Home made Pizza

There is truly almost nothing better than Pizza, we have a tradition in our home that we make pizza every Friday night....It such an easy meal to make and everyone can take part, putting on their favourite toppings.

I have a bread maker that makes the dough for me, but sometime I'll go to the supermarket and buy some dough at the bakery, otherwise I'll make it myself. 

I found this on the Internet, very interesting the history of pizza:

In 16th century Naples a Galette flat bread was referred to as a pizza.  A dish of the poor people, it was sold in the street and was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time.  Before the 17th century, the pizza was covered with red sauce.  This was later replaced by oil, tomatoes (after Europeans came into contact with the Americas) or fish. In 1843, Alexandre Dumas, père described the diversity of pizza toppings.  In June 1889, to honor the Queen consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, the Neapolitan chef Raffaele Esposito created the "Pizza Margherita," a pizza garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil, to represent the colors of the Italian flag. He was the first to add cheese. 

How interesting, my dream is to go to Italy some day and eat real Italian pizza and pasta...love the culture, I must have been an Italian in one of my previous lives.

So here we go:

Make your own Pizza Dough

1 tablespoon active dry yeast,
1 1/2 cups (350 cc) warm water
3 1/2 cups (500 g) flour
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
pinch of salt

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast on the warm water and stir to dissolve it. Set aside until the yeast starts forming bubbles in about 5 minutes.  Sift the flour. Pour the flour into a large bowl or on a work surface. Mold the flour in a mound shape with a hole in the center.  Pour the yeast mix in the center & then the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Using a spatula, draw the ingredients together. Then mix with your hands to form a dough.  Sprinkle some flour on the work surface. Place the dough on the floured surface. Knead the dough briefly with your hands pushing and folding. Knead just long enough for the dough to take in a little more flour, and until it no longer sticks to your hands.

Ingredients for the Pizza (Toppings)

Tomato Paste (The thickness of the tomato paste all depends on you)

Cheese

The rest is up to you.

1.  Then to start on the Pizza itself, place the dough in/on your baking tin, I used a deep dish.  Now "knead" the dough in the dish so that it spreads everywhere, this might take some doing, but take a sip of wine and then go on... 

When you have the dough in all the corners and it's spread nice and evenly, then add your tomato paste, spread it nice and evenly.

2.  Then you can start adding your toppings, I have used cheese grillers here:

3.  A bit of bacon, or if that is not for you then any other meat topping or what ever you prefer:

4.  I then topped it with cheese and then a bit of herbs sprinkled over it and then into the oven it went, 180 C for about 20 minutes, this heat is just enough for the cheese to melt gradually and the dough to cook.  And then when it's ready take it out, let it cool a bit and cut it up.

And now for a movie and yummy pizza

French Toast (Specially made)

I can't take the credit for making the next recipe...My hubby is now the King of French Toast in our house...he makes the best ever.  And we all love them especially on Sunday mornings served with syrup for the sweet tooth or savoury put cheese on top and some bacon bits.  One of my favourite times is breakfast....the best way to start out a day is with an awesome breakfast.


So here we go:

What do you need

1/ 2 eggs per person
Slices of bread
oil

1.  Get everything that you need together, mix the eggs with some milk, now take one of your slices of bread and dunk it through the egg mixture on both sides, make sure that it's nicely covered with egg.

2.  Heat your pan adding a little butter and then add your dunked slice of bread.  Turn the bread around, cook both sides until golden brown.

When they are nice and brown serve them...at our home we have different tastes, i like them with golden syrup, and my husband likes them with cheese.

We have come up with a new fun way to eat our french toast which is to deep fry them after they have been made...yes yes I know absolutely not the healthest way to them but boy oh boy they sure are good.  Dipped in some golden suryp you just can't go wrong.

Heritage Day - Braai Day

On Saturday the 24th September 2011 it is Heritage Day - Braai Day...I love braaiing, fun times to get together with friends or family, or to just enjoy a nice fun meal...

So for the weekend I thought I would list some ideas you could use on what to make, now I haven't made these lately so that i can show you pictures but I thought you could get the ideas from the collective pictures at the top, and then me just adding the recipes.  I have personally tried and made all of these recipes so trust me they are good, at a later stage I will load each one separately.

Enjoy the braai day, I know I am.

