Ma's Apron Strings: January 2021

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Tomato Pie

Tomato pie as we know it, is a room temperature delicacy made up of dough topped with a sweet sauce and grated parmesan cheese. It has been a local staple that many have tried to recreate at home.

I have attempted to duplicate it myself several times. Using pizza dough, using a focaccia dough but never had success. I have spent the last several days combing through old Italian cookbooks, the internet, face book, you tube and tictok to research tomato pie as we know it. Finally I came across an Italian recipe that could have been Americanized to create Tomato Pie. I then researched that recipe to find many in written or said in Italian and a few in English.

This recipe is as close as it gets to the Americanized version of Tomato Pie. I made a double batch of dough. The first attempt the dough was a little thin. I went sparingly with sauce and over the top with the parmesan.

First attempt

The second attempt was much better. Very close to our favorite version that we can purchase locally. My better half had the same judgements of the first attempt and the second attempt was "Husband Approved".

Second Attempt

Nice crust topped with plenty of sauce.

Click on the photo below to open the recipe. Once it opens right click to save the recipe wherever you like. Or once it opens take a screen shot and save.

I hope you have good luck in making this recipe and find that it is a close match to what you want in a tomato pie.

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Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Soft Pretzels

One of my favorite snacks is a soft baked pretzel. I love to break off a piece of the pretzel and dip it into a spicy or whole grain mustard. The texture of soft dough and the taste of salt and mustard are a delicious combination.

Once you get the recipe down you can make some minor adjustments to the recipe to change up the flavors. For instance once you divide the dough and roll out the snake like coil of dough to form the pretzel, you can opt to roll out that snake coil to flatten it and then fill with mozzarella cheese. Pinch it back together and then shape into the famous pretzel shape. Dip in the water solution and bake.

Another thing you might try is to instead of rolling the dough in to a snake form you can form it into a ball. Dip in the solution and bake for Pretzel Rolls.

You could take that snake roll of dough and wind it around a hotdog. Dip in the water solution and bake for a delicious treat.

If you do a long thicker snake, you can cut it in 1 inch pieces to make pretzel nuggets. Dip in water solution and bake.

Next are the variety of toppings: parmesan, ranch, garlic, cinnamon sugar, raisin, jalapeño, almond crunch, blend of spices and grated dry cheese and everything bagel toppings. After baking dip or brush the pretzel with butter before adding dry toppings. This will help them stick to the pretzel. With items like jalapeno or almonds you can put them on after the egg wash and bake.

You can freeze soft pretzels for later use or use day old soft pretzels to make croutons for salad.

You can dip pretzels in your favorite mustard, gooey chocolate, or nacho cheese.

You can get the recipe below. Click on the photo to open. Once photo is open right click to save to your desired place.