Fiery Focaccia

The name of this bread made me think it might be too hot to handle, but it had just the right amount of heat and was absolutely worth every bit of the time and effort it took.  I started by mixing up my basic focaccia bread dough in the breadmaker, but varied it by adding 1/4 cup of tomato paste.  When the dough was ready it was very loose and sticky, so I ended up adding 2 to 3 cups more flour than the recipe called for until it had it the consistency of normal dough.  I rolled out the dough and sprinkled on 6 cherry peppers that been chopped, 2 roasted bell peppers that had been chopped, 2 1/2 ounces of cubed emmental and 3 1/2 ounces of chopped chorizo. All the ingredients were gently kneaded into the dough.  The dough was then divided between two 8-inch cake pans and allowed to rise for an additional 30 minutes before I carefully drizzled on some pizza oil and ground some sea salt over the top.  The foccacia was then placed in a pre-heated 400 degree oven and baked for 25 minutes.  I have never knowingly tried chorizo before and I was expecting it to be spicy, but it wasn't spicy at  all.

Both the cherry peppers and the red bell peppers were from a jar, and I thought perhaps the cherry peppers would be spicy, but they were not.  The pizza oil was the only thing that really added any heat to this bread.  The recipe does suggest using salame piccante instead of chorizo, provolone piccante instead of emmental , and Peppadews rather than cherry peppers;  you might consider using those if you want to kick it up a notch.  This bread received rave reviews from my dear hubby, but the fact that we didn't eat until 8:30 that night and were both very hungry might have had something to do with that.  Your family will always appreciate your cooking if they're about starved by the time you feed them!  Seriously, this was delicious, and the recipe said it even freezes very well.  I was intending to do just that with one of the loaves I made, but as I said, we were both VERY hungry!

Stuffed Focaccia Mini-Muffins

It has become our family tradition that on Christmas Eve I make an abundance of appetizer-type party food.  In years past we've thrown a birthday party for Jesus complete with balloons and streamers and cake and punch.  Since our children have moved away, it has morphed into a film festival of classic holiday films such as It's a Wonderful Life ,The Grinch, and The Nativity Story.  I tell you all this to explain that the first time I made these muffins it was part of this past year's Fountain Family Christmas celebration.  Since I had not started blogging at that time, I decided to revisit this recipe.  Perhaps it was the Christmas advertising starting WAY too soon that put me in a holiday mood!

Ricotta and Prosciutto Focaccia

This is another recipe that turned out to be very much like a quiche.  I think it had trouble deciding if it wanted to be Italian or French! Then I really confused it  by adding cilantro and giving it a Southwestern United States flare.  Boy, no wonder this dish has an identity crisis!  My sweet hubby was starting the focaccia dough, and I had mentioned to him that it used quite a bit more oil than our normal pizza dough.  He had that on his mind when he was putting the ingredients into the breadmaker and accidentally added a full cup of oil! 

Egg and Spinach Pizza Pies

I had been noticing the picture of these pizzas in my cook book for quite a while.  They just looked too cute and I have been anxious to try them!  Mine didn't turn out looking as pretty as the ones in the book, but I was pleased with the outcome.  I imagined these little pizzas might end up being similar to a quiche, and I was right.  They actually would be excellent for a fancy brunch. 

Goat Cheese and Pesto Pizzette

This was an opportunity to try yet another cheese that was somewhat unfamiliar to me. 

Goat cheese, or chevre (from the French for goat), is cheese made out of the milk of goats.  Goat's milk cheese has a characteristic tart, and I thought a bit gamey, flavor. Although the West has popularized the cow, goat milk and goat cheese are preferred dairy products in much of the rest of the world. Because goat cheese is often made in areas where refrigeration is limited, aged goat cheeses are often heavily treated with salt to prevent decay. As a result, salt has become associated with the flavor of goat cheese.

Provencal Pizza

This pizza highlights Emmental, one of the other unique and hard-to-find cheeses I have been eager to try.  Emmental or Emmentaler is a cheese from Switzerland. It is sometimes known as Swiss cheese in the United States,Canada, Australia and New Zealand, although Swiss cheese does not always imply Emmentaler.

Pear, Pecorino, and Taleggio Pizza-Part 2!

One of the aspects of this pizza hobby of mine that I never anticipated was the exploration of a vast variety of unusual cheeses. Some time back my darling husband did some research on the Internet and discovered that there is a cheese shop at selected Kroger stores called Murray's Cheese Shop.  They have many of the more exotic cheeses that are difficult to find; and they will even ship if there is not one close to you!  We happened to be in Atlanta last week end visiting with our daughter and discovered a Kroger store near her neighborhood that has a Murray's Cheese Shop.    I purchased some emmental and some taleggio and decided to revisit the pear, pecorino, and taleggio pizza I made several weeks ago and  see what it would be like with real taleggio rather than substituting fontina. 

Tuscan Chicken on Foccacia

I friend of mine posted a recipe for Slow-Cooked Tuscan Sandwiches on her Facebook page. It looked absolutely delicious, and I thought it would be even better made on freshly baked foccacia bread.  I made the chicken in the slow cooker following the recipe.  It was basically chicken thighs, garlic, and sliced roasted red bell peppers (from a jar) that I had going in the crock pot all day. 

