whole wheat pizza dough

I don't know what happened. All of a sudden I totally and accidentally neglected my sweet little Shady Basil. I'm back (side note: you may notice that I like to blog like I have a massive group of readers... it's just more fun for me!! Don't worry, I know that just a couple friends and family check out my little site and I like that too. Maybe someday shady basil will be super cool like Fresh365 and Joy the Baker and Sprouted Kitchen, some of my blogging idols!) and I have lots of things to share. My new goal is to share at least 3 recipes a week.

First up.....homemade pizza dough!! Making my own pizza dough has been on my list of things I've really wanted to do in the kitchen for a while. I don't know why I waited so long. This stuff is soo easy..and delicious. A friend, who will remain nameless because he may have changed his mind by now,  even said, "oh my gosh, this dough is better than Mellow Mushroom!" That's a big deal. Trust me.

This recipe makes 6 individual pizza doughs. Last time I made it, I made double the dough. We had friends over and each made a little pizza. Then I put the remaining six doughs in individual ziplock bags and popped 'em in the freezer. It's been wonderful to have them on hand...just take them out of the freezer, leave in its bag, and set on the counter about 4-5 hours before you're going to make a pizza. Easy!

Now to the good stuff...

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (adapted from Fresh365)

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups water, ice cold
a few Tbs chopped herbs (optional) I used rosemary and thyme
whole wheat flour or cornmeal for dusting

Directions:

Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in large bowl. Using your hands stir in the oil and cold water until the flour is all absorbed. Add chopped herbs. By hand mix and knead all ingredients together (for a few minutes). Add a dash of water or flour to reach desired consistency. Dough should not stick to sides of bowl, but will stick a little bit to bottom of bowl. Dough should be springy, elastic, and a little sticky.

Transfer dough to a floured countertop. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces and mold each into a ball. Rub each ball with olive oil and slip into plastic sandwich bags. Refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from refrigerator at least 1 hour before making pizza. Keep covered so they don't dry out.

Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you don't have a stone, use the back of a cookie sheet, but do not preheat it.

Dust countertop or small piece of parchment paper with cornmeal or flour and get ready to shape your pizza dough. Uncover dough and sprinkle with flour. Gently press a dough round into about a 12" disk. If dough is being fussy and keeps springing back, let it rest another 15-20 minutes.

Add your toppings and slide onto the baking stone. Bake until crust is crisp and nicely colored (about 12-16 minutes depending on your oven). Remove from oven and finish with more freshly grated parmesan!

Last night we made one vegetable pizza: olive oil and garlic base, lots of mushrooms, basil, bell pepper, and cheese and one hawaiian one: tomato sauce, red pepper flakes, ham, pineapple, and cheese.

Let me know how this goes for you...enjoy!!

black bean soup & drop biscuits

The other night my mom asked me what I was planning to make for dinner. She thought my idea, black bean soup, sounded fantastic too so she made it the same night. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself  considering that: 1. my mom is the best cook I know (no, seriously!) and 2. she's been cooking for quite a bit longer than I have, but all that to say...her soup turned out much better! I'm going to share her recipe instead of mine :)  (they were almost the same, but I like that hers called for more black beans, half of them pureed, and less rotel) Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients (for soup):
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T olive oil
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup chopped celery (optional)
4 ears corn, kernels removed
1 orange, juiced
2 26 oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can mild rotel tomatoes
1 vegetable bouillon cube
water
salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin

Directions (for soup):
Heat olive oil in large pot. Add onion and saute till beginning to soften. Add garlic, carrots and corn (and celery). Stir in tomatoes and orange juice. Process one 26 oz. can black beans in food processor with a little water, pulsing till chopped but not too mushy. Add all beans, vegetable bouillon, water to desired consistency and season. Cook till carrots are slightly done and soup is very hot.
*Serve garnished with mandarin orange segments, avocado slices and greek yogurt or sour cream.

I made these drop biscuits (from Cooks Illustrated) to go with our soup! They were delicious, if I do say so myself :)  

Ingredients (for biscuits):
2 c all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t sugar
3/4 t table salt
1 c  cold buttermilk (I used non-fat)
8 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus 2 T butter for brushing biscuits

Directions (for biscuits):
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 Tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, sitrring until butter forms small clumps.
Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4 cup dry measure, scoop level amounts of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Makes 12 biscuits.
Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 T of melted butter. Sprinkle with sea salt.