Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix--Just Add Water

Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix

Thin crust gluten free pizza

My gluten-limited kid usually has his pizza on Gluten Free French Sandwich Rolls, but it just seems so, I don't know, boring. Not that he minds redundancy in his diet--the kid has been eating the exact same lunch since like second grade. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating; he switched from deli turkey to deli roast beef in seventh grade. Otherwise, he's had the same lunch for seven years.
I digress. The thing is, my son's favorite pizza is Domino's gluten free pizza, which we don't buy very often for a couple of reasons. Mostly, I prefer making pizza at home for a fraction of the cost of buying it. So I thought I'd try a new gluten free thin crust with my favorite gluten free flour. I found this recipe on the Better Batter website, and my son likes it--not as much as Domino's, of course, but he likes it. I like it because I mix up a batch of mix that makes four pizzas. I make one crust at a time and leave the mix in the refrigerator for next time. Easy peasy.
I do use a pizza stone to bake this, although in the instructions below, I tell you to use a baking sheet lined with parchment. Do what you have to; I think it will turn out great either way. In the original recipe, Naomi over at Better Batter constructed an outdoor pizza oven with a bowl of hot coals and a cardboard box, so I think it's safe to say you can bake pizza on this crust in many ways. It's just a simple, straightforward thin pizza crust that's super easy to make.

Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix
      --Adapted from BetterBatter.org

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Better Batter Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant dry yeast

Instructions:
Mix flour with olive oil until incorporated, and then mix in the salt, sugar, and yeast. Store mix in a sealed zip-top bag in the refrigerator.

To make the crust: 
(Now is a good time to preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.)
Combine 1 cup flour with 1/2 cup warm water. Mix until it reaches the consistency of Play Doh. Dust work surface with some Better Batter flour. With your hands, shape dough into a ball and place on the dusted work surface. Generously flour the top of the dough and flatten with your hands into a thick disk. Then flour some more and roll out with a rolling pin to about 3/8 inch thickness. Carefully move to a parchment lined baking sheet either with your hands or by folding in half or quarters, transferring and then unfolding on the pan. If the crust breaks on you, just press it back together; it's pretty forgiving.
You might want to let it rise a bit before baking, but I'm usually in a hurry and I only let it rise for like 10-15 minutes.
Top with desired toppings and bake for about 8 minutes at 450 degrees, or until toppings are done and pizza edges are lightly browned.

Banana Cream Pie "Dip"

 

Banana Cream Pie "Dip"

I had my lovely banana-loving friend Karen over for dinner tonight, so I had to fix her a banana dessert. I didn't have a lot of time to prepare something, so...I made banana cream pie as simply as I could. I call this a "dip," but my pie crust dippers were too thin to really stand up to it. I ended up just using a spoon, and it was fabulous. Just fabulous. Cool, sweet, creamy with a little bit of salty, buttery crust to round out the texture situation. This made a LOT of dip, so even though I sent a bit home with Karen, we will be enjoying this for a couple more days around here. Sounds like breakfast to me.

Banana Cream Pie "Dip"
Ingredients:

• 1 small box instant vanilla pudding
• 2 cups cold milk (a little less if you're using skim milk)
• 2-3 bananas
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 batch of pie crust (see recipe below) or 1 sheet refrigerated pie crust

Instructions:
In a medium bowl, whisk vanilla pudding mix and cold milk for 2 minutes. Peel bananas, break in half, and then separate lengthwise the three natural sections of the banana. Cut each separated segment into 1/4 inch chunks. Fold cut bananas into prepared pudding. Pour into serving dish and place in refrigerator while you prepare the whipped cream. Whip the heavy cream with the powdered sugar into stiff peaks. Scoop and spread whipped cream onto the top of the banana pudding mix. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Pie Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• ½ teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons Crisco
• 3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons ice cold water
• flour for dusting

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a medium bowl, mix flour and salt. Cut 4 T butter into flour until it looks like coarse meal, and then cut in Crisco until well blended. Add ice cold water and stir with fork. Then use your hands to gently work the dough into a ball.  Flour a rectangular sheet of wax paper, place dough ball in the middle, flour the ball, and cover with another rectangular sheet of wax paper. Roll dough out to a thickness of about 1/8”.  With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough roughly into 1.5”x 4” rectangles.

