Easy Oreo Truffles

These have become a tradition.  This super easy recipe has become very popular, I'm not surprised!
Mint oreos are great with this too.

Ingredients:

1 package Oreo cookies
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
16 ounces chocolate, melted for dipping

Directions:

1. In a food processor, process cookies into fine crumbs.
2. Add the cream chesse, and mix until well blended.
3. Roll mixture into 42 balls, about 1 tablespoon each.
4. Dip the balls in melted chocolate and place on wax paper.

Chewy Ginger Cookies

These are a big time holiday favorite of ours.  A few years back I even won "best overall dessert" with these cookies.  I've been trying to get a picture of these for a long time, but they always get eaten too fast.  Today I managed to get the last 2.!

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the orange juice and molasses.
3.  Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture.  But do not over mix.
4.  Using a 1tabelspoons sized cookie scoop, scoop balls of cookie dough into the remaining 1/4 cups of sugar.  Roll them very gently into the sugar.  Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container

7 Layered Jello

It's a tradition.

Ingredients:

4 jellos (4 different flavors/colors)
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
2 packages unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1 pint sour cream
2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix 1 packages of jello with 1 cup boiling water, stir until dissolved.  Then stir in 1/2 cup cold or ice water.  Pour this into the bottom of a 13x9 inch casserole dish.  (the final jello will fill an entire 13x9 inch pan)
2.  For the white layers:
      Bring 2 cups of milk to boil.
      Dissolve the 1 cup of sugar into the hot milk.
      Dissolve 2 packages of gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water and let sit for a couple of minutes.
      To the gelatin mixture whisk in the sour cram and vanilla.
      In a large boil combine the sour cream mixture with the hot milk/sugar.
      Leave this white mixture covered on the counter.
3.  After 1st jello layer is set, poor 1 1/2 cups of the white mixture over the jello and refrigerate.
4.  Repeat layers of jello and white ending with a jello. 

Each layer should take 30-60 minutes to set.  But you want to work as fast as you can, because the white mixture will start to set as it sits out on the counter and cools.

Green Rice

This is a recipe I have used regularly over the past few years.  It is an easy and healthy rice dish with Mexican flavors. It is full of spinach, but you can't taste it.  The kids eat this one up. The recipe is from Rachel Ray.  The only change I usually make, is to use brown rice instead of  white (and increase the cooking time for that).

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and ribs removed and finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups rice
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock, divided
• 3/4 pound baby spinach
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves

Directions:

1. Place a medium pot over medium-high heat with 1 turn of the pan of EVOO, about 1 tablespoon.
 2. Toss the jalapeños into the pan and cook until tender, 3-4 minutes.
3. Add in the rice and cook about a minute (you're toasting it, so it's ready when it starts to smell nutty). 4.Add in 2 1/2 cups stock and bring up to a bubble. Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer the rice until tender, about 20 minutes.

5.Make the "green" part of the rice by pureeing together the baby spinach, cilantro and remaining stock (about 1/2 cup) in a food processor. Dump the mixture into a dish and reserve it until the rice is finished cooking. When the rice has finished cooking, stir in the green sauce and transfer the rice to a serving bowl or platter

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

I love how cute these little candy corn sugar cookies are.  How perfect are they for October?!

Ingredients:

2 Sticks unsalted Butter, softened

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Egg

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

2 Teaspoons Lemon Zest

1 Teaspoon Salt

3 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Red Food Dye

Yellow Food Dye

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar (for dusting)

Directions:

1.Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy 3-5 minutes.

2.Add egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Continue beating until well mixed.

3. Sift the flour and baking soda together and add to the creamed mixture.  Stir just until combined.

4. Divide the dough into thirds (each 3rd is jsut over 1 cup of dough).  Leave 1/3 of the dough white.  mkae 1/3 of the dough yellow and the last 1/3 orange. 

5. Press the white dough evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan that you have lined with foil, wax, or parchment paper.

6. Press orange dough evenly over white dough.

7. Pressyellow dough over the orange dough, so it is even and flat

8. Cover and refrigerate until firm (2 hours or overnight is best). Once chilled, invert your loaf pan and unwrap your dough. On a cutting board cut loaf crosswise into 1/4-inch slices using a sharp knife, trimming edges to make even, if necessary. Cut each slice into triangles.

