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The Beginner’s Guide to Making Perfect Homemade Pizza

Everybody knows that there is nothing better than a homemade pizza. Buying and eating frozen pizza from your local supermarket just isn’t the same as making a delicious pizza by yourself at home. The process of making a pizza is also extremely fun, especially if you are doing it with someone else.  Making a pizza with a loved one gives you the chance to make some creative pizzas while also telling some ridiculous pizza jokes & puns while you do it. Though making a pizza isn’t the hardest task in the world, if you want to make the perfect homemade pizza there are first some things that you need to do in order to make it a success. Here is the beginner’s guide to making the perfect homemade pizza.  

Pick out your toppings  

The first thing you should do when you are planning out the perfect pizza is picked the right toppings. Now, it is important to pick items that you love and not just ones that look good as you will be the one that eats them.  If you are a meat-eater, the one warning that we will give you is to not get too carried away when it comes to picking the meat toppings as adding too many meats on top of your pizza may make it incredibly greasy. Nobody wants greasy pizza, as it makes it difficult to eat and may make you feel unwell afterwards.  

The same can be said when it comes to cheese, you may want to try branch out and use a fancier cheese. It is important to remember that not all cheese works for a pizza. Some cheese will have a higher fat content which means that it may have more oils in them. If this is the case then you may end with a greasy pizza, which once again isn’t very appetising. Something else that you should take into account is that different cheeses have different melting points. This means that some cheese may take longer to melt than others. You want to make sure that your cheese cooks at the same rate as your dough, as the last thing you want is for your cheese to burn before your dough is finished cooking and this is why most people use mozzarella when they are cooking pizza, as this matches up perfectly. If you do want to add another cheese on your pizza, we recommend that you use a mozzarella majority then add any extra cheese that you would like on top of that as a little extra. 

Dough 

The dough is arguably the most important part of a pizza. You can’t go wrong with cheese and a good topping of your choice, but if dough doesn’t have the right texture and flavour, it can make the pizza extremely off-putting. Once cooked, a good pizza dough will have crispy edges and a soft base, which doesn’t feel too soggy under the topping.  

Making dough can be a difficult affair, so don’t be ashamed to purchase a premade dough or dough mixture. If you do want to make your own door, it can be done quite easily and quite well. The ingredients are quite straightforward and the main things you will need is flour, salt, yeast and vegetable oil. We also recommend that you add sugar as this will make the dough taste much better.  

During the process of making your dough, you have to make sure that you follow certain steps. First of all, you should mix all of your dry and wet ingredients separately. You then need to incorporate the two and mix well. Make sure that you don’t overmix your dough, as this will knock all of the air out of the mixture and make your base quite thin and tough. Make sure that you incorporate all of the ingredients and once you have done that, you are essentially good to go. 

Be sure to take time to let the dough rest in a covered bowl. You want to aim for a thick dough that is jam-packed with flavour and so giving the dough time to rise will ensure that you get a great product in the end.  

Cooking with Nature: Why You Should Start Growing your Own Herbs

As the hotter months are approaching, you may think it’s time to get your green thumb out of hiding and put it to work.  A lot of us take this time to plant beautiful flowers or even tasty fruits. However, why do we have to limit ourselves to just growing things at this time of year? 

Though many fruits and flowers depend on the hotter weather to be able to thrive, something that can be grown essentially all year round is herbs. Though in the past it was traditional to grow your own herbs, as supermarkets have made them more accessible, people tend to just buy dried herbs for convenience.  

Though it may be considered to be easier to buy herbs and spices at the store, there are a lot of benefits that come with growing your own herbs at home. Who knows, if we manage to persuade you of the benefits, then by the end of this article you may look into how to raise your own cilantro.

The taste is better 

If you are someone that has experience cooking with both dried and fresh herbs, then you will know that there is no comparison between the two. Fresh herbs hold a lot of taste as they have not gone through the drying process and they have not had any additional preservatives mixed with them.  

When using fresh herbs, you can pluck them from the plant and after a quick rinse with water, they are ready to be used. If you are someone that considers themselves to be somewhat of a chef, then you will be extremely appreciative of the taste difference between dry and fresh herbs. If you are eating a meal that is considered bland, adding herbs will not only add flavor but a sense of freshness too.  

It saves you money 

Now, herbs are not the most expensive ingredient that you pay for when you go shopping, but growing your own fresh herbs means that you won’t have to keep rebuying them. Once you have started to grow your own herbs, then you essentially have a constant supply of ingredients. 

Depending on the care that you give your herb plants, they can grow to astounding heights. If you rip leaves from the plant, they also grow back fairly quickly. This is not the case if you purchase dried herbs, as eventually you will run out and have to head back to the store to restock your supply. 