Place dough pieces on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Prick each piece a few times with a fork.  Bake at 400°F for 11-13 minutes, or until browned on the edges.   Remove from oven. Cool completely before serving with the dip.

 

 

Fried Pizza Crust

Totino's Pizza, although super duper unhealthy, is just a special kind of pizza. In the days when I could still eat Totino's pizza (thanks a LOT, hypertension), I would even bake one up and share it with my eating buddy son for breakfast. Yes, I said for breakfast. The thing about those cheap frozen pizzas is that they have this amazing crust. I like to bake them on a baking stone, so the crust gets extra crispy on the bottom and really chewy in the middle. No pizza crust I've ever made tasted anything like that--not that I was really going for that crust, but I just had no idea how they made it. 
Now I think I know. I think they fry it. I know, it sounds crazy, but it would explain the unique texture and flavor of the crust as well as the ridiculous amount of fat and calories in a single pizza. I'd also seen on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives that some pizza place somewhere in the U.S. fries their pizza crust before topping and baking, so that's what I thought I'd try. I really think it works. My pizza even smelled like Totino's as it was baking. I don't have a recipe for the sauce, though, so I just used my favorite jarred sauce today (Classico), and it worked fine.
This crust is crispy and chewy, just like Totino's. And my tummy felt a little uneasy after I ate the whole experimental pizza for lunch this afternoon--a reminder that I should not do this very often--for so many reasons.
So there you have it. If you also are a lover of those frozen Totino's Party Pizzas, and you're into making things from scratch, give this a try and let me know what you think.


Fried Pizza Crust

--Adapted from Tyler Forence's Pizza Dough Recipe at FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• Canola oil for frying

Instructions:
Place the warm water and olive oil in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.
Add the flour. Then add the sugar, salt, and instant yeast.
With the dough hook, mix on low until ingredients are incorporated. Turn speed up to medium and kneed dough on medium for about 4-5 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Scrape dough off hook and out of bowl and form into a single ball. Return dough to bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise until doubled, about 40-60 minutes.
Scrape risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 8 somewhat equal pieces.
Form each piece of dough into a nice round ball. Cover dough balls with plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 15-20 minutes.
Working with one ball of dough at a time, toss a ball of dough in some flour and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll dough out to about 1/6 to 1/8 inch thickness. Then with fingernails or a sharp knife, dock the dough at about 1/2 inch intervals. 
In a high-rimmed frying pan over medium-high heat, bring 1 inch of canola oil to about 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cooling rack with paper towels and set aside.
You will need to either roll out all the dough and stack with layers of waxed paper or parchment in between, or get into a rhythm of rolling out and frying the crusts. I'll leave those details up to you.
To fry the crusts, when oil is heated to 375 degrees, gently place one crust into the oil. Use metal tongs to gently push the dough down in the middle and to "swish" the crust in the hot oil so that some hot oil gets onto the top of the pizza crust. When the crust starts to brown slightly on the edges, carefully use the tongs to turn the crust over. Fry on the other side until crust is a nice golden brown color. You will only get the bubbles on one side of the crust when you fry it in the pan like this. Remove fried crust to the paper towel lined cooking rack to cool. Keep rolling and frying remaining crusts.
They are now ready to be topped and baked like any other pre-made pizza crust.
Makes 8 pizza crusts (10-11 inches in diameter)

My husband likes cutting up Totino's like this.

Crispy Cheesy Oniony Twice Baked Potato Casserole

Crispy Cheesy Oniony Twice Baked Potato Casserole

What do you do when you want to make a twice baked potato casserole, but you don't have bacon in the house? Sure, you could drive to the store to spend $5 on a pound of bacon, or you could fry up the potato skins and use them as a crispy topping instead. My train of thought actually went something like this: "Need side dish for church--potatoes--homemade potato chips--no, pain in the butt--fried baked potatoes--too greasy and they'll get cold--cheesy potatoes--no cream of chicken soup--twice baked potato casserole--no bacon or green onion or cream cheese--caramelize some onions with garlic--cheese chunks, not grated cheese--fry the skins and put on top--YES."
Well, suffice it to say, everyone at our church dinner raved about the potatoes--everyone who got some anyway. They went pretty fast. The flavors and textures in here are perfect: creamy, salty, oniony potatoes with lots of melty cheddar cheese throughout, and the crispy salty fried skins on top just add another layer of fabulous to the experience. YUM. I will definitely be doing this again.