Bier Brood (Beer Bread)

This was the bread that i made myself this past weekend

Curry Noodle Salad

Potato Bake

Twist on "Braai Broodjies" (Braai Sandwiches)(Found this recipe on the Internet - seems very interesting)

Green Salad

Bacon & Ceddar Quiche (Souttert)

This is one of my favourite dinner dishes, this could be served at a lunch party or for a nice quick Saturday lunch, served with a green salad.  If it's cooked well then i promise it will just fly of the plates of your guests..and everyone will love it.  What's nice about this recipe is that you can add what ever you like and make it your own.  This is also a fun meal to cook because it's so quick and easy...Hope you like.




So here we go:

What do you need:

Printable Version

1 pkt Bacon

1 can Corned Meat (Bully Beef as we call it)

1 onion

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups milk

2 cups cheese

1 tsp mustard powder
4 tbsp self raising flower
herbs + Salt & pepper


Pre-heat your oven on 180ºC

1.  I start a bit different than what you would normal start, I like it when my ingredients are cooked first, otherwise they produce water and that could mean that your quiche at the end is all soggy...and we don't want that.  So start by chopping up some onion (don't know how - go and check out the help clip), then saute (meaning fry in oil) the onion until it is golden brown, as you can see in the pictures below:

 

  

2.  Then add your bacon, cut it up in small pieces (I usually snip it up with a scissor), and let it fry with the onions, also until it has a nice brown cooked colour.

3.  You don't have to but I love adding some Smoked Vienna's, it make the quiche a bit more wholesome and so you can stretch it for more people....don't add Red Vienna's as they will give off the red colour and that will not look very presentable.  I also just cut them up and brown them a bit with the bacon and the onion.

 

4.  After browning add your corned meat to the mix.

5.  Now for everything else holding "everything" together.  Start by mixing the self raising flour and mustard powder with 1/2 cup of milk.  Then add the milk slowly.

6.  Mix the eggs and add it to the milk mixture...then mix well.

  

7.  Now add all your other ingredients and don't forget about your cheese and spices....I love a bit of extra ground pepper and some herbs, but you can add what ever you want to flavour it the way you like..  And then you mix it well...

8.  Some people like it in round bowls, but it doesn't matter where you pour it into, just remember to "Spray & Cook" it or butter it, so that it doesn't stick to the bowl, i do suggest using a glass bowl.  After you've mix it all well then you can pour it into the bowl and place it into the oven.

9.  And after about 30 minutes your quiche should be done, you can sprinkle some cheese over it before you place it into the oven.  Just always test the middle before you take it out, it should not be running.  If it is leave it in for a little longer but lower your heat so that it doesn't burn.  Also remember that when it cools down it also "sets" a bit.

Serve with some salad or maybe a garlic bread and there you go all done.

Let the taste transport you.

Rugby Breakfast

The World cup Ruby has Kicked off...so let's have breakfast while we watch....

 

So the world cup has kicked off and we watched the first game this Sunday that South Africa played in, what fun, and yes i love rugby and love watching it with my hubby.  So because the first South African game was in the morning i didn't want to do the whole rugby snacks thing so i decided to may a fun & easy breakfast...This breakfast is fun for everyone and you can sit back and relax while your oven is cooking a perfect breakfast...Enjoy the breakfast and enjoy the games...




So here we go:


What you will need:


Packet of pork banger or any other sausage you have in the house (i used "Boerewors")
Packet of Bacon
Onion
Tomato
Mushrooms
Oil


And here we go:

1.  First cut the onion (you can use as much as you want, and throw it in your oven dish with a bit of oil in it.

2.  Then go ahead and cut your tomato's in quarters or as i did below in halves, add them to the dish.

3.  Now i have added the sausage as you can see below, little pieces are the best way, and then i added my seasoning....my favourite of course, Soja sauce, beef spice and mixed herb, with a little bit of salt & pepper over it.

4.  And now you can add the bacon and mushrooms, nice whole mushrooms are the best, as you can see below:

5.  And in the oven she goes

6.  Keep watching it but it will most probably be in there for about 20 minutes, then take it out when you think it's ready and everything is cooked and make little "holes" in the food where you can add the eggs in.. as you can see I'm doing.

7.  Place it back in the oven and let the eggs cook, keep an eye that you don't over cook the eggs.  When their ready take it out and whala it's done....Serve on toast and a nice cup of coffee and sit down and watch the rugby...

This recipe of course is the best ever for mothers day and may fathers day as you don't have to do much and it taste awesome.

As always let the taste transport you....