Flat bread with mushrooms, bacon, cheese, and balsamic reduction

Hello, lovely.

I had a fantastic surprise this morning when I arrived at work: it was Teacher Appreciation day, so our usual meeting was canceled. Given our abbreviated Wednesday schedule and the fact that last period is my planning, I was done at 11:35! It was that snow day emotion--unexpectedly not having to work! One of the best feelings there is.
So, having some free time, I of course felt like cooking. There wasn't much in our fridge--but I found ricotta and mozzarella (originally intended for raviolis I never made) and some dried porchinis (no idea why I originally bought these). And I always have garlic, yeast, and flour. So, flat bread! Flat bread has become my "whatever's in the fridge" go-to creation. It's great to have around for snacking, and it's fun to make.

Some of the ingredients. Not pictured: balsamic, olive oil

Ingredients

For flat bread dough:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 (1/4-ounce) packet active dry yeast

1 TB sugar
4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
1tsp salt
2 TB olive oil

Toppings: 

1 package dried porcini mushrooms 

7 strips bacon, diced

3/4 cup ricotta 

1/2 cup mozzarella 

4 cloves garlic, chopped

red pepper flakes 

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

What to do: 

1. Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and add the yeast. Let it sit for 15 minutes. This wakes the yeast up and gets them horny and hungry. 

2. Add the flour. Mix and knead into a pliant, cohesive ball. You may need to add more water or flour. 

Dough before rising

3. Allow the dough to rise. Cover with a damp paper towel and set somewhere warm. It should about double in size. This will probably take around an hour. 

After rising

5. Boil some water. Add the dried mushrooms to the water and allow to sit in the hot water with the burner off.

4. When the dough is risen, knead it a few more times, then stretch/ spread it into a large oval and put on an oiled rectangular cookie sheet. Push into all the sides and attempt to get it uniformly thick.

6. Spread the cup of ricotta over the flat dough. Then, leave this to rise again while you make the toppings. 

Dough spread with ricotta.

7. Crisp the bacon. Sprinkle the crisp bacon over the dough. 

8.  Mince the garlic and sprinkle it evenly over the top.
9. Take the mushrooms out of the water and lightly squeeze them out. Toss them into the bacon grease and cook for about a minute on high. Then, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and spread them out over the dough. 

10. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes (up to you how much to use). 

11. Dot all over with little chunks of mozzarella. 

12. Bake at 450 for about 35 or 40 min, or until golden brown. 

13. While the flat bread is cooling, pour the balsamic into a small saucepan and add about a tablespoon of sugar. Simmer to reduce into a syrup that coats the back of a spoon. When thick, dribble this over the flat bread. 

14. It's done! Slice and eat.

Were I to make this again, I would omit the reconstituted mushrooms. Their earthiness clashed a bit with the salt-sweet-garlic-cheese of the other flavors.  Would have been better without them. Alas! Now I know.
Enjoy!

Sour Cream Sandwich Rolls

From stinky beginnings....

By "sour cream", I don't mean such as you would buy to put on tacos. I mean, there was a bottle of whipping cream in my fridge, and it went bad.

The bottle was maybe a third or quarter full of stinky cream. I found this out by ruining a cup of coffee.
It was a snow day, so I felt like baking something. Somewhere in the back of my head was an article I read about how people used to use rotten milk as the rising agent in bread. It makes sense--all kinds of bacteria create gas, plus, you like that sourdough funkiness in bread. So I decided to experiment: use the gross cream to make bread.
I started like you would with any bread: I dissolved a package of yeast in some (about 1.5 cups) warm water with 2-3 tablespoons of sugar. I also added the bad cream (probably about a third cup) to the mix, then waited 20 minutes for the yeast to froth up:

I seemed to me this yeast got foamier than yeast usually does. Perhaps whatever microbes lived in the cream joined forces with the yeast for even more riotous fermenting?
Then, I added flour and mixed / kneaded until I had a pliant, not-too-sticky, cohesive ball:

Then let it rise for half an hour:

Ok, so I let this bread rise in a weird way: I stuck it in the dishwasher. It had just finished a load of dishes, so it was all warm and moist in there: perfect yeast weather. I wedged the bowl in among the clean plates and closed the door. The sterility of my kitchen is clearly not a top priority.
Then, I rolled the dough into little balls and brushed them with melted butter and sprinkled them with salt:

Then let them rise for another half hour:

Then baked them in a 400 degree oven for 35 minutes. With 5 minutes remaining, I took them out, brushed the tops with an egg white, then put them back in.

