Whole Wheat Chicken-Feta Pizza (From Scratch) with Spinach-Mushroom Salad

Don't turn your back on this whole wheat pizza because it didn't taste like cardboard, for sure. The crust is prepared from a mix of wheat flour and APF. Also, i have added few dried herbs to the flour to make the crust even more flavorful. These days everybody is trying to sneak in some healthy stuff into their favorite dishes and one such dish is my pizza. For topping, use the real cheese, but in moderation and skip the low-fat ones. This way, you will feel full and satisfied and also escape from cravings. My next pizza will be 'all WWF, no APF'. I guess so...

Ingredients:

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour (Maida), divided

1 1/2 cups Warm Water

1 tbsp Active Dry Yeast

1/2tsp Italian Seasoning (optional)

1/2tsp Pizza Seasoning (optional)

1tbsp Olive oil, more for greasing 

1tsp Sugar

1tsp Salt

How to:

Dough:

• Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water and let sit for 10 mins, until foamy.

• In a big bowl, mix together the whole wheat flour, 1 cup APF, seasonings and salt.

• Add the olive oil to the flour mixture and mix it well.

• Now pour the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix until dough starts to come together.

• Transfer the dough to a floured flat surface and start kneading by slowly adding the remaining 1/2 cup APF and prepare a smooth dough. Knead for 10 mins.

• Now transfer the kneaded dough to a clean oiled bowl, wrap it with a kitchen towel and place it inside the microwave oven. (Do not switch on the oven.)

• Let it rest for an hour, until doubled.

• Once doubled, gently knead the dough for a min getting the air out of the dough.
• Divide the dough into equal halves and let rest for another 45 mins in the same warm place.

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and grease a cookie sheet/ baking pan.
• Transfer one dough ball onto the greased sheet/pan, gently press with your hands to make desired shape of equal thickness. (You can make 2 thin crust pizzas.)

Toppings:

Pizza Sauce (see the recipe here)

1/2 small Green Bell Pepper (thinly sliced)

1/2 small Red Onion (thinly sliced)

1/2 cup Shredded chicken (already cooked)

1/4 cup Crumbled Feta Cheese

2 Fresh Mozzarella balls (sliced and cubed)

Baking:

• Spread the sauce over the dough leaving 1/2 to 1 inch from the sides.

• Top it with pepper, onion, chicken the cheeses.

• Bake for 18 mins, until the crust is golden brown and the cheeses are all melted.

• Slice it up and devour. 

Spinach-Mushroom Salad:

Ingredients:

2 handfuls Fresh Baby Spinach

2 White Button Mushrooms (thinly sliced)

1/4 Red onion (thinly sliced)

1tbsp Crumbled Feta Cheese

1tbsp Olive Oil

1tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

1tsp low sodium Soy Sauce

1/4tsp Ground Black Pepper

How to:

• Toss together the spinach, mushroom, red onion and feta.

• In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce and black pepper.

• Pour the dressing over the spinach and mushroom and give it a gentle mix.

• Serve as a side with pizza.

Whole Wheat Focaccia (Italian Bread)

Focaccia is a flat italian bread topped with herbs and seasoned with olive oil and salt. It is eaten as a snack in Italy. Here in US, you would normally eat as a sandwich stuffed with cheese and meat/vegetables. It is similar to the making of pizza, instead of rolling the dough thin, it is hand pressed to a even thicker dough and dotting over the unbaked dough(that is making indentations)is practiced. The recipe calls for no wheat flour, so if you want a light airy bread, you can replace the wheat flour with all purpose flour. Pushing to be a bit more healthy turns the bread a little dense. But the bread was very soft and tasty. My food critic complained about the denser side, but he absolutely loved the taste. Feel free to top the bread with your favorites and enjoy the hot bread. Baking breads at home are so comforting and therapeutic and makes your whole kitchen smell heavenly. And here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour

2 cups + 1/4 cup All purpose flour (maida)

1 pack Rapid rise yeast

1/4 cup + 2tbsp Olive oil

1 2/3 cups warm Water

1tsp Sugar

2 1/2tsp Salt

Topping:

1tsp dried Rosemary

few thinly sliced Red onion

How to:

• Grease a 15x10" baking sheet with olive oil and keep it aside.
• Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water and let sit for 5 mins.

