On The Continuing Quest for Great Pizza.

I think at some point in his or her life, most people who enjoy baking naturally become obsessed with making the perfect pizza. Pizza, born of Italy and Greece, seems purely American to me, and every American I know has a pizza preference whether it be thin, thick, sparse or dense with ingredients. Pizza is one of the first things I ever made without help, and one of the things that grows with me as I change little by little in my kitchen life. This newest incarnation would satisfy just about any pizza eater regardless of pizza preference, and it comes from the guy who unknowingly started me on my path to real bread making.

A continual learning process had dropped me off on the corner of sparse toppings (as a general rule, I use no more than three ingredients) and medium weight, sourdough or sourdough-esque crusts. That is a very happy corner to wait around on! I snatched up Jim Lahey's new book, My Pizza, at my library recently and near instantly applied his maverick electric oven hack to a different pizza dough and was thoroughly impressed.

I'm even more impressed now that I've made his conventional yeast dough. The dough is a no-knead type, made quickly and then left with an 18-hour or so relax time. When it comes time to bake it, it bakes up fluffy, soft and with a thin brittle bottom crust. It has just the perfect amount of deep, near black scorchings, and a perfect blend of crispiness and chewiness. Baking a pizza by broiling it also puts a hot pie on the table in about 3 minutes, which is pretty amazing too. A quick bake time allows to eat them nearly on demand, immediately after they emerge - which is always when pizza tastes best - and then easy repetition to bake off another one in short order.

(Food52 has the new Lahey method pizza recipe back up on their website, the only tweaking I did was to use Kosher salt and a handful (50 g.) of high protein whole wheat flour in place of 50 g. of the white stuff. I detailed the electric oven hack in the caption of this flickr photo if you are curious... For the pizzas I made last night, I just used several 1/4 inch thick slices of portobello mushrooms, some fresh mozzarella, and some red sauce as a base layer.)

A full recipe of Lahey's new dough makes 4 pizzas, but I cut one of the quarters in half to please my Kiddo who only eats sauce pizza. I make my pizza sauce with drained quarts of homecanned tomatoes augmented with garlic, spices and maybe some tomato paste if it seems too thin. Baking the smaller pizzas under the broiler seemed to make them too dark too fast, so I experimented by baking it at a solid 500 degrees and omitting the broiler altogether. It worked well, but make a thicker crust all around - an even, airy crust that maybe would have been weighted down a little more if there were more toppings (any toppings) involved.

I stretched the other three portions into 12 inch or so rounds, the dough soft and stretchy, a remarkably easy dough to work with when floured and handled gently but firmly. I really think this pizza is going to hang around for most of the Summer, it was so easy and so good. Since my stand mixer has died a third time, I'm thinking that less work and less hand kneading may be on my agenda for awhile whether I like it or not, but recipes like this one are a solace to my machine angst, reminding me that I don't need machines to produce great food.

While there were many good pizza combinations in the good book, I was disappointed with petty things like the font, the book size and feel, and the hastiness of the author voice. I loved the first (My Bread) book so much - and I haven't forgotten that there is a Lahey Project tab at the top of my page here regarding it, I may just resume work on the recipes from that book soon - that this one couldn't compare. Though certainly I will soon be making vegan pizzas with pureed walnuts in lieu of sauce, and the simple pork sausage recipe I already made was a definite keeper... perhaps even worth the cover price alone for ease and taste.

The road to great pizza winds on, and this approach is definitely worth the time to experiment on. Whenever I get all excited about a new pizza, I forget that before it came a pretty great pizza, and that is what baking life is all about. I hope I never tire of finding new doughs, new techniques, new toppings to inspire me never to eat pizza outside my home ever again. As of this writing, I'm feeling pretty close.


This post has been Yeastspotted.

Sourdough Hybrid Pizza Dough.

Is it terribly American of me to feel like I could eat pizza at least once a week, if not more often? I'm not talking about frozen or delivery pizza mind you, but pizzas of my own concoction, made usually with leftovers on all accounts. For the past month, I dove more in depth into sourdough pizza dough, playing on variations of Peter Reinhart's non-sourdough version in Crust and Crumb.

early June (sourdough) pizza, baked in oven.

You'd think that Peter had asked me personally to run P.R. for that cookbook, but I can not help how excited I get when ratios seem to be perfect no matter what you do to vary them. So far, each loaf I've tried has been stellar: my results only failing when my patience for the rising wanes or when I suspect my starter isn't vigorous enough. Not once, however, has a loaf emerged that was inedible... and the same can be said of this pizza dough.

I have had a few hard and fast rules of pizza. I always bake at 500 or higher, and on a stone. I always topped with cheese after the pizza was mostly cooked. This endearing dough has me changing my once cemented pizza ideals. I've lowered my temps a bit to cater to it and pop the entire pizza into the oven with cheese and all. In exactly 10 minutes, I'm ready to eat pizza - and usually the dishes are done meanwhile. It's also a thicker crust, blistered outside with plenty of tunneling holes submerged within the outer crust. It's a pleasant escape from super thin (and nonetheless addicting) Lahey crust, and I love that it's fast, freezes well, and bakes directly from the fridge.

