Recipes You May Have Missed
Plus tools for fantastic homemade pizza every time.
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Pumpkin-Apple Caramel Hot Dish
This recipe is sort of a cross between my pumpkin bundt cake and an apple crisp. For the uninitiated, a hot dish is basically a savory casserole, it just so happens to be called "hot dish" mostly in Minnesota and casserole everywhere else. Hot dish usually contains a starch, a meat, canned or frozen vegetables and is mixed with canned soup (usually "cream of something"), then baked. Sometimes it's topped with cheese, sometimes with tater tots or crispy fried onions, sometimes all of them. This is my dessert version (which is waaaay more delicious in my opinion!). I can't wait for you to give it a try! In this post you’ll also learn all about crisps, cobblers and crumbles.
Meringue Cake with Roasted Pears
You have probably figured out my fascination for all things meringue, so when I came upon the Meringue Cake with Roasted Apples recipe in Aran Goyoaga’s new book Canelle et Vanille Bakes Simple, I knew exactly where I would start in her book.
The only turn I took from her recipe, which she has graciously allowed me to share with you, is that I used pears instead of apples. You must try this beautiful and delicious cake. And for any of you who are not familiar with Aran’s work, all of her recipes are gluten free. This one also has instructions for making it dairy-free, if you so choose. Her new book would be a wonderful gift for the holidays.
Pumpkin Cake with Balsamic Cinnamon Meringue and Bittersweet Ganache
This is a cake I recently baked at the Cherry Bombe Cooks & Books event in Brooklyn. All of the recipes are from Zoë Bakes Cakes, but I rearranged them into this sassy layer cake with a toasted meringue top. The pumpkin bundt cake from the book, can be baked as rounds, then separated by chocolate ganache and topped with the Swiss Meringue Topping. I decided for the sake of fall flavors and wanting to temper the sweetness of the meringue, I added an aged balsamic vinegar and ground cinnamon to the whipped peaks, before spiking it onto the cake and setting it ablaze with a blow torch.
Homemade Pizza
Pizza is easily my favorite food. There is nothing more satisfying than one straight from the oven with bubbling sauce, a pull of cheese and all your favorite toppings.
The third book in my Breadin5 cookbook series was Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. In 2009 I packed up my family and we did extensive “research” in Italy to find the best pizza. It was tough work, but I made the great sacrifice for my craft. Just kidding, it was the best, most delicious trip of my life, and the kids LOVED it too.
I loved eating those pizzas in Italy, but I take a much more relaxed and inclusive approach to my pizza making at home. Basically, anything goes! There are so many crust variations, sauces, and toppings and I love pulling a freshly baked pizza out of my backyard wood fired pizza oven, but you can just as easily recreate that feeling in your home kitchen oven. See all my recommended equipment below!
Want to see just how easy it is to make incredible pizza in the comfort of your home? Be sure to watch episode 7 of Zoë Bakes on Magnolia Network!
If you want to learn more of my tips and tricks for homemade pizza, read a Q&A with the owners of a local pizza farm, and get an exclusive pizza dough recipe, be sure to upgrade to my Extras newsletter!
Pizza Making Equipment
To make delicious homemade pizza, I recommend a large dough bucket, dough whisk, pizza stone and pizza peel. The pizza oven I have in my backyard is a Fontana Forni. Check out my Amazon shop to see all the best pizza making equipment!