Pizza Twist Bread

I'm so excited to be writing a sponsored post for Red Star Yeast. There are very few products where I'm even "mostly" brand loyal, but with Red Star, I'm 100 percent a fan. I buy the stuff in 1- or 2-pound bags, and it's the brand I always use. So it's pretty easy to say, yeah, I like you enough to post about you.

I adore the Platinum yeast when I'm making something that has the potential for a slow rise, like rich or sweet doughs. The only thing I don't like about the Platinum is that it's currently only available in packets, and I go through so much yeast that I need to buy in larger quantities.

Active dry and instant are my go-to yeasts for everyday breads. Okay, now that the book is done, I'm not actually baking bread every day. More like 3-4 times a week. But I think that's enough. I'm guessing it's more than the average household.

If you're ever curious about how to use one the type of yeast you have on-hand when a recipe calls for something else, check out this yeast conversion post from Red Star. And then bookmark it!.

As far as this particular recipe, I made a bread similar to this - at least as far as the design - last year to use up some leftover Thanksgiving cranberries. But that was a sweet bread. I decided that it would work just as well for a savory bread, and I decided to use pizza-like flavors.

I thought about adding some Italian sausage to this, but I knew that I'd be eating most of this at room temperature rather than warm. So I left the meat out and just included tomatoes, cheese and oregano - three flavors that are common in pizza.

The really neat thing about this bread is that it's so versatile. You can slice it into wedges, or you can pull it apart. You can eat it warm or at room temperature. If you want it warm, you can reheat it gently to warm and melt the cheese. You can slice it horizontally to make sandwiches. It's good or breakfast, lunch. or dinner.

And it's pretty. The design is very attractive, but it's not immediately obvious how it's made. Which is the best part. People will look at it and ask, "How did you DO that?" And you can just smile mysteriously, because you know how easy it really is.

Pizza Twist Bread

1 cup water
1 large egg
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) Red Star active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup (3 ounces) semolina flour
3 cups (13 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 ounces sundried tomatoes (the ones in a bag, like dried plums), chopped*
6 ounces shredded cheese**
1 tablespoon dried oregano

Combine the water, egg, sugar, flours, salt, and olive oil the the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

No stand mixer? Just mix in a bowl until combined, then finish kneading by hand.

Add the sundried tomatoes and knead just until they are evenly distributed in the dough.

Cover the bowl and set aside to rise until the dough has doubled in size, about an hour.

Flour your work surface lightly and turn out the dough. Divide in half. Form the first half into a ball, then flatten to form a disk about 10 inches in diameter. You can use a rolling pin, or just stretch and pat and pull it into shape. Try for an even thickness.

Sprinkle the cheese on top of the dough, leaving about an inch around the edge uncovered. Sprinkle the oregano on top of the cheese.

Form the second piece of dough into a disk just like you did with the first piece, and lay that on top of the cheese-covered dough. Pinch all around the edges to seal. Press down on the dough to encourage the cheese to adhere to the dough.

Transfer this to the center of a piece of parchment paper. Use your hands to shape it into an even circle.

Place a small ramekin or small drinking glass in the center of the dough. This will serve as your stopping point when you begin cutting the dough. Make four cuts in the dough as though you were cutting an X in the dough if the ramekin wasn't there. Cut all the way through the dough.

Now, make four more cuts, centered between the first ones you made. You should now have eight fat strips of dough.

Make eight more cuts centered between the ones you already made.

Now comes the fun part. Take one of the strips and twist it one full turn. Don't pull, just twist. Take the next strip and twist it one full turn in the opposite direction. Continue all around the circle, twisting right and left, alternately, until you have twisted all the dough strips.

Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and use your hands to even up the circle. Make sure you've got at least an inch of space between the dough and the sides of the baking sheet.

Cover the baking sheet and let the dough rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. If you have a second baking sheet of the same size, you can flip that upside-down and use that as the cover.

While the dough is rising, heat the oven to 350 degrees.

When the dough has risen, bake at 350 degrees until it's nicely browned and the exposed cheese is melted.

Remove from the oven and let it cool on a rack for a short while - that cheese is molten hot.

You can serve this warm or at room temperature.

*Or do what I do, and buy the ones that are julienned. They're the same price as whole ones where I shop.

** I used 4 ounces mozzarella, and one ounce each of asiago (for flavor) and colby (for color). Use your favorites, or use what you have on hand. This is a great recipe for using up bits and pieces of assorted cheese.

This post was sponsored by Red Star yeast. You can find them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter. They also have a pretty spiffy Pinterest page whether they share a lot of fun recipes.

Stuffed Focaccia

I made this recipe quite a while ago, when the book Secrets from the Best Chefs was making the rounds in the Cook My Book group. I took photos and then I devoured it.

I planned on blogging about it, but then I got distracted and didn't get around to it.

I'm not obligated to blog about any of the books from Cook My Book, but it's really handy for me to have the recipes on my blog where I can find them again. I have notes jotted down, but if my notes can sometimes be cryptic.

It's best if I get things typed out before I forget what my obvious-at-the-time scribbling really mean.

I've created my own focaccia recipes before, but what I liked about this one was the technique of making two dough layers and stuffing the center with cheese and other goodies.

And I thought it was interesting that the baking started with the pan covered. I don't think I've made many recipes that use that technique.

The original recipe calls for basil leaves, but I happened to have a pesto hanging around so I used that instead - and it happens that pesto was suggested as an alternative by the author, so it's not like it was a huge stretch.

I also cut the recipe in half, and below is the halved version. So feel free to double it and bake it on a half-sheet pan. I had some extra olives, so I used a bit more than the recipe called for, but the amount below is the "correct" amount. If you love olives, add more.

This recipe is rather appropriate for the approaching Halloween season, inadvertently. You see, those kalamata olives peeking out looked like ... well .... sort of like spooky eyes. You can take that idea and run with it, if you decide to make it.

Stuffed Focaccia
Adapted from Secrets of the Best Chefs by Adam Roberts

For the dough:
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
Pinch of sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (divided)
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For assembly:
Olive oil for the pan, as needed
1 tablespoon cornmeal
2 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves (I used pesto and eyeballed the amount)
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, as needed.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine yeast, sugar, and water, while you gather the rest of the ingredients. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then add the flour and salt. Knead with the dough hool until the dough peels away from the sides of the bowl.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rise until doubled in size, about an hour.

Flour your work surface and knead the dough until it forms a smooth ball, then divide the dough in half. Allow it to rest for 15 minute to relax.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 1/4-sheet baking pan with a drizzle of olive oil, then sprinkle with the cornmeal.
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to fit the pan, Place it in the pan and press or stretch it to fit, if needed.

Layer the dough with the mozzarella, parmesan and most of the olives, reserving about 1/4 of them for topping the dough. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, if desired. Since I knew that the olives and cheese were both salty, I didn't add more.

Roll the second piece of dough the same way you rolled the first one, and place it on top of the filling. Gently press the edges together. You don't have to pinch to seal them completely.

Brush the top with olive oil, the place the reserved olives on top of the dough and push them down about 1/2 inch to embed them in the dough.

Cover the dough with foil and bake for 1/2 hour, then remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or so, until the crust is golden. Mine wasn't browning as much as I liked, so I cranked the heat to 350 to finish cooking.

Drizzle with more oil, if desired, and allow to cool for 20 minutes before removing it from the pan and slicing to serve.

12 things you might not know about Nadia G ... And lots of RECIPES!!!

As a food blogger, sometimes you get ... interesting opportunities. Like a chance to chat with Nadia G host of Nadia G's Bitchn' Kitchen and Bite This with Nadia G.

Possibly the quirkiest of the cooks on the network, I was curious what strange turns the conversation might take.

We were supposed to be talking about Halloween cocktails and appetizers she created for a company called Once Upon a Vine. It's a wine company, so the drinks are wine-related. The other recipes are just fun.

But of course, I bounced her off-track a number of times to make the conversation more interesting.

Things you might not know are that:

• Both of her parents are Italian.
• She was (and still is. Ha!) an only child.
• She got her cooking-show start on YouTube in 2007.
• She prefers white wine to red.
• She once dressed as a "prom zombie" for Halloween.
• Her favorite Halloween candy is ... chocolate. Maybe that's too easy. 
• Her second favorite is what she described as a pressed-powder candy that is sweet and tart.
• She started a cooking show on Canadian TV in 2010 and started on the Cooking Channel in 2011.
• She thinks Montreal bagels are the best in the world. They're smaller and fluffier and more delicate than American bagels, she says.
• For Halloween, her mom once dressed her in a potato sack and cowboy hat, with big red dots on her cheeks - she still doesn't know what that costume was supposed to be.
• She doesn't bake a lot of yeast breads, but she does bake sweet breads. A recent one was and apple bread with home made caramel.
• This year for Halloween, she's going to dress as "dead and rotting Martha Stewart."

Yeah, that last one's going to get me some weird search traffic. For sure.

In any case, we talked about her family, and her career and her recipes. And of course I slipped in the fact that I've got a cookbook coming out next month *Pats self on back*

I stopped just short of offering her a cookbook, because that would have been weird. But now that we're besties, maybe she'll buy one.

Speaking of recipes, I've got a whole lot of her recipes, just for you. I haven't tried any of them yet, but they look pretty good. Or creepy. Or good. Whatever.

The food recipes are below, and wine cocktail recipes are available from The Wine Bar. Click on over. Glug, glug.

One wine-cocktail recipe that sounded pretty good to me was something she called The Witch's Brew. It included pear nectar, which is a little unusual, but not terribly hard to find, as well as some white wine and some thyme.

She said that when creating wine cocktails, you need to make sure the drinks are balanced and that the other flavors don't overwhelm the wine. That makes sense.

Her comment about Halloween food, though, really made me love her. She said that some Halloween food tastes as scary as it looks, with way too much food coloring and sugar. She likes food that tastes good, but still looks creepy.

The one that we talked about a bit - it fits her Italian heritage, and it sounded delicious, and it probably looks super-creepy - is her bocconcini eyeballs. It's cheese, olives, and prosciutto. That sounds tasty, right?

Nadia said that she prefers throwing Halloween parties rather than going out to bars where there are "twits in polyester costumes." Then she admitted that there could be some of those polyester-dressed twits at your own party, but at least they're your friends.

As far as her costume this year, it will involve a pastel sweater, too-high mom pants, and lots of blood and gore. That'll be perfectly appropriate when she's serving these:


Bocconcini Eyeballs with Blood Salsa
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

For the bocconcini eyeballs:
8 large green olives stuffed with pimento
16 Bocconcini cheese balls
8 slices Prosciutto di Parma

For the blood salsa:
1 can whole San Marzano tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon aged balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, minced
1 handful fresh flat parsley, finely chopped
1 handful fresh basil, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
1/4 teaspoon hot chili flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
Freshly cracked pepper

Plus:
Crostini

Making the eyeballs: slice olives into 1/4-inch discs. Place an olive disc in the center of a bocconcini and trace around it with a sharp paring knife. Carve out a 1/2-inch piece of cheese from the outline and place olive slice in the hole. Wrap a slice of prosciutto around the bocconcini eyeball.

Making the salsa: pour whole can of San Marzano tomatoes into a bowl. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, red onion, parsley, basil, Greek oregano, chili flakes, salt, sugar, and lots of freshly cracked pepper. Mix with hands.

Divide eyeballs into pairs and place on individual plates. Add a couple of tablespoons of salsa to each plate. Serve with crostini.

Note from me: There was no photo for this. I'm tempted to make it JUST for the photo. Or you make it and post it and I'll link to it. Please?


Coffin-shaped Grilled Cheese Sandwiches 
with Melted Taleggio Cheese, Caramelized Onions and Apples
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

For the caramelized onions:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 red onions, sliced in 1/2 inch slices
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

For the sandwiches:
1 large loaf sourdough bread
1 McIntosh apple, sliced thinly
4 wedges Taleggio cheese
Sufficient quantity butter

Making caramelized onions: Heat a non-stick pan on medium. Add olive oil, onions, separate them, and salt. Sauté for 10 minutes, then turn down heat to medium-low and cook for another 35-40 minutes, until onions are deep amber in color.

Making the sandwich: Cut sourdough into 1/2 inch slices, then into coffin shapes. Heat a pan on medium low and melt enough butter to coat the pan. Lay down a slice of bread, a cheese wedge, caramelized onions, 3 apple slices, and top with another slice of bread. Press down and cook for 3 minutes, until golden brown. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Remove grilled cheese from pan, and serve.


Milk Chocolate Chip and Maple Syrup Glazed Bacon
Witch Finger Cookies
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

12 bacon slices, minced
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup unsalted butter, large dice
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Maldon salt, to taste
1 1/2 cup quality milk chocolate, in chip sized chunks
Raw skinless almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Note from me: You'll need witch-finger molds for these, but at this time of year, you can no doubt find them at the grocery store. Off-season, you can probably find them online.

Making the bacon: In a medium frying pan, sauté the bacon until fat has rendered and bacon is crisp. Drain the fat from the pan, and add the maple syrup. Stir to blend, and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes until maple syrup becomes thick. Transfer immediately to a small bowl, and let cool.

Making the batter: With a standing or handheld mixer, blend the butter and sugars for 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg, and beat for 1 minute or until well blended. Add the vanilla, and beat for 30 seconds more. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Add the maple syrup glazed bacon, and chocolate. Stir to combine.

Place almonds into the fingernail part of witch finger molds. Scoop dough into the molds, filling them 3/4 of the way, and bake in the center of oven until golden around the edges (about 9-10 minutes). Remove from oven. Pull the cookies out while still warm and with a paring knife cut off the excess cookies around the finger to shape it. Handle carefully so cookie doesn't break.

Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Spicy Onion Rings
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

Canola or peanut oil
1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup corn meal
3 large yellow onions, peeled, thinly sliced in rounds

In a high-sided saucepan heat the oil on medium until it reaches a temperature of 350F.

Making the batter: Combine the cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, dried oregano, dried basil, pepper, and sea salt in a small bowl. Stir to blend.  Set aside.

Making the onion rings: Add the flour and corn meal to a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. Toss the onion rings in the flour mixture to coat.  Deep fry the onion rings in two batches until crispy, and lightly golden (3-5 minutes).  Drain on a paper towel for 1 minute, and then add the onion rings to a large bowl. Add a large pinch of the spice mixture, and toss the onion rings to evenly distribute the seasoning.

Season with salt if desired, and serve immediately.

Crispy Fried Rigatoni “Chips” stuffed Mascarpone 
with Bloody Spicy Raspberry Coulis
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

For the rigatoni chips:
1/2 lb. rigatoni
Sufficient quantity canola oil
Sea salt

For the filling:
3/4 cup Ricotta cheese
1/4 cup Mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon mint, chopped

For the bloody raspberry coulis: 
1 cup frozen raspberries, thawed
1 red chili pepper, halved, seeds and pith removed
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Making the rigatoni chips: Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until partially cooked (about half the cooking time recommended). Drain. Deep-fry the rigatoni in several batches in 350˚ F canola oil until crisp and golden.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Making the herbed filling: To a bowl, add the ricotta and the mascarpone and, using a rubber spatula, blend until smooth. Transfer filling to a piping bag with a small straight tip. Fill each “chip” with the filling.

Making the raspberry coulis: Puree raspberries and their juices, chili pepper and 2 tbsp brown sugar in a food processor.

Dip the rigatoni chips into the “bloody’ coulis and serve.

Thanks to Nadia G for taking the time to chat with me. I feel like we're BFFs now, so feel free to call any time, Nadia! You've got my number!

For some music for your Halloween party, Nadia recommended Once Upon a Vine's Halloween party station on Pandora.

All photos courtesy of Once Upon a Vine. Recipes courtesy of Nadia G. Used with permission. All rights reserved.