It's hard to get an idea of the weight of dough from a photograph. This dough is not at all dense, it's appearance is shocking to the actual weight of the dough - it feels airy, light. Because it contains both sourdough and active dry yeasts (what I affectionately call "hybrid dough"), it seems to have the best of both worlds when considering flavor and time spent.

It does it's second rise in the dark, cold privacy of the refrigerator and finally the time comes to bake: reaching in for a pleasantly plump, well risen orb is always a surprise - the dough is resilient, not prone to deflation without some coercion. It's the dough dreams are made of, and since I'm so addicted to Reinhart's bread that requests me to have a firm starter (rather than the 100% hydration that sits on the counter) going most of the time in the fridge, if I even have an inkling that I want pizza for supper it can be done in fairly short order.

Reinhart's dough uses a poolish, a pre-ferment starter made the day before from instant yeast. Instead, I use firm starter (also the base of the Reinhart Pain Au Levain that I love so well). With a little feel for the dough, you can probably use any type of starter if you also alter slightly the amount of liquid in the recipe.

Reinhart's recipe also calls for buttermilk. I make a viili style yogurt which is much more runny than commercial yogurt and substitute it often. I've also used whey, or whey mixed with some strained (Greek-style) yogurt. The dough should feel "soft, stretchy, and tacky, somewhat like baguette dough", but poolish starter is likely a bit higher in hydration. This dough is not so sticky, but more satiny, like the feel of an under-inflated balloon. A bit of practice will guide you to the correct feel, so long as you don't stray too far from the ratio.

(To make firm starter enough for this recipe: combine 1 c. 100% hydration sourdough starter with 1 c. bread flour and about 2 T. water, just enough to form the dough into a ball. Knead it lightly for a minute, and let it ferment at room temperature for 4 hours. Transfer to the refrigerator for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days. This starter is very sticky, using wet fingers will help. Let the firm starter sit at room temperature for an hour before using if you can, although I have used it right from the fridge in a pinch. The rising time for the pizza dough may be slightly longer if you do that.)

Sourdough Hybrid Pizza Dough (adapted from Peter Reinhart)

• 1 lb. (3 1/2 c.) bread flour
• 1 1/2 t. salt
• 1 T. instant yeast
• 1 T. honey or sugar
• 2 T. olive oil
• 3/4 c. buttermilk (Reinhart says to use it at room temp, but I never remember to take it out and cold seems to be fine, first rise time may increase a tad...)
• 8 oz. firm starter
• (additional room temperature water - as needed, about 1/4 c.)
  

Combine everything in a stand mixer. (You may also do this by hand). Mix with dough hook on low speed for 1 minute, then increase speed to medium and continue mixing 10-12 minutes. (If kneading by hand, mix in bowl until dough forms, then transfer to floured board and knead 12-15 minutes.) I usually have to add a little water to get the dough up to the right consistency. Dough is ready when it passes the windowpane test, and feels neutral in temperature.

Place in a clean bowl, cover, and let rise until it "swells noticeably", about an hour.

On a floured surface, divide dough. (You can make anywhere from 3-6 pizzas, I usually make 4.) Roll the pieces into balls (This is a good video to see how to form the balls: Peter Reinhart visits a LaBrea bakery which is using huge portions and is somewhat mechanized, but you can see how the dough is shaped by hand. This is how I "rolled" dough when I worked at a bakery.)

Place shaped balls on a lightly floured baking sheet that has first been lined with a silpat or parchment paper. Enclose the whole pan inside a plastic bag, and transfer to the fridge. Let it rise at least one hour, and up to 48 hours. You can also freeze the dough after this second rise, it will retain it's lift for up to 3 weeks. (I freeze the balls on the baking sheet until hard, then transfer to a zip top plastic bag with a date on it.)

To bake in oven, heat to 475 (Reinhart says 550, I've done 500 - depends on my mood) with a baking stone in the lower third of the oven. Press dough to deflate, and stretch using hands, knuckles, rolling pin if you like, to desired thickness. Leave a thicker amount of dough around the outside edge. Transfer dough to a peel that has been sprinkled well with cornmeal, top and bake until the top is golden.

I decided, since I'm newly addicted to baking on my grill, to grill pizza tonight. Having never done it before, I'd say I have some learning to do. I had the heat pretty high, and the bottom was "nicely caramelized" (a.k.a. kinda burnt). It didn't stop us from eating the whole thing, but next time, I have to remember to throw some unglazed quarry tiles down to temper the heat. The top didn't brown, but everything was cooked through, and even though the bottom was a bit blackened and extra crisp, it wasn't really unpleasant. There was still a good amount of chew to the outside edge, and I have to put yet another mention out there for the candied jalapeno, which is the crown jewel of my homemade pantry. Every bite tastes better with a candied pepper.

grilled pizza.


oven pizza. so far, I'd say the oven version is better - but I'll still try grilling one again.

I think I need something hot on every pizza I've ever eaten because of my Mom. As long as I can remember she eats pizza with peppers alongside, either her own pickled jalapenos in oil and vinegar, or as a last resort purchased pepperoncinis. She orders them on the side if we happen to eat pizza out, but also like my Mom, we tend to make our pizzas at home rather than do that. We may not have the ovens of the professionals, but we do our best - and this crust makes me feel one little step closer to the unattainable Perfection of Pizza.