Crispy Cheesy Oniony Twice Baked Potato Casserole

Ingredients: 

• 6 medium russet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup milk
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for crispy skins
• 1 1/2 cups medium cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch chunks
• canola oil for frying

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Wash, trim, and pierce potatoes. Place in oven and bake for about 1 hour at 400 degrees, or until they  yield when squeezed gently with a mitted hand.
While potatoes bake, place a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add butter and 1 tablespoon canola oil. Saute the chopped onions until they start to brown on the edges. Add the chopped garlic and pepper, and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
When potatoes are done, carefully remove with oven mitts or tongs. Turn oven down to 325 degrees. Carefully cut each potato in half lengthwise. Holding a half potato in a mitted hand, scoop out the potato and place potato flesh in a mixing bowl. Scoop out almost all of the white flesh, leaving about 1/8 inch of the white flesh in the shell of the skin. Repeat with remaining potato halves. Set skins aside. 
To the potato in the mixing bowl, add 4 tablespoons butter, milk, sour cream, and half teaspoon salt. With a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix on low until ingredients are incorporated, and then mix on high for about a minute until mixture is creamy. Add onion mixture and beat to incorporate. Stir in chunks of cheese. 
Spray a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Spread potato mixture into the dish, cover with aluminum foil, and place in the oven at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes. 
While potatoes bake again, heat up about 1 inch of canola oil in a frying pan. Line a plate with a couple of layers of paper towels. Stack 3 or 4 potato skins on a cutting board and cut into 1/4 inch strips, preferably in the direction that will give you shorter strips. Repeat with remaining skins. When oil reaches 375 degrees Fahrenheit, add a portion of the potato skin strips, taking care not to place too many in at once--you can fry in batches. Gently stir and fry potato skins until browned and crisp. Remove crisp skins to paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with a little salt. Repeat with remaining skins until all are fried.
After 30 minutes, remove potatoes from the oven, take the foil off, and evenly sprinkle crispy potato skins all over the top. If potato skins don't seem crisp enough, you can turn the oven to broil and broil for 2 minutes to crisp them up on top.
Serve hot, but be careful.
Makes about 12 servings

Individual Apple Streusel Galettes

Yummy individual apple streusel galette
with a little heavy cream on the side

Sometimes you just want some apple pie for breakfast. Today is one of those days for me. I've made a full size galette before, but since I know I'm the only one who will want this today for breakfast, I made four individual galettes. I'll enjoy one for breakfast and then I will freeze the others for another time--or maybe I'll be generous and take some to my friends. We'll see. 
The crust of these galettes is what I think makes me love them: flaky, buttery, tender and perfect. The apples are just tender enough, sweet and tart; and the streusel ads another sweet, crisp element--unless of course you pour on some heavy cream, which is what I did. The heavy cream adds the creaminess of ice cream without more sugar, which this galette does not need. The cream cuts the sweetness just a bit and still gives you the creamy side element most of us like with our apple pie.
Ahh. A very satisfying breakfast indeeed.

Individual Apple Streusel Galettes

Streusel Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4 inch slices

Filling Ingredients:

• 3 medium granny smith apples (or other combination of your favorite baking apples)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch kosher salt

Crust Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoon butter
• 3 tablespoon Crisco (vegetable shortening)
• 3-4 tablespoon ice cold water
• flour for dusting 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

For the streusel... in a medium bowl, mix the white sugar, graham crumbs and flour. Add sliced butter and toss to separate butter slices. With your fingers, gently smoosh the butter into the dry ingredients until butter is entirely incorporated and the mixture looks like wet sand, with some clumps here and there. Set aside in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the filling... peel, core, and quarter the apples. Slice each quarter into 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices. Place all of the apple slices in a medium bowl, add the lemon juice, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt, and then fold gently to disperse the dry ingredients. Set aside while you prepare the crust.