Palermo Pizza

For some time Mike has been wanting to me to do a pizza with a thicker crust, and this was definitely the pizza!  I could not find durum wheat or semolina flour to make sicilian pizza dough, so I once again used the breadmaker and my stand-by basic pizza dough. 

Greek-Inspired Stromboli

I saw a recipe for stromboli in the pizza cookbook, but it called for fiery-red pesto which I was definitely not going to do again!  (See my post on "Pizza con Pancetta") The recipe gave me inspiration, though, to try and create my own stromboli.  My first question was, what is the difference between stromboli and calzone? 

Potato and Mozzarella Calzone

I am running out of pizza recipes in Maxine Clark's book, so we are moving on to calzones.  This was a very interesting recipe; I would never have thought of putting potatoes in a calzone.  I started by making my basic pizza dough in the breadmaker.  While it was rising, I heated the pizza stone at 425 for about 30 minutes.  I also sliced a Yukon Gold potato very thin with my mandolin.  I don't know what it is about Yukon Golds, but we think they are absolutely delicious.  It may be partially psychological; the yellow color of the potato makes my mind think " Yummm, buttery and rich!" 

Little Tuscan Pizzas-Part 2

Our daughter was visiting us and so for a treat I thought we would revisit the individual little Tuscan pizzas that Mike and I had made a few weeks ago.  While the dough was rising I set out capers, anchovies, kalamata olives, sliced red onions, sliced tomatoes, some delicious smoked mozzarella, some regular mozzarella, Parmesan and fresh basil.  I divided the dough into four balls,  then rolled out each as thin as possible onto parchment paper that had been sprayed with olive oil spray and dusted with corn meal. 

Nutella and Mascarpone Calzone

This is another dessert pizza inspired by David Rocca.  I had never tasted Nutella before and now am feeling very deprived to think I was eating peanut butter sandwiches as a child while other children were enjoying such a decadent spread on their bread!

Crispy Olive Pizza

This pizza could more legitamately be called a flatbread. It had the added bonus of an olive relish to serve with it and both were absolutely delicious.  For the relish I used sundried tomatoes.  If you use the ones packed in oil, heat a bit of the oil in a saucepan and then add some chopped onion and garlic, cooking until tender.  I couldn't find the sundried tomatoes in oil, so I used olive oil.  The next time I prepare this, I will  try Vidalia onions.  I used red onions, but they were pretty strong even after they had been cooked.  I also added about a teaspoon of sugar to the relish because it seemed to need a touch of sweetness.  The Vidalia onion would be mild while at the same time adding the sweetness that was lacking. 

California Club Pizza

This was a great pizza for a hot South Georgia summer evening.  It was almost like having a BLT on a pizza crust and we thoroughly enjoyed every bite.  I prepared my basic pizza dough in the breadmaker.  The recipe called for whole wheat pizza dough, but since Mike's favorite saying is "Fiber makes me sad," I caved in and used the basic dough recipe.

Pizza with Grapes and Pine Nuts

This pizza was inspired by David Rocca, whom I happened to catch on the Cooking Channel one afternoon.  He did a whole episode of pizzas and I was curious to see the way he did them.   There was no confusion on this particular pizza as to whether it is a dessert pizza. . .it most definitely is!  I started this pizza with a basic pizza dough that I had made in the breadmaker and then prebaked for 7 minutes.  While the crust was prebaking I put some pine nuts in the oven with it so they could be toasting.  Watch them carefully!  They burn extremely fast, which I unfortunately learned while ruining my first batch! 

Pear, Pecorino, and Taleggio Pizza

First of all, I must make a disclaimer.  The pizza I made did not have taleggio, a cheese I had never heard of before much less tasted.  I was looking forward to experiencing this new taste treat, but was unable to find it here in Valdosta.  After doing some research on the internet, I decided that fontina would be a suitable substitute.  The pizza I made also did not have pecorino romano.  I have tried pecorino before and didn't really care for it; I thought it had an aftertaste that was somewhat disagreeable.  Parmesan is more to my liking and is quite a bit cheaper. 

Calzone alla Parmigiana

This was my first time ever making calzone (pronounced "cal-zone-ay"; I had to look it up!)  In all honesty, I must admit I don't recall ever having eaten a calzone before. . .huge mistake!!  Preparation of calzone is a bit more involved than pizza, but it wasn't difficult and was well worth the effort. 

Potato Pizza

This is a recipe that is popular in southern Italy and would be great if you have someone in your family that is on a gluten-free diet.  It basically consists of using mashed potatoes as a base for the pizza rather than traditional crust.

Chicken Taco Pizza

Years ago our church published a cookbook with recipes submitted by different members of the church.  In my experience, those are the most valuable cookbooks because the recipes are family favorites that taste good without using exotic ingredients and complicated techniques. Does anyone still use the Oscoda Baptist Cookbook? If you do, I'd love to know which are your favorite recipes!  One of ours was a grilled taco chicken that was submitted by my friend, Marion Tripp.  

Mike and I got to thinking about that chicken and, of course,began to wonder if perhaps it might be delicious on a pizza.