These came out great! They just taste like good bread. Did the sour cream make any difference? Or do they taste exactly as they would have without it? I can't tell.
But they were good. My high-altitude bread making has been inconsistent. Sometimes my bread comes out dense and heavy--but these were light and spongy in the middle with a nice crisp crust.
Can't wait to make sandwiches with it. 

Bacon and onion flatbread

I made this to bring to Michelle's thriftstore-themed birthday party. Michelle is an amazing cook and made all kinds of fabulous things--stuffed mushrooms, cookie-dough dip, strawberry shortcake, nutella mousse, etc. As I type this, my stomach feels a little bit iffy. But it was worth it. Anyway, on to the bread.
Start by making a basic bread dough.

The "bloomed" yeast. Leave it in warm water with a bit of sugar for 20 min, or until it becomes frothy.

 Dissolve a package of yeast into some warm water. The amount doesn't totally matter--more water if making more bread, etc. I would estimate I used about 2 cups.
Then, add flour until it becomes a pliable, not too sticky, coherent ball. You just have to feel your way to the right amount of flour. I would estimate I used about 3 and a half cups.

The dough ball, before rising. 

Cover the dough-ball with a wet towel and allow it to rise for about 40 minutes, or until doubled.
Meanwhile, make the toppings. I put on carmelized onions, bacon, grated parmesan, fresh minced garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
First, cut half a package of bacon into little strips and brown until crispy.

Bubbling bacon bits. Yummm. 

Then, scoop out the crispy bacon and pour out all but a little bit of the fat. Add a diced onion, and cook on medium until brown, carmelized and sweet. This takes awhile. I would estimate about 30 minutes.
While the onions cook, mince some garlic cloves (4 or 5) and grate some Parmesan (about a cup).
So then, get the dough and spread it out on a cookie sheet that you've greased up with olive oil.
Push the dough into the corners.
Then, add all the toppings: onions, bacon, garlic, cheese, red pepper flakes. Push them down into the dough a bit.

The assembled bread before baking. 

 Then, pop it in a hot oven: 425 degrees, until golden brown and baked through. I left it in for about 35 minutes.
Then it's done! Let it cool enough to cut into squares.

All done!
This is a great dish to bring to a big drunken party. Spicy, bacon-y, cheesy, not requiring utensils: everything you want out of food meant to accompany intoxication. It smells deliciously garlicky and baconlicious. YUM!

Pretzel rolls Follow my blog with Bloglovin

My absolute favorite place to go out to eat in Denver is Euclid Hall. The other weekend, Adam and I went out there and sat at the downstairs bar, where you can sit right up against the kitchen, watching all the food come out. Everything looks so good--the sausages, the pad thai pig ears (my favorite), the marrow bones, the burgers. Their burgers always look phenomenal--served on pretzels rolls, with cheese melting over the burger, piled with pickles.
Today I was proctoring TCAP, and all I could think about were those burgers. So I decided to make pulled pork on pretzel rolls. I learned how to make homemade soft pretzels from Smitten Kitchen years ago--making them round is even easier.
So, the recipe:
1. Make a basic bread dough. Preheat the oven to 450.
a. Dissolve a package of yeast into 2 cups warm water, then sprinkle the water with a tablespoon of sugar. Wait 10 min or so for the yeast to foam up.
b. Add flour. Mix it in a cup at time, kneading and mixing, until it forms a pliable, coherent ball. Knead a few times.
c. Allow it to rise, about 30 minutes.

Here are the little dough-balls, ready to rise. I covered them with damp paper towels so they wouldn't dry out.

2. After dough has risen, form into little balls. Golf-sized for sliders, fist-sized for full-sized sandwiches. Set onto a greased tray.
3. Allow to rise again.
4. Boil a shallow pan of water, in a skillet or something. Dump in two tablespoons of baking soda and a tablespoon of sugar. Poach the balls of dough, about 30 seconds on each side. Set them back onto the greased tray.
5. Slice X's into the tops.
6. Brush with egg wash--a whole egg, then a few tablespoons of cold water.
7. Sprinkle with salt
8. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Even though I made these for sandwiches, they are delicious in all situations--for breakfast, with butter or jam, for back-from-work snack, with anything, etc. Just split them hamburger-style, then toast before using.  So delicious.