For the crust... get two square pieces of wax paper. Place one on a flat surface for rolling, and lightly flour the wax paper. Then, in a medium bowl, combine the flour and the salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until you have quarter-inch chunks of butter. Add the vegetable shortening and continue cutting until you have some sandy parts and some larger chunks of butter and shortening (a few quarter-inch chunks here and there--see pic below). Drizzle in the ice water and toss with a fork until the dough starts to clump. 

Then use your hands to gently knead the dough into a relatively cohesive mass--be careful not to over work the dough, or your crust will be tough. Turn out onto the lightly floured wax paper and cut into four equal portions. Working with one portion at a time, form the dough into a ball and place on a flour-dusted piece of wax paper. Sprinkle dough with more flour, cover iwht another layer of wax paper, and roll out to about 1/8-inch thickness. Carefully remove top layer of wax paper and transfer sheet of dough to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining portions of dough. They will likely overlap one another on the baking sheet, but that's okay, because you will fold up the edges of the dough.

Assembling the galette... Pour/scoop a fourth of the apples into the middle of each dough circle, leaving about 2 inches apple-free. Try to make sure the top of the apple mound is slightly flattened so that it can hold more streusel. Carefully scoop some streusel all over the apple mound. Now, fold up the dough edges to form rough pleats around the edge. Press lightly to make sure the pleats hold. Repeat with all galettes and arrange them on the pan so they are rather equidistant from each other.

Bake galettes at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until nicely browned and a knife inserted into the center meets little resistance. Check the galettes about halfway through baking. If the streusel seems to be browning too quickly, place a piece of aluminum foil on top without pressing down--just let it sit there on top.

When done, remove from oven and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes before serving. 

Makes 4-8 servings, depending on who's enjoying them.
Serve with a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream or ice cream, if desired.

Freeze leftovers. To reheat, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place frozen galette on parchment lined baking sheet and reheat for about 20-25 minutes, or until hot and crisp.

Swiss Steak

Swiss Steak and Mashed Potatoes

Inexpensive steak + onions + time in the oven = one tasty meal. My mom used to make Swiss steak every so often, and even though I was a picky no-onion eater at the time, I still loved it. She really only used salt, pepper, and onions, but today I adapted Alton Brown's recipe from FoodNetwork.com. 
My husband enjoyed this meal so much he told me about three times what a great meal it was. He's usually complimentary, but not this complimentary. 
Besides tender beefiness, one of the beautiful things about this recipe is that it creates its own gravy as it cooks in the oven. The gravy is thick and beefy with lots of flavorful onions and celery cooked down to melt-in-your mouth excellence. I may have added a little too much salt to mine, but when it was paired with the mashed potatoes, the beef and gravy tasted perfectly seasoned. 
This may not be a super quick meal, but it is easy, delicious, and satisfying.

Swiss Steak
    --adapted from FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds beef bottom round steak (or 2 pounds lean stew meat works too)
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 (approx) teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/3 cup flour (I used Better Batter Gluten Free AP Flour)
• 3-5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion or 2 small onions, thinly sliced
• 2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth (I used 1 1/2 teaspoons beef base in 1 1/2 cups warm water)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare the onions, celery and garlic. Set aside. 
Cut the steak into smaller steaks about 5-6 inches across. Place steak pieces on a cutting mat or surface you use for raw meat. Salt and pepper both sides and then using a meat tenderizing mallet pound each piece to about 1/2 an inch thickness. Be sure to pound on both sides of each piece of steak. Dredge each piece of steak on both sides in the flour.
Heat about 3 tablespoons of oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. When oil is hot, carefully place steak into the pan taking care not to crowd. You will probably need to brown the steak in two batches, adding oil between batches. When each steak is browned on each side, move to a plate to wait. 
When all meat has been browned, add the onions, celery and garlic to the pan (Dutch oven). Stir veggies and cook just long enough until they start to wilt. Add paprika and oregano and stir. Pour in the beef broth and stir. Add the meat back into the Dutch oven, making sure you cover the meat with the veggies and liquid.
Place cover on Dutch oven and place in the oven. Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is very tender. 
Serve with mashed potatoes.
Makes about 5-6 servings

