Secret Recipe Club: Polenta Pizza Crust Monday, Feb 25 2013

This is my 12th Secret Recipe Club reveal day! I’ve enjoyed being part of this group, being assigned a food blog, choosing a recipe, and trying it out. Oftentimes, the blogs assigned were quite different than how I normally cook. So it was a challenge, especially at times, to find something that my whole family would like, yet something new and unique to try out! 🙂

I’ve enjoyed this time, but sadly this chapter of my blogging life is coming to a close now. With our recent move, getting used to our new schedule, expecting our 3rd, homeschooling our 1st, and preparing for our move to Africa in a few months, I have to let some things go. As fun as it’s been to be part of SRC, sadly, I’ll pass that fun on to another food blogger waiting to join. 🙂  So thanks for joining me in these past reveals, and do check in from time to time! Of course there will be new recipes posted here, that’s my hobby! 😉  I’m enjoying putting my recipes on here as it will also be so handy once we are in Africa, where I can’t bring all my cookbook stash. 🙂

This month, I was assigned Bean’s blog, Without Adornment. How fun to get to end this SRC journey with being assigned a fellow Canadian food blogger! 🙂  Bean cooks gluten-free, and, also has a lot of recipes that are dairy free, egg free, etc. It’s a great blog for those of you with these allergies!

After browsing around, I decided on the Vegan Polenta Pizza. However, I’m not using her toppings (kale, mushrooms and pine nuts). Sounds yummy to me, but I do have one child who is a picky eater, so I try to be sensitive to that, while pushing him to try new things as well. 🙂  He LOVES pizza, and guess what? He loved this one! I didn’t tell him it was a different crust. He took a bite and said “Mmm, this is good food!” and ate his whole piece. Yay!!!

I’m also excited about this crust, because, in Africa, they eat a lot of maize, which I believe is sort of similar to cornmeal. Since that will be so readily available to us, I’m sure I’ll be able to make a very similar pizza-crust to this recipe! And since my sons love it – yay! 😀  So thank you, Bean, for this recipe that I’m sure will come handy in the future!

Polenta Pizza Crust

2 cups water
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
dash pepper
3/4 cup cornmeal

Bring water to boil. Add seasonings and oil. Whisk in cornmeal slowly, and let it simmer/boil 5-7 minutes, until thick (oatmeal-like consistency), stirring constantly. Add a bit of water if necessary, though I didn’t need to – probably depends how hard you let it boil. 🙂

Spread on greased cookie sheet/pizza pan, working quickly so that the polenta doesn’t have time to set. I spread it on an 11″ circular pizza pan and it seemed the perfect thickness to us (“thin-crust”).

Bake at 450F for 20-25 minutes, until lightly brown underneath. Remove from oven, and put desired toppings on. Return to oven and bake another 10 minutes.

Breakfast Pizza Toppings (as pictured above):

4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
Meat or sausage of choice
Pizza sauce/salsa
Cheese

Mix together eggs and milk, and cook in a frying pan. I left them slightly undercooked as they cooked a bit more in the oven.

Put desired sauce on top of polenta crust. I used pizza sauce on half, and salsa on the other (kid-friendly and for adults!). Spread scrambled eggs over the top. Place meat/sausage of choice. Top with cheese!

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Cornmeal Pizza Dough Friday, Dec 9 2011

This is a nice variation to traditional pizza dough, especially if you’re making a Mexican pizza! It’s from the Fleischmann’s Yeast Best-Ever Breads booklet.

 

Cornmeal Pizza Dough

1 cup wheat flour (I use spelt)
3/4 – 1 cup white flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp yeast
2 Tbsp oil
1 cup very warm water
Cornmeal (about 1 Tbsp), optional

Proof yeast if necessary; if using instant yeast, just mix in with your flour! Mix all ingredients, adding flour until the dough is smooth and doesn’t stick to the sides (or sticks just a little bit). Knead 5 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl, rolling it around to oil all around the dough. Cover with a cloth.

Let rise 30min-1hr, or until doubled. Punch down. Sprinkle greased pizza pans with cornmeal. Roll out dough into pizza pans (it makes one large one with thick crust, or two thin crusts).

Add your toppings. Bake 20min at 400F, or until golden brown underneath.

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Multi-grain Pancakes Friday, Jul 1 2011

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I made these pancakes. May I say I was very pleasantly surprised!! While cooking, these pancakes really fluff up nicely! They are not dense like I expected. We will definitely be making these again! Thanks, Iris, for a delicious recipe!

 

Multi-grain Pancakes

Stir together in bowl:
1 cup whole wheat flour/spelt*
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar (brown or white)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Add:
2 eggs, beaten (just with fork or whisk)
2 cups buttermilk**
1/4 cup oil

Stir just until combined and fry.

* I used closer to 1 1/2 cups to get a bit of a thicker pancake, but also since I was using fresh-ground flour which isn’t as compact. Start with one cup of flour and add more as desired for the thickness you want!

** I used regular milk mixed with 2 Tbsp of vinegar.

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