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Salmon with Mango Salsa

For some reason whenever I put salmon on the weekly menu, it seems to get pushed back to another day, or another week. The last time I bought salmon, it sat in the fridge until I was afraid to look at it and had to throw it out. This is really a shame considering that once I actually make salmon, I LOVE it! This meal was no exception to my salmon “fear”. I had gotten all the ingredients for the salsa and couscous, but when dinner time rolled around, I was really hesitant to pick up the salmon and make this dinner. Because we didn’t really have anything else planned for dinner, and because if I didn’t make it, all the other ingredients would go bad, I couldn’t really talk myself out of it (although I tried).

As soon as I starting chopping for the salsa, I was over my fear and glad that I had decided to make the salmon. When I tasted the final product, I was even happier. I actually couldn’t believe that I was considering scraping this dinner for grilled cheese instead :-)! This dinner came together quickly, and was delicious! I served it over plain couscous that I cooked with chopped green onion and dried cranberries – which was also pretty yummy. I think once the weather gets a little warmer, I’ll grill the salmon instead of broiling it, but broiling is easy and it came out great.

Salmon with Mango Salsa

– Makes 3-6 servings depending on the size of salmon filet used (Estimate ~4 oz per person)

For the Mango Salsa

1 Mango, peeled and chopped
1/2 of a cucumber, peeled and chopped
A few strips of red bell pepper, chopped
~1/4 cup of red onion, chopped
~3 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped
Juice from 1/2 a lime
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix.

For the Salmon

1-2 lbs wild salmon filets
Juice from 1/2 a lime
2-3 Tablespoons light mayonaise
Salt and pepper

Preheat broiler. Sprinkle lime juice over the salmon. Spread mayonaise over the filet using the back of a spoon. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place salmon on a broiling pan lined with tin foil, and broil for about 10 minutes, until cooked through. To serve, cut into smaller filets, top with mango salsa, and serve over couscous or rice pilaf.

Source: A Spice Is Nice Original

Posted by Spice Is Nice | April 22, 2011 | Categories: Easy Weeknight Dinners, Fish, Main Dish | 2 Comments

Toffee Bars

You know the saying, “When it rains, it pours”? Well that was my day yesterday. A multitude of factors (in addition to the cold rain outside my window) lead to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Okay, so actually it was only like a terrible, horrible, no good very bad 3 hours – but still upsetting. I’ll spare you the details, because I’m trying not to think about it, but in addition to a good dinner of commiserating with friends, I knew I had to come home and bake something. I had bought a giant sized bag of chocolate chips at Costco (they were on coupon special), with the intention of making all kinds of delicious treats with them. While I did make some delightful chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies, for the most part I have been enjoying the chocolate chips by the handful, mixed with some almonds and raisins (that makes it healthy….right?). I really wanted to avoid making plain chocolate chip cookies for the billionth time, so I scoured the internet for something that would not require a trip to the store, and that would use up some of my chocolate chips.

When I found this recipe on Ree’s blog, it seemed to fit the bill. I was a little skeptical that these “bars” would end up tasting just like a chocolate chip cookie in a bar form since they pretty much have all the same common ingredients you find in a cookie. I even thought about making the real toffee I made for Christmas instead – but that requires a candy thermometer, which I don’t have here. Anyways, these bars actually taste like… wait for it…. that’s right….. TOFFEE (I know, hard to believe given the name and all). I think it’s the increased ratio of brown sugar to butter in this recipe that gives it something extra special. These were super easy to put together, and were delicious. I’m actually a little scared that I’ve found such a wonderful sweet treat that only requires ingredients I usually keep in the pantry, and that can be made from start to finish in less than 30 minutes – dangerous! Apparently these freeze well…but I doubt there will be any leftover to find out for myself.

Toffee Bars

– Makes about 24 squares

2 sticks butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup (finely) chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter and sugar on high until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix. Stir in flour until fully incorporated. Spread the mixture onto a cookie sheet, trying to create some resemblance of a square. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or unti golden brown.

