Stone baked Pizza- (partly) whole wheat and (mostly) from scratch!

Note: Highlights of the recipe in 'RED' for easy re-read/reference!
I got the pizza dough recipe from @tKe and the recipe has been a regular feature in our house. There are all kinds of pizzas and all kinds of preferences. This pizza has a crispy yet soft medium crust and does not have any tomato sauce (just our family's preference). When you take a slice in your hand, it does not droop or bend. In spite of this level of crispiness, the crust is soft to the bite and not chewy. Its also fairly higher on the health quotient for a pizza due to whole wheat flour and oil, cheese, sauces and toppings being in your control. So if you think you like this kind of pizza read on. I hate asking you to buy equipment for a recipe but some inexpensive equipment makes all the difference in the crust.

• A pizza stone (I bought mine from Bed bath and beyond). A pizza stone ensures an oil-free non stick surface and even heating of the crust without burning it. It also helps the crust be crispy and soft at the same time. This is a deal clincher. 
• A surface to roll the pizza and a rolling stone. I have a marble tile and a marble rolling pin.
• A Pizza peel for handling the baked and unbaked pizza. (Optional but useful)
• A pizza cutter.

Ingredients:

Basic pizza dough:

Makes about three 12'' pizzas

Warm water (as needed - about 3 cups)

nonfat dry milk 1/4 cup or warm milk - 1 cup

salt - 1/2 tsp

bread flour/maida/all purpose flour - 2 cups

atta/whole wheat pastry flour - 2 cups
sugar - 1 tbsp

active dry yeast - 2 tsp

olive oil - 2 tbsp

dry flour/cornmeal - to dust

dry herbs (basil, oregano) - optional and to taste

Add yeast, sugar, salt, and dry milk/warm milk in a large bowl. Add a cup of warm water and stir to mix well. 

Allow to sit for two minutes. 

Add olive oil and stir again. 

Add flour, water and any herbs/seasonings you may like in the crust. (We like dried basil and oregano)

Knead with warm water until the dough comes together and is soft but not sticky to the touch.

Close the bowl and leave in the oven with the light on for about half an hour or until the dough almost doubles in volume.

Pizza dough is ready

Place your pizza stone in the oven and set the 'Bake' function to the highest temperature possible (in a range of 450 to 550 F depending on level of crispness needed)

During preheat get the crust and toppings ready.

For the crust,

Lightly, roll and flatten 1/3 of the dough and dust it with dry flour.

Roll out the pizza while applying as little pressure as needed. (I cannot twirl, stretch or pat or do any of the fancy hand movements to make the pizza crust)

Dust the crust very liberally on one side with cornmeal or flour (this is important for easy transfer to the pizza stone in the oven) and place on the pizza peel with dusted side at the bottom.

For the toppings,

Apply sauce. (We like the classic basil pesto). Other ideas include white sauce, broccoli cream sauce, garlic with olive oil, or plain ole' tomato sauce. Go easy on the sauces to avoid a soggy pizza. A sauceless pizza is actually pretty tasty too with the right toppings and seasonings.

Then goes the veggie toppings. Our favorite combinations (not too many - we are creatures of habit it seems)

Pineapple chunks + red onion slices + green peppers (serrano or Thai). - Good candidate for sauceless pizza

Tomato + red onion slices + dried herbs. (excellent with pesto)

I usually add fresh basil leaves from my kitchen pot but in reality fresh basil is wasted on a pizza as it is usually overcooked and charred. Pesto is a better option for basil flavor.

Then comes the cheeses - mozzarella with a sprinkling of feta.

Brush the edges with olive oil if you really want to give it your best.

Slide onto pizza stone (DH's area of expertise) and bake for 10-15 minutes until the edges are golden brown. 

Set oven to Broil on high and broil just for a few minutes until the cheese bubbles. (Broil setting heats from above)

Time for broil!

Remove from oven using pizza peel.

Serve with grated parmigiana, crushed red peppers and/or garlic salt/ dried garlic.