9. Place 1-inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes in a pre-heated 375 degree oven. Place cookies straight into a bowl with sugar and coat. Place coated cookies on a baking rack to cool.

Recipe from: http://kaitlininthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/candy-corn-sugar-cookies.html

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today was the first day of school, so in preparation for the boys return home this afternoon Ada and I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  I have 3 different chocolate chip cookie recipes that I love.  This one is super soft, I think you will love them!


Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant french vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chocolate chops

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
3.  Cream together the butter and sugars.  Beat in the instant pudding mix until combined.  Mix in the eggs and vanilla.  Mix in the flour mixture until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Use a 1 tablespoon sized cookie scoop (or roll spoonfuls of dough in hand) and scoop dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are golden.  The cookies will look a little underdone.  Let them rest on the pan for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely on wire racks.

Raw Cauliflower Salad

I was hesitant to make this salad, because I didn't think the kids would like it.  Boy was I wrong!  They either loved it, or were just starving to death.  The ate home made pitas stuffed full of this salad.  Tyson and I loved it as well, and it keeps good in the fridge for a few days.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower, chopped
2 handfuls of parsley, coarsely chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, diced
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 - 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cups olive oil
the juice of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Directions:

1. Place the cauliflower, parsley, onion and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the cauliflower are the size of a small grain.  You will probably have to do this in batches.  Ada was my button pusher, so one batch was over processed and the other one was still pretty chunky...
2. Put the cauliflower mixture into a big bowl, and toss in the tomatoes and olives.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, turmeric, salt and pepper.
4. Toss the dressing into the salad.  Store covered in the fridges for up to one weeks.  This can be eaten cold or at room temperature.

*if the cauliflower is huge, add more ingredients to your own liking.

Cherry Pie

As part of our CSA this week, we got sour cherries.  I've never had sour cherries... that I can remember.  I thought I would make a pie with them.  I looked at a lot of recipes, really they were all the same. But I decided to use the baking times and temperatures from my Americans Test Kitchen Cook Book, I know it would not fail me.  This pie was so easy, and so good! I need to get my hands on some more pie cherries.  Here is the recipe I used, mostly just because of the amount of berries I had.

Ingredients:

5 cups sour cherries, pitted.   (I had 6 cups of cherries, and after I had pitted
them, it was closer to 4 1/2)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1/4 cup corn starch
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon water

1 recipe for double crust pie crust. 

Directions:

1.Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position and place rimed baking sheet on the rack and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
2. Mix 1 cup of sugar, cornstarch and the salt.
3. Stir the cherries and the almond extract.
4. Stir together the cherries and sugar mixture.
5. Let mixture sit for 20 minutes.

6. Assemble pie.  Lightly brush the top pie crust with the 1 tablespoon of water and then sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar.

7. Place the pie on the heated baking sheet and lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees.  bake for 25 minutes.   Rotate the baking sheet, reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crust is a deep brown and the juices are bubbling.

8.  Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving.

*Pitting the cherries turned out to be really easy.  How to pit sour cherries

Limeade Pie (or lemonade or pink lemonade)

pink lemonade pie (made with extra food coloring until it was pink to Ada's liking)

Limeade pie.... yes, we all eat off our IKEA kids plates.

My mom always made this pie.  It's so so so easy, and it always hits the spot on a warm summer evening.  You can use limeade (it's my favorite) or pink lemonade or regular lemonade.  I usually make two different flavors at a time.  Since they are stored in the freezer, you can save one for another day or keep leftovers for a while.

Ingredients:

1/2 container (you know the regular size 48 oz our 1.5 qt) of vanilla ice cream softened  (it needs to be soft   enough to stir, but not melted)
1/2 of a frozen 12 oz limeade (or lemonade or pink lemonade juice mix), thawed
1 store bought graham cracker or shortbread crust
food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1.With a hand mixer, mix the ice cream, lemonade juice concentrate and a drop or two of food coloring (optional) until combined.
2. Poor mixture into the prepared graham cracker crust. 
3.Cover and freeze for an hour or until ready to serve.

