PIZZA NIGHT

This is how my Christmas morning went: Wake up with the fam, nibble on some tea and toast while opening presents, and while everyone else is getting ready before we head out for our Christmas day movie (True Grit was great, btw) I ferment some pizza dough. It mostly requires me babysitting the mixer so that it doesn't walk off the table. And while I sit in the darkened theater, watching Rooster Cogburn messily slur words out from beneath his soiled eye patch, my mind moves to the big bowl of dough sitting on the kitchen counter, tripling in size. We get back home, heat up the pizza stone as high as it can go, an prep the toppings while the oven pre-heats. There's not really much to prep, considering 75% of the toppings are left overs from breakfast and the rest I scrounged up in the pantry. So despite the obnoxious fussiness homemade yeast doughs bring to mind for me, this whole pizza affair was decidedly lazy and lo-fi. It was also delicious. We put away 8 pizzas, and my family valiantly taste tested which were "blog worthy." And if my mom's sensitive palette can agree with my dad's salty one and with Henry's teenage boy one, I think we have some winners.

The recipes all use the same dough recipe and all have the same rule: less is more. If you pile on the sauce and cheese, you will get a pooled depressing mess burned onto your pizza stone. Just administer as much restraint as possible and you'll be ok.

Pizza Dough

3 cups high gluten flour (I use King Arthur's Bread Flour), though All Purpose is fine too.

1 teaspoon yeast (half a pack)

1 3/4 cups warm water (about 70-80 degrees, not too hot or you'll kill the yeast)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Olive oil

In a the bowl of your electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients except for the olive oil. Stir gently to combine. Attach the dough hook to your mixer and on the second highest speed (8 on a Kitchen Aid) knead the dough for 15 minutes, or until it has formed a ball on the hook and has completely pulled away from the sides of the bowl. The best test to see if it's elastic enough is to pull off a tablespoon of dough and stretch it into a square. You should be able to pull it thin enough to see light through it without it tearing. It is tears knead it for another minute. When it's ready, knead on the highest level for an extra two or three minutes. Lightly oil a container with olive oil, add the dough, and cover with a lid (or plastic wrap if using a bowl). Mark or mentally note where the dough is, and note where it should be for it to triple in size. Set aside in a warm spot (on top of the fridge is great) and let it ferment for 3 1/2 to 4 hours or until tripled in size.

An hour before making the pizzas set your pizza stone in the center of the oven and crank it up as high it can go for at least an hour.

When the dough is ready, scoop it onto a floured counter (it'll puddle out) and cut into four equal pieces. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 10 minutes. When ready, pick up a piece of dough and stretch at the edges, moving the dough through your hands in a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect, just get it as thin as you can and put it on a flour baking peel or rimless cookie sheet. Add your toppings and bake for 7-8 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

The Pizzas

Cannelini Beans with Sage and Smoked Sea Salt

Drizzle your dough with olive oil and rub it in, covering the whole thing. Add about half a cup of cooked cannelini beans (or from strained and from the can), about five sage leaves, and sprinkle with smoked sea salt (regular is fine), and a good amount of ground pepper. Bake and revel in the crispy sage leaves and browned bean bits.

Bacon, Caramelized Onion, and Rosemary

1/4 cup cooked bacon pieces

1/4 cup caramelized onions

1/4 grated cheese

1 tablespoon rosemary leaves

Truffle oil, optional

Drizzle your dough with olive oil and rub it in, covering the whole thing. Add a bit (1/4 cup max) of grated mild cheese (mozzarella or talleggio is perfect) and add an equal amount of caramelized onions. Tops with a handful of cooked bits of bacon (just chop up bacon and cook it until not quite crisp) and some rosemary leaves. Sprinke with salt and pepper. Pop the pizza in the oven and bake for 7-8 minutes, and for an eztra bit of fabulousness, drizzle a couple of drops of truffle oil. Yum!

Burnt Honey Truffle Pizza

Honey

1/3 cup Sottocenere al Tartufo (you can get this at Whole Foods. Also, any melting cheese with truffle in it, or just some mild cheese with truffle oil sprinkled on after baking will work just fine)

Drizzle your dough with olive oil and rub it in, covering the whole thing. Pop in the oven and bake for 4 minutes, or until puffed and just starting to brown. Take it out and add the cheese and drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of honey on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Baking the bread a bit before is to make sure the honey doesn't burn too much. A little caramelization is delicious, but too much and it can taste bitter. Bake for the remaining 4 minutes and enjoy.