• In a big bowl, add the flours and salt, mix well, followed by 1/4 cup olive oil.
• Once the yeast bowl is foamy, pour'em into the flour bowl and bring it together starting to knead.

• Dust the surface by slowly adding the remaining 1/4 cup flour and knead for 15 mins to a soft, non-sticky dough.

• Transfer the dough onto the greased baking sheet and flatten'em evenly by pressing with your hands.

• Cover the dough with a wet kitchen towel and let rest for 1 1/2 hrs in a warm place to rise.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Meanwhile mix the 2tbsp olive oil with the rosemary and onion and keep it aside.

• Once the dough is risen, make indentations all over the dough with your finger.

• Now, with a pastry brush, spread the oil mixture on top the dough. Also arrange the left over onion slices and sprinkle a pinch of salt on top.

• Bake the bread for 20 mins. Let it cool before you slice'em.

• Serve it as a snack, use it for making sandwiches or drizzle some almond butter and gobble it up like me.

To Store, refrigerate the left over bread in a tight container.

My 150th Post, Risotto with Mozzarella and an Award

I am very happy to be here right now with these many posts and i would like to thank all my blogger friends who had constantly contributed their support with their comments and sharing of awards. Also, i thank my hubby 'Senthil', who is also my food critic, for his never-ending encouragement which kept me going.  

My friend who had recently visited Italy, bought me this Risotto Mediterraneo, knowing my fondness towards Italian dishes. Thanks to her, i made a wonderful meal thats full of flavor and it eventually puts a smile with even more cheese.

Risotto is an Italian dish of rice cooked in any(chicken or veg) broth to a creamy consistency. The mix had extra fine Camroli rice and dried ingredients like olives, bell peppers, tomato, zucchini, aubergine, carrot and parsley. Its being cooked with the stock slowly added to the rice while it is stirred constantly. This way the rice releases its starch resulting in a creamy texture. I would say the main ingredient to make a perfect risotto would be 'patience'. Yep, it holds you for the whole cooking time and its totally worth it. So, say Cheese and have fun with risotto.

Ingredients:

1 cup Risotto Mediterraneo Mix / Any Risotto rice

3 cups Chicken broth (low sodium)

1/2 Yellow onion (chopped)

3-4 Garlic pods (minced)

1 1/2tbsp Tomato-Basil sauce (optional)

1tsp Crushed Pepper

2 Large Basil Leaves (Chiffonade)

2-3 Sun dried tomatoes (chopped)

1/4 cup or more Mozzarella Cheese (grated)

2tbsp Olive Oil

Salt

How to:

• Heat the chicken broth and let it simmer at low heat.

• Heat oil in a skillet at medium heat, add onions,saute for a couple of mins or until tender, then add garlic and saute until raw smell disappears.

• Now add the rice and toast it for a couple of mins, stirring continuously, so as to coat each grain of rice with olive oil. (Careful not to brown'em.)

• Add the tomato-basil sauce along with 1/2 a cup of chicken broth and cook with lid closed until the liquid is absorbed by the rice.

• Slowly add 1/2 cup at a time and cook the rice. Do not pour the broth if the rice hasn't absorbed all the previous liquid thats already cooking.
• Add salt and adjust to your taste, as the broth and sauce has already salt in them.
• Also, if you are out of broth, substitute it with hot water. (Pouring warm or cold water while cooking may slow down the cooking and make the rice hard.

• Pour more or less liquid and taste as you cook until the rice is 'al dente'.
• Then add the crushed pepper and sun dried tomatoes, mix well and cook for another min.

• Now switch off, add the basil chiffonade followed by mozzarella cheese and gently fold in. (Actually, i added more cheese just before serving.)

•  Serve hot with roasted asparagus.

Also, am very happy to receive this award from Shoba's Food Maaza. I recently started following her and found a wonderful collection of recipes. Do visit her, if you already haven't.

Thanks again Shoba.