Rolling In Dough

Do you remember Seventeen magazine? I used to get it every month, except I was thirteen at the time. I asked (begged) for a subscription because the most popular girl in school was constantly reading it in class and I was curious about its content.

Clothes, makeup, hair, cute quizzes, q&a about sex (though being a daughter of an OB-GYN RN, I was very well informed on sex-think diagrams, graphs and medical text books people! So reading the sex questions didn't really hold my interest.) Those were the days of Niki Taylor, Girbaud, big bangs and teased hair.

I enjoyed all of its girly content. Seventeen inspired the all too critical, crucial and very important first day of high school outfit. This was a make or break moment-not only was it high school, but I was also the "new girl." (Ughh!) Well, inspiration-not exactly, I took the look right off of the cover. The hair, the red tank top and plaid shorts-it was too cute and one of my favorite outfits of all time.

Not only did Seventeen give me wardrobe and hair inspiration but it also budded my inner foodie. In the very back of the magazine there was a recipe section. Believe it or not, I'd always turn to this page first. This was the beginning of life long recipe clipping. In fact, my very first clipping was a recipe for pizza dough.

Last week, as I was searching the internet for pizza dough recipes, I was reminded that I actually kept that recipe! A 20 year old recipe straight from the pages of my favorite teen magazine! I remember it being so challenging when I was a girl. Now, being a former scratch baker, I couldn't believe how beautiful and delicious this teen magazine recipe was. It will definitely be sticking around for another 20 years.
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
One 14 inch round pizza

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 Tablespoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour

1. Combine water, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Let yeast activate, about 5 minutes. Add olive oil, half of the flour and salt. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Stir in remaining flour, and transfer dough to a flour covered surface.
2. Knead (fold dough over repeatedly with one hand while working it with the knuckles of your other hand) for 5 minutes or until smooth. Place dough in a clean bowl, cover with a kitchen towel or pan sprayed plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for one hour or until doubled in size. Punch down the dough.
   
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease baking sheets with olive oil or prepare your baking stone. Stretch or roll out dough into a 14 inch circle. Place on prepared baking sheet or stone. Add desired toppings, and bake for 20 minutes or until crust in golden brown.

You can refrigerate the dough after step 2 for several hours or up to two days. In this case, place the dough in the refrigerator for about 40 minutes, punch it down once more and place in a plastic bag.

SHOUT OUT!!! My friend Meghan, over at You're Gonna Bake It After All has an awesome giveaway. It is really cool because the lucky winner can choose between a bamboo cutting board, pizelle maker or a wine rack. It is a very generous giveaway and its easy to enter. Leave a comment on her blog post and/or mention the giveaway on your blog. Good Luck! (and wish me luck too!)

Giant Soda Muffins

One of my favorite times to visit San Antonio's River Walk is during St. Patrick's Day. They do their best to dye the river green and masses of St. Patty's Day partiers drown themselves in green beer and hope not to fall in the river.

You see, my husband and I do not drink alcohol (ok, more like its a rarity.) He is displeased with the taste and it burns like fire in my stomach (which I was later told was not normal) So instead we are mere observers.

The first time we had gone to the River Walk on St. Patrick's Day was by pure coincidence and it ended up being a blast. Though the river dye had faded back to the murky brown, we enjoyed viewing all of the party-goers and drunkards. We stayed up into the night, walked the river route and parked ourselves on a bench.

Sad but true, not only are we observers-but we are also poking fun at the lushes behind their back. So all of the obnoxious, loud, puffed up like a rooster men and the sloshed up, 'now I think I'm really sexy' women gave us plenty to talk and laugh about that night. We only saw one fall into the depths of the murky river but she was quickly recovered. I wonder if she thought she was super sexy after that?

This year my husband surprised me with a weekend get-away, the first since our 18 month old was born. This time, the trip is with mixed emotions-excited for the break but nervous because it is my first time away from my baby boy. So, Casa Rio, Schilo's Delicatessen (pronounced she-lows), Mi Tierra, Pat O'Brien's...here we come!

Giant Soda Muffins
Yield: 6 large muffins
These muffins are similar to Irish Soda Bread. They are very large and delicious for a St. Patrick's Day Breakfast. Serve slathered with butter and jam. Then, you can enjoy that green beer later on in the day.

Nonstick spray
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup golden raisins
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray six jumbo (1 cup) muffin cups with nonstick spray.
2. Sift next 6 ingredients into a large bowl. Add butter, blending with fingertips until incorporated. Stir in raisins.
3. Whisk buttermilk and egg together in a small bowl. Add to dry ingredients. Stir to blend. Spoon batter into muffin cups.
4. Bake muffins until tested inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and cool slightly on rack.