Dinner | | Page 5

Today I made Amish bread! From the cookbook Stephen got me for my birthday – The Amish Cook’s Baking Book by Lovina Eicher. I modified the recipe only slightly and as my first time making bread like this, I think it turned out pretty well. It was extremely yummy. I kept pulling pieces off after I’d already had a couple of slices.

Lovina’s Homemade Bread (modified only slightly)

1 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast (or 1 package)
2 1/2 Cups Warm Water
~~Lard~~ Vegetable Shortening (amount the size of a large egg)
2 Tbsp Sugar (I used light brown sugar)
1 Tbsp Salt (I used 2 teaspoons, but mine turned out a little sweet – I liked it)
Enough bread flour to make a soft dough

I think I used about 4, maybe 5, cups but I really have no idea. I was too focused on adding 1/2 cup of the flour at a time and watching how the dough looked to see if I was doing it right.

Grease a 5 by 9 inch loaf pan.

In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup warm water with yeast to soften. In another bowl, combine 2 cups warm water, softened vegetable shortening, sugar, and salt. Incorporate the yeast mixture. Stir until combined. Add bread flour 1/2 cup at a time “mixing until the dough is elastic and doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.” I was a little unsure of myself with this step because I haven’t made a lot of bread in my life but I did my best at guessing how it should look.

Once combined, cover and let rise in warm spot until doubled. Takes from 1 to 1.5 hours. Preheat oven to 325 Degrees Fahrenheit while the dough is rising. Once risen, punch down dough and form into loaf shape (for me this required a lot of extra flour but perhaps I didn’t add enough to being with). Place in greased loaf pan and allow to rise an additional 30 minutes until the dough fills out the pan and is about level with the top.

Bake for 45 minutes. Lovina suggests coating the dough with oil before baking to keep the bread soft or brushing with butter when it’s finished for similar effect. I brushed the top of mine with honey before baking.

NOTE: My vegetable shortening didn’t really start to combine until I added the flour but the warm water eventually made it melt (sort of) into the mixture.

Sooo yummy.

All weekend Stephen wanted to make Jambalaya. I think he’s wanted to make it for some time now. So on Friday when we went to Wegmans we picked up some vegetarian sausage. We’d never tried replacement sausage before so I quickly Googled the best brands and read that Field Roast was a winner (it definitely was). We bought the standard “Italian” flavor.

Now, last weekend when we went to Wegmans a gentleman convinced us to make our own pizza dough. We make our own pie crust, our own pretzels, and so on but we’d never made our own pizza dough for some reason. Well, we decided to heed his advice & Stephen bought some pizza dough yeast.

Late afternoon we decided to make the pizza crust but we weren’t going to have enough time to make a pizza so we deliberated on what kind of pizza we would make when we got home from a couple of meetings. Why not try to make a jambalaya inspired pizza?

Jambalaya Pizza:

For the Dough:

3 1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Organic Whole Wheat Flour (a little extra for kneading)
Pinch of Salt
1 1/2 Cups Warm Water
1 Package Yeast (2 1/4 TSP)
1 TBSP Brown Sugar

For the Topping:

Olive Oil
1 Green Bell Pepper, large dice
1 Medium Onion, slivers
1 Green Finger Chili, diced with seeds & ribs
1 Clove Garlic, minced
2 Field Roast Italian Sausage (vegan)
2 Small Tomatoes, diced (roma would work)
Cajun Seasoning
Dried Thyme
Trappey’s Red Devil Hot Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese

To prepare the dough: In a large mixing bowl combine 1 1/2 cup warm water with a packet of yeast and brown sugar. Stir gently and let sit for about 5 minutes to activate yeast. Then stir in the flours using a rubber spatula, until ball forms. Flour a flat dry surface, turn out the dough, and kneed. Add flour as necessary. Tip: flour your hands! Next oil a bowl and place dough into bowl. Allow 30min-2hour rise time, depending on climate conditions. To expedite, we covered bowl in foil and put it in front of a space heater on low!

Flour (or semolina) a pizza pan or cookie sheet. Punch down risen dough to remove air pockets. Turn out onto pan and spread with fingers to size of pan. Rub lightly with olive oil & cracked black pepper. Cook at 425 Degrees for 5 minutes or until just turning light golden.

Heat olive oil in medium/large frying pan. Add liberal amount of cajun seasoning and sizzle to bring out flavor. Sautee bell pepper & onion over medium heat until tender. Add chili and continue to sautee. Add bite-sized pieces of Italian Sausage. Add garlic & tomatoes to pan. Add pinch of dry thyme. Add plenty of hot sauce (to taste). The vinegar adds a nice kick of acidity and punches up the flavor. Turn heat down while all ingredients cook.

Spread sautéed mixture on slightly precooked pizza dough. Sprinkle with desired quantity of mozzarella cheese. We kept the cheese light this time, just using up the remaining cheese from the fridge.

Bake at 425 Degrees for 10 more minutes or until cheese bubbles and turns light brown. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 2 minutes. I know it’s hard to wait.