The Breakfast Pizza

This one is the winner, the Grand Poobah of pizzas. And why not? It's everything awesome about breakfast baked onto a handy piece of crunchy, chewy bread.

1/4 cup cooked bacon pieces

1/4 cup grated mozzarella

1/4 cup hash browns, crumbled

2-3 tablespoons tomato sauce

2 eggs

Parsley, finely chopped

It will seem like a paltry amount, but seriously, any more sauce than this and you will have a mess on your hands. In the cooking process, combined with the melted cheese, it's the perfect layer of tomato hugging the pizza. Here's an example:

So smear the sauce on the pizza, just enough to cover the whole thing in a very thin layer. Add the cheese, hash browns, and bacon. Pop on the pizza stone and crack the two eggs on top of the pizza. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley. Bake for 7-8 minutes and eat ASAP. Not that that will be a problem. Enjoy!

TINA'S ENGLISH TOFFEE

Candy so nice I posted it twice!

Two years ago I did a Kitchy TV post of my aunt Tina and I making a batch of her delicious Holiday Toffee, and this year I decided to give her toffee a 30 Second Recipe update. Enjoy!

For me, this toffee is the epitome of the Christmas Season (we start badgering Tina to cook it the day after Thanksgiving), and something I look forward to nibbling on every year. Nothing is more depressing than reaching for my family's toffee tin and finding it empty, like a dead Christmas tree in the gutter. So please cook up this toffee until your kitchen is heavy with the scent of butter, sugar, and the holiday spirit.

Tina's English Toffee from Claire Thomas on Vimeo.

Ingredients:

1 pound unsalted butter (plus extra for greasing the pans)
2 cups white sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
2 cups dark chocolate, chopped
2 cups milk chocolate, chopped
2 cups finely chopped toasted almonds

Directions:

Melt the butter, sugar, water and salt over a low flame, stirring with a wooden spoon. When the mixture starts to boil, turn the heat up to medium. Meanwhile, grease two cooking pans with butter. After 15-20 minutes, the mixture has reached 305 F. Turn off the heat and add the vanilla, stirring to incorporate. Be careful not to burn yourself or the mixture, but if you do, and I have, run your hand under room temperature water (never cold or hot water) to subside the pain. Immediately take the hot toffee and pour into two greased cooking pans and smooth until evenly coated and about 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick. Put the pans into the fridge to let the toffee cool (this will take several hours, or leave the toffee in over night, uncovered).

Once the toffee has cooled, remove it from the refrigerator and carefully loosen the pieces (you can do this by hand or with a knife). If it cracks, it's not a big deal.

Melt the two types of chocolate over a double boiler, stirring to combine. Once the chocolate has melted, use a spatula to coat one side of the toffee, and then immediately sprinkle heavily with the chopped toasted almonds. This must be done immediately because the cold toffee can cause the chocolate to harden before the almonds can stick. Put the toffee back in the fridge to cool the chocolate. Once it has hardened (it takes about an hour), flip and coat the other side with the chocolate and almonds. You will probably have chocolate and almonds left over, which you can use for more toffee. Let the toffee cool in the fridge until hardened again. When it's ready, take the toffee out, and using your hands crack it into irregular pieces. Bag them or stick them in a tin for your own enjoyment.

CHRISTIE'S PERSIMMON CINNAMON TEA

Sweet and spicy, my dear friend Christie told me about this wintry concoction. And considering how she always treats me to cardamom infusions and fresh mint tea whenever I visit, I was certain this would be just as delicious. So easy and a perfect way to use up the water balloon soft hachiyas sitting in your fruit bowl. Enjoy!

Christie's Persimmon Cinnamon Tea from Claire Thomas on Vimeo.

Ingredients

1 super soft hachiya persimmon (almost like a water balloon)

4 cinnamon sticks (or more, if you like a stronger cinnamon flavor)

Hot water

Mix a 1/2 cup of persimmon pulp with 2 cups of simmering hot water (just adjust if making more tea) plus the cinnamon sticks. Stir to dissolve the persimmon pulp and let the mixture steep for about 5 minutes. Strain and enjoy!

