Waafer thin pizza

My preference in pizza is a medium crust, not cracker thin, not thick.  In my terms, about 225 g per 10-12" diameter.  

My preference is changing to a thin crust; I thought you might appreciate my reasons for the change:

1.  In the book Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, he describes experiments that clearly demonstrate our ability to take a cue when we've eaten enough - stinks.  We pretty much eat all that is served.  Read the book, the experiments are awesome - especially the Pringles experiment.   One related  observation on this is we'll be just as satisfied when eating two meals of approximately the same volume, e.g., a double burger might make us just as satisfied as a single burger stuffed with veggies; there are better examples in the book.  I figured a thinner crust might serve as a substrate for the same 12" pizza with fewer calories.  Note: I realize I'm dangerously close to a low carb thing here, but I'm simply trying to find a great satisfying food with a few less calories.

2. I really love (some) thin crust pies, especially those of California Pizza Kitchen.  Thin, yet good bubbles on the surface, tender and wonderful flavor.

3. A higher veggie to carb ratio can not be bad (again, dangerously close to low carb stuff - warning! mid age belly burgeoning).
4. The wife and kid like the thin pies too.  

I want to make a thin crust pizza rivaling my current favorite, CPK.

The number of experiments - given my current understanding and experience making pizza at home - are limited.  I want some oil in the dough for tenderness, but the big question is a slack or stiff dough (high moisture or low moisture respectively) better?  The only way to start this investigation is pretty easy: try both. 

Commercially, a shop would use a sheeter to get dough this thin and even.  I'll just weigh the lump of dough, push it to half the diameter by hand and finish with a rolling pin.  Prior rounding of the lump of dough will give a disk of dough with adequate symmetry (important for density for the two pizzas).

The dough recipes:

Slack Dough (depicted below)
water, 220 g
unbleached white flour (Montana Sapphire), 300 g
sugar, 5 g
olive oil, 25 g
salt, 5 g
yeast, Red Star instant active, 7 g
Mixed, 1 rise, scaled to 150 g and rolled to 12" diameter (pretty exact)
topped with fresh thinly sliced tomato, chevre and basil, baked at 450°F

Stiff Dough
water, 180 g - all else the same
...stay tuned...

..

Simple dinner with the slow cooker

Cooked a split breast over potatoes on the kettle, indirect at about 300-350°F for 2 hours, pulled and wrapped chicken while potatoes finished up directly over coals.  Wow.  I wish I could've done the whole thing  sloooowly, but weeknight's are weeknights.

Wheat sandwich bread

I've had a love affair with soft squishy white bread since since I was about 1 [note 1].  Sunbeam was best, but Wonder was ok in a pinch.  The crust is merely a darker version of the middle, it has a twinkie-long shelf life and it practically withers in the presence of moisture, but it's still a fine substrate for bolony with mustard, pb&j or sopping up bbq sauce.  Y'all like it more than you'll admit.


But, it is an enigma of baking.  I can buy this stuff if I want and occasionally do, but it is the challenge of recreating a recipe based on my perception and palate that drives the pursuit to duplicate it in my kitchen.  More importantly, once I get the gist of the soft bread, I could elevate it to something special and that is the reason for this post.  I have and I did and now I will share with you.

This is a straight dough method, mixing, rises and proof is as described in  Wayne Gisslen's Professional Baking.  Basically toss all ingredients in and mix and knead.  The big break in this loaf is the use of a softer (lower protein) flour to to blend with the unbleached white to afford a softer loaf.  Note: My preferences are to use a scale to weigh ingredients, a bread machine to knead, and I use instant (aka fast rising, any brand except Kroger) active dry yeast [note 2].

This particular loaf is the white bread version using cake flour.  The crumb and interior is the same for the whole wheat pastry flour variant.  When I get an image of the wheat, I'll replace it.

Preparation:

Add the following, any order to the chamber of a bread machine or a bowl:

water, about room temperature, 180 grams
salt, 5 grams
vegetable oil, 20 grams
sugar, 10 grams
instant active dry yeast, 1 pkt, 7 grams
unbleached white flour, Montana Sapphire, 225 grams
whole wheat pastry flour, 75 grams

Mix and knead by hand for 5 minutes or spin about 5 minutes in a bread machine's dough cycle.
Plop out and let rise for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Punch down and round the dough, let rest about 5 minutes.
Form into a oblong loaf big enough to just fit in a 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pan lined with parchment.
Let rise/proof in this pan about 20-25 minutes uncovered (uncovered so the surface dries out, this will enable a cleaner slash when docking the dough) [note 4]
Slash once across the length with a knife (I use serrated) and place in oven to bake 30 minutes.
Remove from the pan and let cool on rack about 30 minutes before jumping in.

