Hawaiian Style Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust- Recipe

I make Pizza almost every week.  I have been for years so I almost forget that I make it.  It is pretty good pizza if I do so say myself.  There is a secret.  If you don't already have one run out and get yourself one of those pizza stones.  Flat with no standing edge is the best.  I prefer circle since I make my pie on a wooden peel.  If you have a stone you at least have a shot at making great crust!  Here is my recipe for whole wheat crust; a standing favorite at our house.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cup hot tap water
3 teaspoons of yeast
1 Tablespoon of Honey

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil + extra for oiling the dough

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 3/4 Cups White Flour
1 Tablespoon of Kosher Salt

To Prepare the Dough:
Start by getting your water set up. I like to use a large Pyrex measuring cup and filling up with hot tap water to the 1 2/3 mark.  I spoon in 3 teaspoons of yeast and use a spoon to stir it up a bit.  Add the honey and let the mixture sit while you prepare the rest.

In your Kitchen Aid Mixer bowl add the flour and salt.  When measuring flour always scoop the flour and pour it into the measuring cup you will be measuring.  That will ensure a proper amount without compacting the flour.  If you scoop your flour up you will compress it and over do it in the process.  I learned that trick from my mom years ago.  If you have a scale you can always measure your flour by weight and you'll never be off- like my scientist father-in-law.... that's just wayyy to much work for me now.

OK so now add the olive oil to the frothy yeast, honey and water mixture.  Stir and turn on the Kitchen Aid Mixer with the dough hook attachment.  While it's running on l or 2 add the liquid mixture.  Let it go around a bit but then stop it and scrape up the bottom where all the dry flour will be waiting.  Turn it back on and allow it to knead the dough for 10 min- set the timer.

After 10 minutes go and scrape down the sides again and turn it over inside the bowl.  Remove the bowl from the base.  Pour about 1- 2 Tablespoons of oil around the inside edge of the bowl near the dough and turn the dough with a rubber spatula until it is all coated with oil.  Take a large plate and cover the bowl and let it sit in for about 30 min.  After 30 minutes or so it should have risen.  Punch it down and let it rise again for about 10- 30 minutes.  Now you can begin to prepare the pizza.

If you don't have a Kitchen Aid Mixer you will need to spend 10 minutes kneading the dough by hand.  Follow the directions as above after that.

To Prepare Pizza
Preheat the oven to 450°F with the pizza stone inside.  You want to preheat that stone so that it begins to cook your dough right away.  Do not start to prepare the dough and toppings until you are sure that the oven will be 450°F  and you can pop the pizza in as soon as you are finished preparing.  I have made the mistake of heating my oven after the preparation of the pizza and it is a terrible mess!  The dough likes to stick to the wooden peel.  I will teach you how to avoid that.  But to start: make sure your oven is finished preheating or very close to finished before rolling out the dough!

Since I use whole wheat flour I also use it for dusting the surfaces.  It is a good way to keep the wooden peel dry so the dough does not stick.  You can use cornmeal too but I don't like the cornmeal mixing in with the dough so I don't use it. (My favorite store whole wheat flour is High Altitude Hungarian Whole Wheat.)

My recipe makes a good amount of dough.  You can use all the dough and get a thick crust or you can halve it and get a nice reasonable crust.  If you want it thinner, I'm not sure if my non stick technique will work for you so you'll have to write me and teach me how to do it... :-) Seriously- if you make it thinner please tell me your technique! ;-)

Punch down the dough.  Spread about a 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour on your wooden peel.  Take the dough and roll it around to coat it with the extra whole wheat flour and re-spread the remaining flour.  Make sure you have good dusty coverage under your dough by gently picking it up as you roll it out to make sure you can visibly see loose flour.  Use a roller like this one (my favorite) to spread it out.  Once the dough is as big as you want it and not larger than your stone in the oven you are ready for ingredients.

Hawaiian Style Ingredients are pretty easy
We use Ragu Homestyle Pizza sauce, part skim Mozzarella and then go for it.  Here is some cut up ham steak and Dole pineapple chunks cut in half again.  Just put on toppings after the sauce and cheese.

