Parchmant Paper Tribute

You may be wondering "How does she get the dough for the grilled foccacia onto the grill?" "Parchment paper" is my solution to most kitchen dilemmas these days. Without parchment paper, many of my dishes would be a disaster.

In the case of the grilled foccacia (pizza), I roll the dough out on the paper, lightly oil the exposed side, then pick the dough up by the paper and let it fold in half (dough side facing out). This allows me to "roll" the dough onto the grill. Once down, I just peel off the paper, which is now facing up, and oil and season the newly exposed side while the bottom cooks.

I also use parchment when I am making a pizza on a pizza stone in my oven. I never mastered sliding the pizza from the peel onto the hot stone. It always ended-up a mess. I put a piece of parchment on top of my peel, and then roll and make the pizza . When it is time to put the pie in the oven, I just slide the parchment paper with pizza off the peel and onto the stone. The paper scorches around the edges, but stays intact. When the pizza is done the pie easily slides off the paper and onto the peel.

Finally, parchment paper has become my secret to making delicious buffalo wings. We like our wings crispy, not soggy. I line rimmed baking sheets with parchment, and place uncooked frozen wings onto the paper. The wings cook for about 30 minutes in a 425 degree oven (use the convection setting if you have it, if not cooking time will be longer). When the wings have reached the desired level of crispiness, I use tongs to put them into a large bowl where they are tossed with the buffalo sauce. If I skip the parchment paper, the wings never get as crisp. The parchment paper and any excess oil are thrown away, the baking sheets are lined with fresh paper, and the wings, now coated with buffalo sauce, are cooked for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. The parchment paper keeps the sauced wings from sticking to the pan.