Salt Potatoes

I have never heard of Salt Potatoes.  At least not until recently when we moved to NY.  Apparently Salt Potatoes are the regional dish of Syracuse, NY.  And are very popular in all of the central NY region.   They actually sell bags of salt potatoes at the store, the bags include potatoes and 12 oz of salt. The recipe seemed odd, and I was sceptical.  But these are really so good.  I'm going to be making these often.  The potatoes end up with a different extra creamy texture inside and the salt forms a crust on the skin that is so good!

Ingredients: 

4 1/4 pounds small potatoes, scrubbed.  (small, bites sized young white potatoes.  the "proper" size are Size B, US Grade No. 2.......  really any small one or 2 bite potatoes will be good.  Do not cut the potatoes, leave them whole)
12 oz or 1 1/2 cups salt
3 quarts water

butter and herbs (parsley, chives, rosemary) optional.

Directions

Bring the water to a boil.
Stir in the salt and dissolve.
Add the potatoes to the boiling water and boil until tender, 15-30 minutes, depending on the size.
Drain the potatoes to a colander and let them sit for 5-10 minutes.

Serve warm with a little butter.

Cauliflower and Potato Burritos

Another delicious burrito combination.  Make it as spicy as you like.

Ingredients:

1 15 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes
1/2  to 2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon Adobo seasoning
2 medium potatoes, diced
3 cups cauliflower florets
1 cup black beans
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

cooked brown rice
flour tortillas
cheese (optional)

Directions:

1.Pulse the tomatoes, chipotle chiles and garlic in a food processor until a coarse puree forms.

2.Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute about 5 minutes.

3. Add the cauliflower, potato, tomato mixture, oregano, adobo seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. 

4.Cover, simmer about 15 minutes until tender. 

5.Uncover, add beans and simmer 5 more minutes.  Stir in cilantro.

6.Heat tortillas and top with rice and cauliflower mixture, and cheese if desired.

Caramel filled chocolate cookies

These cookies couldn't be any better. period.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cocoa powder
52 chocolate covered caramels  (My favorite is rolos.  Nestles treasure and Caramelos are good too.  I plan to try the Hershey Kisses filled with caramel one day)

1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1 tabelspoon sugar

Directions:

1. Beat butter until creamy.
2. Gradually beat in white and brown sugar, eggs and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, soda, salt, cocoa, and gradually add to butter and sugar mixture.
4. Cover chill dough for 1 hour.
5. Roll the dough into balls around each caramel piece.  ( make each dough piece into a bowl shape, place the candy into the bowl, then wrap the dough up around the candy and then mold the whole thing into a round ball)  I get about 52 cookies using a 1 tablespoon sized cookie scoop.
6. Combine the tablespoon of sugar and chopped nuts in a small bowl
7. Dip the top of the cookie dough ball into sugar and nuts.  (or just into sugar if you don't like nuts) 
8. Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and cook at 375 for 8-9 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.
9. enjoy warm and gooey or cool and chewy.

Asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto

I look forward to this side dish every Easter.  I should make it more often, we all love it so much.  But some how it has become exclusively an Easter dinner tradition.

Ingredients:

Asparagus
Cream cheese (softened)
Prosciutto (thinly sliced)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Trim off end of Asparagus - Bend the asparagus (holding towards the end of the asparagus) until is breaks,   use the broken asparagus to know how much to cut off from the rest of the bunch.

Blanch Asparagus in boiling water for 1-3 minutes, depending on thickness of asparagus.  Put Asparagus in ice water to immediately stop cooking.

To assemble:   Spread about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese onto 1 piece of prosciutto.
Wrap the prosciutto around a few asparagus (2-4, depending on the size of the asparagus).

