Hot Chick Pizza

I know, I know...it's been a slow blog month for me. Just when i thought I'd have all the free time in the world, little things started popping up - apartment searching, catch-up schoolwork, weekend trips - that have been keeping my posting at bay.

Luckily I've still had ample time to cook, and in addition to some new sweet baking experiments (recipes coming soon, I hope!), I've been playing around with bread doughs, too. And I'm not just talking about whole wheat pitas, either. I do love my whole wheat pitas, and I especially love the versatility of the dough, but my last creation took flatbread to a new level.

For one, I used a special secret ingredient in the dough. More importantly, though, I created my first original yeasted dough recipe. Most of the chemically-leavened recipes on this site are my original recipes, and I've gotten pretty comfortable baking on the fly, without a recipe, recording measurements as I go. Yeast, though, has always been a tricky thing, and I've mostly stuck with other people's guidelines when it comes to making pizza, pita, or bread.

Ever since the last pita episode, though, I've been looking for a good day to make more flatbread. The idea of a Mediterranean pizza seemed to be stuck in my head, and I wondered if I could incorporate some of that inspiration into the dough itself, and not just the toppings on the bread. Thus my garbanzo dough was created. I was hoping to get a real chick pea flavor in my dough with the addition of garbanzo flour.

Honestly, I can't say that I'd be able to pinpoint garbanzo as the distinctive flavor of this dough, but it really was much more flavorful than ordinary dough. It turned out to be the perfect backdrop for a host of different toppings, including spinach, red onion, roasted peppers, herbs, and feta.

I made the dough with a sponge in the hopes of it imparting a certain richness in flavor that straight doughs often lack. Although it sounds complicated, a sponge is like a pre-dough made with all of the liquid, part of the flour, and the yeast of the recipe, which allows the yeast to develop a bit before the addition of more flour and other flavoring agents (salt, oil, etc.). The sponge entails an extra rising period, but this recipe is pretty flexible - I made it on a day when I was in and out of the kitchen, and all of the rising times are approximate. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's pretty hard to mess up a flatbread dough.


The dough mixed and rose beautifully, and was particularly easy to roll out for thin, almost cracker-like pizza crusts. A combination of garbanzo, white whole wheat, and whole wheat flours resulted in a lower gluten content and thus a slightly less elastic dough than a traditional wheat dough. After a few minutes on the pizza stone, the crusts were golden, crunchy, and slightly bubbly around the edges, but the interior was thin and a bit chewy.

Given that legumes in general are about the healthiest thing one can consume, and that they lend a distinctly savory and pleasant flavor to this dough, its appeal is two-fold. I made a bunch of dough, used half for dinner on Friday, and then saved the rest in the refrigerator for lunch on Sunday. Yes, the secret is out, I'm so not doing the whole matzah thing. The name "hot chick pizza," though, was created during the car ride back from a Passover seder...

We took the dough in a whole bunch of directions, so it wasn't just plain old pizza, either. We made several smallish thin-crust breads, some with spinach and ricotta, and some with peppers, onions, and pine nuts. We also did a "deep-dish" risen-crust pie with sausage and mozzarella (guess who ate that one?). We tried out a wee calzone with ricotta, tomatoes, and spinach, and even made a little garbanzo griddle cake that Jonathan ate with scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Next time, I think I'll make a huge batch of this dough, and stash some in the freezer so that when I'm struck by a garbanzo griddle cake craving (they happen to the best of us), I'll be totally prepared. Seriously, though, this dough is awesome. Try it!

Whole Wheat Garbanzo Dough (for Chick Pizza)

Sponge:
1 c. garbanzo flour
1 c. white whole wheat flour
1 tbs. instant yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 3/4 c. warm water

Dough:
All of sponge
2 1/2 - 3 1/2 c. whole wheat bread flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tbs. olive oil

Directions:
Prepare sponge: mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, and add warm water. Stir for a few minutes, until thoroughly combined. Sponge with be very wet. Let sponge sit, covered, for about 45 minutes, until bubbly. Add salt and oil, and then start adding additional flour. Stir in about 2 c. of flour, adding more until dough is too stiff to stir with a wooden spoon. Turn out the dough and begin kneading, continuing to add flour until it is just tacky and smooth. Return dough to bowl and cover with oiled plastic wrap and a dish towel. Let rise until about doubled in bulk, 1 1/2-2 hours. Punch down dough and either roll out for pizzas or place in a sealed plastic bag and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. Makes enough dough for about 6 smallish, thin-crusted pizzas.

Farro Soup (Book Review)

A while ago, Mia picked up a copy of Deborah Madison's "Vegetable Soups." It's a beautiful book, with lots of vibrant, colorful pictures, and lots of recipes for vegetable soups. I like soup a lot, and I especially like making vegetable soups, because they're easy, they look good, and they're delicious. They require no particular skills, and they're basically impossible to mess up. Plus, I like chopping vegetables, which is usually required in large quantity.