As the years go on, you will save more and more money that you can invest in other aspects of your life. Your plants will only get bigger, which means you could even provide your friends and family with a steady supply of fresh herbs, which means that they could also be saving some money in the future thanks to you.  

Bring some decorative features to your kitchen  

As well as being a great addition to any meal that you may make, growing your own fresh herbs makes for an amazing decorative feature within your home. We all love plants, but many of the plants that we fill our homes with unfortunately die very easily.  

Though herb plants are not immortal, they are a lot easier to care for than normal plants and require far less attention. As well as being less work, once they start to grow they also have an extremely aesthetically pleasing appearance. If you match your herb plants with a nice plant pot, then your kitchen will look as though it has been intentionally stocked with beautiful plants. 

This is something that also makes fresh herbs a brilliant gift. If you put the effort into picking out a nice pot, then you will be able to pass off just about any herb as a fun plant that can be kept at home.  The only difference between a normal plant and fresh herbs is that you can actually use the fresh herbs for something more useful. 

Freshen the air within your home

One of the main reasons that people buy plants and place them around their homes is because plants have air-purifying properties. This is why plants are so popular in countries that do not have the cleanest air.  

Fresh herbs have the exact same effect as they also go through a process known as photosynthesis, where they take in carbon dioxide and use it to make oxygen which is released back into the air. Not only do plants produce oxygen, but they also deal with any nasty toxins that may be within the air, which means that what they release is a lot purer than what they have previously taken in.  

An educational experience 

Another reason why we recommend growing your own herbs is that it is an educational experience. When we buy herbs and other grown produce in stores, we never really think about the process that it had to undergo in order to end up where it is.  

Growing your own herbs from the ground up will give you a brand new appreciation of all of the work that goes into growing the herbs that we all buy. It is easy to neglect the hard work of farmers all around the world, but if we as individuals gain further knowledge of the steps that our food has to go through before it reaches our plates, we may become much more appreciative.  

From Masterchef to Hells Kitchen: The Best Cooking Shows on TV

With 2020 being the year of lockdowns and 2021 starting to look like people will be following more lockdowns this year then many people have started to pick up some new hobbies and learn some skills. Cooking is among one of the most popular new hobbies people have. Most people always wish they are better at cooking than they are, rather than coming home to beans on toast they’d much prefer to make a fantastic dish every evening. With all the extra time people have had because of the lockdowns many people are starting to learn more about cooking.

There are so many cooking tv shows to watch, many cooking shows on TV will actually be like a tutorial and you’ll be able to see how the professionals make your favorite dish, get some great helpful tips and you’ll be able to give it a try yourself afterward. Other cooking TV shows are in the form of a game show where chefs compete under the watchful eye of a professional chef and fight to be the best.

While these shows won’t teach you how to cook they might still give you some inspiration for dishes and you can still see how meals are made and what mistakes not to make. Other cooking shows will just teach you about the history of various food if you’re interested in getting more information about what you’re eating. If after watching some cooking game shows and you want to compete, whilst you won’t be able to go on them there are also many cooking games out there. Some of the most popular cooking games include cooking mama and overcooked, some levels may be difficult so if you get stuck there’s always a level walkthrough to help you out. We’ve made a list of the best cooking shows to cure your boredom and help you to develop your new skill.

Masterchef

Masterchef is a game show-style cooking show. There are 3 different versions of it, you have the amateur version, the professional version and as it gained so much popularity there is also a celebrity Masterchef series. The show starts with 6 chefs competing in their first round, they have to do various challenges like recreating a meal, in a team cook 1 by 1 and complete a meal, etc. They get their food judged by the presenter and the chef who will provide them with helpful critiques on how to improve. It is then up to them as the judges to decide who is eliminated and who will make it through to the next round. This process repeats with 6 more chefs until only the best make it to the final.

Hell’s Kitchen

Hell’s Kitchen is a game show-style cooking show. It is one of Gordon Ramsay’s shows and it gained popularity thanks to how brutal his mentoring style is. Fans will know there are many iconic Gordon Ramsay moments throughout the seasons of Hell’s Kitchen. The show has 12 chefs competing and whoever wins gets a job as head chef in one of Ramsay’s restaurants. They are split into the blue and red team, they work in these teams to secure a win. They do challenges and complete dinner service, every week 1 person from the losing team is eliminated.

The Food That Built America

This is a history channel series that has a different topic each episode including the creating of McDonald’s and the rise of Heinz. This is a great show to learn some more background information about where the food you eat originated from.