Happy Summer! Ideas for some fun
Bake Austin News June 4th 2015
Oh how excited I am that summer is here! I can't wait to spend time with my boys going swimming, sleeping in, lazing about reading books and just taking it easy.
The photo is from a few years ago on our vacation in California. The boys have since grown a bit more and I am realizing that sooner then later they will all be off to college. So I decided this summer I will focus a bit more on teaching them some valuable life skills.
Cooking is one of them. So of course we will continue working on the pastry aspects in camp, but I am thinking it would also be great if they could cook dinner for me for a change. :)
Here is a totally unedited photo of the boys making pizza. Yep, it's messy, yep, it may require you to breathe slowly and maybe even walk away, BUT it is fun and creative AND it tastes amazing (at least mine did)! The boys thought I was completely nuts for putting out a can of mussels to try on the pizza, but in the end they loved it. I always try throw something in that they might not consider... you know teaching them to love and value new things (really just wanting to blow their minds occasionally). LOL!
Pizza dough - recipe
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
1 package of dried yeast
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour, plus extra for dusting
1 Tbsp melted butter
Instructions:
combine 1/4 cup warm water, sugar and yeast. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes. (This will proof the yeast- if the yeast solution is not frothy try another pack of yeast)
In a large bowl stir together flour and salt, make a well in the center and add the melted butter and yeast solution, rinse out the yeast bowl with the remaining water and add.
Mix everything together and adding more water if needed to make a soft dough.
Take it out of the bowl and knead the dough for approx. 10 minutes by using the heel of your hand to push the dough down and away from you. Fold over the top end, turn it, and repeat.
Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a moist kitchen towel and leave in a draft free warm room for 1 hour. It will double in size.
Preheat your oven now to 425 Fahrenheit.
Punch down the dough and roll out onto a greased cookie sheet.
Cover with your favorite pizza toppings and bake for about 10-12 minutes until nice and golden and bubbly.
Always let your pizza rest for few minutes outside the oven for best results.
Bon Appetite!
Favorite Pizza Toppings at the Simon household:
Canadian bacon
pineapple
mozzarella cheese
tomato sauce
pesto
bacon
feta cheese
blue cheese
apple
basil
sun dried tomatoes
garlic
onion
sausage
pepperoni
banana peppers (which we call pepperoni in Germany)
spinach
artichoke hearts
olives
and now mussels
and spices, lots of spices!!!!
SUMMER CAMPS - SUMMER CAMPS - SUMMER CAMPS
There is still a little room in candy camp...
Rock candy, gummy candies, candy geodes, pop rocks... I think you can imagine the fun we will have!
Every day we are going to play with sugar and make all the candies our heart desires.
But don't worry the sugar consumption at the camp is minimal, we are too busy making stuff, experimenting, having fun...
I also think that these creations will serve well for gifts as well as maybe a little candy booth, the possibilities are endless.
Lastly our summer camps will wrap up with Sugarpaste Sculptures
This is a unique camp that focuses on creating things out of fondant, pastillage and gumpaste. Imagine a clay class but instead of putting your creations on a shelf, in our camp the things the kids will create they get to eat, if they choose to.
I will teach the kids the tricks of the trade, from gumpaste paste flowers to chalices to figurines... the sky is the limit.
At the end of the week you might have enough sugar sculptures to decorate the whole families birthday cakes for the year.
Check out our website to sign up.