This post has been Yeastspotted.

The Lahey Project (kinda...): Cauliflower Pizza

Being in the throes of sourdough, I have lately abandoned my Lahey Project fervor. I have not forgotten dear Jim, since yesterday I produced my best loaf of sourdough to date using his ratio (in metric) of flour to water, and counting a heaping 1/4 c. of my starter in the liquid part of the equation. When I saw this Habenero Apple Jelly recipe today, I knew I had to rush off to my favorite apple vendor at the farmer's market in West Allis to get some cider - and while I was there I couldn't pass up a yellow cauliflower. One thing always leads to another, doesn't it?

Even though I have ample things to eat, I know that the winter season will soon be upon us and then that yellow cauliflower will then be the only thing I can think of: so often is that the case when I don't give in to instant gratification. And, while I'm at it, if I'm going to be instantly gratified, it behooves my healthfulness to include a cauliflower. High in vitamin C and fiber, and full of cancer fighting phytochemicals, the yellow version shouldn't actually taste much different than a milky white varietal. I swear that the yellow version is gentler and much more sophisticated. But then again, it's probably just the divine combination of ingredients that comprise a Lahey pizza...

Long before the purchase of said cauliflower, I had started a whole wheat dough this morning using my sourdough starter. I applied the same idea of counting a heaping 1/4 c. of starter as a liquid, and tried a mostly wheat "no knead" dough from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I own this book, and was initially very excited with it (before Laheyitis set in...). The premise of both Artisan Bread in Five books is that you are able to mix up a large batch of no knead dough, and then bake with it for a week or longer. The bread is good, and the time saving is valid for those who may be busy. But after trying my first bite of Lahey bread made with a minuscule amount of yeast, I couldn't go back to stored dough; my new breads developed much more flavor over that longer period of fermentation time.

I also have the luxury of pretty much babysitting any dough project since I work in the home... and there is a very satisfying reward for me personally to be able to bake on demand and set my alarm clock for the middle of the night or supremely early in the morning to attend to such needs of experimentation. It's kind of funny that here I am, trying to take a simple method and make it more laborious, but that is what I do I guess. There are a lot of great recipes in the Artisan Bread books, and now that I know I can make more work for myself, I may set out trying to replicate more of them using a longer, single baking approach.

I scaled back the HBin5 master bread dough recipe to 1/4 of it's intended amount (fairly easy, since the book lists metric weights for the master recipe) using my starter, and compensated for having ALL of my windows open for most of this unseasonably warm November day by leaving the dough in my oven with the light on to raise for about 8 hours. It was ready by dinner time, and by then I had this gorgeous cauliflower. Though I may be stretching to count it in my Lahey Project, I used the recipe for the topping from My Bread.

The dough was super sticky, so I rolled it super thin on a piece of parchment, and baked it on a stone at 500 degrees. When the dough "set", I slid the parchment out from underneath.

Brilliance. The mandolined cauliflower tossed with green olives (I "borrowed" queen sized manzanillas from my in-laws), chile flake, fresh garlic, Parmesan cheese and a trace of olive oil. The dough was nice and crisp - but to be honest, I was so enamored of the topping it was clearly in the backseat. I saved the rest of my dough in the fridge to play with tomorrow - and am figuring that I'll likely make the second half of the cauliflower into another pizza tomorrow night, dutifully complete with Lahey crust.

(Oh, and I forgot to mention that this cauliflower pizza is topped with breadcrumbs. Beautiful, uniformly dusty breadcrumbs now thanks to the VitaMix! But breadcrumbs of any size or shape and added to the top of any pizza just prior to baking are probably only going to enhance your outcome, and that is just one thing I have learned from Jim Lahey.)

The only enhancement that can make a Lahey Pizza better in my eyes is some heat. Even with the ample chile flake my heavy hands added, pizza in my book needs to be consumed with peppers alongside. My candied jalapenos were perfect, and I ate a slice with each bite until my eyes were hot and nearly watering. Not so much watering as "sweating". I've said it before and I'll say it again, you know it's good when your eyes sweat.

The End.

The Lahey Project: Pizzas Potato and Zucchini.

Friday evening was a good occasion to knock out two more Lahey pizzas: Pizza Patate and Pizza Zucchine. I made two Lahey pizzas in one pan, a half and half pizza, since I have to carefully schedule the Lahey recipes I know won't be immediate hit with my Husband around the times when I have friends or family visiting. It works out splendidly, since I can be generous with the servings and not too gluttonous in my own consumption. Fortunately for me, Lahey pizzas are well designed to be both a bit unorthodox and extremely delicious - both happy mediums for casual dinner parties. And, I know that had he felt adventurous enough to try it, both sides of the pizza would have been a hit with my Husband, too.

(It is also a benefit that since the pizzas are all vegetable, lazy salad makers such as myself do not even feel guilty for only serving pizza and nothing else - well, except for the Mostly Foodstuffs Rhubarb Liqueur and Rhubarb Custard Tart! I have to get my rhubarb servings in when I have company as well...)