Hey!  Who's stealing the cheese!

How To deliver the pizza to the oven
Pull out the rack with the heated stone, use a spatula to get the crust moving on the peel toward the stone.  Get the lip of the crust to lay at the outer edge of the stone and once that happens you can coax the rest with your spatula or if it is dusted well you can slowly and gently shake the pizza pie right off your peel on to the stone.
 

Easy Does it!  Tip that peel!

Moving right along... give the dough a nudge with your spatula.  Good thing you have a dry peel!

And done! Whew!  It's all in the wrist!

Bake for 7 -10 minutes!  Remove the stone from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool and your crust will continue to cook.  If you like your crust softer then use your wooden peel to remove the pizza from the oven.  Allow the pizza to cool for about 5 or more minutes regardless.  It will reduce the amout of cheese loss from too much melt-y-ness...

And YUMMMMMMMM

WARNING: This takes practice!  Don't get discouraged.  Make it again next week or tomorrow.  Fold it over on itself and make a pizza pocket if you must but keep at it!  Your friends and/or your spouse and children will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you when you become an expert.  I can tell you that's the truth from my own personal experience.  I can't tell you how many friends and family have told me I could open a restaurant.  But it is {shhh} SO EASY!  It is all just technique.  Once you get that down- with practice- you will be a pizza star!

xo Jessica

Chocolate Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti

Yes, Another Biscotti Recipe.  This one is good too.  Maybe Baking Biscotti should be a featured series. :-)

I've decided to send some out to my little brother.  He apparently has discovered my father's hidden stash.  Recently I found out that whenever I send biscotti to my dad he hides it to drink with his tea.  My little brother found out and is now also a biscotti fan!

This recipe is pretty similar to my other biscotti recipe but has just a few changes.  When I first tried it out it tasted like a brownie!  It just wasn't chewy but nice and crunchy instead.  It is also not as full of sugar and butter!

Chocolate Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick of butter softened (1/2 cup)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/3 cup dried cranberries

To Prepare:
Preheat the oven again to 350°F degrees.
Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Then cream butter, eggs and sugar in a separate bowl. Combine and fold together all ingredients adding in the mini chocolate chips and cranberries.  I use the paddle attachment in my kitchen aid mixer but a good spatula and some elbow grease will do the trick.

Form two logs on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (you will be glad you used the parchment paper).  Press the log down to make about 1/2 in high.  Now, it's a loaf.  The loaf should be about 12-14 inches long and about 2 inches wide.

Place the loaf in the preheated oven.  Bake for about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the loaves to cool on a wire rack.

Use a long serrated knife (bread knife) to cut the loaf into slices along the width.

Lay the slices on their sides on the cookie sheet again lined with parchment (I reuse the same paper).  Bake at 350°F for about 10-15 minutes. 
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

They last for at least two weeks!  Bring them along to your hostess in a nice tin or decorated box.  Just be sure to seal them in an airtight container so they will retain their crispiness and their fresh baked flavor!

Enjoy this delicious treat!
P.S.  There will be more Biscotti.  I just can't resist.

Gift Idea for your Thanksgiving Hostess: Biscotti

Are you heading someplace for Thanksgiving this year?  Do you have a hostess gift for your upcoming holiday parties?  Does your spouse need a treat to bring to staff?  Is there a special teacher you'd like to give something along with that gift card you've put on your list?  Here is the perfect gift!

Easy and beautiful, tasty and comforting Biscotti.  It is so easy to make and so easy to decorate.  The  simple "twice baked" cookie can be a variety of flavors and hold all sorts of different treats.  It can be served plain or you can dress it up even more with some icing or melted chocolate.

For this time of year I go to my standby recipe which is:

Almond, Cranberry Orange Zest Biscotti
This recipe has been prepared at 5280 Ft above sea level!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon whole wheat flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 heaping tsp of orange zest

1 stick of butter
2 large eggs
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup dried cranberries

To Prepare:
Preheat the oven again to 350 degrees.
Measure out the flour, baking powder, salt sugar and orange zest in to a large bowl.  Whisk together thoroughly.  The butter should be softened and added next.  Whisk again to cut the butter into the dry ingredients.  Then whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and then add to the mix.  Finally add the almonds and cranberries and mix until they are evenly distributed.

