Thursday, February 23, 2012

Blueberry Ricotta Muffins

Here's a delicious way to use that leftover ricotta

Ricotta Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

3/4 cup ricotta, preferably at room temperature
2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/3 cups blueberries
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin tin, or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

Whisk the ricotta, eggs and vanilla together, then stir in the melted butter.

Working in a large bowl and using your fingertips, rub the sugar and lime zest together until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Switch to a whisk and stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Put the ricotta mixture on top of the dry ingredients and, using a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend—don’t worry about being thorough. The batter will be thick and heavy and that’s fine. Fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin molds, slide the pan into the oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden, springy to the touch and a knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Pull the pan from the oven and carefully lift each muffin out of its mold and onto a rack to cool.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Multigrain pizza dough

From Peter Reinhart:

Put the following into your cuisinart with dough blade or your mixer with dough hook or mix together by hand:
4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup rye flour
1 1/2 T honey
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t instant/bread machine yeast
2 T olive oil

Press the dough button on your cuisinart and then press start. As it mixes, slowly add:

2 cups room temp water

Once it forms a bowl, let it spin around for a few seconds to knead it. You may have to remove it and knead it yourself for a few minutes if your cuisinart isn't big enough to handle the ball of dough. The dough should be tacky but not sticky. If it's sticky, add a bit more flour. If it is too stiff, add a little water.

Grease a big bowl. Form dough into a smooth ball and place in bowl. Spritz with cooking spray or rub top with oil. Put plastic wrap over the bowl so that it does not touch the dough. Let rise 30 minutes on counter then put in fridge overnight.

Two hours before you want to make your pizzas, take the dough out of the fridge. Divide into 4 parts and roll each into a smooth ball. Place them on a greased cookie sheet. Spritz dough balls with oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let sit for two hours.

Preheat oven to 525 (convect if you have it)

Shape each dough ball into a crust (Drape over your hands and use your thumbs to push the dough into crust shape).

If you have a pizza peel, sprinkle some corn meal on it and lay your crust on the peel. Top with your favorite toppings (we like pesto!) and slide into oven (preferably onto a preheated pizza stone) and cook about 7 minutes.