This week's CSA box had a pound of new Yukon Gold potatoes and zucchini, last week's box had a yellow squash and a sweet onion, so proudly all the ingredients (save the flour) are native to Wisconsin!

The potato side begins with a salt water soak. I have never soaked potatoes in salt water before, but it actually draws out some of the moisture, making the potatoes both crisp and creamy when they bake. Since the pizza bakes at a blistering 500 degrees, wafer thin slices of potato (tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper) turn golden and parched on top and stay creamy underneath - a combination that is satisfyingly hearty. A carnivorous eater would gladly add bacon, pancetta or prosciutto and never again order out for pizza. I'll save that trick for another day.

I soaked my mandolined potatoes for about 90 minutes, and meanwhile shredded 20 ounces of zucchini/squash, tossed it with salt and let it drain over a colander. I have a number of clean muslin bags in my kitchen drawer that I made from unbleached cotton muslin. I find that I use them for everything: from straining grapes for jelly to this tried and true technique of pressing the excess moisture out of the zucchini. I actually am able to get incredibly dry zucchini by loading it into the bag, then twisting and pressing it until it is virtually dehydrated. Coincidentally, I think the first time I employed this technique was to make the Mostly Foodstuffs Chocolate Zucchini Cake, which is also a winner!

I recently read this post by Otehlia at World of Flavors, where she explains how most recipes that contain zucchini make a large amount, since to make a dent in a zucchini supply, you have to be able to use a lot in one recipe. It is true (and her bread recipe at the link above does look like it will have to be tried sometime soon), and I found myself noticing that many of the zucchini recipes I have do contain rather large amounts of this prolific vegetable. A pound and a quarter on half of the pizza may seem like a lot, but it was not too much, and it was probably the best slice of pizza I've had in a long time. If it is one thing I can't recommend highly enough, it is the proportions in this book. They are spot on - and I am not someone who goes about measuring everything when I'm in the kitchen. I do swear firmly upon weight measurements in My Bread. They have not failed me yet!

The zucchini is supposed to be tossed with Gruyere cheese, but I had some Wisconsin Parmesan on hand from Country Connection, and I used an equal amount of it: 75 grams for the half amount. The pure genius moment of this half of the pizza is that it is sprinkled with bread crumbs over the top before baking. At the high oven temperature, this created gorgeous blackened crunchy bits. This little addition alone endears Pizza Zucchine to me forever, but indeed the flavors of the entire concoction are really inspired. They are simple, but perfectly balanced.

I added just a bit of grated nutmeg... I couldn't resist!

The only thing I could be more excited about than Lahey Pizza lately is rhubarb. I recently crowned Deena my Rhubarby Guru, and it is the truth. She posted a recipe back in May for a liqueur that I finally made, bottled and am trying patiently to let it mellow, but it is so delicious that I keep sampling it. She says it needs time to mellow, but it is already so good, that I can't imagine it getting much better. It is smooth, and tart, and sweet. It is Rhubarb Liqueur, and you need to make some now, if you can still get some fresh rhubarb.

My own rhubarb masterpiece, the family recipe that I almost can not make for fears of devouring all of it's buttery greatness, took a back seat to another of Deena's recipes that I had wanted to try: Rhubarb Custard Tart. I had to use frozen rhubarb here, and I decided to bake it frozen instead of letting it drain - just a little bit of a mistake. It looks fine and tasted delicious, but got just a tad watery as it sat. Overnight in the refrigerator took care of most of the problem, but I would imagine that it would be stellar with fresh, unfrozen rhubarb. The tart crust was particularly nice, and since I had only an 8 inch tart pan, I made a dozen little tarts out of the remains. We ate some, and I gave some away, but still have some left and let me tell you it is hard not to keep swiping spoonfuls on my way past. Rhubarb is like that: A love it or hate it thing, but once it gets in your blood you are hard pressed to not crave it.

So, I'm moving right along, Mr. Lahey! Looking forward to my next My Bread adventure, whatever it may be... the greatness of these pizzas makes me think it just may be the Pizza Cavolifiore: Cauliflower Pizza.

Asparagus Pizza (with Lahey crust, of course...)

Yesterday, I read that innBrooklyn was starting a feature called "The Virtual Veg of the Month", in which they are are looking for seasonal vegetable submissions for photographs and recipes. Asparagus is first on the list, and fortunately for me, I had some on hand.

It seems like spring has been on fast forward this year in my neck of the woods. In less than 24 hours, the Maple tree out front has budded out completely, and the Forsythia in the back is showing off his bright yellow. Both are clear signs that this early warm spell indeed signals the end of the cold. I don't know about other cold-dwellers, but I almost go into denial when the weather warms up - forgetting that I don't need to grab any of my growing knitwear stash, or bundle up the Boy-O when we venture out of doors.

When I read about innBrooklyn's challenge, it made me more than happy to realize that asparagus season is finally here after all, and that I had a challenge to attend to. Moments after reading, I googled "asparagus pizza", since I knew I wanted to make a pizza today. I like to have a jumping off point, but this is dangerous, since it does lead to link saving most of the time. Fortunately for me, I ran into another amazing blog: A Chow Life.

