Jim Layey's Pizza Reference

No Knead Pizza Dough
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/03/jim-laheys-no-knead-pizza-dough-recipe.html

Pizza Bianca
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/03/jim-laheys-pizza-bianca-recipe.html

Cauliflower Pizza Pie
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/03/jim-laheys-cauliflower-pizza-pie.html


Making Dough Balls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he-V1J86REA

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

oven to 325
makes about 21 small cookies
1 stick, (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
scant 1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Cream the butter and the peanut butter together in a stand mixer, with a hand mixer, or a wooden spoon.  Beat in the vanilla.

Whisk the dry ingredients together and add to the butter mixture.  Mix until the dough comes together.

Stir in the chips, and turn the dough out onto a piece of waxed paper.

Gently pull the dough together and form it into a log.  If it is still crumbly, work it with your hands until it holds together smoothly.

Roll it up in the paper, smoothing the shape as you go.  Twist the ends securely and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.

Slice the log into slices with a sharp knife. Not too thick, not too thin, about 1/3 inch.  If a slice crumbles a bit, just smoosh the dough back together.  These don’t have to be perfect disks.

Bake on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet at 325 for about 12-14 minutes.

The cookies will  not be browned, and they may look undone, but don’t over bake.  One of the joys of shortbread cookies is that they fall apart and melt in your mouth.

Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.

Brown Sugar Shortbread

Brown Sugar Shortbread:

1 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out (toss the husk into your sugar bin)
1-2 tsp vanilla, depending upon preference
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt

beat butter til lightened. mix vanilla bean scrapings into brown sugar, then beat sugar into butter. mix in vanilla. combine flour with salt and add flour to butter/sugar, trying not to overmix.

grease a springform pan, and press dough into a circle. (optionally, at this point, mix 1 tbsp white sugar with 1 tsp or less cinnamon and sprinkle dough). cut into 12 wedges. bake at 325 for 50 min or until firm and golden. cut into wedges again.

Swedish Meatballs

Lingonberry jelly is traditionally used with Swedish meatballs; you can substitute cranberry, red currant or raspberry jelly if you can't find lingonberry jelly.

Ingredients

Meatballs:

1 large yellow or white onion, peeled, grated (through a cheese grater)
2 Tbsp butter
2/3 cup milk
4-5 slices of bread, crusts removed, bread cut into pieces
2 eggs
1 pound ground pork
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 teaspoons black pepper

Sauce:

6 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
1 quart beef stock
1/2 to 3/4 cup sour cream
Salt

2 to 4 Tbsp of Lingonberry, cranberry, red currant or raspberry jelly, more or less to taste (optional)

Method

1 Sauté the grated onion in the butter over medium-high heat until the onions soften and turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

2 In a medium bowl, mix the bread pieces with the milk. Set aside for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread soaks up all the milk. When it does, pulverize the bread in a food processor and pour it into a large bowl.

3 Add the cooled onions to the bowl of milk and bread. Add the rest of the meatball ingredients - eggs, ground pork, ground beef, salt, nutmeg, cardamom, pepper. Using your (clean) hands, mix well for about 2 minutes until the ingredients are well combined.

4 Use a tablespoon to measure out the meat for the meatballs. As you form the meatballs, set each one aside on a sheet pan or plate. You should get 40 to 50 meatballs.

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/swedish_meatballs/

Brownies

Brownies

Ingredients

2/3 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

3 ounces Ghirardelli’s Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa

¾ cups butter

¾ cups sugar

¾ cups brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

6 ounces milk chocolate chips

Method

1.  Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Whisk ground chocolate, flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
3. First cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar together. Then add vanilla while continuing to mix.  Once mixture is smooth add eggs 1 at a time to the creamed mixture while continuing to beat.
4. Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
5. Add chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.
6. Pour in a greased brownie pan and bake at 325 for about 45 min until a toothpick comes out clean.

Pizza Dough

This makes about 5 10oz dough balls..