Once baked, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top, and bake for 2 minutes. Then spread the chocolate using a spatula. Finish by sprinkling with chopped pecans. Cut bars into squares, and then let cool for at least an hour to let the chocolate harden (this was definitely the hardest part).

Barely adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Posted by Spice Is Nice | April 20, 2011 | Categories: Bar Cookies, Dessert | 2 Comments

Peanut, Chicken & Soba Noodle Salad

This meal has been John’s favorite for a long time. That’s right, I said John’s favorite – Despite the fact that it has a weird looking buckwheat noodle, and is just about as far from a hamburger as you can get, John still loves this dinner. If that isn’t reason enough to make it, I really like it too. The first time I made it, I remember thinking, I have no idea how this is going to be – little did I know it would turn into a house favorite! I’m not usually a huge fan of ultra-healthy “hippie” food (no offense to the hippies out there), and soba noodles for some reason had that ultra-healthy sound to them. Take quinoa, for example. I know its uber healthy but every time I make it, I’m slightly disappointed. I still keep trying, but I usually end of thinking, “This recipe would’ve been better without the quinoa”, and then the leftovers sit in the fridge, untouched. This meal is not like that, at all. The soba noodles really add depth and a slight nuttiness to the meal. I made this once with spaghetti instead (because I didn’t have any soba noodles), and while it’s still good, it lacks the uniqueness and dimension that the soba noodles bring. So that’s my rant about soba noodles. You can find them in the Asian section of most grocery stores (I got mine at Kroger).

While this meal isn’t the quickest and easiest meal in my repertoire, it’s also not that involved, especially if you have the chicken left over or cooked in advance. I usually end up boiling the chicken because it’s the fastest way I know, but when summer comes, I’m going to marinate the chicken in some lime juice, and then grill it because I I think the grill marks on the chicken would be pretty in this salad. Oh and about that word – salad. I didn’t really know what to call this. It’s not really a salad – it doesn’t involve any lettuce and is more like spaghetti texture, but it’s a salad in the fact that you can eat it cold if you’d like. I actually prefer it refrigerated, but John likes to heat his up – so it’s just personal preference. I think this would be a great “salad” for a picnic lunch though (can you tell I have summer on the mind :-))!

Peanut, Chicken & Soba Noodle Salad

Makes about 6 Servings

For the Sauce:

1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter*
1/3 cup warm water
2 T. honey
3 T. soy sauce
2 T. ginger, peeled and grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or more if you like it spicy)

Stir all ingredients together until somewhat smooth. If sauce is still to thick, add another 1-2 T. of water, but also remember that the cooked soba noodles will likely add some liquid to the sauce.

*I like natural peanut butter here because I think it gives a stronger peanut flavor.

For the Salad

1 package (~10.58 oz) Soba noodles
5 carrots
5 celery stalks
3 green onion
2 large chicken breasts
Sliced limes and Chopped peanuts for garnish (optional)

1. Begin by cooking the chicken – I usually simmer chicken in a pot of water at medium for 15 minutes. You can also wrap in foil and roast in the oven at 450° for 15 minutes, or marinate in lime juice for an hour, and grill. (Lime, and citrus in general, helps to keep chicken tender). Shred or chop the chicken into bite-size pieces.

2. Prep the Veggies. Peel the carrots, and slice very thin or shave with the peeler. (I got a julienne peeler at TJ Maxx, and it works great for this). Wash the celery, and slice on a diagonal to create large slices. Slice the green onions.

3. Cook the Noodles. Boil a pot of water, and cook the soba noodles for 4-5 minutes. Do not overcook (they cook a lot faster than pasta).

4. Assemble. If you want to serve the meal warm, quickly toss the sauce, soba noodles, chicken, and about 3/4 of the vegetables together in a large bowl and top with remaining vegetables to serve. If you want to serve the meal cold, rinse the soba noodles under cold water, toss with the sauce, chicken and 3/4 of the vegetables, and refrigerate for 10-20 minutes. Then top with the remaining vegetables before serving. A final sprinkling of lime juice and peanuts gives a lot of extra flavor to this meal.

