5-16-2011 Pizza Party and Mango Scones

This afternoon I had a craving for scones, and I immediately went into my kitchen to make some. I waited patiently while they were baking, and after letting them cool off a minute, I devoured 2 huge scones. Let me tell you, these were the best scones I have ever had. They were moist (unlike most scones), tender and crumbly, just perfect! The recipe is below.

I'm dreaming of the day, I will have a little girl, so we can have tea parties and bake scones together. My boys have no interest in anything girly, all they care about is playing pirates and tearing apart our house. But, they do love to cook with me. Tonight, we did just that.

King Hock had a business dinner, so I wanted to do something fun for our dinner. We had a pizza party! I made the crust in the bread machine, and they boys and I assembled 3 kinds of pizza: Cheese, White, and Margherita. We had a great time, and all of the pizza varieties were delish. Recipes below.

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Mango Scones

I made these parve (dairy free) by substituting the cream for 1 carton of Rich's Whip. I found this recipe online on Tasty Kitchen.

2 C. all purpose flour

1/4 C. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

5 T. cold margarine, or butter

1 C. cream, or rich's whip

1/2 C. ripe mango, peeled, and diced (I used 1 large mango)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silpat.

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Using a pastry cutter, cut in the margarine or butter. Then mix in the cream until combined. Add the mango.

Lightly flour the countertop, place dough on countertop. Knead the dough a few times, and shape into a circle (dust the top with a little bit of flour). Roll the circle out until it is 1/2" thick. Cut into 8 triangular pieces (like a pizza). Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet.

Crack 1 egg into a small bowl, and lightly beat. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg. Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

Remove from oven, and cool on a cooling rack.

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Pizza Dough

This recipe can be made by hand or by bread machine. 

Ingredients:

1 3/4 C. water

1/4 C. olive oil

1 3/4 t. kosher salt

1 t. sugar

4 1/2 C. all purpose flour

To make this in the bread machine:

Place the ingredients in your bread machine bowl in the order listed above. Turn on the dough cycle. When the dough cycle is over, remove the dough and place onto a lightly floured counter top. 

Cut the dough into 8 equal portions (this will make 8 small pizzas, you can cut less pieces for larger pizzas). Stretch the dough into a round shape, and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment and dusted with a bit of cornmeal. 

Preheat oven to 550 degrees. Place sauce and toppings on crust, and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbly and the crust is golden as well. 

Here is the by hand method:

adapted from 101cookbooks.com

Combine all the ingredients. Mix by hand. Knead for 5-7 minutes until soft, will still be sticky.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment and spray with non stick spray or grease with oil. Divide the dough into 4-8 equal portions (depending on how large you want the pizzas) then place on the baking sheet. Using a bit of flour, shape the portions into round balls. Coat the dough with oil or non stick spray, then cover with plastic wrap.

Place in the fridge for at least one day or up to three days.

Remove the dough 2 hours before you plan on baking. Place the sheet tray in a warm spot in your kitchen.
Pre-heat your oven (if you have a pizza stone pre-heat your oven with the stone inside) to 450 for 45 minutes prior to baking.

With your hands or a rolling pin, shape one of the portioned dough pieces to the desired size and thickness. Place on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or use the back of a baking sheet. Top with desired toppings and bake until crust is lightly golden and cheese is melted and bubbly.

Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to 3 months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.

Cheese Pizza:

This is self explanatory. Coat the dough with tomato sauce, I like to use jarred marinara. Then sprinkle with good quality mozzarella. Be sure not to under bake, cook until the cheese is golden.

White Pizza:

Cover the dough with a thick coating of ricotta cheese. Then sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. Sprinkle on mozzarella cheese. Again, bake until golden.

Margherita Pizza:

Cover the dough with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Then place thinly sliced tomatoes on top of the tomato sauce. Sprinkle lightly with mozzarella cheese. Bake until bubbly and golden. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with fresh chopped basil. 

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We topped off our fun night by doing something out of the ordinary: after bathing the boys, and putting on their pajamas, we went for a walk. The weather has been gorgeous, why not enjoy it as much as possible? Why not enjoy life as much as possible?

Enjoy your night!

P.S. My new facebook Dish on Delish by Lee Hock page is up and running, don't forget to "like" it.

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