Hobo Pies

I had the best of intentions to catch up on blogging this summer, but I've been busy enjoying my newfound free time in other ways. So, while I have baked, I haven't gotten to the blogging part yet. Until now, that is.

This is one of my favorite summer recipes: hobo pies. Every year I look forward to camping—the time that we usually make hobo pies—so that I can eat my fill. It's been two years since I went camping and I'm not going this year, so I was delighted when my aunt suggested making them in their fire pit.

In case you aren’t familiar with hobo pies, I’ll explain.

Hobo pies are grilled cheese sandwiches parading as campfire food. They are made in a hobo pie maker, which consists of two bread-shaped pieces of iron with long handles. Buttered bread and some choice toppings go inside the iron part. The hobo pie maker is put in the fire until the hobo pie is crispy on the outside, hot and melty on the inside.
Everyone looks forward to hobo pie night when we’re camping! We usually do pizza hobo pies for dinner, and blueberry marshmallow hobo pies for dessert. However, the filling choices are practically endless.

Neither I nor google is exactly sure where the name "hobo pies" came from (hobos sitting around a campfire making a simple dinner?), so, without further ado, here is the recipe.

Pizza Hobo Pies

Ingredients:
Sandwich Bread
Butter, for spreading on bread
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza toppings (ham, pineapple, pepperoni, ground sausage, onions, peppers, etc.)

Directions:
1. Spread butter on two pieces of bread. Put bread in hobo pie makers, buttered side facing the iron.
2. Spread sauce on one or both pieces of bread. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on one of the pieces of bread. Put desired toppings on top of the cheese.
3. Put the hobo pie maker back together—it works best if the iron with the piece of bread without toppings is tipped over onto the iron holding the bread with toppings.
4. Put hobo pie maker into the coals of a bonfire; after about 3 minutes (depending on how hot the coals are), check the piece of bread facing the coals, and check about every minute after that until the bread is golden brown. Once golden brown, turn the hobo pie maker over so that the other piece of bread is facing down.
5. Remove from fire when both pieces of bread are golden brown. Be careful with the hobo pie maker when dumping out the hobo pie; it will be extremely hot. Be sure to place the hobo pie maker where it won't melt anything or burn someone. Wait 1-2 minutes when it is cooler to eat the hobo pie.

Dessert Hobo Pies

Ingredients:
1 can of pie filling (blueberry, cherry, etc.)
Marshmallows or marshmallow fluff

Directions:
1. Spread butter on two pieces of bread. Put bread in hobo pie makers, butter side facing the iron.
2. Spread pie filling on one or both pieces of bread. Spread marshmallows or marshmallow fluff on the pie filling (marshmallows work better if they are torn up).
3. Put the hobo pie maker back together and proceed the same way you would make pizza hobo pies.

This process can be replicated with any fillings, such as ham and cheese.

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

We always make our pizza from scratch because there's just not that many other options in Russia. I try to make sure that we have a reasonably thick crust, but it comes no where near deep dish pizza in thickness or in flavor.

That's why when Elena and I both drooled over a new Chicago-style pizza recipe from one of my favorite bakers earlier this week, we decided that we needed to make it ASAP!

There are four types of pizza people, as I see it:

The thin crust people: You like your pizza thin and crunchy, just like the Italians.

The in-betweeners: You like your pizza not-too-thin, not-too-thick...why pick one when you can have both?

The thick crust people: You like thick, indulgent pizza that you can sink you teeth into—Chicago-style.

The pizza lovers: You like all kinds of pizza, and would rather die than have to choose one type over another.

This pizza is not for you thin crust people or you in-betweeners. No, no, this pizza is thick-as-can-be and super delicious in a buttery-kind-of-way. This is the kind of pizza that I like.

But then again, for me, flavor is the most important when talking about pizza; that's why I'm a pizza lover. I like pizza that has the best flavor, which just so happens to usually be deep dish pizza. But I can name a ton of other kinds of pizza that I like...just like I found out last summer that true Italian pizza (which is thin crust) is amazing.

When pizza came to the U.S., Americans Americanized it: added tons of toppings, thickened the dough...the list goes on, creating what we now think of as pizza. Now there are more varieties of pizza and more pizza lovers.

One of the much-loved ways that we've Americanized pizza is by creating Chicago-style deep dish pizza, which (obviously) originated in Chicago. This pizza's crust can be up to three inches high (meaning you have to eat it with a fork), and is delicious, buttery, and flaky. The pan is oiled so that the crust fries a little while the pizza is baking in the oven. Since the dough is so thick, deep dish pizza must be baked for a longer amount of time than regular pizza; this means that the toppings could be burnt. So, to solve this problem, the pizza is made in the order: dough, cheese, toppings, sauce.