Ingredients:

32 oz. Bread Flour

20 oz. Filtered Water (ice cold bottled water)

2 teaspoons Kosher Salt

1 teaspoons Yeast (whatever you have.. instant, bread maker, dry, etc)

Summarized Method:

The Autolyze..

COMBINE - 75% flour (24 oz) and all 20 oz of water. Cover and rest for 1 - 2 hrs

After the autolyze period:

MIX - remaining 25% flour, salt and yeast

KNEAD - mixed dry ingredients into the autolyzed doug. Knead until fully incorporated and dough is nice and smooth.

STORE - dough ball in a plastic container in the refrigerator for about 24 hrs.

2 hours prior to the cook:

PORTION - remove dough from the refrigerator and portion into balls with a scrapper and scale. (I do 10 oz. dough balls for about a 12 to 14 inch pizza).

PROOF - Dough balls for 2 hours on lightly oiled (EVOO) parchment paper and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap.

I try to get the dough balls close to room temp without getting too much of a rise out of the dough.  I'll get small air blisters in the dough as I'm pushing the dough out. I try to target the rise of the dough for the actual oven bake.  Once it hits the heat it will rise.

Carne Guisada

Carne guisada (Stewed Meat) on the egg
Austin Egghead

Tonights ingredients

1 3-4 lb sirloin steak 2 in thick. (round steak, chuck or bottom round is the traditional cuts)
1 large yellow (can be sweet) onion or 2 med ones
3 large tomatoes
5-6 cloves of garlic smashed
1-2 bay leaves
1 red bell pepper
2 jalapenos
1-2 guajillo peppers
1 large poblano pepper
¾ tablespoon of Mexican oregano
¾ T of cumin powder
1 bottle of good dark beer
water to cover
1 lime

The meat: season with salt and pepper and grilled on the egg to 122 degrees. Cut meat into 1 inch cubes removing any excess fat. Be sure and save all meat juices.
Note: flavor the meat with smoke not rubs. I like oak and pecan. I don’t use mesquite because of the bitter overtones in the stew.

The veggies;
Dry roast on the egg the tomatoes, bell pepper, jalapenos and poblano pepper. Slice the onion in half and lightly coat with oil place on egg. Roast: peppers until supple but not charred; tomatoes until skin is loose; the onion until tender. Toast the guajillos on egg till fragrant about I minute on each side.
Dice all the veggies with the exception of the guajillo, which can either be ground unto a powder or sliced.

Procedure: (Can be done on egg and stove or just egg)
Add a piece of fat removed from the steak and render. Place crushed garlic in the pan and sauté until fragrant. Add remainder of the veggies and meat and any of the meat juices. Add 1 bottle of a good dark beer and enough water to cover.
Bring to a boil, taste liquid and adjust for salt. Place back on the egg, and cook uncovered at 325 for 4 hours or until meat is fork tender and pulls apart.

Plating:
AS a taco: Place guisada in corn tortilla top with chipotle crema, avocado slices. Serve with lime wedges, refried beans and white rice

OR
This goes great over sliced, pan fried cheese grits (made the day before placed in a loaf pan and refrigerated for 24 hours then cut into slices and pan fried in butter…adapted that serving when we lived in MD)


Egg set up:
Woo with a pizza stone for an indirect cook. Cooking pot on top grate pot uncovered DMFT opened. Dome temp 325 degrees. Cook time 3.5

Hot Honey

Hot Honey

Ingredients

16 oz Honey

3 oz Chipotle with Adobo sauce (blended or mashed up)

1 oz Apple Cider Vinegar

Method

Blend a small can of Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce.  Separate 3 oz of this sauced pepper mix (about 3 heaping teaspoons) and add to a sauce pan with honey and Apple Cider Vinegar.

Heat under a low burner until mixture becomes very hot to the touch.  DO NOT BOIL.  The mixture will become lose and watery.  At this point turn off the heat and let rest for a few minutes.

Pour mixture into a serving bottle, or container using a fine sieve or strainer of some sort to filter out the skins and seeds from the chile pepper sauce.

Cool and serve.