Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Cookin'

I'm planning on giving a cooking class this summer, (even if it is just you and me, Shelly!) and I am having trouble narrowing down what to do. A few of you out there have asked me before if I've ever thought about giving classes... and now I am. So what would you want to learn (even if you don't come to my class?)
My current plan is to offer single sessions one day a week, so anyone can come to any of them and learn a self-contained lesson on cooking methodology, like one day will be The Art of Eyeballing, one would be focused on learning how to anticipate how spices go together so you can make just about any culture's flavor profile, with application on some proteins, I could do a vegetarian-only day, etc.
Participants would need to bring a cutting board and chef's knife. I would provide everything else.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Pita bread recipe

Ingredients:
Scant 4 cups white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 TB salt
1/4 cup superfine sugar (you can buy castor sugar, or just put regular sugar in the blender and pulse.)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 cup water

Put all ingredients in bowl and mix with hands. When dough has formed, tip onto lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Put back in bowl and let dough rest for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Put a lined baking sheet in oven to warm up. Tip dough out and divide into 3.5 ounce pieces. Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Let rest for 5 minutes, then place on hot baking sheet in oven for 5 to 10 minutes. They will balloon up, but when brought out of the oven they will collapse, which is what forms the pockets.
(Note: not all ours turn out, but it's still good as a flatbread.)
This recipe is from 100 Great Breads by Paul Hollywood, Fall River Press, 2004.