Inspired by Cooking Light

Posted by Spice Is Nice | April 15, 2011 | Categories: Main Dish, Poultry, Salads | 2 Comments

Lemon Bars

I have never really been a lemon bar lover. In fact, if I have to chose between a fruity dessert and a chocolate one – chocolate will win out every time. (Well, unless you count Twizzlers as fruity dessert :-)) That being said, our friend Lydia has made lemon bars for us a few times, and every time I try one, I am pleasantly surprised. With the weather being over 80 degrees on Sunday, I just had this craving to whip up a batch of lemon bars. The result was so summery that I now officially have spring fever! I actually really like the box mix of lemon bars, but I will tell you that these have a definite extra punch of lemon flavor. So be warned: True Lemon Lovers Only!

Lemon Bars

For the Crust

1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
2/3 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 T.) butter, slightly softened, cut into 1 inch pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13×9 baking sheet with parchment paper, then line the pan again with parchment in the opposite direction to allow you to lift the bars out when finished. In a food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles course meal. Sprinkle mixture into the pan and press down evenly with fingers. Bake until slightly golden, about 20 minutes. In the meantime start on the filling…

For the Lemon Filling

4 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/3 c. granulated sugar
3 T. all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
2/3 cup lemon juice, strained (about 4 lemons)
1/3 cup milk (I used skim, but whole would be better)
1/8 teaspoon salt

Whisk eggs, sugar and flour in a medium bowl. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, milk and salt and blend. Once the crust is golden brown, reduce oven temperature to 325° and pour the lemon mixture into the warm crust. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until the filling feels firm.

Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature (at least 30 minutes). Remove the lemon bars from the pan by lifting up on the parchment (The bars may bend, but won’t break). Cut bars using sharp knife and cleaning the knife between cuts. Sift powdered sugar on top right before serving.

Slightly adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Posted by Spice Is Nice | April 12, 2011 | Categories: Bar Cookies, Dessert | 1 Comment

Healthy Granola

I’ve really been trying to eat more yogurt, and more fruits and vegetables. It’s not that I don’t like these things, in fact I actually really love them – its just that sometimes I forget how good they are. I figured having granola around would be a perfect way to insure I’d eat both yogurt and fruit in the morning. If I have some awesome granola in the pantry, how could I pass up a fruit, yogurt and granola parfait for breakfast?

I’ve tried a bunch of granola and I’ve learned that some granola should actually be in the grocery store right next to the “Cookie Crisps” cereal, because it offers about the same nutritional value. I’ve got nothing against Cookie Crisps, but if your trying to make yourself a healthy breakfast, don’t be tricked by some “healthy” granola impostor at the store. This granola actually is healthy, and the flax seed really helps to up the nutritional value. Flax seed adds some fiber, and it’s the best source of Omega-3 fatty acids you can get – but you barely notice it’s there. You could definitely try upping the amount used if you’re feeling adventurous. I found mine in the same aisle as the flour, and it’s sold at most grocery stores. A lot of granola recipes call for dried fruit, but since I tend it eat this with yogurt and fruit anyways, I like mine plain.

Healthy Granola

5 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 3/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/3 cup flax seed, milled
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup honey
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 300º. Mix the brown sugar, honey, applesauce and oil in a small bowl or a measuring cup. In a large bowl, stir together oats, almonds, salt, cinnamon, ginger and flax seed. Add the applesauce mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to moisten all the oats.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, and spread the granola evenly on the sheet. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, then remove, and flip the granola using a spatula, cook for 20-25 minutes more. Remove from oven, and let cool on the cookie sheet. It will still seem a little moist when you first removed it from the oven, but will crisp more as it cools.

