‘Gimme Some Dough’ Archives

I made pizza! It was easy! And it didn’t suck!

A couple of years ago, we were living in Massachusetts and squirreling every dime in the hopes of moving to New York. The pizza delivery guy was a distant, dim memory from the days of frivolous purchases like take-out, cable TV, or new underwear. Desperate for pizza, I labored over a batch of dough, then wrestled it into a pizza-like shape and attempted to be generous (but not foolhardy) with the cheese.

Before setting it in the oven, I did not think to check the broiler for, say, a piece of foil I’d left in there the night before. Which, naturally, caught on fire. Smoke billowed out of the oven. The pizza dough I sweated over, now gray and speckled with ash, slid unceremoniously into the trash.

Since then, the notion of making pizza has consistently been met with one thought: fuck that noise.

I don’t know why I decided to make pizza dough again, but wow, I am so glad I did. This recipe from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen is so unbelievably simple — the dough came together in less than 10 minutes in the food processor. I topped it with Swiss chard, red onions, tomatoes and goat cheese, which was… okay. A little bland, honestly, but the crust was terrific. In the oven for about 15 minutes at 450 degrees, then a little olive oil brushed on the crust once it was done. Super easy! And good!

Category Gimme Some Dough, Greenmarket Grub, Vegetarian Recipes |

In which I make a bread pudding.

Despite being a food blogger for… how long now? A year and half? I have something to admit: I have never cooked another food blogger’s recipe. Ever. I don’t know why; I just haven’t.

So, when I saw this post on what to do with old bread, I thought, huh, that sounds pretty good, then filed it away for future reference, the same way I’ve done with a hundred other recipes in the past year and half.

And then last week, I found myself with a collapsed loaf from a recipe I’d tried. I think I added too much yeast. It was edible… but a bit flat and therefore useless for sandwiches or, really, anything. So, I was standing around in the kitchen, glaring at the failed loaf, when I realized I had eggs and milk… I even had some grated Gruyère and Swiss hanging around.

So, what the hell — it’s just gonna go to waste anyway, right?

Holy shit, this is possibly one of the best things I have made EVER.

I cubed the bread, and filled the pie pan with the cubes. (The rest went to the birds.) I used a ratio of one egg : 1/3 cup milk (4 eggs, 1 1/3 cups milk in all) until it looked completely soaked, like french toast. I threw in a couple handfuls of grated cheese and one bunch of chopped broccolini that was wasting away at the back of the fridge. I started it out at 375º but after 20 minutes it was browned nicely but still wet in the middle, so I lowered the temperature to around 300º and cooked for another 20 minutes.

Now, I do not like baked eggs. Quiche, frittata, shirred eggs… they all get a weird taste/texture I don’t like. But this was fluffy and tender and not all eggy. You can see from the photo that some of the cubes of bread crisped up and got all crunchy… I’m actually salivating just remembering it.

Will this be the start of a blog cooking spree? I kinda doubt it, but you never know.

Category Doing More With Less, Gimme Some Dough, Vegetarian Recipes |

Breakfast, take 2

I can’t let an almost-perfect thing stand. That gap in the last loaf of bread really annoyed me. I did some asking around, and it probably happened because the oven wasn’t hot enough, so I tried again:

The original recipe had 3/4 cup raisins (optional), so I decided to take them up on it. I thought I had read raisins should be soaked first — and I was right. Raisins are popping off of this bread like buttons off Bruce Banner’s shirt.

Which, of course, means I’m going to make this bread yet again.

Category Gimme Some Dough, Vegetarian Recipes |

Breakfast, 8:30am

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Tags: baked goods, bread, jam, photography
Category Gimme Some Dough |