Basic Pizza Dough

My always amazing and generous wife thought I would enjoy taking a pizza class at the Culinary Center of Kansas City. She was right. The class was taught by Chef Cody Hogan. If you live in KC, you know about Lidia's. Chef Hogan is Lidia's exceutive chef, and one very cool dude. He shared his favorite pizza dough recipe with us. I'll share it with you, but preface this by saying if you don't take the class, it won't be the same!

Pizza Dough

Based on the dough from

The Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook

Yield: enough dough for about 6 pizzas

Sponge Ingredients:

2 teaspoons dry yeast

3/4 cup lukewarm water

2/3 cup bread flour

Dry Ingredients:

4 cups unbleached white flour

1/4 cup rye flour, whole wheat flour or buckwheat flour

1teaspoon salt

1/3cup olive oil

To make the sponge:

Dissolve the yeast in 3/4 cup lukewarm water and stir in the 2/3 cup bread flour. Allow this mixture to sit until quite bubbly, about 30 minutes.

To make the dough:

Mix together the all-purpose flour, rye flour, and salt in another bowl.

Stir 1cup cold water and 1 cup of these dry ingredients into the sponge. Mix thoroughly and let sit for another 30 minutes.

Add the remaining dry ingredients and the olive oil and knead, by hand or in an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is soft and elastic, about 5 minutes. It may be necessary to add more flour if the dough is too wet, but add only enough flour to form soft, slightly sticky dough. Very soft, moist dough makes the best crust.

Allow to rise until doubled; about 2 hours. If you have the time, this dough has more character if it is allowed to rise in the refrigerator overnight or at least for eight hours.

After the dough has doubled, fold it down and divide it into six pieces (or less for larger pizzas).Shape in to balls and allow to rest for about 1hour, covered, at room temperature. (This is a good place to freeze individually wrapped pieces of dough for future use. Allow to thaw thoroughly before using.) The dough can be rolled or stretched into the desired shape and thickness.

Brats and Burgers at the Ritz

Most of you know that I am active in Saving Grace Productions, I mean the Visual Art Ministry, at United Methodist Church of the Resurrection. Love this group! Great team, and an awesome small group. I am blessed to have them as friends. Earlier this year Peggy signed me up to take my Mac & Cheese to share prior to service. Since then we are trying to have a mini-potluck every 6 weeks or so.

This past weekend is round 2, and since Jeffrey Sheets was heading out off for Colorado, we made it a “camp out” theme. Thinking burgers and dogs, I had to have a creative way to share these and yet keep them warm. I opted for bacon cheeseburger version of the Chorizo Puffs and created a Brat in Blanket. By request, here are the recipes.

Bacon Cheeseburger Puffs

Makes 8 puffs

1 lb ground sirloin

2 strips cooked thick cut bacon (cut in to 4^ths)

½ small onion (finely diced)

Cheddar cheese (sliced or grated) about 3 oz

1 can Pillsbury Crescent sheets (seamless version of crescent rolls)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper (to taste)

2 tablespoons Steak seasoning (I use Penzey’s Old Chicago)

1 egg, beaten (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 F

Spray a small pan with non-stick spray, or add 1 tablespoon oil and heat on medium. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Transfer to paper towel lined plate and set aside to cool.

In a mixing bowl combine the ground sirloin, steak seasoning, Worcestershire, onions, salt and pepper. Mix well. Taking about 1 oz at a time, pat until thin in pairs about 2 to 3” in diameter, but keep separate. Cut or shape the cheddar cheese into 1’ squares by ¼” thick. Place the cheese in the middle of one patty, and place the other patty on top. Shape the patty into 2” squares, with your thumb place a slight depression in the middle of the top. Repeat this until you have 8 patties.

Either on the grill or a griddle, cook until medium (slightly pink in the middle) temperature. Place on paper towel lined plate to cool.

Open the crescent sheet and stretch until solid rectangle. Cut the sheet into 8 equal size rectangles. Place a patty and bacon square into a crescent section, and seal tightly. For a nice appearance, place the square patty on the crescent piece at a 45 degree angle. If you fold the sides up, and pinch tight, you should have a cross-seam on the top. Brush with egg wash if desired.

Place on parchment lined baking sheet, and place in oven for 15  to 20 minutes until top is golden brown.

Serve with favorite toppings (ketchup, mustard, relish, etc.)

Brats in a blanket

Makes 15 pieces

5 brats

½ onion (sliced)

Pepper jack cheese slices

2 cans American ale or lager

2 can Pillsbury Crescent sheets (seamless version of crescent rolls)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Sale and pepper (to taste)

1 egg, beaten (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Heat the beer in a medium saucepan until boiling. Pierce the brats multiple times with a fork. Place the brats and onions in the boiling beer. Cook over medium boil for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a grill or griddle, and cook about 3 minutes on top and bottom. This will add a slight crispness to the skin. Remove to paper towel lined plate to cool. Once cool, cut each brat into thirds. They should be very slightly pink in the middle or no pink at all.

Open the crescent sheet and stretch until solid rectangle. Cut the sheet (width-wise) into strips that are about 50% wider than a brat section, and cut each strip in half. It should be just wide enough to wrap the brat section and leave a pinch of dough on top and at each end. Place a brat section and slice of pepper jack (cut to the length and width of the section) into the middle of each crescent section, and seal tightly. You should have a small seam protruding from the top and ends. Brush with egg wash if desired.

Place on parchment lined baking sheet with the seams pointing up, and place in oven for 15  to 20 minutes until top is golden brown.

Serve with favorite toppings (ketchup, mustard, relish, sauerkraut, etc.)