Posted by Spice Is Nice | April 8, 2011 | Categories: Breakfast | 1 Comment

Chipotle Almond Chicken Mole

If you’re looking for a change from your ordinary weeknight menus – look no further! When I first saw this recipe, I knew I wanted to make it because it would really add a lot of interest to our normal weeknight menu rotation. While being very unique, it doesn’t call for a bunch of crazy ingredients – you could find everything at Walmart if you wanted. I was a little worried John wouldn’t like this since it’s not your typical American fare, but to my surprise I think he liked it even more than me! It has a smokey flavor, and yet is a little bit creamy because of the ground almonds used in the sauce.

When planning meals for the week, I put Spicy Bean Burritos on the menu, because they also call for chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, and that way I knew the can I bought wouldn’t go to waste. If you like your dinner on the spicy side, then use the entire chipotle pepper. Personally, I like just a hint of heat, so I removed the seeds from the 2 peppers I used, which really cuts down on the spice. I also happened to have some corn tortillas left over from Chicken Enchiladas , so that helped to cut down on ingredients to buy (corn tortillas last forever, or so it seems).

The recipe makes a lot of sauce, so it could really accomodate anywhere from 2 – 4 large chicken breasts. If you don’t want to make the whole batch, just freeze the sauce and use it over some leftover chicken at a later point in time. We ate it plain, but I’m planning on serving the leftovers over some cilantro-lime rice, yummmm.

Chipotle Almond Chicken Mole

2/3 cup roasted almonds (salted is fine)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 (14.5 oz) can fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
2 chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 (6-inch) corn tortillas, torn into small pieces
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can vegetable broth
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 – 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of all fat

To prepare the chicken:

Preheat oven to 450°. Sprinkle chicken with salt & pepper and wrap, individually, in tin foil to keep the chicken moist while baking. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Slice into strips. *This can be done up to a day ahead of time. As an alternative, you could poach the chicken breast in water for 15 minutes, or use leftover chicken breast from another meal.

For the Sauce:

Place the almonds in a food processor and process for 2-3 minutes or until smooth (it takes a little bit of time, but should end up looking like peanut butter). Keep in the food processor.

In a large skillet heat oil on medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic cloves. Sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients through broth: tomatoes, chipotle peppers, sugar, cumin, salt, cloves, tortillas, vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the tomato mixture to the food processor with the almonds. Also add 1 T. vinegar. Puree mixture until smooth. Return mixture to pan and add the chicken to heat through. Serve over rice if desired.

Adapted from Cooking Light

Posted by Spice Is Nice | April 1, 2011 | Categories: Main Dish, Poultry | Leave a comment

Potato, Corn & Leek Chowder

A couple weeks ago, I thought the soup making weather for the year was over – clearly I was wrong. I guess a good way to embrace the cold, is to look at it as one last opportunity to make a warm wintery soup! When I was planning the grocery/menu list this week, I asked John what soup he would want for a (fingers crossed) last soup of winter meal, secretly hoping he would pick this soup. Without any coaching from me, he said, “How about the potato one you make?”, so that sealed the deal – it went on the menu. It also happens to be a quick meal (chopping is the only kitchen time), and a one pot deal (less clean up)!

What I like about this soup is that it’s a potato soup, with more than just potatoes and cream. It has has a lot of vegetables in it, so it really feels like a balanced meal. It does use some whole milk, but just enough to give it that creamy texture, while still keeping it healthy and relatively low fat. I do realize that just before this I posted a recipe primarily made of butter and sugar – but what can I say, I like my sweets sinful and my meals, well the opposite. This soup is pretty filling, and this recipe makes a lot – so if you’re not feeding a crowd, you might want to try halving it. However, this is one of the few meals where I think the leftovers actually taste just as good or better than the original meal. This is a rare finding for me, so I don’t mind making the whole thing and eating it later in the week. I’ve never tried freezing it, but if you try it – let me know how it turns out!

Potato, Corn & Leek Chowder

Servings: about 8 bowls Prep Time: 20 minutes (for the chopping) Stove time: 25 minutes

2 Tablespoons Butter
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped leeks (about 2 leeks)
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped red pepper
2 cups whole milk
3 Tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 pounds yukon gold potatoes (about 8), peeled and cubed
2 cups corn (frozen or fresh)
Dash of Salt & Pepper
Scallions/Chives/Parsley for topping

Melt butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the leeks, celery and red pepper and stir until tender (3-4 minutes).

