Korean Sweet Pancakes, Hotteok, Hoddeok

 I find different cuisines fascinating and love been introduced to them through different bloggers.   I especially like when I can make some dish with the granddaughter when I babysit them.   I came across a recipe on Korean Sweet pancake and in reading the article found that this sweet pancake was a version of Cinnamon rolls.  Sweet dough that is stuffed with Cinnamon, Brown sugar and Walnuts.  

This Korean Street food originated from the Chinese living in Korea. This is a delightful video of different styles and ways of preparing this pancake which I found after make the Cinnamon and sugar filled pancake.  I was interested to find that you can cook them differently using little or a lot of oil and all so baking them.  The fillings varied also and the savoury pancake with dipping sauce looks delicious! 

Fried dough was something that my Mom would do when we out of bread and  her bread was not baked yet.  She would pan fry stretched out dough on a hot pan.  This was day before Pizza was part of everyone's diet!  I loved this bread with cheese whiz and the last one with home made jelly. 

Since I had refrigerator dough, I thought I would use this to maker this fried bread for a snack after school.   My grandchild informed me that her Korean grandmother had made them and that she "didn't like them".   And yes, they were filled with fruit and sugar!   But this grandmother knows that food is so much better and tastier if you make it yourself! 

Using the dough from the refrigerator, I let it come to room temperature. 

Roll out or stretch the dough so you can place a filling of cinnamon, walnuts and lots of brown sugar.   Currants were added to one of the pancakes as the youngest loves currants.

The filling is carefully sealed and added to a hot cast iron pan to fry in a bit of oil.  Don't worry if the seal is not perfect.  Using a spatula, press down on the bun shaped roll to form a flattened  pancake.   A circle tool much like the press for frying hamburgers is used.  I found the spatula worked fine, just make sure it is oiled and heated to press down the bread dough.  Fry the pancake until a golden brown and the kitchen is filled with the smell of cinnamon and sugar!

Since my oven was on, I finished the pancakes in the oven as I am not a fan of frying things. 

Serve warm and slice for the kids to enjoy! 

Breakfast Pizza with Cottage Cheese and Egg Filling

 Breakfast pizza caught my eye as some of the recipes use cottage cheese as a topping.  Some of these pizzas have cottage cheese cooked on the pizza where as others add cottage cheese with fresh fruit or vegetables at the end as a topping when the pizza is cooked.

I always have pizza dough in the refrigerate and decide to make Breakfast Pizza and layer with cheeses and a raw eggs on the pizza dough. Since I like a runny yolk, I precooked the pizza dough and then I could watch the timing on cooking the eggs.  

I liked to pre-cook the dough shells when serving a group as then you can assemble the topping on the pizza and have it ready to go before the guests arrive. This also worked good for my kids' birthday party as their friends could then assemble what ever they liked on a pre-cooked shell.  As a joke once, I had cut up a hot dog wiener and found that all the kids loved adding this to their pizza! 

Using a rectangle cast iron pan, I pre-cooked the pizza dough.  I mixed about half a container of Cottage Cheese, dash of Italian seasoning and pepper.  Spread this on the shell and add bacon or thin slices of porchetta as I did in this case.  Grated Mozzarella and parmesan cheese was added next. 

Into little indentations made with a spoon, add raw eggs into this hole. 

Bake the prepared pizza at 500 degrees.  I watched the eggs closely and found that I needed to cook the eggs, 14 to 15 minutes so that the egg yolks were still runny. 

Adjustments I would make is to not add the Italian seasoning to the cheese mixtures as I found it was too strong of a flavor and better to sprinkle the Italian spice on the shell.  I also would caramelize onions and add it as the first layer.  A layer of Spinach and Mushrooms would be nice as would a fresh Tomato Salsa or slices of tomatoes as a side. 

Just had the other half of the pizza for Breakfast.. I must say it was delicious, my husband loves cold pizza but I did heat mine up.. As I was eating it, I thought of the potato pizza my daughter loved in Rome! Thin slices of pre-cooked potato added over the caramelized onions would be awesome! 


