Sunday, December 5, 2010

Using Recipes on the Internet

Homemade pizza with mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, bell pepper 
and rocket leaves.. I like the combination of the toppings.. but not the dough

I'm often wary of using recipes from the internet.. yet I like trying out new dishes and new recipes.. and one has to admit that the internet today is one of the best sources of recipes.

But there are so many recipes online... it's sometimes hard to know which one to try.

My experience tells me that just because there are lots of positive comments doesn't mean the recipe will turn out great. (E.g. this banana cake recipe that I tried) I had my qualms about this particular "Thin Cracker Crust Pizza Recipe", even when I was making it.

The recipe called for:
- 1 pound high gluten flour
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt

But even when I was kneading the dough, I found that 3/4 cup of warm water just isn't enough to bring the flour together. I think I added about 2 times that amount. And the dough was still pretty hard after the long rising time. I had a really tiring time rolling out all that dough.

So my pizza dough, understandably, turned out not as thin as I liked.. It was rather cracker-like though.. but like a really hard and thick cracker. A bit too thick for my liking.

Fortunately, my tried-and-tested beef stew saved the day.. or rather the dinner.

My favourite beef stew with carrots, baby tomatoes, onions and celery

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