With the dough all formed you should have a batter that holds together but does not readily stick to your hands.  Form a loaft on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (you will be glad you used the parchment paper).  The loaf should be about 12-14 inches long and about 3 inches wide and about 3/4 inch high.

Place the loaf in the preheated oven.  Bake for about 35 minutes or until lightly golden.

Remove from the oven and allow the loaf to cool to room temperature (30-40 min?).

Preheat the oven again to 350 degrees.
Use a long serrated knife (bread knife) to cut the loaf into slices along the width.  A sharp knife is essential to cut through the almonds and cranberries cleanly!

Lay the slices on their sides on the cookie sheet again lined with parchment (I reuse the same paper).  Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.  The cookies should turn a very light gold shade- not as gold as the crust on the edge though.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Ta-DA!  You have biscotti.  Depending on your occasion, go ahead and experiment with different ingredients like raisins, coconut, vanilla, chips, anise, walnuts, lemon etc. etc. etc...

I have found these simple treats to be a real hit just with the recipe I've given.  However, you can get even more fancy with melted chocolate (using a double boiler) and dipping one end of the cookie for a gormet effect.

You have plenty of time to make these.  You can cook up several loaves at once.  They last for weeks!  Bring them along to your hostess in a nice tin or decorated box.  Just be sure to seal them in an airtight container so they will retain their crispiness and their fresh baked flavor!

WAG Bars- Not intended for Dogs! Wholesome Awesome Granola Bars

I recently was directed to a website Weelicious by a friend of mine to try some cookies made with a banana base.  While I was there I instantly began looking for granola bar recipe.  I have never been very successful with granola bars. They are such a good treat but the ones from the store are expensive if you get the good ones and gross if you buy the cheap ones.  I hate looking at the side of the package at the list of ingredients.  Why can't it just be oats, raisins, nuts, sugar, oil etc.  Why does it have to include all crazy named ingredients?  I know why.  Really I do know why... it's because they need the preservatives to make it last and to stick together and to enhance taste etc....

But just look at any granola bar and if you are an experienced home cook/baker like me there has to be a time when you've said "This looks so easy."  The ingredients are all visible for crying out loud! Why can't I just make them at home.

Well, the search is not only over, Weelicious's recipe has intrigued me to such a degree that I am now experimenting with ingredients and if I might say so; making them better and better!  My husband even likes these healthy snacks and that is saying a lot for such a fan of the gross candy versions in the supermarket.

Let me just tell you that if you have been looking for the perfect granola bar recipe
You
     Can
          Stop
               Right
                    Now.


Head on over to Weelicous and see her granola bar recipe.  Then let me tell you that I have used her recipe and then tweaked it.  My alterations and one technique change have made what I find to be fantastic bars.  They're so great I've even given them as gifts.  Enjoy.

WAG Bars- Not intended for Dogs!
Wholesome Awesome Granola Bars

Ingredients

• 4 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup cup white chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seat meats
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 3/4 cup raisins 
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey

To Prepare:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Get our your Kitchen Aid Mixer and put in all the ingredients.
3. Use the paddle mixer and let it mix until all ingredients look wet and then a few more seconds.
4. If you don't have a counter top mixer then mix the dry ingredients thoroughly separate from mixing the wet ingredients thoroughly.  Then put them all together in a bowl and combine until everything looks wet and evenly distributed.
5. Line a 13 X 9" casserole dish with parchment paper.
6. Pour the mixture into the dish and spread evenly.
7. Use a small hand roller to press the ingredients down into the dish.  I use a pampered chef roller like this one.
8. Bake for 40-45 minutes in the oven on the middle rack.
9. Allow to cool for 5 min and then take the edges of parchment and lift the granola rectangle out and place on a large cutting board while leaving the parchment under the granola.
10. Allow to cool completely then cut into 1" wide bars approximately 3-5 inches long.  (So, two horizontal cuts across the 13" side will leave you with 3"bars.  One horizontal cut on the 13" side will leave you with 4.5" bars.)