Not only is this a really lovely blog, full of amazing photography and effortless writings, here was an asparagus pizza, exactly as I could imagine one to be. Needless to say, RedMenace instantly gained a follower, and I knew that I would have no chance at making my pizza look as wonderful as hers! But that is OK with me, since there is a lot to learn from viewing beautiful photographs, and there are many, many of them there to choose from.

While A Chow Life photos of asparagus pizza are ethereal and light, mine remind me of an abstract Pollock's - hard and vivid. I know I'm starting to take myself too seriously, when upon waking to a dark, thunderstorming sky this morning, my first thoughts were "how am I going to get great photos of my pizza this evening?"...

While at the moment, photography takes a back seat to my learning of Spanish, I'm more than content to focus still of the making of a pizza. And the eating of a pizza, since this one was really delicious and used up some Easter leftovers. It was actually one of two pizzas, since I had unexpected company from Frankee and her two girls. Let me also note that if you happen to have some leftover frozen meatballs in your freezer, they too make a delicious pizza...

The beauty of pizza is always that you can use as much of each ingredient you like, however, I will note the amounts I used below.

Asparagus, Ham and Roasted Red Pepper Pizza (on Lahey Crust)

• 1/2 lb. asparagus, blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes and plunged into ice water. (Then carefully slice each in half lengthwise. I used extra thin asparagus, if you use thicker, you may need to boil for an additional minute or so.)
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced as thinly as you are able
• 1 1/2 roasted red peppers, sliced into strips (I had some in my freezer from last fall, but you can also use jarred or roast them yourself.)
• 1 c. diced ham (prosciutto or Serrano ham would also be great substitutions)
• grated cheese, 1 cup or more to your taste. I used a Wisconsin Munster (made just down the road from my Parents' house), and a little mild provolone, since I was using up what was in the fridge.
• drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with black (preferably Tellecherry) pepper.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Arrange your toppings, except for the cheese, on the pizza dough (recipe below). Bake for 10-12 minutes until the crust begins to look brown along the edges, and center appears cooked. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with cheese. Bake an additional 5-8 minutes until cheese is melted and browned to your liking.

Lahey Pizza Dough
You have to buy this book, since it is the greatest! He includes the weight measurements that I use in addition to the conventional measurements listed below.
(makes 2 half sheet pans, use a half recipe for a single pizza.)

• 3 3/4 c. bread flour
  
• 2 1/2 t. active dry yeast
• 3/4 t. salt
• 3/4 t. sugar
• 1 1/3 c. room temperature water

Stir flour, yeast, salt and sugar together in a medium bowl. Add water and mix until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel, and let rest at room temperature until dough has more than doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

Scrape the dough from the bowl out onto a floured surface and form it into a rough ball. Divide it in two pieces, place them apart from each other, and cover with a damp towel to rest for 30 minutes.

When oven is hot and you are ready for making the pizza, liberally oil the pans. Place a ball of dough in the center of the pan, moist side down. Pull, press and stretch the dough to the size of the pan. It will cover the entire thing. It is now ready to top!

You, too, can join in the fun of the Veg of the Month Club! I love a challenge, especially, since sometimes I get sidetracked by what I want to make and not by what needs to be used up. The freezer is still very, very full and countless meals could be produced here without leaving for a store. Augmented by seasonal veg, I think I'll see what I can come up with in the next few weeks as a way to make space in my freezer and make room for strawberries. Last year, I froze 15 pounds in quart jars, and that takes up some space! I'd also wager that I could eat pizza, especially with the Lahey crust, every day for at least a week. And I never thought I'd say this, but I could almost do it without the cheese! You know then for sure that Lahey crust must be a great recipe.

Variations on a Theme: The Ongoing Adventures in Lahey Bread

In my fervor for all things Lahey, I write again on the merits of My Bread. Variety is usually the spice of my life here at Casa Rcakewalk, but lately, I've focused on eating up what has already been made instead of making new - which is a feat in and of itself, since I am never happier than when I have a whole day of cooking or baking under my belt. Since the onset of my blogging life last April, I found myself even more ambitious in creating - obsessed as much with the good food as I was in the process of photographing it and writing about it. This ultimately led to too much waste, since often I'm the only one eating the bulk of my projects...

Everyone makes resolutions at the end of the year, promising to do things differently going into the new one. My own unpublished (until now) resolution was to focus more on less waste and enjoying each stage of the eating process than to focus on sheer quantity of food produced. So far, I have done quite well, and maybe even lost a couple of pounds. Our grocery budget is slashed, and I am supplementing our shelved and frozen pantries with fresh fruits and veggies, flour (of course), milk and cheese.

Enter Lahey bread method. I really know I could exist fully on bread and cheese, maybe a glass of wine here and there, and coffee, milk and tea. No lie, and I'd be quite happy indefinitely if I could experiment with the components of each. If you would add in some rolled oats for my Boy-O and maybe some eggs, meat and Lucky Charms for my Husband, and we all could exist quite well for pret-ty, pret-ty long time.

Last night, Ash Wednesday, we had another in the Lahey pizza installments: Pizza Funghi. This second pizza was as wonderful as the first, and just as easy to concoct. I didn't wait until I bought or borrowed a mandoline to slice crimini mushrooms to 1/8 inch, and I'm glad. It may have taken a few extra minutes, but it was well worth any effort. This was such a substantial pizza even in the absence of sauce or much cheese. (Lahey does leave these cheese-less, but that just seems wrong given our geographical local, and I again added just a bit of shredded mozzarella and provolone during the last 5 minutes of baking.)