Place bundles on a lightly oiled pan and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Danish Puff

This is a recipe that caught my eye years ago in an old Betty Crocker cookbook of my mothers that she gave me when I moved out of the house.  I found this recipe between the coffee cake and pancake recipes.  I don't know how it fits in there, but the recipe seemed so odd, I had to try it.  And I have been making it ever since.  It has a flaky crust with a custard-like topping.  It is such and easy and yummy pastry like dish.  I usually put the nuts on only one, and let the kids have the one with out nuts.  It serves 10-12.  And although it would be a great addition to a very unhealthy breakfast, it feels more like a dessert to me.  But there really isn't much sugar in it.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup flour
3 eggs
 
 glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1-2 tablespoons warm water, or until smooth and of spreading or drizzling consistency

chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

Crust:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut 1/2 cup of softened butter into 1 cup flour.
3. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of water onto the flour and butter mixture and mix.
4. Round the mixture into a ball, and divide in half.
5. On a parchment lined baking sheet, pat each half into a strip, 12x3 inches.  Strips should be 3 inches apart.

Custard top:
1.Heat 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water in a medium sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil.
3. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the almond extract and 1 cup of flour.
4. Stir vigorously until the mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute.
5. Beat in the eggs all at once until smooth and glossy. (I use a hand held mixer for this, for about 1 minute)

6. Spread half of the mixture evenly over each of the strips, extending the batter just barely  beyond the edge of the strips.
7. Bake about 60 minutes or until the topping is crisp and brown.
8. Cool.  (the topping will shrink and fall, forming a custardy top)

9.To make the glaze:  Mix glaze ingredients until it reaches desired consistency.
10. Frost or drizzle with the glaze and sprinkle generously with chopped nuts.


** for individual Danish Puffs, Pat the dough into 3 inch circles, using a rounded teaspoonful for each.  Spread a rounded tablespoon full of batter over each circle.  Bake for 30 minutes.  This makes 2 dozen.

Sugar Cookies (from the pioneer woman)

I love these cookies.  They are the sugar cookies that our Grandmothers made. These aren't the cookies that you load with tons of frosting.  These are light, delicate and melt on your tongue kind of cookies.  My grandma had nutmeg in hers, lemon would be good too.

I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman. ; Thank you!
Ingredients


■2 whole Large Eggs

■1 cup Canola Oil

■2 sticks Butter, Softened

■1 cup Sugar, Plus Extra For Sprinkling

■1 cup Powdered Sugar

■1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

■4 cups Plus 2 Tablespoons, All-purpose Flour

■1 teaspoon Salt

■1 teaspoon Baking Soda

■1 teaspoon Cream Of Tartar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.



In a large mixing bowl, cream together eggs, oil, butter, sugars, and vanilla.



Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate dough one hour.



Using a cookie scoop, drop balls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.



Smear a dab of butter all over the bottom of a glass, then dip the glass in granulated sugar. Use the glass to flatten each ball of dough, dipping again into the sugar each time. Repeat until all are flattened.



Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until cookies are just barely turning brown. Don’t overbrown!



Allow to cool before eating. Cookies are ultra crumbly!

Blackened Tomato Salsa

My sister in law asked if I knew of any good salsa recipes. Well this is it. I could not just give her the recipe, it was too hard to just think about it, so I had to make some too. It is a recipe my dad makes every time I see them, and I love it so much, I could eat it with a spoon.

Ingredients:

8 roma tomatoes, cut in half
1 jalapeno, seeded and cut in half. (leave seeds in if you want more heat)
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
A few squirts of lime juice
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cumin
a pinch of mexican oregano
1/4 cup white onion, finely diced
1 roma tomato diced small
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Place 8 tomatoes and jalapeno on a rimmed baking sheet, cut side down. Cook under a broiler until skins are blackened. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Put blackened tomatoes and jalapeno (black skins and all) into a blender, poor any juices that are on the pan too. Add salt, cumin, mexican oregano, garlic and and lime juice and blend until mostly smooth. Add a little water if needed.

Poor pureed mixture into a large bowl and combine with the diced tomato, onion and cilantro. Add water needed. Taste test with a chip to make sure you have enough salt, add if needed.

This salsa is awesome fresh but gets even better as it sits for a few hours and is amazing the next day.

Vegetarian Meatloaf

Ok, let me just say... I have been eating so healthy lately you would all be jealous if you really knew. This recipe is not only a healthy version of real meatloaf, it is really really good. Or at least me and my family think so. We scarf it down for dinner with a yummy potato side, then we have it for leftovers the next day on some homemade rolls. Meatloaf sandwich? Yum!

