Skats Easy Cornmeal Crust Food

EASY CORNMEAL CRUST FOR PIES, GALETTES AND CROSTATAS

Steps:

• Place flour, cornmeal, salt and sugar into a bowl.
• Using a whisk, mix until well combined
• Add butter. Using your hands mix into dry mix, the mixture will be someone mealy looking at this point.
• Add olive oil and stir until combined. There will be areas that arent completely combined, don't worry. When you add the water it will meld.
• Add as much of the ice cold water to have the dough stick together. It may seem a little stringy at this point but it is fine.
• Form into a ball and place in the fridge for 30 mins to an 1 hour until chilled.
• Onto a peice of parchment paper, sprinkle a little bit of cornmeal.
• Place chilled dough ball into the center and then dust a rolling pin with a little cornmeal as well.
• Roll dough out to 1/4" thickness. If the dough starts to stick, sprinkle a little bit more cornmeal on top.
• Bake and use according to your gallete, tart, crust or quiche recipe dictates.
• You can make this ahead and chill up to 3 days.

CORNMEAL PASTRY CRUST

Steps:

• In a large bowl combine flour, cornmeal and salt.
• Whisk to combine well.
• Cut in shortening to resemble coarse crumbs and sprinkle 1 T.
• of water over the mixture.
• Toss with a fork, pushing to the sids of the bowl, repeating until all dry ingredients are moistened.
• Form the dough into 2 balls and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll out and use as you will.

CORNMEAL CRUST

Steps:

• Whisk cornmeal with 1 1/2 cups cold water.
• In a medium saucepan, bring 2 1/2 cups water, salt, and pepper to a boil.
• Gradually stir in cornmeal mixture. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring often, until very thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat; stir in butter until melted.

CORNMEAL CRUST

Steps:

• Prepare the butter and lard, if using. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch (12-mm) cubes (a bench scraper is perfect for this, but a sharp knife works well too), and cut the lard into small pieces. Return them to the fridge to cool.
• In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the milk and vinegar. Refrigerate the mixture until ready to use.
• On a clean flat surface or in a large shallow bowl, toss the flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, sugar, and salt together lightly to blend. Add the butter and lard (if using) to the dry ingredients and, using the tool of your choice, cut the fat into the flour with speed and patience, until the fat has been reduced to small pea-sized chunks. Try to use a straight up-and-down motion, as the more you press on the flour the more tough gluten will develop. Avoid using your fingers, as the heat from your hands will melt the fat and further encourage gluten development. Unlike with pasta or bread, gluten is the enemy of pie dough, so be gentle, and be quick!
• Once your fat has been cut down to size, spread your mixture out to expose as much surface area as possible. Gently drizzle about half of your milk mixture over the flour, trying to cover as wide an area as you can. Using bench scrapers or a large spoon, lightly toss the flour over the liquid, then spread everything out again, and repeat the process with the second half of the liquid.
• You should now have a dough that will just hold together when pressed against the bowl, with visible little chunks of butter. If you need to add more liquid to bind it, do so with more cold milk, adding a tablespoon at a time until you reach the right texture. It's not an exact science, as everything from the humidity in the air to the dryness of your flour will affect the consistency of your dough.
• Once you've reached your goal, cover the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour. The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 1 week, well wrapped, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

S'KAT'S EASY PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Stir together the water, yeast and the sugar.
• Let rest until the yeast foams, about 3 minutes.
• Place 2 1/2-cups of the flour, salt and cornmeal in a mixing bowl and combine.
• Add the yeast mixture and olive oil and stir together to form a sticky dough.
• Remove from bowl and knead, adding the remaining flour a little at a time until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
• The longer you knead, the more texture your dough will have.
• Turn the dough into a lightly oiled bowl.
• Cover with a dry towel and place in a warm, draft free area.
• (I usually stick it in the oven. If your oven is cold, very briefly- about 1 minute- turn to highest temp, then off again, well before placing bowl in oven. Let's not melt any bowls, eh?) Let rise for at least one hour.
• When dough has doubled in bulk, punch back down.
• At this point, add any of the optional ingredients at end of recipe, or as desired.
• Let the dough rise again, until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Or, if there were no extra additions, shape and add toppings.
• Bake at 500°F for about 8 minutes.
• Optional, but worthwhile: fresh herbs (I use basil, oregano and thyme), chopped minced garlic, parmiagiano-reggiano and extra cornmeal for texture.

ACORN SQUASH AND HONEY PIE WITH CORNMEAL CRUST

Steps:

• Cut squash in half lengthwise; remove seeds. Set a steamer rack inside a large pot with 2 inches of simmering water, and steam squash until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• Scrape flesh from the shells of the cooled squash, and puree in the large bowl of a food processor until smooth. Add salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Add eggs, 1/2 cup milk, and honey. Pulse until thoroughly combined.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of dough 1/8 inch thick. Drape over pie pan, trimming edges to fit rim of pan. Create decorative edge as desired. Repeat with remaining dough and pie pans. Mix egg yolk and remaining tablespoon milk; brush over surface of dough.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Divide filling among pie crusts. Transfer pies to lower rack in oven, and bake for 10 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees. and bake until filling is barely set, 25 to 30 minutes more; it will continue to cook as it cools. If crusts get too dark before the custard is done, make a tent with aluminum foil around crust. Transfer pies to wire rack to cool. Serve cold or at room temperature.

CORNMEAL CRUST

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425. Grease 12 inch pizza pan with shortening.
• Heat water to boiling in 2-quart saucepan.
• Stir in remaining ingredients with wire whisk until mixture is smooth and thickens.
• Spoon onto pizza pan and spread evenly, mounding edge slightly.
• Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until set and light brown.
• After you top pizza with your favorite toppings, bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and toppings are hot.