Instructions for Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe
- In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the honey and let sit for 5 minutes, until foamy.
- Put the flour in a food processor fitted with the stainless-steel blade. Mix the 1 cup cool water with the olive oil and salt. With the motor running, pour the olive oil mixture and the yeast slowly in through the feed tube. Process until the dough forms a ball that rides around on the blade.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until double in bulk. Punch down the dough and knead it on a lightly floured surface for 1 minute. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and roll them into tight balls. Place on a tray, cover with a damp towel, and let rest for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator before use.
- Roll or stretch each ball of dough into a 7-to-8-inch circle. Place the circles, one at a time, on a wooden peel or on a baking sheet and build the pizza as desired.
Pink Lady Cake (Smitten Kitchen)
[Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Filling]
The cake recipe is adapted from Sky High, and the only thing I would change next time would be to add a drop or two of red food coloring because when cake is called Pink Lady, well, it should really be pink.
The cream cheese frosting is not from the book (which has a Swiss buttercream-based one I am eager to try when I am not rushing to finish) but a classic, standard recipe. I have upped the amount of cream cheese frosting from what I used, which you can see is spread a tad thin. Pretty pink princesses should never be deprived of fluffy vanilla cream cheese frosting on their birthdays, you know?
For the cake
4 1/2 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
5 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups pureed frozen strawberries*
8 egg whites
2/3 cup milk
1 to 2 drops red food dye, if using (to make the pink color pop more)
For the cream cheese frosting
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Make the cake
1. Preheat the oven to 350»F. Butter three 9-inch round or 8-inch square cake pans. Line with parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the electric mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and strawberry puree and mix to blend the ingredients. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes; the batter will resemble strawberry ice cream at this point. (Deb note: I must warn you not to try the batter at this point. Not even a smear of it. How unbearably good it is will shock you, and lead to more dipping. Only you can stop this from coming to pass.)
3. In another large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk and red food dye, if using, to blend. Add the whites to the batter in two or three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and mixing only to incorporate after each addition. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans.
4. Bake the cakes for 30 to 34 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert and turn out onto wire racks and peel off the paper liners. Let stand until completely cooled before assembling the cake, at least an hour.
Make the cream cheese frosting
5. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.
Frost and assemble the cake
6. Place one cake layer on a cake board or platter. Tucking scraps of waxed paper under the edges of the cake will protect the board or plate from any mess created while frosting the cake. (I forgot, as can be clearly seen above.) Spread about 2/3 cup frosting over the layer, spreading it to the edge. Repeat with the second layer. Add the top layer and frost the top and sides of cake with remaining frosting, reserving a small amount if you wish to tint it and pipe a decoration on the cake. If not, you can decorate the cake top with thinly-sliced strawberries. Remove the waxed strips to reveal and neat, clean cake board.
On Sunday, my sister in law, myself and another friend from school baked cookies for our support staff. I contributed these two winners:
Italian Ricotta Cookies (Allrecipes, Mrs. LoDico)
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 ounces ricotta cheese
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
-
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
- In a medium bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and ricotta cheese. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the cheese mixture. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the remaining butter and confectioners' sugar. Beat in vanilla and milk gradually until a spreadable consistency is reached. Frost cooled cookies.
Orange Almond Biscotti (Smitten Kitchen)
Almond Biscotti
Adapted from Bon Appetit, December 1999
They’re supposed to make 3 dozen, but my batch yielded at least 45
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange liqueur
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup whole almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped or sliced almonds
1 large egg white
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Mix sugar, melted butter, 3 eggs, vanilla extract, orange liquer and zest in large bowl. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir with wooden spoon until well blended. Mix in almonds.
Divide dough in half. Using floured hands, shape each dough half into 13 1/2-inch-long, 2 1/2-inch-wide log. Transfer both logs to prepared baking sheet, spacing apart. Whisk egg white in small bowl until foamy; brush over top and sides of each dough log.
Bake logs until golden brown (logs will spread), about 30 minutes. Cool logs completely on sheet on rack, about 25 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.
Transfer logs to work surface; discard parchment paper. Using serrated knife, cut logs on diagonal into 1/2-inch-wide slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, on same baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes. Turn biscotti over; bake until just beginning to color, about 8 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool.
Do ahead: Can be prepared one week ahead, though mine have kept even longer. Store in airtight container at room temperature.
wow these recipes sound amazing! i may have to try some for upcomign holiday parties!
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