Yesterday, I ordered my Amazon cart at long last with My Bread at the top of the list. I started my second loaf, the Pane Integrale (wheat bread), yesterday and baked it near lunchtime today. I took advantage of the scorching oven to heat some of the leftovers, and they were very close to as good as when they were fresh out the day prior, crispy and earthy tasting.

Since I seem to be working in order, at least with the loaf breads, I'm almost considering making everything in the book in succession. I know each and every recipe is worth my time and (minimal) effort.

I think experimentation is my favorite thing about becoming obsessed with food-related things. The first time I try a new recipe, I usually try to stick close to the as-written, but usually hopelessly alter until it is at least reasonably healthy. That wasn't at all the case with these recipes; I'm following to the gram, and they are turning out perfectly. I am shocked when I remove the lid, and my loaf looks identical to the photographs in the book.

I may have a bit of layman baking experience, but I am convinced that even if you do not, your bread will look and taste like Lahey bread. This, my friends, is the mark of a great teacher, writer and tester. Go ahead and click on the book to the right in my Amazon reading list: you will no doubt be as happy as I am to have this book in your library.

Pizza via Jim Lahey: Where have you been all my life?

I am not sure what rock I've been residing under, but in my enthusiasm for Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, I neglected the King of no-knead bread: Jim Lahey. It was Mr. Lahey who started the no-knead bread revolution, back in 2006 if I'm correct. Late last year, I read reviews of his recent book, My Bread, and immediately dropped it into my Amazon cart (my favorite way to not-shop...) and into the 19 person long hold list at my library.

Photo from Amazon.

I had no idea when my copy would finally be available for perusal, but when the call came, I rushed to the library and rushed back home. Then I rushed through the first section last night which is a concisely written account of why Jim bakes and what makes him so excited about it, and then dove exuberantly, and head first, into the meat of the story: the recipes.

Bakers are a curious sort. I did a stint at a local Breadsmith, back in my copy-shop days. When I was a "roller", as we called ourselves, it was mere weeks until my forearms felt as if I could take on Sylvester Stallone in Over the Top and have a chance. This was my first official foray into the world of doughs, and I did learn a lot. To my amazement, our breads there were all cultivated from scratch, beginning around eleven p.m. prior to my 4:30 a.m. start time. Those were happy times, for me to learn the way proper dough should feel, the smell of it in a crazy hot oven, and even the cleanliness of the whole process. If today I ever should I find myself breadless, I still don't feel bad grabbing one of their loaves, and each bite brings back those sleepless days.

So much is written on bread, the staff of life. It has a similar construction to our own bodies, and really is a whole food when made properly. I know for a fact that I probably could live on bread alone, as I'm sure many people in the past have for periods of time. I've been content the past couple of years to rely on my stored dough technique that Artisan Bread in Five allows, (and I'm not demeaning it, since it is taste worthy and easy above all) but that doesn't leave much for experimentation in the bread realms of Rcakewalk...

I didn't know that I would be making any of Lahey's recipes today, but figured since I didn't pull anything from the freezer, and didn't have any idea what to make for supper without leaving the snowdrifted driveway, I figured it was a prime chance to make one of his pizzas. (I can officially say: Mom and Dad, listen up - this is the pizza that you both will seriously love. It's cracker thin, ultratasty, and only takes minimal mess and effort to produce. Not to mention the fraction of clean up time, compared to when I drag the pizza stone out at your house!)

I have long been an advocate of the pizza stone, which renders me hot and busy for pizza parties, but this pizza is baked at 500 on a sheet pan. I could make 2 at once, prevent the overheating of myself and others, be the "hostess with the mostess", and still present a stellar product. Oh, Mr. Lahey, where have you been all my life?

Look at that gluten!

I opted to use the weight versions in the book, since he gives both metric weights and volume measurements. At first, I was suspicious that my scale was not as accurate as I assume, since the dough was decidedly stiff. I kept to the recipe, indeed to the gram, and am happy to report that it turned out perfectly.

The sheet pan is greased with olive oil, and the dough is coaxed to as large and thin as it can be coaxed. I made his simple Pomodoro pizza, by weighing out 14 oz of my home-canned tomatoes and mixing a glug of olive oil and a heavy pinch of salt in. When I weigh home-canned tomatoes, which are quart jars, I set a strainer over a bowl and zero out my scale. Then, I feel like I'm approximating the texture of "diced" supermarket canned tomatoes. I added in about 2 T. of the reserved juice, and found it was a perfect amount for a sheet pan sized pizza.

I used my knife skills to shave off incredibly thin slices of yellow onion, about a 1/4 c. and scattered these over the sauce, and also heavily scattered on the crushed red chile peppers. The Roman style of these pizzas dictate the absence of cheese, I believe. But since we are here in Wisconsin, I had to add some... but not until the pizza had baked about 15 minutes, and looked like it had only about 5 more minutes to go.

