A few past projects with photos.

I have been thinking about past projects that were a sure fire hit and decided to include them in this blog for you
to review and possibly add a few comments/hints of your own for Me to try Myself.


















Food brings families together. Food brings people from all walks of life together. Everyone needs to eat so We can all as human beings understand food and our fascination with it.

The first past project is that of My world famous Calzones. (OK maybe not 'world' famous as not everyone in the world has tried it) but pretty famous around these parts with family and friends.

What is a Calzone? Well it is sort of like a pizza turnover. A pocket full of love, dough with fixin's inside etc. No matter what you name it or how you quite describe the Calzone, the possibilities are endless on what goes inside them.

Lets start with the dough (the MOST important) ingredient of all. Without a good canvass, an artist cannot create a perfect picture/or errr...meal. Now, first off I am going to offer a helpful hint which is this:

If you do NOT have the time to make a made from scratch pizza dough you find your favorite pizza joint and ask them for some fresh made dough balls. You would be surprised how inexpensive this can be and of course, time saving.

I Myself may not have a large family or children to contend with much less a job that takes Me out of the house so sometimes it can be quite easy to forget that not everyone has the time to do all the things I do on a regular basis.

I do know however, that time is not always on our side so do what you can to grab a few extra minutes for yourself. (Nobody will know you didn't make the dough yourself) unless that is, you tell them and quite frankly so what? At least you didn't buy some store bought dough in a can (I won't name any names) that taste like cardboard right? Nothing frozen right? Right!

I will include My pizza dough recipe that has taken quite a bit of trial and error over the years to perfect. With a bit of time and practice you will be on your way to being able to open your own pizzeria if you were so inclined to do so.

This project is family friendly. Have a contest on who makes the best Calzone. Make sure you have a wrapped present/prize waiting in the sidelines for the winner. If you are a parent, you could also maybe make the prize (no chores for such and such a time) or perhaps double your child's allowance for one week. Cooking brings families together and Mom, Dad, if you make things interesting and fun, you can keep your kids in the kitchen and at home instead of perhaps some unsavory places and out of trouble.

Certainly worth the effort and time don't you think?

Be sure to give your children some responsibility to let them know that their contributions count but be sure to keep the young ones away from sharp knives/objects and out of reach of a hot oven.

I have an idea if it works out for your family depending on the boy/girl count that is. How about a girls against the boys contest? The winning team could get a special treat say, oh the losing team making the desert and serving the winning team said desert of their choice? Sounds good to Me. Maybe a movie of the winning teams choice?

The possibilities are endless and you know what would work out for your family best so pick and choose your poison.

Now for the dough. Now keep in mind that dough is not just 'dough' every dough varies and you have to take into account the yeast factor, the kneading factor, rising, temps, how much flour? What type of flour? Oil? What type, olive or vegetable? Extra Virgin or what? Ahh you see, this is where things are a bit iffy. You have to try try and try again until you find a variable that works best for you and your family.

Do you like NY Style or Chicago (Oh My forbid forbid!) and I even lived in Chicago. But, I digress, what style do you like? Thick or thin? You are going to have to experiment and each time in the kitchen is a whole new experience isn't it? Have fun with this.

Now, with this recipe you aren't going to have a 'bad' pizza dough but you MUST experiment with it. Learn how to toss your dough back and forth between your hands. This took Me a whole lot of times to perfect and I still don't know that I can actually say that I have 'perfected' it but if you were to watch Me in the kitchen you would at the very least think I knew what the heck I was doing. ;)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt. What go Kosher? I am not Jewish nor am I trying to keep the Sabbath or whatnot. Kosher salt is simply less 'salty' than that of table salt. It makes a big difference in baking especially that of bread products.

Roughly 3 or more cups of all purpose unbleached flour (divided).
One envelope of active dry yeast.
A wee bit of sugar say a teaspoon or more give or take.
one (1) cup of tepid water around 11o degrees F at least.
2 tbs. of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil).

Preparation:

In a professional series KitchenAid heavy duty mixer (or a lesser brand) you know whatever you have that has a bit of oomph as far as mixers are concerned: add your tepid water, your yeast and your sugar for around 10 to fifteen minutes or until foamy and frothy.

Add half of your flour your salt and EVOO into the mixer and combine mixture until it is silky smooth and elastic with your 'paddle attachment'.

Next, put on that hook (dough hook) which should have been included with your super cool mixer. If you have a professional series like Mine, it will be metal but some are made of plastic. Makes no nevermind, it all works out in the end.

Make sure your mixer is on the very lowest speed and slowly add in the remaining flour a wee bit at a time (you don't want a super big mess in your kitchen and if you have the speed above a 2 you will get just that. Make sure everything is well incorporated.

Now it's safe to turn up the mixers speed and let the machine do the kneading for you for about 4 minutes. Talk about a muscle saver.

Your dough should be smooth now perhaps with a bit of 'stickiness'. This is OK and perfecto.

Take your dough out of your bowl and rub in a bit of EVOO (enough to coat the mixer bowl) and return the dough to the mixer bowl. Cover with Saran Wrap and put in a draft free warm area until dough is doubled in size. This could take an hour or longer depending on temps in your kitchen.

