Pita Bread

What is better than fresh baked pita bread? Well until now I would not know unless I was eating out at a wonderful Greek Restaurant. The recipe I posted for the baguette is so versatile you will not believe it! These pitas are made from the exact recipe I used for the baguette, the only difference is a few different techniques. With pita you must roll out the dough very thin. If you don't it will not puff up and puffing is what makes pita, well pita. I hope you give this one a try. It really makes a great lunch.

This comes from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook.

Pita Bread
Needed:
Recipe for Boule(This is the one used for the baguette).

Preheat oven to 500' for twenty minutes if you are using a baking stone preheat until oven reaches 500'.

Just before baking cut off a grapefruit size ball of dough. I am making small pitas so I broke mine into orange size balls.

Using your hands and rolling pin, roll out into flat round uniform discs. They should be 1/8 of inch thick and must be very even, I cannot stress that enough. Do not slash the pita or it will not puff and again that is what you want. Flour your rounds slightly and place on baking stone or in my case I used my Silpat on a cookie sheet. Turn on your ventilation fan, the flour on pita may smoke at this high baking temperature. Better safe than sorry. I hate when my smoke detectors go off when I am baking. Ransome on the other hand finds it quite entertaining. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly brown and puffed. You may have to place pita on a higher shelf without stone to achieve proper browning. Mine did just fine but remember I am not using a stone.

For the most authentic, soft-crusted result, wrap in clean cotton dish towels and set on a cooling rack when baking is done. The pitas will deflate a bit as they cool. The space between the crust will still be there but you may have nudge it open a little with your fingers.

I remember the first time I ever ate Pita Bread. I was visiting some friends in Kansas and their mom set out sandwich makings with pita bread. Well.... I place my mayo and sandwich fixings on one side and place another pita on top. Their mom, a really lovely lady and still is, whispered the way "she liked to eat them, was by opening them up and placing the fillings inside the layers". This was before any of the other teens saw what I was doing. Thank goodness, and yes,I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and the only thing we ever put between bread was a hot dog or burger.I think of this every time I eat pita. Thanks for the memories Evie.

Baguette

This comes from one of my all time favorite cookbooks. A really good friend told me about this book a year or so ago and I am so glad she did. The book is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I promise when you buy this book you will not be sorry. I have never made a good baguette until I made them from this book's recipe. That is the one I am giving here. So this is just a taste of what you can make from this very simple recipe.

Needed:
3 cups of luke warm water
1 1/2 T granulated yeast (1 1/2 packets)( I use the big bags of yeast you can buy at Sam's and just measure out what I need.)
1 1/2 T kosher salt or other course salt
6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour, measured with scoop-and-sweep method.

Place warm water into your stand mixer or large bowl add yeast and salt. Now mix in all of the flour. Kneading is not necessary. Yes, I said it is not NECESSARY!! I mixed mine until all the flour is mixed in really well. Now cover and let it rise for 2 hours at room temperature. After this break off two grapefruit size balls. Roll each of these into a 2 inch diameter rope shape and let rest for 20 minutes. Once the bread has rested paint it with water (this keeps the knife from sticking to bread)and slice small slits in bread. They say to bake on a baking stone with cornmeal sprinkled on it in but I don't have one so I used my silpat with cornmeal sprinkled on it placed on a cookie sheet. Worked fine. You do need to place a broiler pan on the bottom shelf in your oven and pour 1 cup of water in it right before you put your bread in. Preheat oven to 450' and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a deep golden brown. You will have dough left, just leave it in a covered bowl in your fridge. It will keep for a while. Around here it does not last but in your home maybe it will.

Tortilla Soup

This is a good soup for a cold day. It is a cold day on Beaty's Creek, so I made this soup. It is not hard at all.

Needed:
2 chicken leg quarters
1 large can Rotel
1 can corn
2 cans black beans-rinsed
salt and pepper to taste
1 T cumin
2 T chili powder
2 garlic cloves-minced
1 carton chicken broth

Boil chicken quarters in 2 quarts of water with garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Once chicken is done remove from broth and add Rotel, corn with liquid, rinsed black beans and additional chicken broth. Bring to a low simmer and add boned chicken back to soup. Simmer for 30 minutes and serve. We like to add cheese, avocado, sour cream, the juice from a line wedge and chips but it is up to you what you add.

Coconut Cake

Coconut cake, what could be any better on a cold winter’s day? Coconut cake makes me think of spring. I had a friend in school whose mother made a coconut cake every spring in the shape of a bunny rabbit. I thought this girl had the best mom in the world just because she made this cake and had fried French fries from a bag. Okay I was easily impressed. My mom did not fry french fries from a bag she made homemade steak fries and she NEVER made a cake in the shape of a bunny rabbit. Although she did buy some fabulous cakes when I was growing up. This recipe is a little complicated but so worth the effort. I hope you will give it a try very soon!