It is unfortunate that the sun was down, and there was no natural light to be had... you'll have to suffer through the dim incandescent lighting pics, and use your imaginations. Better yet, get some bread flour, and give it a go!

After my Espanol studies this evening, I may have to mix up the bread version to make tomorrow sometime (he calls for 12-18 hour rest, but up to 24 hours in the winter, so I should probably wait until tomorrow), even though I may be endangering myself by removing the plastic handle from my LeCreuset pot.

His method relies on the "oven within an oven" - or a covered pot of ceramic or cast iron origins. I am not the most graceful (or as my Mother will confirm, the neatest) of all bakers, and a handle-less lid is worrisome. I'm hoping I can find something in my tool kit to jury rig the top, rendering it easier to lift. For those that are not as impatient, I know that LeCreuset does sell high-temperature handles that interchange with the stock handles, which are only heat safe to 375 degrees. While I knew this, and that my library hold was coming, I neglected to purchase one. If I'm at all as excited with the results, you can be sure that one will be on its way to me post haste.

I know I keep saying that one of these days, I'm actually going to purchase the items in my Amazon cart. I think it's going to be very soon, my friends. Some books I just have to have due to their incredible photography and inspiration, not to mention recipes of simplicity and pure perfection. Jim Lahey has made the cut, and you can bet a smiley-faced box will be on the way to me soon. Meanwhile, there are many links to the Lahey Pizza, but I haven't noticed in the several I perused that they are the exact published version. The recipe I used included a small amount of sugar, salt, yeast and bread flour. I'll leave you to seek it out, since I'm certain that you'll be glad I did.

Last week in food...

I will be the first to admit that sometimes I feel hopelessly technologically challenged. I seriously have been trying to upload a picture of pie for 45 minutes. Good thing the Boy-O is tired out from a long weekend and taking a deservedly long nap...

I've had this problem before: I take a photo horizontally, upload it into Picasa, and then somehow the computer sprites tweak it into vertical mode. I go in, change, save, reload - and it is still miraculously vertical. I've repeated this process now so many times that I'm about out of patience. So, If you would like to see this photo, click here.

And now, on with the Post:

Last week was busy in preparation for E and Laura's visit on Friday. I do like to clean and organize, this is true, but somehow I never felt like I had enough hours in the day. I realised around Wednesday that I feel this way since Daylight Savings time has robbed me of 60 precious daylight minutes. I now wake at 6:30 am, and am shocked to be turning on lights promptly around 5 pm. I know I'll get used to it, but the initial week always sends me into denial a little bit. Thankfully with the onset of shorter days and cooler weather, I feel re-inspired to cook. Some highlights from last week:

Spinach and bacon pizza with jalapeno Monterrey Jack cheese. I've decided on giving up my food snobbery of pizza dough construction (Sorry, Alex Guarneschelli...) and going with the "whatever is in the icebox" approach. It's good! I let a portion of the Artisan Bread in Five stored dough sit out covered with a towel for about an hour, and then added the toppings.

One pizza truth I will forevermore adhere to is the addition of the cheese after the pizza has baked 2/3 of the way. Oh, and bake at 500 degrees f. My own, unwritten rule is to only include 3 ingredients as toppings (not including the cheese), but I forgot about the onions until it was too late, so this one only had two. I just remembered that I also sauteed the spinach with sliced garlic, and that was a great idea.

It was even better a couple days later when I had it for lunch. I was cooking my beans via the Parson's Method (more on that below), and slipped it into the oven on its foil for 10 minutes.

Bay scallops with mushrooms, sherry "cream" sauce and polenta. I Loved this. My Husband Liked it, since he's not a huge fan of polenta. I hate to hear this, but secretly plan on making it for lunch every once in a while.

CSA farm box. I got a Harvest Share box from my new CSA, Highcross Farms on Thursday. Lots of late season produce including kale, arugula, parsley (even though mine has suddenly turned into a hedge in the back yard), squashes, onions, brussel sprouts... 10 minutes after I lugged it in the door, I had the beets on a sheet pan destined for roasting.

Friday, the girls were coming, and I planned to make Crispy Kale, since I remembered reading about it in Bon Appetit several months ago. I actually received Tuscan Kale in my box, and was so excited since I have never seen it anywhere before. I went ahead and tried the same baking method with another spicy green (unknown variety to me) and some curly kale as well.

I think I preferred the curly kale, since it literally melted in your mouth, but they were all delicious. And my Husband loved it too. Crispy kale, yes and polenta, no? Go figure... another 10 years, and I should have this down pat!

Friday, I decided on a bean soup since it's flexible in the serving time. Rancho Gordo Midnight blacks, cooked via the Parson's Method mentioned in the book Heirloom Beans. I was so curious when I read this, I just had to try it. I figured a soup pot of beans was the best way to experiment.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees f. In a dutch oven, bring one pound of unsoaked beans to a boil in 6 cups of water. After it boils, put on the lid and slip it into the oven for 1-2 hours. I checked at 1 hour, and then again at 1:20. They were done enough to add the salt, so I added 1 t. and then back in the oven for another 20. Perfect black beans! And, a delicious soup. But some things no matter how delicious, do not translate well on film.

