Showing posts with label pizza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pizza. Show all posts

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Some yogurt troubles


            I have not written in a while, but let’s try to get back into it.

I recently made a failed yogurt. It seemed to be all right when it was done fermenting, but then it unexpectedly spoiled faster than any prior batch. I looked into potential causes of this, and I found that this can be caused by contaminated yogurt starter, improper storage of the finished yogurt, or the yogurt itself getting contaminated. It definitely was a bit discouraging, and I was disappointed to have to throw out about a third of a gallon of yogurt, but I am hoping it was a one-time fluke of the yogurt getting contaminated. Last night I made another batch, and it will be ready in a few hours. I hope I will have better yogurt this time.

I have been mostly using my yogurt in overnight oats that I eat for breakfast. I have also been using it to make a really quick homemade pizza dough that has been a favorite. I have also frozen leftover pizza dough for later use, and it froze, defrosted, and baked really well. I love decorating the pizza with all sorts of vegetables, especially onions, peppers, and mushrooms…yum…

Other exciting uses of yogurt are always fun to discover. It is such a versatile ingredient that can add protein and calcium to your diet.

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Another yogurt dilemma, this time it's a pizza solution!




                It was again a moment of too much yogurt in the house. Again a question of how to put it in other dishes. I saw a video about pizza dough made out of yogurt and flour, so I decided to give it a try. The recipe called for equal parts of self-rising flour and yogurt; then, you add flour as needed until you have a dough. I did not have self-rising flour, but quick research showed me that adding 1.5 tsp baking powder and 0.5 tsp salt to 1 cup of all purpose flour will make it into self-rising flour.

                I started with 2 cups of flour, to which I added the baking powder and salt. Then I added the yogurt and started mixing. I had to add a lot more flour because the dough was too sticky. I think that this could be remedied by using Greek rather than regular yogurt, or straining my homemade yogurt to remove more of the whey and make it thicker. I’ll try straining my yogurt next time I make this pizza dough. Anyway, I kneaded my dough until it looked like pizza dough.

I divided the dough into 3 balls and rolled each one out on a foil-covered toaster tray that I lightly greased with canola oil. Instead of using sauce, I spooned on some canned diced tomatoes (leaving the liquid in the can.) Then I sprinkled on some cheese and topped it with assorted vegetables. My favorite vegetables for decorating pizza are onions, mushrooms, colored peppers, and zucchini. It is a good way to add vegetables to themeal, and of course, they add so much flavor to the pizza. I like to sprinkle the top with oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder for some more yumminess.

After baking the first pizza in the toaster oven at 375⁰ for 20 minutes, the crust looked browned and the vegetables were getting toasted. I cut the pizza and I saw that the dough had gotten soggy from the vegetables, though it was clearly cooked through. For my second pizza, I upped the temperature to 400⁰, and the result was better. The dough was firmer and the vegetables were fully roasted. I will try par-cooking the dough for 10 minutes before adding the toppings next time I make this...I think that might work even better.

Definitely the second pizza tasted better, though they both looked nice. This recipe was a good idea, but I think that with a bit of tweaking for the recipe and cooking, I’ll have a better pizza next try.

it became dough!

all rolled out

got the diced tomatoes and cheese

and some decorations


out of the toaster....(note that the decorations don't match the prior picture...this was the second pizza. that one was the first.)

now I cut it into slices