Notes:

Never place the hot stone on a cold surface or a cold pizza stone into a hot oven.

I do not wash my stone with soap. I do not wash my stone, period. Leaving it in the oven at high temperatures keeps it clean after a wipe down.

Pizza dough can be stored in the fridge for a few days. Getting it to room temperature before baking is a good idea.

Adding yogurt/paneer/cheese whey (instead of warm water) while kneading makes for an unbelievably soft crust. Make sure whey is at room temperature or warm and not too cold.
@tKe swears increasing the proportion of whole wheat flour to more than half ruins the pizza! I always do a 50-50 whole-to-white mix.

Agra ki Kachodi with Aaloo ki Subji

Karnataka express used to chug into Agra Cantt. at about 7:50AM. A quick cycle rickshaw ride later, there I was, in my Nani's Koti (Bunglow), savoring Garama Garam Kachodi, aaloo ki subji and Jalebi for breakfast while my Nani lovingly piled more on my plate. Sinful? yes, but absolutely delicious.

Here I am now, In Denver, on the other side of the globe from Agra and those hevenly Kachodi's. The only thing that keeps me going? I can make them now! And no, its not that hard.

In this post, the recipe of the standard, no frills Kachodi with Aaloo ki Subji. This is what you'll see most people eat in Uttar Pradesh. The stuffing is with urad daal. The subji is very spicy, and has more green chillies in it then potato. It is not served with chutney. Just kachodi & subji. Enjoy kachodi the Agra way!

Servings: 10 Kachodi's
Dough:
Maida (All purpose flour) - 1cup
Oil for kneading - 3tbsp
Salt - 1tsp
Water - 1/3 cup

Stuffing:
Washed urad daal - 1/4 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste
Red chilli powder - 1tsp
Dhaniya powder - 1tsp
Amchoor powder - 1tsp
Ginger powder - 1tsp (or 1tbsp grated ginger)
Fennel powder - 1.5tsp
Hing - pinch

Prep Work:
1. To begin, soak the urad daal for a couple of hours.

2. Mix salt into the flour. Rub salt into the flour. At this stage if you try to bind the flour with your fist and then release your fist, the flour should retain shape. Note: More the oil rubbed into the flour, lesser the water needed to knead it, more flaky the kachodis will be. The same holds true for Samosa's. Now start adding water into this slowly, while stirring & mixing with your hand the whole time. In a few minutes you'll have a soft dough. cover it with a wet cloth and keep it aside.

3. Once the urad daal is soaked enough, grind it to a very coarse paste. Now, heat one Tbsp oil in a pan, and add all the dry masalas and ginger (powder or fresh) to it. Then add the daal and salt. Roast it for sometime. If its too dry, sprinkle some water. Make sure to roast it until the daal does not taste raw anymore.

Now for Making the kachodi:

Take a small ball of dough. (Size of a ball for poori's). Flatten it slightly. Fill 1 tbsp of stuffing in it and close it like you would close a parantha. Keep it aside for a few minutes while the dough relaxes a bit. Stuff all the balls you have. Then one by one, flatten them either with a rolling pin or by hand. Make sure to not put too much pressure on it, or else, the dal may make holes in the dough and then you'll have oil filling up in your kachdi's when you fry them.

Now comes frying:

A few things to remember: First, with both kachodi's and samosa's, the oil should NOT be too hot. I usually fry it at 4 or so. If you put the kachodi in the oil, it should not start coming up and bubbling and hizzing as soon as you put it in. Second, keep the oil on low heat until the very end. Once they look done (should not be soft), then turn the heat to high and brown them.

So start adding kachodi's to the oil. Don't pile them on top of each other. And then sit and wait patiently until they get done. You'll see them puff up around the 2 min mark. Turn them over and continue frying.