This could be added to a make ahead Menu as everything could be frozen, except for the raw eggs. There is a Christmas Breakfast pizza that is assembled the day before but unbaked pizza are easily frozen and certainly saves the hassle of preparing this on Christmas Eve. 

Harvest Pizza,

Pizza ready for the BBQ

Having fresh dough in the refrigerator, comes in very handy.    For an appetizer at my son's place, I made a pizza using Bartlett pears , Gorgonzola cheese and Prosciutto Parma.

Slice one onion thinly and sauté in 1-2 T of Olive oil until soft.  Add a bit of water to steam the onion.   Be patience in this steps, as the long you take to caramelized the onions, the happier you'll be.  

Using a seasoned cast iron pan, add a thin layer of dough.
Spread out the caramelized onions
Add slices of Pears in a decorative fashion.
Using kitchen scissors, cut strips of prosciutto and place between pear slices.  You can crumble cooked bacon in place of prosciutto.  
Crumble a little bit of Gorgonzola and mozzarella on the pizza
Crushed walnuts go well with  the cheese and the pears 
The layering can start with the cheese and end with Caramelized onions, but I like adding the onions first.

Bake in a hot oven until golden and the cheese melted.. 400 to 415 degrees for around 15 minutes or on your BBQ. 

For some sweetness, I drizzle some Pomegranate Molasses on the top

One of the comments as the guests dug in was that it was "almost restaurant quality."  Hmmm!

For my Granddaughter, a mummified hotdog! 

I think I need some work on this mummifying stuff!

Just delicious wrapped in dough!

Just for you Aline!

My son had slow roasted a pork roast which was delicious with the pizza.  

Refrigerated No Knead Bread

No Knead bread has been around for a few years, but this takes it a step further.  You can keep fresh dough in a vented tupperware container for over 2 weeks.  Previously, I had been freezing the leftover dough, especially when making the whole recipe using 10 cups of flour for Easter bread.  The dough then had to be thawed out before being formed into bread loaves or rolls. 

This dough can be formed into rolls, loaves, but since I have been thrilled with the pizzas that are baked in a Cast Iron skillet on the BBQ, I have only used this dough for pizza.  

The 14 inches rectangular Cast Iron skillet has been my favourite for making pizza and having leftover for cold pizza in the morning, my husband's favourite.   

I started making bread when first married and my first bread was made with whole wheat flour and seeds.  So healthy, it literally was the weight and density of a hockey puck.  It did make great chicken stuffing! When relating this story to my Aunt Mary, she also remembered her first bread making experience and her opening the kitchen door and throwing it out to the dogs to eat. We both had a good laugh!

I remember my Mom made 6 loaves at a time and how my father enjoyed this white bread especially the crust!  She would mix the dough up in an white enamel pan and knead it only long enough for the dough to come together and always in this pan.  I learned very quickly that you did not have to knead the bread for ever as I did not have the strength in my wrist to do this for the 10 to 13 minutes required! 

The first time I made the no knead bread, I can't say I did the beautiful crusty bread with all the holes in the bread, nor did it taste remarkable.  

But I must say the pizzas done in a cast iron on the BBQ are crusty and delicious.

At first, I did pre-bake the pizza dough as I do when baking the pizza in the oven but it is not necessary when BBQing. The pizzas are baked in indirect heat in a very hot BBQ.  

Here is my modified Refrigerator no Knead Dough

3 cups of lukewarm water

1 T salt

1 T yeast, old fashion 

6 cups of white flour

2 T of Olive Oil

The original recipes calls for 6 1/2 cups of flour, but since I want to mix it with a spoon, I could only mix in 6 cups. One could use the mixer to do this but I mix everything in my tupperware container.

Since I use the old fashion yeast, the yeast needs to be proofed in the water or it will not dissolve properly and you will have crunchy texture in your dough! 

Not the best mixing, but trust me, this dough that is lumpy will relax

After 3 hours, there was some activity as the enzymes in the flour have broken down some of the proteins, causing the dough to slacken and spread.

The mixture is then refrigerated in a vented container!  Make sure your container is large enough, as the dough does rise in the refrigerator.