When dough is doubled in size, punch it down on a floured surface and knead for a bit and just leave it be for around ten minutes or more. (This process is called resting the dough) which helps the compounds build (gluten) and makes for a lovely dough.This also (according to Julia Child helps with the color.) I saw her make French bread once on her cooking show hosted by Polaroid and nearly busted a gut when her scraper went a flying. She just said something like 'Oh My' and laughed in her cynical way. I thought it was funny but I digress.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, cut your dough in half with a metal scraper or a pizza dough cutter if you prefer and let it rest a bit longer.

This is going to make two pizza's of medium size (or large depending on how you toss it out).

Now, don't get frustrated as this takes a bit of trial and error, but what I like to do is flour My hands and toss each dough ball (or if you want a super huge pizza don't even cut the dough in half but work it slowly but surely between your hands for a super sized pizza) how big is your oven though?

Anyway, flatten the dough into a circle and toss the dough ball back and forth between your floured hands. This can be quite fun and once you get the hang of it people will think you were born and raised in Italy. Mama Mia!

See that? The round is getting bigger with each toss from hand to hand, back and forth side to side. Now, you can be a bit brave if you have something beneath you to catch the dough in case you flub it up but toss it up in the air with your hands in fist so that you can catch the dough on your knuckles as it comes down. Why knuckles? If it were your fingertips you would surely risk the chance of tearing your lovely dough and nobody wants that! ;)

A fist toss toss fling! See how working that gluten makes for a lovely pie?

Place your homemade pizza sauce (or store bought if you must) on your pie and layer with the cheese/toppings of your choice. The sky is the limit here). We are making Calzones so I will get to a step by step guide on how to build the perfect Calzone in a wee bit. Read further but bare with Me for awhile.

I would suggest you use a pizza stone (can be purchased at any home/kitchen store) or even at larger grocery retailer stores. The stone gets quite hot and helps to crisp your crust.

If you don't have a pizza stone this is okay, just place your pizza on a baking sheet on the lowest rack of your preheated 475 degree F. oven.

Bake for 8 to ten minutes and keep checking it. You may want to take a spatula and lift up on your pizza to see how brown the crust is. Cook to your liking.

Take your pie out of the oven and let it sit for a minute or two (if you can wait that long) and cut with a pizza wheel/cutter into slices of your desired size. Eat immediately while hot and gooey.

Now, for the Calzones... (I am a bit tired so for now, not that anyone is reading this anyway) I will close and come back tomorrow (provided I have the opportunity to be alive that is) and share My pictorial step by step Calzone guide. Fool proof!
















Step 1.) Take a dough ball and work it on a floured surface to make it a flat thick circle and take that circle and pass it back and forth between your floured hands. The dough round will get bigger and easier to stretch with each pass. You can also toss this dough in the air and let it come down on your fist (not your fingers as this will tear the dough). Next, with a heavy rolling pin roll out your dough on a floured surface until you reach the size/diameter that you desire and make sure there are no air bubbles in your dough. You could also cut the dough with a pizza cutter into small sizes to make smaller sized Calzones.














Next take a Ricotta cheese mixture (My mixture follows but you could create your own) and spread on one side of the dough as thick as you like it.

Ricotta And Basil Cheese Filling:

1 Large container of Ricotta Cheese
1 Cup fresh shredded Parmesean Cheese
1 Egg beaten to bind mixture
Fresh Basil (as much as you desire)
Salt
Pepper.

In a food processor, combine all ingredients (beat your egg in a separate bowl first)
Pulse until smooth.
Finished!
















Step 3.) Lay a nice bed of fresh washed and dried Spinach on top of your cheese filling. If you do not care for spinach you can skip this step.

Step 4.) Layer fresh cleaned and dried mushrooms on top of your Spinach.

Step 5.) Layer fresh washed and sliced green bell peppers on top of your mushrooms.

Step 6.) Layer fresh cut black olives on top of your mushrooms.

Step 7.) Layer fresh banana peppers on top of
black olives.


Step 8.) Smother layers of fresh grated
Mozzarella cheese on top of your banana peppers.












Step 9.) Fold the clean side of dough over into a half moon shape and crimp the edges or
seal with a fork and make sure everything is closed up.

Step 10.) Mix one egg white with 1 Tbs. of water and brush your Calzone generously with your egg wash. If you plan to 'deep fry' your Calzone you do not need any vent holes, if you are baking, cut a few slashes on top to allow steam to escape during the baking process.

Step 11.) Bake in a preheated 550 degree oven on the lowest rack of your oven for around 8 to ten minutes and reduce your oven temp to around 450 degrees F. and move your Calzone up to the middle rack of your oven and continue baking for another 15 to 20 minutes. Check the color of your Calzone and lift the bottom with a spatula to make sure it isn't burning. If color starts to darken too quickly cover entire Calzone with aluminum foil and continue to bake while checking in on it ever so often.




When you are satisfied that it is finished to your liking, remove from oven and let it cool for at lest five minutes before slicing with a pizza wheel (This is called
resting). You can of course use any fillings that you like even meats.



















































Step 12.) ENJOY!

See you soon. Until then, keep cooking, keep living, keep smiling. Always make them wonder what you are up to. ;)

As always,
The Gothic Gourmet