Garlic Knots

Authentic Italian dinner rolls, garlic knots are made out of bread dough(with sauteed garlic) tied in a knot, baked and then brushed with olive oil. Usually served in pizza joints, made there out of left over pizza dough. This is a perfect tea-time snack.

Garlic Knots

Ingredients:

Maida/All purpose flour - 2 cups
Yeast - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/4 cup
Olive Oil - 4 tbsp
Garlic (Crushed) - 10 pods



Method:


Preparing the yeast:
1.Heat 5 tsp of water to lukewarm temperature. Dissolve the sugar  and add yeast. Mix and cover with a lid for 5 minutes, until it foams up.Yeast feeds on sugar.
*If the yeast has not foamed up, that means the yeast is dead and you need to start with a fresh pack.
*Another reason, might be the water was too hot to kill the yeast.
*Also, too much of salt kills the yeast.



Preparing the Dough:

2.In a large bowl, combine the all purpose flour, salt, olive oil. After the yeast has been activated, mix along with the flour and make a soft dough using enough milk.
3.On a clean kitchen counter, place the dough, knead for 10 minutes using the heal of your hand.
4.Transfer the dough into the bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Rest it for 1 hour. This is known as the 'first rise'.
5.After 1 hour, the dough would have doubled in size.
6.Punch back the dough.
7.Transfer the dough into the bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Rest it for another one hour. This is the 'second rise'.
8.After this, the dough would have again doubled in size.
9.In a wok, saute the crushed garlic in 2 tsp of olive oil until cooked and allow it to cool down.
10.Mix the sauteed garlic along with the dough and knead well.



Preparing the knots:

11.Roll the dough into a long cylinder.For bite sized garlic knots,cut into small portions.
12.now roll each portion into a long snake form. Do a knot and place the same on a baking tray greased with oil or parchment paper.
13.Leave some space between the knots as they tend to expand while baking.
14.Cover with a damp cloth and allow it to rise for another 1 hour.
15.Finally brush with olive oil and bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade.

16.After the baking process is over, using the GRILL mode, and further cook it for 10 minutes. This step is basically to brown the top.(Check your oven instruction manual regarding the placement of the tray while grilling. My oven requires the top shelf placement for grilling.)



Delizioso..

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Pizza

Pizza..Pizza...Pizza....brings a smile on everyone's face. 

Pizza is a oven baked, flat round  bread from Italy typically topped with tomato sauce, cheese, olives and you name it, you can add as topping.

Some of the weird pizza toppings I have heard would be banana, chocolate, peanut butter, jelly and what not...

Rather that ordering for one, I attempted to make a pizza from scratch. 

Pizza

Ingredients:

For Pizza Base:
Maida/All purpose flour - 2 cups
Yeast - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Olive Oil - 4 tbsp

For the Pizza Sauce:
Ripe Tomatoes - 2 medium sized
Oregano - 1 tbsp
Chilly Flakes - 1 tsp
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Tomato ketchup - 4 tbsp
Cornflour(if required)-2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

Preparing the yeast:

1.Heat 5 tsp of water to lukewarm temperature. Dissolve the sugar  and add yeast. Mix and cover with a lid for 5 minutes, until it foams up.Yeast feeds on sugar.
*If the yeast has not foamed up, that means the yeast is dead and you need to start with a fresh pack.
*Another reason, might be the water was too hot to kill the yeast.
*Also, too much of salt kills the yeast.

Preparing the Pizza Base:

2.In a large bowl, combine the all purpose flour, salt, olive oil. After the yeast has been activated, mix along with the flour and make a soft dough using enough milk.
3.On a clean kitchen counter, place the dough, knead for 10 minutes using the heal of your hand.
4.Transfer the dough into the bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Rest it for 1 hour. This is known as the 'first rise'.
5.After 1 hour, the dough would have doubled in size.
6.Punch back the dough.
7.Transfer the dough into the bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Rest it for another one hour. This is the 'second rise'.
8.After this, the dough would have again doubled in size.
Preparing the Pizza Sauce:
9.Take 2 tbsp of olive oil in a wok/kadai,  add the chopped tomatoes, oregano, chilly flakes, and salt .Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
10.Remove from fire and allow it to cool. Puree in a mixer and cook again with tomato ketchup.
11.If the sauce is too watery, dissolve cornflour in few tablespoons of water and cook till the sauce thickens.

Assembling the pizza:
12.Divide the dough into four balls and with help of a rolling pin, roll up to 1/2 centimetre thickness.
13.Prick with fork and bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade.
14.Take the pizza base out of the oven and spread the pizza sauce.
15.Now you can spread whatever toppings you fancy, thinly sliced bell peppers. tomatoes, onion rings, sliced mushrooms, corn kernels, jalapenos, olives, chicken shredding and the list goes on and on...:-D
16.Finally top it with shredded mozzarella cheese and bake for 10 minutes at 180degrees centigrade.
17.After the baking process is over, using the GRILL mode, and further cook it for 10 minutes. This step is basically to melt the cheese.(Check your oven instruction manual regarding the placement of the tray while grilling. My oven requires the top shelf placement for grilling.)

Yummy pizza to dig in !!!

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