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup lentils
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery, chopped
1 cup mushrooms (optional)
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cups grated cheese (any flavor, vege cheese is good too)
1 egg, beaten (or vegan egg substitute)
6 tablespoons BBQ sauce (or tomato sauce or ketchup or any combination)
1 tablespoon grill seasoning (grill seasoning has salt, pepper, garlic and other yummy stuff)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Glaze:
2 tablespoons each of BBQ sauce and ketchup.

Directions:

Bring 2 cups of water to boil, add salt and lentils and simmer covered until lentils are soft, 25-30 minutes. Drain and set aside.

While lentils are cooking, food process the onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms until finally diced. Heat olive oil over medium heat and cook vegetables until soft about 10 minutes. season with salt and pepper.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. (at this point add more sauce, ketchup is fine or seasoning if you think it needs it.)

Dump mixture into a greased loaf pan and smooth top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

mix glaze together, spread over cooked loaf and bake for another 10 minutes.

cool for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.


* This should not be mushy or too dry when it is done cooking. If it is too dry, then oops, it needed more sauce before you baked it. It it is too mushy, try cooking it longer to dry it out.


*This recipe really is pretty versatile. For example if you want an Italian flavor, instead of the BBQ sauce and grill seasoning, use marinara sauce and Italian seasoning. Or you could do Mexican with salsa or tomato sauce and Mexican seasonings and pepper jack cheese. yum!

*For leftover sandwiches, I love to take the slices of meatloaf and fry them up in a hot lightly oiled pan.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

This year we made Santa Red Velvet Whoopie Pies, I think he liked them.

Ingredients:

1 box Red Velvet Cake Mix
1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
2 eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups marshmallow cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pinch salt

Directions:

Combine cake mix with the oil, water and eggs. Use a 2 oz cookie dough scoop to drop the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 325 degrees for abour 13 minutes.
Cool oin wire racks.

For the filling, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Beat in the marshmallow cream, vanilla and salt until smooth. Spoon filling between two cookes to make a sandwich.

Store pies between layers of wax paper in an airtight container and refrigerate.


This makes about 18 cookies

Pizza Bianca

This is my favorite ever. This recipe comes from the cook book called my bread, by Jim Lahey. The book is full of delicious bread recipes using his no-knead method. Every bread recipe I have ever made using a no knead method has been perfect and delicious. I often make this particular recipe real quick (it takes a minute at most) at night, then bake the bread for my lunch. And I do eat it all, or at least I would eat it all if I did not have to share with the children.

Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour, plus additional for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups cool water
1/4 cups extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for coating the bowl and brushing
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour , yeast, table salt, and sugar. Add the water, and using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Lightly coat a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 9 to 12 hours.

2. When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface (a cutting board is useful here) with flour. Use a bowl scraper or runner spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece; as you begin to pull it away from the bowl, it will cling in long, thin stands and will be quite loose and sticky. Using lightly floured hands, fold the dough over itself two or three times and nudge it into a loose, rather flat ball. Brush the surface of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with the coarse salt (which will gradually dissolve on the surface). Put the dough in a warm draft-free spot and let rise until doubled, 1-2 hours.

3. Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F, with a rack in the center, and place a pizza stone, at least 14 inches in diameter, in the center of the rack.

4.Generously dust a pizza peel with flour and place the ball of dough in the middle. Spread out the fingers of one hand, like a claw, and drive your fingers into the dough, but do not puncture it. you want to simultaneously create dimples in the dough and spread it across the peel. Continue working your hands across the dough and dimpling it until you have a bumpy disk about 12 inches in diameter. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top and sprinkle with the rosemary leaves.

5. With the peel resting on the counter (this part gets easier with practice), grasp the handle and give it a quick little tug: you want the pizza to just barely move but stay on the peel. (Loosening it make it easier to slide it onto the baking stone.) If the dough sicks to the peel, gently lift it around the edges and add flour to the peel. Shake the pizza onto the baking stone. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown on the mounds but still pale in the dimples.

6. Slide the peel under the pizza and transfer it to a rack to cool for a least a few minutes before slicing and serving.