The first soup that we chose to make from the book (and which we have re-made several times) is the summer version of the farro soup. We had just bought some farro in California for half the price that Whole Foods in Cambridge charges, so we were eager to make something with farro. In addition, the winter version of farro soup in the book is basically the same as the summer version sans tomatoes - why leave out the tomatoes when you can add them?

As in all of the vegetable soups I have made, you begin this one by chopping up an onion, carrots, and celery and sauteing them in olive oil. Then you add tomato paste and fry it for a little while. Next comes tomatoes, then water and pre-soaked farro. At the very end, you add a can of chickpeas. Deborah insists that, unless the chickpeas are organic, you should dispose of the liquid, but I consider that to be, if not pretentiously green, at least overly cautious. Then again, I don't wash my produce carefully, and I strongly prefer charcoal grills, so maybe I'm just asking for trouble.

As usual with soup, the most important thing is to make sure there is enough salt in it. Luckily, if there isn't enough salt, the solution is quick and easy - add more. The same is true with other seasonings. Mark Bittman had a recent post that suggests that the timing of salt addition is not nearly as important as people think, and I trust Mark Bittman, so I don't worry too much about under-salting the soup at first.

As you can see from the pictures, the tomatoes give the broth a nice red color, and the various vegetables give lots of pleasing contrast. The soup is best served warm, of course, but when we make a gallon of it, Mia and I usually can't resist taking it out of the fridge and gorging on it cold right out of the used yogurt containers that serve as our Tupperware. It never lasts very long.

Perfect, Simple Salad

I'm not going to be modest tonight - I have really been in a cooking groove lately. From delightful goat's milk-cardamom ice cream to a white bean stew (which served as the base for some incredible baked eggs this morning) to the minty-lemon lamb kebabs we had tonight, everything has been going my way. Culinarily, at least.

I am already planning some exciting posts to share those new recipes, but for tonight, I thought I'd share a simple and tasty salad recipe that has become one of my stand-bys. Not surprisingly, this is a Middle-Eastern inspired dish, which is adapted from Paula Wolfert's invaluable book Mediterranean Cooking. I highly recommend the book which, upon purchasing, I immediately read cover-to-cover.

At the very least though, you should try this salad recipe. I served it tonight with those luscious lamb kebabs and some homemade pita (so, so good), but it goes well with anything grilled or roasted. I won't pretend that this salad isn't best in the summer, when you can get delicious cucumbers and tomatoes, but it's still good at any time of the year.

Chickpea, Tomato, and Cucumber Salad

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3-4 green onions, sliced
small handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
juice from 1 lemon
drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas, and green onions. Just prior to serving, chop mint and add to the salad. Top with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and stir to combine.

Lentil Buttercup Soup

It's 2pm and the snow is falling steadily here in Cambridge, so I thought it might be an appropriate time to pass along my recipe for lentil buttercup soup, another gem in the soup arsenal that is thick and hearty and perfect for a day like today (luckily we have leftovers from last night!).

This recipe is really a glorified daal with sweet and starchy chunks of my favorite squash - buttercup - tossed in. On a whim I also added some frozen spinach, to add some color and some of the good stuff that leafy green vegetables provide. I tend to make this soup spicy, with lots of Indian flavors like ginger, coriander, cumin, chili, and cardamom. If you prefer a milder soup, you can opt out of the chili, but the other spices really make this soup special. Although the squash itself is a bit sweet, the soup itself is not - it's very deep and earthy.

I've only ever tried this soup with red lentils, because they cook in the blink of an eye and turn soupy enough that there is no need for a blender in this recipe. Try it with regular brown lentils if you dare, but don't say I didn't warn you.

The recipe may seem time-intensive, because I roast the squash before adding it to the soup. However, the squash roasts in just half an hour, which is about the time it takes to chop an onion and cook your lentils. The soup is great on its own for dinner, with some bread or naan on the side, or try it as a prelude to another spicy, earthy, Indian- or Moroccan-inspired dish. Yum!

Lentil Buttercup Soup

2-3 c. (about 1 small) buttercup squash, peeled and diced in 1/2 in. chunks
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. red lentils
5 c. stock or water
1 c. chopped frozen spinach
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. whole cumin seeds
salt and pepper, to taste
spices to taste: paprika, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, garam masala, turmeric, ground ginger, ground coriander, cardamom

Directions:
Roast squash: drizzle with olive oil and season with spices, then roast in a foil-lined baking pan at 425 degrees for about 25 min., or until tender.
In soup pot, heat 2 tbs. olive oil.
Once hot, add cumin seeds and fry for a few seconds.
Add onions and season with salt, pepper, and spices. Cook until softened, about 7 min.
Add garlic and cook a few minutes more.
Add lentils, stir, add stock, and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until lentils are tender and starting to lose their shape, about 15-20 min.
Add more stock, if necessary, to achieve desired consistency. Adjust seasonings and continue cooking until lentils are soupy.
Add roasted squash and spinach, and cook until hot.
Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt.