Kristen's Recipes

1/2 C. shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 C. canned Mexicorn, drained
1/4 C. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 C. minced fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, optional
1 loaf (1 lb.) frozen bread dough, thawed
1T. cornmeal
1 egg, lightly beaten

In a bowl, combine the mozzarella, corn, Parmesan, parsley, garlic and seasonings; set aside. In a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 16 x 12 inch rectangle. Spread cheese mixture over dough to within 3/4 inch of edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seams and ends to seal. Sprinkle a large baking sheet with cornmeal. Place dough seam side down on baking sheet; tuck ends under. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled; about 35 minutes. Brush with egg. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped. Cool for 20 minutes before slicing. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Yield: 16 slices
Calories: 107
Fat: 3g
Fiber: 1g

3 ½ C. all-purpose Flour
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Instant Yeast
Scant 1 ½ C. Warm Water
1 T. Olive Oil

Combine flour, salt, and yeast in food processor; process 5 seconds. Slowly pour in water as machine is running. Process another 30 seconds until dough forms a shaggy ball. Transfer to large bowl; cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise 3 hours. Divide into 3 balls; let rise, covered, another 30 minutes. Sprinkle some flour on counter; flatten each ball into a 8 x 10 rectangle and fold short ends to middle, sealing seam. Spread towel on counter and lay loaves on towel, seam side down. Allow to rise another 1-2 hours. Preheat oven to 450. Score each loaf down the center with a sharp knife. Brush with olive oil and bake on lightly floured baking sheet for 25-35 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

For the Dough:
1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons yeast
1 egg
2 cups bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

For the Filling:
Several stalks of green onion
1-2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with water)
Black and white sesame seeds to garnish

Dissolve the sugar in warm water and sprinkle yeast on top. Let rest for 10 minutes or until foamy. Combine and mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture, egg, and butter to the dry mixture. Mix the dough until it comes together. Move the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead for several minutes until dough is smooth. Add additional flour as needed. Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and allow it to double in size, roughly one hour. (You can also refrigerate the dough overnight, but make sure to let dough sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes to warm up before rolling). Punch the dough with your fist. Roll the dough into a rectangle of approximately 1/3 inch thick. Spread the olive oil and sesame oil onto the dough. Sprinkle the salt and green onion evenly over the dough. Roll and cut the dough into 16 pieces. Line two loaf pans with parchment paper and place 8 rolls into each pan. Cover the pans with a damp cloth and let the rolls rise in a warm place for approximately 30 minutes. Brush the rolls with the egg wash and sprinkle the tops with black and white sesame seeds. Bake at 400F for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a roll comes out clean. Serve with dinner or enjoy as a snack!

Basic No-Knead Bread

5 cups flour (or flours) of your choice
1 T. yeast
1 T. salt
1 to 2 cups water

Roasted Garlic and Black Olive Bread
to the basic recipe add:

1 cup pitted black olives
1/3 cup peeled roasted garlic cloves; about 1 head roasted garlic

Combine all ingredients except water in a large bowl. Add water and mix with one hand, adding water until the dough just barely forms a ball and there are no little dry bits hanging out in the bowl. Depending on how moist the olives and garlic are, the amount of water can vary from 1 cup to 2 cups. This dough should feel too wet to knead and like biscuit dough in moisture content. Cover the bowl with a layer of plastic wrap; and let the dough rise at room temperature overnight, until the surface of the dough has risen and is flat, not rounded. For those who have worked with traditional kneaded dough, this will look like a disaster. Just wait, it will be fine. Place a Dutch oven (an oven proof pan with a lid) into the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Shape the dough into a round boule by tucking the dough loosely under itself; place the loaf in a bowl lined with parchment paper. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise again until doubled, another 45 minutes to 1 hour. Slash the tops of the loaf with a sharp knife and transfer the parchment paper and dough to the hot Dutch oven and cover with the hot lid. Bake until the exterior is golden brown and the bottom is firm; about 50 to 70 minutes (no peeking for at least the first half hour). Remove from both the oven and the Dutch oven and let cool before slicing.

4 Cups bread flour (or 2 Cups bread flour and 2 Cups whole wheat flour)
1/2 Tsp. instant yeast (or active dry yeast)
1 1/2 Tsp. salt
2 1/4 Cups room-temperature water
2 whole heads of garlic
1 T. olive oil (for roasting garlic)
Pinch of salt (for roasting garlic)
Cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting loaf

To roast garlic, slice the very top of the head off, revealing all the individual cloves. Then wrap each head in foil and drizzle in a tiny bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Wrap these little packages up and bake them at 350 degrees until the garlic is really fragrant and tender, about 30 minutes. If you want to test them, you should be able to easily slide a knife into a clove with almost no resistance. Let the roasted heads of garlic cool for a few minutes and then you can squish out each clove of garlic from the papery stuff. For bread dough, combine flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the roasted garlic and mix it in with your finger tips to make sure it’s evenly distributed. Add water and stir until blended; dough will be really wet and saggy. It’ll smell like roasted garlic though which is a good thing and you should be able to see tiny pieces of garlic in the dough. Cover this with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 14-18 hours. When its surface is dotted with bubbles, the dough is ready. At this point you need to form the loaf. Basically, just lightly flour a counter and pour the dough onto the surface. Gently fold it over itself a few times and then form it into a rectangular loaf. Sprinkle a clean towel with a good layer of cornmeal or semolina flour and lay the loaf on the towel, seam side down. Dust with additional corn meal or semolina. Cover this with another clean towel (or just fold the towel over onto the loaf). Let it rise again for about 2 hours. Dough should have more than doubled in size. At least a half hour before dough is ready, preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Put a 5- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Put the lid on the pot and cook it for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and cook the loaf for another 15-20 minutes until the loaf is a deep dark brown. Remove the bread from the pot and let it cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing into it.

2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon coarse salt
2 tablespoon fresh rosemary

In your standing mixer bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and sugar. Let stand 10 minutes until foam appears. Mix the flour and salt together in a separate bowl. Turn mixer on with hook attachment and slowly add the flour mixture into the yeast mixture. Pour in 1/3 cup olive oil. Once the dough comes together, remove from the mixer and knead for another 10 minutes. Form the dough into a round and place in a oiled bowl. Turn to coat the entire ball with oil so it doesn’t form a skin. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour. Coat a sheet pan with a little olive oil. Once the dough has doubled, turn it out onto the counter and stretch the dough out on the sheet pan. It should be about 1/2 inch thick. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. Uncover the dough and dimple with your fingertips. Brush the surface with more olive oil and then sprinkle your rosemary and sea salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees F.

1 envelope active dry yeast
1/4 C. warm water
1/2 C. milk
1/4 C. soft butter or margarine
3 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
3 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
Green Chile Filling (recipe below)
1/2 C. grated cheddar cheese

1 large onion, chopped
8 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
1 tsp. butter
2 C. cheddar cheese, grated
1 can diced green chile

In a large bowl of electric mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Blend in milk, eggs, butter, sugar, salt, and cumin. Blend in 2 C. flour, 1 C. at a time. Beat on medium speed of mixer 3 minutes, scraping bowl often. With heavy duty mixer (Kitchen Aid with Dough Hook or wooden spoon) blend in remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto floured board, and knead until smooth, 5 to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turn over, and cover. Let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hrs. Meanwhile, prepare Green Chile Filling. When dough has risen, punch down and turn out onto floured board. Roll to a 9 X 30-inch rectangle. Crumble filling over dough to within 1 inch of edges. Starting from long side, roll up tightly. Moisten edge with water and pinch together firmly to seal. Using a floured sharp knife, cut roll lengthwise in halves. Carefully turn cut sides up. Loosely twist the two strips together, keeping cut sides up. Transfer to greased and floured baking sheet, and shape to a 10-inch circle. Pinch ends firmly together. Let rise in warm place, uncovered, until puffy looking, about 45-60 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 C. cheddar cheese and bake 5 minutes longer, until browned. Makes 1 10-inch twist. Green Chile Filling: Sauté onion and garlic in butter until soft but not browned. Cool. Mix in cheddar and chiles. Cover and chill.

5 C. flour (or flours) of your choice
1 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 to 2 C. water

to the basic recipe add:

1 C. pitted black olives
1/3 C. peeled roasted garlic cloves; about 1 head roasted garlic

Combine all ingredients except water in a large bowl. Add water and mix with one hand, adding water until the dough just barely forms a ball and there are no little dry bits hanging out in the bowl. Depending on how moist the olives and garlic are, the amount of water can vary from 1 C. to 2 C.. This dough should feel too wet to knead and like biscuit dough in moisture content. Cover the bowl with a layer of plastic wrap; and let the dough rise at room temperature overnight, until the surface of the dough has risen and is flat, not rounded. For those who have worked with traditional kneaded dough, this will look like a disaster. Just wait, it will be fine. Place a Dutch oven (an oven proof pan with a lid) into the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Shape the dough into a round boule by tucking the dough loosely under itself; place the loaf in a bowl lined with parchment paper. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise again until doubled, another 45 minutes to 1 hour. Slash the tops of the loaf with a sharp knife and transfer the parchment paper and dough to the hot Dutch oven and cover with the hot lid. Bake until the exterior is golden brown and the bottom is firm; about 50 to 70 minutes (no peeking for at least the first half hour). Remove from both the oven and the Dutch oven and let cool before slicing.