a basic pizza recipe

The story: The recipe for this one goes back a ways actually. Some time ago, three or four perhaps, I discovered this really simple pizza dough recipe. It truly is easy. I began to experiment with the recipe in various ways, ranging from my extremely well received bread sticks, to my messy but tasty calzones. I even use this recipe as a base for a garlic and za'ahtar loaf. Anyhow the dough takes a while to rise, despite its simplicity, but its totally worth it. I've never had a complaint with this dough. Despite all of my experimentations the original intent of the dough is one of the best, so here we go.

the dish: pizza
dough:
5 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
2 packets of yeast
2 cups of water
Pizza toppings:
8-9 oz. of mozzarella
1/4 cup of Asiago cheese
1 large tomato
1/2 cup of red onion
1/2 cup of white mushrooms
1/4 cup of pineapple
1/3 cup of frozen spinach
1/4-1/2 cup of Di'Nicolla spicy marinara sauce
salt, pepper, and Italian spices to taste

The dough is the only part of this dish that requires much attention or thought. Take all of dry ingredients for the dough and mix them in a large bowl. You may want to proof the yeast before you mix it in, but its not really that necessary. Slowly add the water to the bowl, mixing until all of the water is in it. Now you kneed it. It may seem like the dough is a bit dry but if you keep kneading it, you will see that it works out just fine. If it doesn't seem right to you, which might happen due to ambient humidity or temperature, just add more water or flour till you're satisfied with it. After you've worked the dough for 10-12 minutes, spray the bowl and the dough with a little oil. Cover it with a wet cloth or paper towel, and let it sit in a warm place for 1 hour. After this hour, punch it down, and let it sit for another hour. After that hour, punch it down again and place it plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This will make the dough much easier to work with when its time to roll it out. When its time to roll it out, cut it into two separate pieces. This recipe makes two pizzas, or I guess one pretty big pie. Roll the dough out as thin as you can, even if it may seem a bit thin it will rise in the oven nicely. Place the rolled out dough onto a oiled baking pan. Now all you have to put on the sauce, veggies, and cheese. The only thing that you might want to do that is different, is only half defrost the spinach in a microwave. The extra moisture from the spinach will make the pizza quite delectable. Place in a preheated 450 degree oven for 20 or so minutes.

Eat and enjoy!

Samosa! Home made street food!

A bit of background- I grew up in West Virginia where exposure to ethnic food was practically non-existent. Americanized Chinese food, "Italian" dishes were the norm for something exotic, Mexican especially was tempered for our American pallets. Now to the samosa! Indian cuisine is simply amazing! The flavors of this yummy cuisine with the deep fried flavor that a country girl loves!

If you click here you can learn far more about this dish than I could tell you.

Samosa Filling
~1 teaspoon of the following
~Coriander
~Cumin
~Curry
~2 teaspoons of garam masala
~Dash of salt and pepper
~Ginger and Onion (this really is to suit ones own taste I would however recommend a least one teaspoon of grated ginger)
~Half cup of peas (frozen work best)
~Potatoes (roughly 8 baby red potatoes)
~ oil (to mix in the filling for binding)

Samosa Wrapper
~ 2 cups of all purpose flour
~ Dash of salt
~ 10 tablespoons of water

This dough is a great recipe and we make great use of it as you will see in recipes to come

Start with the dough. Mix salt and flour together then begin slowly adding water one tablespoon at a time. As you start to mix dough will look like little crumbs continue to add water until ball is formed. Wrap in plastic wrap and let set in refrigerated for one hour. This will make the dough fabulously easy to work with.

Onto the filling!
Microwave potatoes until they can be easily mashed. Mash the potatoes then add all spices. We recommend grating the onion as well this gives the filling a smooth consistency. Mix well. Thaw peas if needed and add to potatoes stir until well mixed.

Once dough has set for one hour roll out dough to desired thickness, we recommend the thinner the better, cut dough into 4 inch squares. Place two heaping tablespoons in center of square and fold over into triangle, square or whatever your heart desires but make sure the seams are well sealed.

Now to the yummy deep frying!
If you have a deep fryer use it. If not try this method. Choose a small pot that holds no more then 4 cups. Fill with pot with enough oil to half or less, making sure samosa is half way immersed in oil. Raise oil to high heat, test oil using ones own method. Gently lower one samosa into oil quickly spooning oil on top while bottom cooks in oil. This makes the process goes much quicker and gives it an even crust. Allow to cool and drain. Yogurt dill sauce always good with this great snack or meal.