AFTERNOON TEA: EARL GREY WITH FRENCH LAVENDER SUGAR COOKIES AND EARL GREY INFUSED BISCOTTI

Appeared in the "Handmade" Issue of Dujour Magazine

I was raised with an, let's say, alternative vocabulary. My sister Amanda, who's only 14 months younger than me, completely missed out on this, but for some reason, sponge-like and impressionable, I absorbed all of my mum's Aussie lingo. Singlet instead of tank top, lippy for lipstick, "how you going" replaced "how are you doing", and cup of tea was dropped to simply "cuppa." Amanda skipped around, looking all Americana with her blonde pony tail and hard "a"s, while I was left referring to mascara as mas-cah-ra and strawberries as stror-berries.

The "cuppa" is an important ritual in our home. If it was raining outside and my mum was set to drive the carpool, she'd sigh and tell us we were made of sugar, and would melt if exposed to the raindrops. So inside we would stay, watching a Doris Day film while balancing a cup of earl grey on my lap as she painted my nails. After an hour or two of an excruciatingly boring school tour, my mum pulled me aside before we entered the Chem lab. It took little convincing for us to duck out early and catch a high tea around the corner. Somehow scones make truancy even more delicious. Every night, every morning, if you are rustling in the kitchen and she is in shouting distance you will probably find yourself making a cup of chamomile or her current favorite, rose sencha for you to share in front of the fireplace.

This little break from the day punctuated with baked goods has always been a favorite of mine. So for this first Afternoon Tea for Dujour Magazine, I paired one of my favorite Earl Greys, Blue Flower Earl Grey by Chado Tea Room, with French Lavender Sables (a French butter cookie) and earl grey infused biscotti. The mellow earthiness of the lavender works beautifully with the bergamot notes in the earl grey, and toothsome texture of the biscotti against the tender sables keeps your palette interested. For the Earl Grey, steep one teaspoon per cup for 3-5 minutes in 205 F water. Enjoy!

French Lavender Sables

French Lavender Sables from Claire Thomas on Vimeo.

Makes 30 cookies

8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 dried lavender flowers, crushed

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg (for egg wash)

2 tablespoons crystal sugar

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add the egg, lavender, and vanilla extract and beat until blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat just until incorporated. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, knead the dough a few times to bring it together, and then divide the dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (at least an hour).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking sheets and set aside.

Remove one portion of the dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough until it is 1/4 inch thick. Using a lightly floured 2 inch round fluted cookie cutter, cut out the cookies, placing them on the prepared sheet. Place the baking sheet of cut out cookies in the refrigerator for about 15 -20 minutes to chill the dough. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the egg for the egg wash. Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with crystal sugar. Bake cookies for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Earl Grey Biscotti

4 tablespoons softened unsalted butter

1 cup of sugar

3 extra large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups of flour, sifted

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons crystallized sugar

1 teaspoon lavender flowers

1 cup heavily steeped Earl Grey Tea

Directions:

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Preheat the oven at 350 F. Mix together the butter and sugar until they form moist crumbs, clumping together. Add the 3 eggs and mix together until light in color and the mixture forms ribbons when you lift the whisk out of the batter. Add the vanilla and mix well. Then, add the dry ingredients in batches of about a 1/2 cup at a time. Mix on low until just blended.

On a cookie sheet with a silicon pad or parchment paper, place the mixture (which is now a very thick dough). Heavily flour your hands and form the dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches high, and 3 inches wide. It may take up the entire length of the cookie sheet. Brush the beaten egg over the log, then sprinkle with the lavender and the 2 tablespoons of crystallized sugar.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut the loaf into 1/2 inch slices. Dip the pieces into the tea until just soaked. Place the slices on the cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes, flip them, then bake for another 20. If the biscotti appear too moist in the center, put them back in the oven for an extra 5 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Tea Towels by Sur la Table, Lavender Motif Kitchen towel and Blue Striped Kitchen Towels:

The gilded teapot is my Great Grandmothers', but for something similar, check out this Waechtersbach Heirloom Chocolate and Gold Teapot.

The tea cup is a vintage find, but for something similar, check out these Blue Banded Porcelain Cups by Williams Sonoma.

For a vase similar to my mom's fabulous Betty Lou Nichols, check out the Head Vase Museum, with lists of other style and manufacturers.

For the Earl Grey Tea with Blue Flowers, please see Chado Tea Room.