Slowly add the flour and milk to the pan, stirring constantly. Once mixed, add the rest of the ingredients (chicken broth, potatoes, corn, salt & pepper). Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Then cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes (or as long as you want – the starch from the potatoes will continue to thicken the soup).

Serve by topping with your choice of parsley, scallions, chives, or a mix.

Slightly adapted from Cooking Light

Posted by Spice Is Nice | March 30, 2011 | Categories: Main Dish, Soup, Vegetarian | 2 Comments

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Cupcakes are pretty much the trendiest food item on the market, but to be honest I’ve never made a batch of cupcakes completely from scratch – that is until yesterday. I’ve been wanting to try these cupcakes since the day I saw them on Annie’s “Best of 2010” list, but it just never seemed like the right opportunity. After all, cupcakes aren’t exactly a “snack food” you want to have around the house. Plus, these particular cupcakes have an embarrassingly large amount of butter in them; which is half the reason I chickened out on making these several times. Finally, I decided to get over my fear, and went for these cupcakes, butter and all.

Of course, they were delicious! They have brown sugar batter with chocolate chips, are then filled with an eggless cookie dough, and then topped with a frosting that actually tastes like cookie dough. So if you even have a slight fondness of cookie dough- you will love these! If you think they sound too rich, don’t worry, so did I. I thought for sure I would only be able to eat half a cupcake, but they were actually perfect, and of course eating a whole cupcake by myself was no challenge. I particularly thought this was a great “first cupcake”, because it’s something you really couldn’t try to replicate with a box mix. I made these over the course of a couple days – baking the cupcakes one day, filling them the next day, and then frosting them right before serving. I would recommend this unless you have a 4-hour block of time to spend in the kitchen all at once. I found I had too much icing left over with the original recipe, so I corrected it below to make a slightly smaller yield. Additionally, I wrote the recipe out to make 12 cupcakes, because when I made 24 it was just too many- you really only need one of these! And as a final suggestion, make sure you have some friends to share these with, because they are delicious (and dangerous!).

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

For the Cupcakes:

1 ½ sticks butter, room temperature
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups flour
½ t. baking soda
½ t. baking powder
1/8 t. salt
½ cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar with a stand mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternating with milk, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until all the flour and milk are used up. Blend in vanilla. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Line 1 cupcake pan with liners (12 cupcakes). Divide batter evenly between the cups. Bake at 350 for 16-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

For the Filling:

2 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
3 Tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
½ cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini chocolate chips

Using a mixer, combine butter and brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Add flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract, and mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate mixture to allow it to firm slightly. While waiting for the mixture to chill, using a small, sharp knife, cut a cone shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. (You won’t need the part you cut out anymore, so you can discard it, or make cakeballs out of it, or eat it with ice cream…etc.) Place a chunk of filling in the center of each cupcake, flattening the top, to make it easier to frost.

For the Frosting and Topping

10 Tbsp. (1 stick + 2 Tbsp. butter), softened
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
4 tsp. milk
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

Mini Chocolate Chips
Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies*

Combine butter and brown sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time. Then add the flour, salt, milk and vanilla extract, and mix until smooth. Frost as desired. (I used a 2D Wilton pastry tip).

Sprinkle finished cupcakes with mini-chocolate chips, and push a mini-chocolate chip cookie into the center of the frosting.

*I made mini chocolate chip cookies by rolling very small dough balls from chocolate chip cookie dough, but I think Famous Amos or Cookie Crisps Cereal would also work well!

Slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats, inspired by Hello Baker

Posted by Spice Is Nice | March 27, 2011 | Categories: Cupcakes, Dessert | 4 Comments

Adaptable Focaccia

There are a lot of recipes for focaccia out there, but I wanted one that had simple ingredients, simple instructions and a short rising time. I knew I wanted to make focaccia to go with the strawberry goat cheese salad we were having for dinner, but of course I didn’t start looking for a specific recipe until about 5 pm the day I wanted to eat it. This bread it perfect because it didn’t require multiple rises, can be ready in a little over an hour – and still came out wonderfully. Then again, how wrong can you really go with fresh bread? To make sure I still got an airy focaccia, I actually preheated the oven for a few minutes, then turned it off, and then put the bread inside the oven to rise. It wasn’t hot by any means, but it was definitely warmer than the ambient air, and this helped the bread rise a little faster.

I thought about halving this recipe, because I was wondering what just the two of us were going to do with so much bread, but I figured, its only flour and water so I might as well make the whole thing and then freeze what we don’t use. Well of course I should know by now that bread will never go to waste in this house! John actually cut the focaccia down the middle and made a wonderful looking sandwich for lunch. I included a variety of ideas for topping this bread, because it is very adaptable. I went with a few caramelized onions, fresh minced garlic, salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence, but I think next time I would up the caramelized onion to a full small onion, because I barely noticed the flavor. As soon as the weather gets nicer I can’t wait to use some fresh rosemary from my porch garden, mixed with some lemon zest to the mix to give it a summery feel. I don’t really think you can go wrong with whatever you put on this bread – so have fun!

Adaptable Focaccia

Prep time: 15 minutes + 5 minutes Rise time: 45 minutes + 15 minutes Bake Time: 20 minutes

2 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise yeast or 1 packet
1 cup warm water + 2 Tablespoons
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 1/2 cups flour plus more as needed
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil + some to brush on top

Topping Ideas

Fresh rosemary and lemon zest
Caramelized onion and garlic with shredded parmesan
Kalamata olives and feta cheese with scallions
Herbes de Provence, salt, pepper and parmesan
Any combination of the above

1. Warm the 1 c. water to about 110º. Add the yeast and sugar to the water, and let sit for a few minutes. (This proofs the yeast to make sure you get a airy, and quick rise)

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the water/yeast/sugar mixture. Slowly add the flour with the mixer on a low speed.

3. Mix the salt with about 2 T. water (just to start the dissolving) and then add to the mixer.

4. Add the 1/4 cup olive oil, and turn the mixer up to medium (2-4 on a Kitchen Aid).

5. Knead the dough for 7-8 minutes, until smooth. If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, and not forming a nice ball, add a little bit more flour and continue to knead. *At this point I also preheated the oven to 350, only for a few minutes.

6. Remove the dough from the mixer, and place in a well oiled bowl. Turn the dough over to slightly coat in oil, and cover with plastic wrap. (The oil prevents the dough from forming a “crusty skin”, which is more common if you are having the dough rise in an extra warm place).

7. With the oven now turned OFF, place the bowl of dough in the oven or in another warm place, and let rise for 45 minutes.

8. Once doubled in size, remove the dough from the oven, and using your hands, flatten the dough about a 10×12 inch rectangle. It should be around 1/2 inch thick.

9. Place the dough rectangle on a greased cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let rest/rise for at least 15 minutes (longer is fine).

10. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and you can get your toppings together. If you are caramelizing onions, this would be the time to do it. Or chop up your rosemary, shred your parmesan, or zest your lemon.

12. Brush the top of the bread with olive oil, sprinkle with a little bit of salt. Using your finger, press down on the top of the bread 10-20 times to create dimples. Top with toppings of choice.

13. Bake in the 400° oven for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence, with some insight from Pink Parsley.

Posted by Spice Is Nice | March 24, 2011 | Categories: Bread | Leave a comment

Spice Is Nice But Sugar is Sweeter

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Salmon with Mango Salsa

Toffee Bars

Toffee Bars

Peanut, Chicken & Soba Noodle Salad

Peanut, Chicken & Soba Noodle Salad

Lemon Bars

Lemon Bars

Healthy Granola

Healthy Granola

Chipotle Almond Chicken Mole

Chipotle Almond Chicken Mole

Potato, Corn & Leek Chowder

Potato, Corn & Leek Chowder

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Adaptable Focaccia

Adaptable Focaccia

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