Once they look done (cooked , but not brown), turn up the heat. Fry them till they are brown.
Thats it!
Now, the alloo ki sabji is really simple. Boil potatoes. Heat ghee/oil in a pan, add hing, jeera, grated ginger, as many green chillies (finely chopped) as you can tolerate. Then some red chilli powder, dhaniya powder, Amchoor (dry mango powder).
Add one finely chopped tomato (this is optional. They dont really add this, but I like it). Roast for a minute or so, Add about 2 cups of water and the boiled potatoes (slightly mashed).
Boil for 2-3 minutes. Then add a good amount of garam - masala. Garnish with cilantro and done!
Amazing amazing kachodi aur aloo ki sabji tayyaaar!

Penne Pasta with Broccoli pesto on the fly

I had basil growing at home and yesterday felt like pasta night. As I was just confirming the recipe of basil pesto online, I chanced on this recipe for a broccoli pesto. I was curious and cynical at the same time. So the recipe evolved depending on what I was feeling when!

First I went ahead and made a classic basil pesto.
pinenuts - 1/2 a cup
basil - I harvested two cups but used maybe half a cup.
olive oil - 2 tbsp
garlic powder - 1 tsp
cayenne (dried) red chilly - 2

Blend all the ingredients together. Add enough olive oil to make a paste to facilitate blending. I do not like the leafy pesto they serve in some restaurants. I just added enough basil leaves to make the pesto green but left it in the creamy state that the pinenuts and olive oil contribute to.

I wanted to make a white sauce but didn't have any butter in the house. Loads of cream sitting in my freezer (from the Farmers All Natural Creamery milk) just wouldn't thaw fast enough so I could whip some butter. In comes the broccoli.

Broccoli cream sauce (serves 2-3)
Broccoli stalks - 1 small head
Milk/Cream or a combination - 1.5 - 2 cups
Pesto - 1 tsp (from above)
leaf oregano - to taste
Fresh ground pepper
salt

Cut up the stalks of broccoli and keep the broccoli florets aside. Add water to stalks to submerge and simmer till soft. Blend the cooked broccoli stalks and simmer and stir with the milk till the sauce thickens. Remove from fire a little before the desired consistency is achieved since the sauce thickens further on cooling. Add freshly ground pepper, salt, oregano or other herbs, and 1 tsp of the pesto. By the time you finish you would hardly taste the stalks in the sauce. The sauce tastes very much like the basil pesto cream sauce you find in restaurants.

Roasted vegetables:
Bake vegetables of your choice (I used 1 small head broccoli chopped, 1 sliced onion, 1 bell pepper and 1 tomato deseeded) tossed in olive oil, salt and crushed red clilli flakes at 450 F for around 15 minutes. To our surprise, broccoli tasted the best with the pasta.

Make a pasta bowl with penne cooked with olive oil and salt, the roasted vegetables and sauce. Granish with basil leaves and even basil flowers (found out that they were very much edible)
Enjoy!

Update: tried the same with cauliflower (I liked it but G thought the broccoli sauce was better)
To do: try with squash

Quick dinner??

I know. I know. Miracles do happen and I will have a recipe to share every so often.
Alright. This dish was a total experiment and I think it turned out OK(or I was very hungry). It is super quick to make, has a decent amount of vegetables, not overcooked and is yummy.

To make rice, start cooking basmati rice in a cooker and when it is half cooked add a lot of chopped green onions, some lime juice and a couple of pinches of salt.

Chop baby carrots, red potatoes, cauliflower and string beans. Cook for potatoes thoroughly in microwave but half cook everything else in microwave.
Add very little olive oil in a pan, some italian seasoning add the veggies and eggs (optional). Let egg got cooked around the veggies or cook till veggies are hot if you didn't add eggs. Add salt and pepper. Add some paste sauce. (I bought something is Safeway called tomato, herb and parmesan. the fresh type not the bottles ones)
Done!

Just Serve over rice.

pav and bhaji from scratch

While the original author and I call this pav and it did go well with bhaji, if you are searching for an authentic pav recipe, this is not it. The recipe is based off of this wonderful whole wheat bread recipe.
The bread is like French bread (crisp crust with a very soft non crumbly inside). The recipe asks for bread flour and whole wheat flour (the kind available in the US). I had neither and the bread still turned out great with my substitutions. The bread is very heavy and 1-2 large pavs will suffice for most people.
So here goes my first experience with the yeasty bread beasties.