When I told my siblings that we were supposed to put the sauce on top, they were completely opposed to the idea. I was barely able convince them to let me do it on the smallest pizza, but now I ask, did they really have that much say? They did not help me make the dough!

Half way through the baking time, I put tin foil on the pizzas that were not inverted so that when I pulled them out of the oven, perfectly golden cheese accompanied the delicious aroma.

When I bit into our inverted pizza, I discovered that I liked this strange new way of putting on the toppings! Using a fork, the pizza did not feel that much more messy even with the sauce on top; instead, the sauce prevented it from making me feel like I was getting an overload of cheese, like sometimes happens with pizza—rather, I was getting a nice combination of all the flavors.

All of that butter in the dough really made a difference: the crust was soft and flaky. We didn't oil the pans (we sprayed them with non-stick spray), but I would like to try oiling them next time to see if the crust will fry up a little bit.

I made a double recipe of the dough, and baked it all. We were left with one whole extra pizza (or about 1 1/2 9-inch pizzas, in terms of the recipe). Because the recipe is so well explained on Sally's Baking Addiction, I will not rewrite it here. Just click the link to get the recipe and awesome step-step photos!

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/12/31/how-to-make-chicago-style-deep-dish-pizza/

Marcela Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions

Can something taste bright? Is that a thing? Well, if it is, that is how I would describe this tomato sauce. The tomato flavor just pops in your mouth.

Actually, when I eating the pasta, my eyes almost popped out of my head. I found a hair in my pasta – oh the horror! Luckily I knew it was one of mine and it was in my pasta. It would have been very embarrassing for someone else to find it.

But then that hair had to go and insert itself in one of the better pictures I took? Really? I guess it could have been worse...I could have found the hair after the pasta was already in my mouth. Ew. Bad thought.

This sauce is brilliantly simple – I mean, that is what Marcela is famous for. If you haven't heard of her, you should read this interesting account of her life...after all, she did change the way Americans cook Italian food! We ate this sauce over trofie pasta that we picked up in Italy while we were there, a pasta traditionally used for pesto. Use whatever pasta makes you happy, or even put it on pizza!

Marcela Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

28 oz (800 g) whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano)*

5 Tbs. (70 grams) unsalted butter

1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved

Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Put tomatoes, onion, and butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat.

2. Bring sauce to a simmer, then lower heat; keep sauce at a slow but steady simmer for about 45 minutes or until the fat floats free from the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing large tomato pieces against the side of the pan.

3. Remove sauce from heat and discard the onion. Add salt (and pepper, if desired) to taste.

4. Serve on pasta or pizza. Add parmesan if desired.

*San Marzano tomatoes are preferred, however they may not be available. You can also use diced or puréed tomatoes, but they will need slightly less simmering time as they are already broken down. Using puréed tomatoes will also give the sauce less texture.

Recipe from: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcela Hazan

Deep Dish Single-Serve Pizza

As my first post, I would like to share a very delicious recipe for pizza crust that I found yesterday. I decided I wanted pizza for lunch, since we had just gotten back from vacation and had very little in the kitchen to eat. I searched around on the internet for quite awhile for a recipe for single serving pizza, and finally I found this recipe from flouronmyface.com...the author actually created this recipe, which I thought was pretty impressive. It was exactly the kind of pizza I like...thick, doughy, with good flavor. The honey made it a little sweeter than ordinary, which I thought was a nice change. I ended up only being able to eat half of it, but I wished I could have eaten more! When I made it, I ended up putting in just about all 1 3/4 cups of flour at once. Also, I kneaded it for more like 4 minutes, and skipped punching it down and forming it into a ball—I simply stretched it out a little in my hands to fit the pan. Here is the original recipe:

Single Serve Deep Dish Pizza

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water

1 Tbs. honey

1 generous tbs olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 3/4 cup flour

Pizza toppings of choice

Directions:

1. Add warm water, honey, olive oil and salt to a bowl. Stir gently. Add yeast and stir.

2. Add one cup of flour and stir together, add more flour as needed if dough is very sticky. Sprinkle ¾ cup flour onto counter top and knead into dough. Knead dough about 8 minutes.

3. Put into an oiled bowl and let rise until doubles–about 45 minutes to an hour.

4. Punch dough down and form a tight ball. Let rest about 5 minutes. Oil a nine inch cake pan.

5. Preheat oven to 450ºF.

6. Place dough into the center of the cake pan and push down to flatten. Using the heal of your hand work the dough from the center out to edges of pan. If dough is tight and resisting, stop and allow it to rest another five minutes or so. 

7. Spread some sauce on and add your toppings.

8. For a soft bottom place pan on top rack. For a crisper bottom place it on the bottom rack of your oven.

9. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until dough is cooked through and the cheese has melted.

Recipe from: http://www.flouronmyface.com/2010/08/single-serve-deep-dish-pizza.html