Rosemary Focaccia and Book Giveaway!

You would think I have not cooked or baked anything in the last couple weeks since I've been staying at my son's house watching their 16yr. old sweet Black Lab named Thai whom I thought was still only 13yrs old. She is actually going to be 17, and still going strong...although she is practically deaf, has major cataracts, but is as beautiful and sweet, with a shiny black  hair her tummy totally grey now, and in the best shape ever (meaning she is not overweight)...Family finally came home last night, and I'm so happy that they all had such a great time.

I, in the meantime have been eating at my daughter's house and enjoying company with Fabrizio's young cousins from Italy. Two lovely young girls, ages 18 and 20. Lora and I were taking turns cooking the main meal at lunch time, and also for dinner. I decided to make my favorite rosemary focaccia...with lots of fresh chopped focaccia, homegrown from their little garden. I've been trying to find a decent photo of this, but what difference does it make?...not even trying to get into the Top 9 for Foodbuzz, so "what you see is what you get"...it is what it is!!!

Sometimes I prefer a nice simple focaccia instead of pizza, because it does take less work and you don't even need a topping other than fresh herbs. The dough is so fresh, the topping is crunchy, and I also added fresh course sea salt on the top before I baked it. I love course sea salt, and also love salted bagels, but have to watch the sodium, because that can bloat you and too much of a "good thing" can harm your health!

Before I continue the rest of this post regarding rosemary focaccia, I would like to offer a very nice and unique book giveaway...another "thrift find" which is by the way a brand new book that I happened to find at my favorite Goodwill store. A few of you have it already a giveaway gift, from other bloggers, so now it's my turn to offer it as a giveaway since I do not bake in small quantities but I did want to get this book for a chance to offer it to someone that really could use it!

You honestly don't have to do a thing...it only applies to followers of my blog. Very simple! You have till Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 11:00PM EST. to reply on my blog, and I will use Random.org to determine the winner, and will ship ANYWHERE else, outside United States and Canada. Now isn't that a nice offer? So drop me a few lines, and let me know if you're interested in  this wonderful Small-Batch Baking book!

True Random Number Generator

Min:

Max:

Result:

14

Powered by RANDOM

...and the winner is, Suhaina

Congratulations...I will contact you by e-mail!

Thanks to all of you for your participation, and support!

Homemade Garlic Rolls, and Conversions!

I finally made the long awaited garlic rolls Sunday morning, and shared it with my family...only to get complaints by the little guys...my 4 little grandchildren. "What's all the green stuff?"...and too much garlic! Although, it was a hit by everyone else...meaning, the adults. Well, at least, all the rolls were gone, in one sitting....and as you notice, they are not tall, but at least they are fluffy, but short, packed full of chopped fresh garlic, Italian parsley, and rosemary.
The reason they are "little short guys" ...no excuses...but one. I used my Le Creuset large lasagna pan to bake the rolls in, and instead of 8 rolls, I had enough for practically double at least 14, so I sliced them thinner.
So thank you Suhaina for the amazing dry yeast from Singapore, and thank you, for the inspiration. Now, I can make this again, with less garlic, and omit the herbs, so my grandchildren will not complain...and make them taller,
using a smaller bake pan.
For the recipe, click on to Suhaina's My Singapore Kitchen

I didn't have cilantro, or sesame seeds, but I did have the parsley and rosemary, which I used, and also sprinkled grated Romano cheese on the top before I baked it. Also, the baking time took a little longer, because 350 degrees F. was not high enough for the heavy duty bake pan, so I raised the temperature to 375 degrees F. for a total of 35 minutes, instead of 25 minutes.

I must confess, I have never made these type of rolls before, so I have to pat myself on the shoulders that because of the fantastic yeast, and the step-by-step instructions, I did OK! I'm always marveling at Roxana's beautiful yeast rolls, and bread that make it to the Foodbuzz Top 9... Mina's amazing sweet breads, and rolls, and just recently, Mari's gorgeous 4 braided Challah bread, and Swathi's beautiful  whole grain and rye breads...it's a shame for me not to pursue more yeast dough baking. My daughter Lora makes quite a lot of delicious yeast breads, and perfect pizza dough, so I do have a good excuse to be lazy about my own yeast baking. Enough of that!

I'm linking this to Hearth and Soul Hop #51

I always had a bit of shying away from Metric measures, but I have a real helpful hint from the back of my New Basics Cookbook....so get your little calculator out, and start multiplying, and dividing!

ounces to grams: multiply ounce figure by 28.3 to get number of grams
grams to ounces: multiply gram figure by .0353 to get number of ounces
pounds to grams: multiply pound figure by 453.59 to get number of grams
pounds to kilograms: multiply pound figure by 045 to get number of kilograms
ounces to milliliters: multiply ounce figure by 30 to get number of milliliters.
cups to liters: multiply cup figure by 0.24 to get number of liters


There are more conversions and equivalents, but these are the most important ones to remember when you need to convert from Metric to the American system, and vica-versa.

Pizza...Awards...and PGA Mall

Last Friday...as almost every Friday, Lora made this amazing pizza dough that has become a staple meal, with a side salad, or a vegetable dish. In this case she had the green beans, and leftover pancetta, to add to the pizza topping...and oh, yes caramelized onion, and homemade sauce that she always has on hand for a quick pasta dish. I keep bugging her to post the pizza photos, but she not only does not take photos of it, I always end up taking the photos. Her pizza dough is the easiest and best, made with all, or half whole wheat flour, and half bread flour. Here's Lora's homemade pizza recipe, @cake duchess

Just look at this yummy goodness...Sweet caramelized onions, crispy pancetta homemade tomato sauce, and ooey-gooey mozzarella cheese topping the thin, crispy, crunchy fresh, hot, homemade pizza dough. Trust me on this one...no comparison to take-out!...now, for the lovely blue dish of  Lora's. Long story behind this set of 12 English china set, that was a gift to daughter's hubby, from a lovely English young lady that was a mutual friend to both Lora, and Fabrizio, that he brought into the marriage 10 years ago. They still manage to have most of the set, even if a plate or two breaks, lucky me...I find the same dishes at my thrift finds, but not cheap. Each plate costs $2.99. My daughter finally told me after I replaced 4 plates..."please mom, don't get any more, I'm trying to get rid of these, so I can get a new set"...