Needed for the cake:
3 cups all purpose flour (I use unbleached)
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 T baking powder
1 cup of sweetened shredded coconut
2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
3 eggs (I use free range)
2 t vanilla
2 cups of sugar
1 can coconut milk-not sweetened coconut milk

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Mix in a stand up mixer eggs and sugar until creamy at this time add butter, vanilla, and coconut milk. Now is the time to gently mix in the flour mixture a cup at a time. When all is mixed in fold in the coconut. Bake in 2 –8 inch round cake pans. Cook for 20-25 minutes at 350’. Be careful not to over cook cakes. When they turn golden remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Cook completely. Remove from pans and slice in half so you will have 4 layers of cake. I was going to do this but Raven took the cakes out of the pans a little to early and one cracked. Could not get upset with her she was helping me out. Raven likes to cook and how sad would it be to discourage her by getting upset. So I have a 2-layer cake. Eats the same.

Icing

Needed for icing:

Whipping Cream
2 bricks of cream cheese at room temperature
2 sticks of salted butter at room temperature
4 pounds of powder sugar (You may not need this much but I like to be prepared)
2 t vanilla
2 cups of sweetened shredded coconut

Place cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a stand mixer and mix until completely mixed. Meaning they are smooth. Now is the time to add powder sugar a cup at a time until very thick. Add cream ¼ cup at a time. Mix well. You will most likely need to add more powder sugar at this time. You will have a total of ½ cups of cream in the icing total. I do it ¼ cup intervals because I think it mixes better with the powder sugar. Make sense?? I use almost all of the powder sugar give or take a cup. You know how icing should feel. Thick but not too thick. If it is too thick it will tear your cake and if it is too thin it will run off of your cake. Both not good. When your icing feels like it will spread well fold in the coconut. Ice each layer of your cake whether it is a four or two layer. We like a lot of icing so we go heavier on the top of the cake.

Company Casserole

This is one of our favorite casseroles to eat. The word "casserole" brings to mind different things to different people. Some good and some not so good. Casseroles to me mean comfort and warmness. Company Casserole is so good on its own you don't have to have anything else with it but I either make a really great salad or sour cream and chive mashed potatoes with homemade hot rolls. Yummy! This is "what's cookin" tonight on Beaty's Creek.


Needed:
2 pounds of ground turkey-browned
1-29 ounce can tomato sauce
2 garlic cloves-minced
1 bag egg noodles-boiled and drained
1 bunch green onions-top and bottoms chopped
1 brick of cream cheese-cubed
1 container cottage cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Add tomato sauce, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste to your browned turkey. Stir well. Mix cottage cheese, cream cheese and green onions together. I pepper this pretty good but we like pepper. Cover bottom of casserole pan with this mixture, then layer noodles, cottage cheese mixture and repeat making the meat sauce your last layer. Bake covered in a 350' oven for 30-40 minutes.

Cabbage and Sausage

I know this sounds like a dinner full of gas but it is so good it is well worth it. I use Healthy Choice or Butterball brand turkey polish sausage. We think turkey is better because there is less grease. But if you want the full version use skinless sausage. I love the skinless, who wants that nasty wrap to eat through. This is a really easy dinner. I am making potato cakes to go with.

Needed:
2 pounds of Turkey Polish Sausage-cut into 4 inch pieces
1 large head of green cabbage-cut into bite size pieces
Oil to cover bottom of pan
Salt and Pepper to taste


Pour oil into large pan. I use a dutch oven. Heat oil over medium heat and add sausage. Brown on both sides and add cabbage. Salt and pepper very well. Cook over medium heat until cabbage wilts slightly but is still crisp. Make sense?? We like ours a little brown so we cook ours more. We don't like mushy cabbage. If you like cabbage more tender cook a little longer. This is really good with sweet cornbread and potato cakes.

Potato Cakes

We really like potato cakes around here. Potato cakes are not sweet or even a cake. I sometimes use left over mashed potatoes for mine. I love to add onions in ours also. Raven never knows I add onions because I grate them. It is funny how if kids can't "see" the onions in something they will eat them but if they "see" onions it is a no go. I want kids to eat everything that there is and not "pick out" what they don't like. It bugs me, crazy huh? I know... Well this is "what's cookin" tonight.

Needed:
5 pounds of potatoes-boiled and mashed
1 medium white onion-grated
2 eggs-beaten
1/2 cup all purpose flour
salt and pepper
oil

Take your mashed potatoes and add your onion, eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Mix well. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Drop potato mixture by heaping tablespoons onto oiled skillet. I usually coat the skillet with about 1/2 inch of oil. I use my Lodge caste iron skillet that was my grandmother's for this. Cook on each side until golden brown. This usually takes about 4 minutes per side. I hope you give these a try. They are really good with beans or polish sausage and cabbage.