sure that your dough isn’t cold when you start to form the pizzas. Take it out of the fridge at least an hour before pizza making commences. Our dough recipe is adapted from one found in Food & Wine.

5) Finally, don’t put too much topping/sauce in the center of the pizza. It tends to get a little soggy and floppy.

Homemade Pizza with Fresh Basil

The dough and sauce recipes will make 4-5 medium-sized pizzas, 10-12 inches in diameter.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
One 1/4-ounce (7 gram) package instant yeast
2 cups warm water (divided)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting the counter and peel, and potentially more to add to the dough)
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Extra virgin olive oil

For the sauce:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
One 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes, crushed well with your hands
Red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Topping suggestions:
Fresh mozzarella
Fresh ricotta
Parmigiano-Reggiano
Asiago cheese
Green chilies (such as Serrano)
Prosciutto
Mushrooms
Truffle oil
Garlic or Garlic scapes (in the spring)
Fresh basil
Whatever your little heart desires

Procedure:

For the Dough:

1. Mix the yeast with 1/2 cup of warm water (about 110ºF) and the sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes, until the mixture is foamy. (If it doesn’t foam, throw it all away and start again. Sorry!)
2. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of warm water, 4 1/2 cups flour, and salt and stir until dough forms.
3. Knead in a stand mixer (using the dough hook) for 7-8 minutes on medium-low speed, or until the dough pulls away from the bowl and doesn’t feel terribly sticky to the touch. You may need to add more flour halfway through mixing – this is a pretty forgiving dough, so don’t stress. (Essentially, you want to be able to stick your finger on the surface of the dough and not have a ton of it stick to you.) Add a tablespoon at a time until you get the consistency you want.  Alternatively, knead by hand for 10 minutes (or more) on a lightly floured board.
4. Grease a large bowl with extra virgin olive oil. Be fairly generous with your greasing. Put the dough in the bowl and turn to ensure that all sides of the dough are coated in the oil. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
5. Let the dough rise for at least an hour, or preferably stick the covered bowl in the fridge overnight, or for as long as 3 days.

For the Sauce:

1. Put the garlic and olive oil in a medium pot and heat to medium-high. Cook and stir the garlic for a minute or two, or until it has turned a nice gold color (but hasn’t, under any circumstances, turned brown).
2. Add the crushed tomatoes, a generous pinch of salt, a few grindings of pepper, and a dash of red pepper flakes.
3. Bring to a gentle boil, then turn the heat down to medium low.
4. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the sauce is fairly thick.
5. Using a potato masher, a hand (stick) blender, or the back of a wooden spoon, mash any large chunks of tomatoes – you should have a thick, just-barely chunky mixture. Taste and correct for salt.

To Assemble and Bake the Pizzas:

1. Remove the lower rack of the oven if you are using a pizza stone. This will make it easier to get the pizza from the pizza peel to the pizza stone, if you’re using them. An hour or two before you want to make your pizza, preheat the oven (with the pizza stone in it, if you’re using) at its very highest temperature – I put it on broil.  Remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room-ish temperature. (You don’t want it too cold when you start to form the pizzas.)
2. Punch down the dough. That’s right, show the dough who’s boss by giving it a good punch or two. This will deflate any really large air bubbles. Cut off a piece of dough about the size of a softball and roll into a loose ball shape between your palms.
3. If you’re using a pizza peel: Very lightly flour the peel. The key here is to have just enough flour on peel to facilitate the easy slide into the oven but not too much that you get flour all over your pizza stone, because it will burn. You can shape your pizza in several different ways: a) by rolling it out with a rolling pin; b) by stretching it on the pizza peel until you have a rough round-ish shape; c) with practice, you can do what professional pizza makers do and use your fists (rotating in a circular, punch-y motion) to form the dough into a round shape. Keep in mind that the dough will rise quite a bit in the oven, so you don’t want the formed raw pizza to be too thick. If you’re using a pizza peel: Shape the pizza directly on a large cookie sheet or a baking pan using your hands (shaping it with a rolling pin and then transferring it to the cookie sheet is just a huge pain: the only way this might work is if you have one of those huge dough scrapers meant to transfer pie dough).
4. Moving quickly so the dough doesn’t stick to the peel (if you’re using one), top the pizza round with your toppings of choice, leaving about an inch border all the way around so you have a crust to hold on to when you’re eating your pizza. Brush the edges with extra virgin olive oil. If you’re using a pizza peel: Give the peel a shake to see if the pizza is stuck to the bottom of the peel. If it is, add just a tiny bit more flour underneath the pizza so that it will easily release onto the pizza stone. If you’re not using a pizza peel: don’t worry about this business with the flour under your pizza.
5. If you’re using a pizza peel: quickly transfer the pizza from the peel directly to the pizza stone – it’s a flick of the wrist that does the trick. If you’ve got your pizza on a cookie sheet: stick the cookie sheet directly on top of the pizza stone, or on the lowest rack of the oven.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. What we really like is an almost burnt-y crust on the bottom (patches of black), but a golden brown crust on the top.