Serves 6
Kneading time: 30 min
1st rise: 2 hours to even overnight
2nd rise: 30 minutes - 2 hours
baking time :10 - 15 minutes

3 cups atta (Indian whole wheat flour)
1.5 cups cake flour/all purpose flour
3 tblsp melted butter
2.5 cups milk ( I used skim milk)
2-2.5 tsp salt
1.5 tbsp sugar
6 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp butter for brushing

Warm the milk and set aside. Add salt to a large mixing bowl followed by the flour and melted butter. In a small bowl (say a half cup measure bowl or similar) add the sugar, yeast and a few tbsp of milk, mix and blend with the dough. Now while adding the rest of the milk little by little, make a dough similar in consistency to roti dough (a dough which comes together nicely without sticking). If you feel like you need more liquid, either more milk or water would work. Since the dough uses milk, it might feel a little sticky but carpel-tunnel inducing kneading should get you a good dough without the addition of more flour or milk than stated. A man's hands in this final stage of kneading will work wonders while breaking less sweat. (This is my way of saying thanks to G !)


Close the bowl with a plate/lid/wrap and leave in a warm place (an oven with the lights on) for atleast 2 hours or till it doubles in volume. Now for the second stage of preparing the bread rounds I followed the original recipe exactly.

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Make a ball of 1 portion of the dough, flick a drop of water onto the surface of the dough and ball it up some more before placing on a greased pan. Repeat for other portions and place them an inch apart. I was not sure what a floured tea towel was - so just use a clean towel to cover the pan and place it back in the oven/warm place for the second rise.

Give it a couple hours (or until they double in volume), remove the towel and bake at 375 F for 10-12 minutes. Stick a toothpick and if it comes out clean, the bread is done. Remove from oven, and brush with butter. I used a butter knife which worked very well and place back in the oven for 5 minutes at 375 F. Place in a cooling rack (or colander).


Notes:
1. Add milk little by little. Adding a lot of milk at once makes the dough hard to knead.
2. The exact duration you let the dough rise does not seem to matter. In fact the more the better.
3. Using a baking sheet may have given better results than my almost burnt(= very brown but tasty) bread base.
4. This bread is very heavy. If you make 12 with this amount of dough, 1 bread is equal to 1 cup of rice in weight watcher points.
5. I left the dough overnight for 1 batch (picture 1) and a couple of hours for another (picture 3). I did like the overnight batch better but the shorter rise batch was tasty as well.
6. 2 tsp salt makes a slightly bland bread while 3 tsp makes a slightly salty bread - bread which G says has character.
7. Naan made from leftover dough comes out soft and tasty. (except that it stills smells like bread :-()

While my quest for authentic pav continues, this recipe would sure make a reappearance in my kitchen.
Happy baking !

Bhaji:

Of course I tried the blog-world famous Bombay style Bhaji recipe from here. While I liked it, I am unable to say that this is the best bhaji ever. Before I go critiquing the recipe I should add that I did not follow the proportions exactly but I did stick to the ingredients mentioned. Also made my own pav bhaji masala spice blend.

Notes on Bhaji making:
1. I like my bhaji as smooth as possible. In this regard, I did not care for the bell peppers as they are impossible to mash up completely. In the end, I guess they added a nice dimension.
2. I missed the onions :-( .. Specifically the onion tomato mixed flavor.
3. Next time I try this recipe I would stick to the proportions mentioned and see if it yields better results. Mine had more potatoes I think. (7 potatoes for a medium head and 1 frozen packet of cauliflower, 2 bell peppers)

It bothers me that even cookbooks take the liberty of saying 'Add Pav Bhaji masala powder available in stores', as if Everest and MDH have patented the blend. So in my quest for a home-made blend, I found this one recipe - pav bhaji masala powder. This serves the purpose quite well.