Wednesday:
Sarah the Sourdough Starter was finally ready for her trial run! To start, I took the starter out of the fridge, mixed the alcohol back in, and let it come to room temperature. Once done, I prepped my Kitchenaid and mixed together my starter, yeast, flour, salt, sugar, and water. After my Kitchenaid kneaded the dough, I let it proof and cut it into two and shaped into loaves. I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and placed dough to proof some more. Once done, I spritzed the dough with water(it gives it an extra crispy crust), and made two deep slits. Then, I placed it into the oven until done! Here is the final result:
The bread is fabulous! I will never buy bread again!
On Thursday, I decided to try iced cookies. Looking at professionally done cookies, I though the just used fondant on them... Well, apparently it isn't, lol. I was talking to my fellow baking-enthusiast, Sarah, and was informed that it is actually royal icing. What is royal icing? It is confectioner's sugar, egg whites/meringue powder, and flavoring. I did my research and found an Alton Brown recipe and used that. You start my placing egg whites and vanilla flavoring in a box and mixing until frothy, then you add sugar and beat on high until stiff peaks form... That is it! It is super shiny like meringue and dries hard and smooth, which is wonderful! Here is the icing in white:
Friday night, I made another batch of icing and colored it Tiffany Blue. My cookie design: Tiffany & Co. Boxes :D I bought a cookie cutter at hobby lobby that looked like a present and used it on my dough. The dough made about 60 of the cookies, lol. Once baked and cooled, I used a technique I found on another blog to ice my cookies. You pipe an outline of where you want the icing to go then you flood the inside with icing that has been diluted down and smooth with a toothpick. It sounds crazy, but it works wonderfully! Here are my cookies:
All that is missing is the diamond :p
On Friday, I also received my stamp that I ordered! Here it is on my box of cookies:
How awesome is that?
For Saturday, I was flipping through my Food Network magazine and started reading this "50 Pizza Recipes" booklet. I have been wanting to do Chicago pizza for a while now, so I used their dough recipe and did it. The recipe is super easy to make and it makes two pizzas(perfect for family game night or movie night). I will post the recipe at the end of this blog! I made the dough and used my small springform pan to cook in. I greased and coated my pan with cornmeal(gives it a crispier crust) and then placed my cheese and then put sauce on the top! If you are a traditional cheese on the top person, give this a try. The dough was absolutely the best thing ever, honestly. It was crispy on the outside and soft ad light on the inside... Oh goodness, try it. I used vodka sauce, also. Vodka sauce is lighter than traditional red sauce and it really let the dough shine through instead of overpowering it like red sauce does. Want to see what the best pizza ever looks like:
Hungry?
All last week, I have been prepping slowly for chicken noodle soup! I looked through a few recipes and could not find one that I liked, so I kind of just made my own as I went. Hardcore, I know. I will share the recipe in a later post, maybe even demonstrate how to make it! It turned out really well and I am very proud! I used freshly chopped carrots and potatoes, and left out celery(not a big fan). Here is my soup:
Yum!
Well, that is it for this edition! Until next time, have a good night and tomorrow!
Pizza Dough Recipe:
Whisk 3.5 cups flour and 1.5 tsp salt. Make a well and add 1 1/3 cup warm water, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1 packet yeast. When foamy, mix in 3 tbsp olive oil; knead until smooth, 5 minutes. Brush with olive oil. cover in a bowl and let rise until doubled, about 90 minutes. Divide into two 1-pound balls. (My note: brush crust right before placing in oven with olive oil for more flavorful and brown crust!)
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