Everything pizza with mushrooms, basil, prosciutto, ricotta, and mozzarella

Pizza ideas:
White pizza with a kick: One clove garlic, sliced thinly. Fresh mozzarella, sliced. Fresh ricotta. Asiago cheese, grated. Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated. One Serrano chile, sliced thinly. Top formed dough with all ingredients (dollop the ricotta evenly around the pie), a pinch of salt, and a grinding of black pepper. Brush crust with extra virgin olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Mushroom and truffle oil: Tomato sauce. Fresh mozzarella, sliced. Fresh mushrooms (I like cremini), sliced. Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated. A tiny drizzle of truffle oil. Top formed dough with all ingredients, a pinch of salt, and a grinding of black pepper. Brush crust with extra virgin olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Pork & cheese: Tomato sauce. 2-3 slices prosciutto, shredded with your fingers. Fresh mozzarella, sliced. Parmegiano-Reggiano, grated. Top formed dough with all ingredients, a tiny pinch of salt (don’t forget: prosciutto is salty), and a grinding of black pepper. Brush crust with extra virgin olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Top with leaves of fresh basil (or arugula would be nice, for a tricolore).

Mmmmm....prosciutto on a pizza

This recipe for Sally Lunn (yes, that’s the name of the recipe!) is from the Francis Parkinson Keyes Cookbook, dated 1955. Who was Francis Parkinson Keyes? Well, apparently she was a novelist and a senator’s wife and had political leanings that left a little something to be desired – which is why her novels haven’t really stood the test of time. Aside from this, her cookbook has some odd little gems and so I’m going to stick with her recipes and not so much her politics or her novels.

Sally Lunn is a sort of white bread, sort of brioche-y, sort of savory, and sort of sweet. It apparently dates from the 1680s. It’s a bit of an oddity, really. Hard to classify. But so delicious. It’s a really easy yeast bread to make and only requires one rise, right in the pan. I used a 12-cup Bundt pan, but you could use a tube pan or even two loaf pans. I also used cardamom sugar to top the cake-bread-brioche, but feel free to use regular sugar (or vanilla sugar would be nice, too).

Sally Lunn

Crunchy, sugar-y top of Sally Lunn

Ingredients:

One 1/4-ounce (7 gram) package instant yeast
2 cups whole milk, heated to almost boiling, then cooled to lukewarm (about 110ºF)
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon cardamom sugar (or regular sugar)
Cooking spray

Special Equipment: 12-cup Bundt pan (or tube pan of equivalent size)

Procedure:

1. Spray the Bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Dissolve the yeast in the milk. Add the butter, flour, eggs, and salt, and beat with a wooden spoon until the batter is smooth.
3. Pour the batter into the greased Bundt pan and cover with plastic wrap. Set in a warm, draft free place for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the batter has doubled in bulk.
4. Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
5. Sprinkle the Sally Lunn with the sugar and bake for 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
6. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, give a the pan a good rap on the counter, and invert onto a cooling wrack.
7. Serve warm with jam, honey, cheese, or any number of delicious savory or sweet accompaniments.

Cut Sally Lunn

The recipe below is for tortillas made from dried masa harina, and is adapted from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen. Use your fresh corn tortillas for soft tacos, quesadillas, or any other corn tortilla recipe you desire.