Now, PIE! All the pie talk last week did really wet my appetite for pie in the home. I wasn't sure what kind to make. I did know that I wanted to make Cook's Illustrated Magazine's vodka pie crust. I call it this to differentiate it from all the other pie doughs I've made. This one is really great, and the vodka allows for easier rolling since the liquid evaporates in the oven. It's flaky and tender so Alton Brown would be proud, and my friends agreed that it was pretty darn tasty, so I'll take it.

The guts included a layer of what was essentially cranberry jam. The recipe was peeking out at me from behind the vodka pie dough recipe. I don't know why I never thought to make it before. I do know that I'll be making it again. As for a photo of the finished product? You will have to click on over to my Flickr stream, since I'm nearing the end of my allotted computer time for one day. And, all this pie talk is making me hungry.

My Journey in Pizza

My journey in pizza officially began when I was 11 years old. My mother was very very sick with the flu, and I stayed home from school to help take care of her. For some reason, I decided since my Mom couldn't make dinner, I was going to make us a pizza. We were living in the "city" at the time: for about 9 months after we moved from the Northwoods to the Coulee Region of Wisconsin we lived in the actual city of LaCrosse while my parents were looking for a rural place for us to live. My Mom was (and still is) a from scratch cook and baker, and even while living in the city I remember us ordering in a pizza only once. So it didn't occur to me that if we wanted a pizza, we could order one - that and I was 11 and my Mom was so sick I probably wouldn't have thought to ask her anyway.

I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I actually, from scratch, made a crust and pizza sauce, added some cheddar cheese and used some kind of sausage (which I didn't cook before putting the pizza in the oven...). It may have been edible if the meat had been cooked through, though I doubt we starved after my Dad got home from work. I remember my Mom was pretty impressed...

When I was a kid, I was certainly not excited about cooking or baking...and am frequently reminded by my parents that I vehemently and verbally made it known that I would rather be mowing the lawn or stacking wood than stuck helping out in the kitchen. (And as my brothers will not let me forget, part of the reason I was banished from such helping out of doors was because once I hit the swimming pool with the riding lawnmower...) But from that first foray into a homemade pizza until today, when I made a couple for our dinner, I have no doubt made several hundred of all different sorts.

I think it was high school, maybe my Junior/Senior year when it started to amaze me that you could make a dough out of flour, yeast, salt and water (and sometimes sugar). As I recall, at that time, my Mom never measured for pizza dough, and I didn't either. My first attempts were usually edible, but probably not great. After that, the college pizzas a roommate and I concocted included pocketing salad bar options from the cafeteria and assembling also not great doughs in the dorm "kitchen". Later, my personal attempts usually with all whole grain flours where I would aim for a almost a cracker like crust. I guess through the years I tended to judge a good pizza first by the dough...

For the few years, I only make pizza on a stone, and now would never dream of going back to assembling and baking on a pizza pan. But as I sit down to think about it, a lot of trial and error has gone into what I now think is the best pizza. Things are best in my mind when I can't think of a pizza anywhere that I would rather eat than one I made myself...not that I'm so bloody terrific, just that I finally have the method down to where the pizza I make is the pizza I actually want to eat. Yes, I have to be content that my home oven only can heat up to 500 degrees and not the 800 + of the professional pizza oven, but in our area of the country, not many local pizza restaurants probably have proper pizza ovens anyway.

Until last year, I was very contented with the 8 hour pizza dough from Cook's Illustrated's The Best Recipe cookbook. Then I watched Alex Guarnascheli by accident one Saturday morning on Food Network making a pizza dough that she then seared on both sides in a cast iron skillet like a flatbread, topped, and finished cooking in a medium oven. I immediately printed off her recipe.

I think it's the easiest and fastest by far (I like to let it sit around for about 3-4 hours though, because I think it tastes better) and I always marvel how nice and silky the dough is to work with. The first time I used it, I made it her way in the cast iron pan (one of my favorite kitchen workhorses), but made a Mexican pizza, with leftover tacos ole meat (my husband's favorite from the back of the Frank's Red Hot bottle, but I think I used part beef and part buffalo) and other assorted Latin ingredients from my fridge.

I didn't feel that it baked thoroughly until I slid it out of the pan and then onto the bare rack in the oven, but it was really good. My next attempt with the dough I decided to just pull it out into shape the way Alton Brown so adeptly demonstrated in one of the shows he did on pizza. Now I was onto something. The photo at the beginning of the post was my favorite so far, which had bacon, thin sliced new potatoes and chives.

Tonight's pizzas were a last minute affair in which I used stored "no knead" dough from (former obsession contender) Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It was good, but something was missing. While I only add olive oil to the outside of Alex's dough I wonder if it's just that seductive trace of fat that I need to say it's perfect. That, and her recipe has salt and pepper - pepper being a definitive ingredient.

While I am indebted to Alex for this dough and its transformation of my pizza, I'm sure I'll set out to try others and continue to evolve. I inadvertently got on the King Arthur Flour email list, and they recently sent a 24 hour recipe that I think I'll have to try - but who knows when. I used to be able to say that I planned meals, but not they kind of evolve as I navigate through my days. If sometime in the next few weeks I know I want pizza 24-48 hours out, I'll let you know what I think.