Oatmeal Cookies (no cinnamon)

Simple Oatmeal Cookie

Every summer when my family and I go back to California to visit my parents, we also get to see my Aunt Tee and Uncle John. Almost every year, Aunt Tee, at some time during our visit, will bring over a bag of Kelley's Kookies. All of them are absolutely delicious, and I've been able to replicate at least one of my favorites, Chocolate-Dipped Refrigerator Cookies. This year, I'm trying to replicate the Krispy Oatmeal Cookies. I have not done it yet, but these cookies are really good anyway. These are buttery and chewy right out of the oven, with just a bit of crunch around the edge. The next day they firm up a bit, but I wouldn't describe them as "crisp." 
Since the list of ingredients on Kelley's Kookies says they have margarine as opposed to butter, I did start there, but they were nowhere near crispy, so I tried butter. Next time I'm going back to margarine, but I'll use something different, not the Land O' Lakes Margarine I used before. Plus, I think I'll go with dark brown sugar next time.
At any rate, these oatmeal cookies are sweet and satisfying. There are only a few raisins, so if you're a raisin lover, I say add more. Heck, add chocolate chips or M & M's if you'd like because I think these cookies can take it. Have fun and enjoy your cookies.

Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup crisp rice cereal
• 1/3 cup raisins

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and then line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, mix the butter, egg and vanilla until creamy (this may take a little while). 
In a separate bowl, mix the sugars, flour and baking soda with a wire wisk. If there are lumps of brown sugar, you may need to use your fingers to break them up.
Add the sugar/flour/baking soda mixture to the wet ingredients and mixt just until combined. Add the oats, rice cereal, and raisins. Mix to incorporate.
Place tablespoon sized portions of dough onto prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart.
Bake at 325 degrees for 15-16 minutes or until golden brown all over.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on pan for a few minutes before moving cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Easy Enchilada Sauce

Super Easy Enchilada Sauce

Chile Colorado Burrito with homemade Easy Enchilada Sauce

So, the Chile Colorado Burrito recipe remains my top post, with over 2,000,000 page views. One of the main themes in the many comments I've received is about the fact that I use canned enchilada sauce. That's what I use, so that's what I posted--detractors have always been welcome to make their own sauce. I only write recipes as I do them. I have considered making a homemade enchilada sauce before, but I honestly just never felt like it.

Well, my hand has been forced, as I am starting to think about and prep recipes for this year's food competition at the Iowa State Fair. The Tone's spice company has a huge competition, and one of them is titled "Favorite Tones Everyday Family Recipe," and first prize is $2,000. So, obviously, now is the time to make a homemade sauce using Tone's spices. I had to use my favorite (non-Tone's) chile powder, though, because, well, it's my favorite, and nothing can compare.

So far the sauce is really delicious, and I have some stew meat cooking in my practice batch right now. (Pics to follow.) It really was extrememly easy to make, sooo...good news all you critics! I plan to make my own enchilada sauce from now on for my Chile Colorado Burritos. I'm still going to leave the recipe as-is in my blog post, though, since most people who like the recipe enjoy it for the ease. They throw it in the crock pot, go to work, and they have a fabulous hot meal at the end of the day. I'm not going to mess with that. 

Easy Enchilada Sauce

     --Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour (I used Better Batter Gluten Free AP Flour)
• 1/2 cup New Mexico red chile powder (I like Bueno Special Reserve)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion salt
• 1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
• 3 cups water
• 3 teaspoons beef base (or 3 beef bullion cubes)
• 2 teaspoons honey (or sugar)

Instructions:

In a large heavy bottomed pot or in a Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the flour and chile powder. Stir, and cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat. Stir in the cumin, garlic powder, and onion salt. Then stir in the tomato sauce and water. Add the beef base and honey, and stir to incorporate. Allow the sauce to simmer for about 5-10 minutes.

Now the sauce is ready for you to use in any recipe calling for enchilada sauce.

Makes about 5 cups of sauce.

Recipe can be halved.