A stack of homemade corn tortillas

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups dried masa harina
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons hot tap water

Special Equipment: A tortilla press, plastic bags for lining the tortilla press, a cast-iron griddle or comal

Procedure:

1. Mix the masa harina and hot water in a large bowl until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 30 minutes.
2. Work in a few tablespoons of cold water, one tablespoon at a time, or until the masa feels soft and pliable, but not sticky. I usually add 3-4 tablespoons of cold water, but this will depend on the humidity in the air. Cover the dough with plastic wrap.
3. Cut two squares out of a large plastic bag (I used clear, heavy duty trash bags) large enough to fit over both plates of your tortilla press.
4. Heat your comal or cast iron skillet over high heat. If you are using a double griddle, heat both burners over high heat. The griddle should be very hot when you start to bake your tortillas.
5. Pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll it into a uniform ball between your palms, then flatten slightly. Line the bottom plate of the press with a square of plastic and place your flattened dough ball on top of the plastic. Place the other square of plastic on top of the dough. Gently press the dough using the tortilla press.
6. Quickly peel off the top layer of plastic. Pick up your newly formed tortilla and gently pull away the plastic on the other side of the dough disk.
7. Quickly and gently place the dough disk on the hot griddle. I do this by very carefully draping one half of the disk over my open palm, then gently dropping the disk onto the griddle with my palm up (the back of my hand is close to the griddle).
8. Bake on one side for 1 minute, then flip and bake on the other side for 1 minute longer. Theoretically, the tortilla should puff up when flipped. As a novice tortilla-maker, my tortillas only puffed about 60% of the time.
9. Remove the tortillas to a cloth-lined bowl. (You can stack them on top of one another. Actually, this steams them slightly and makes them taste much more delicious. They are best after they’ve sat, stacked together, for 10-15 minutes.)

Pita still puffy from the oven

1 packet instant yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons, or 4 ounces)
1 teaspoon honey
1 1/4 cups warm water (divided)
2 cups bread flour (plus additional for dusting the work surface)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Cornmeal for sprinkling the baking pans

Special Equipment: baking pans or cookie sheets, pizza stone (optional)
Makes eight 6-7 inch pitas

Procedure:

1. Mix the yeast, honey, and 1/2 cup of warm water in a large bowl. Let rest for 5 minutes, or until the yeast mixture starts to look foamy. (If it doesn’t foam, throw the whole mixture away and start over – this means your yeast was dead.)
2. Combine the two flours in a medium bowl.
3. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the flour mixture and keep whisking until the mixture is very smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour, or until doubled and bubbly.
4. Stir the salt into the remaining flour mixture.
5. Mix in the remaining flour, 3/4 cup water, and olive oil. Stir until a shaggy dough forms.
6. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
7. Lightly spray a large, clean bowl with cooking spray (or coat with olive oil). Place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat in the oil. Let sit in a warm spot for at least an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
8. Sprinkle 3-4 baking sheets with cornmeal. Be generous – you are not actually going to bake your pita on the baking pans.
9. Punch down the dough (it’s fun) and cut into 8 fairly even pieces.
10. Lightly flour a work surface.
11. Roll each dough piece into a ball between your hands. Flatten one of the dough balls, then roll out on your floured work surface to 6-7 inches in diameter. Transfer the pita to the cornmeal-dusted baking sheet. Repeat with each dough ball.
12. Let the dough rest, loosely covered with a clean kitchen towel, for 30 minutes.


Unbaked pita

13. If you are baking your pita on a pizza stone, place the stone on the oven floor, and remove the middle oven rack (move the second oven rack to the top position, out of the way). If you don’t have pizza stone, remove the top oven rack, and place the second rack in the lower middle position.
14. Preheat the oven to 500°F.
15. Transfer the pitas, two at a time, to the pizza stone or oven rack. Bake for 2 minutes on one side, gently flip with tongs or a long spatula, and bake on the other for 1 minute.
16. Remove pita to a cooling rack. Cool for 1-2 minutes, then stack to keep warm.
17. Serve warm.