Notes:

1. I was raised on great bread; Esposito's scali was the staple in our house.  A thin-sliced scali with mortadella and fine hams was how we survived, but since I was one of 4 hungry kids, my mother used white bread when necessary to fill the bellies of the masses.


2. When communicating a recipe, I like it to be specific so the person has a good chance of hitting the same success I did.  Using a yeast with perfect integrity in a small packet is as close as I can get to a reproducible source to convey to someone conducting the prep for the first time.  I have no idea how a 3 month old jar of bulk yeast will behave, nor a 6 month old, nor any other yeast.  Given the rigorous specifications a company must comply with, using a small quantity with perfect airtight packaging is the best a home baker, with no micro lab, can do to insure a consistent starting point [note 3] (sorry Rachel).

3. I can almost guarantee 9 out of 10 will completely disregard my babbling on yeast, my mother is one of those 9 because she "has been baking forever."  Whenever I get an email that declares the procedure "didn't work" they all admit to a significant change in the method because they felt it was unnecessary; I'm off the hook in that case, to repeat something, you must do the control or you have no argument.

4. This is a fast rise loaf.  Don't over proof or the final crumb will be grainy instead of feathery.  It will also have pretty darn nice oven spring.  Longer rise is not always better, it depends on the loaf.

brisket, finally

I never make brisket because it's tough to do well.  I've made a couple in my day, 1 mediocre, 1 really bad, but both so long ago, I forget the details.  The challenge of brisket is the long cooking time, about 18 hours with good temperature control.

Some time back I happened on the BBQ Pit Boyz video on brisket.  It's over 18 minutes long and worth every minute spent watching.   I was inspired.  I forgot all my past attempts and ran to get myself a 6 and half pound brisket with a good fat cap.  I did absolutely everything they did on the vid, so this post isn't anything more than a validation of their method.  Mustard coat, good spice rub, refrigerated a few hours, set the grill for indirect, minion method, water bath (I never do water baths, and I think maybe it was responsible for the good temp control I achieved), 225-250° for 14 hours, wrapped it for 2 hours at ca. 150°F, and finally let it rest, still wrapped, for a final 2 hour rest.  Started it Wednesday night and it was ready just in time for dinner Thursday.  Spend the time, watch the video and make this!  Thanks BBQ Pit Boyz.

Fat side up, rubbed, grill set for indirect with water pan.

After about 14 hours cooking at 225-250F

Just look at it!

Pizza dough

Making pizza is as much about the cooking method as it is the dough.  So that's the caveat with which I share this not very special prep.  The baking of the pie is a little different as many will attest to.

But, many still ask for the dough prep, here's mine - and sorry, it's in grams, get an Escali [Note: this is not an affiliate link] for $20 and get over it.  Weigh things when you cook, you'll be surprised how much better your intuition becomes in cooking and in everyday interactions with the world when you know a few common weights.

In addition to a balance, get a bread machine to be a dedicated kneading machine.  These things are about $5 in a thrift store and they are ALWAYS in stock, the kneading is all the same and it's better than a Kitchen Aid, way better.  Oh, and they absolutely suck at baking bread, hence the abundant supply in thrift stores.

To the bread machine pan add in any order:
unbleached white flour, I am dedicated to Montana Sapphire, 575 g
water, 400 g
Adriatic sea salt evaporated from the shell of a tortoise, 10 g (kidding, any salt)
olive oil, 50 g
sugar, 10 g
a pack of INSTANT active dry yeast.  Don't use the bottle, don't worry about price, you're making 4 pizzas worth, don't use the bulk bottle, don't use it no matter what, instant active dry yeast, not the bulk bottle.  Got it?

Set to spin on dough cycle, remove when it looks like the video:


When it's kneaded about 5-10 minutes, dump on counter, flour the ball so it won't stick and store in fridge.  I cut off 1/4 of the ball, about 250 g for a 10-12" pie.  This will stay in the fridge for a week or keep in the freezer for longer.

Enjoy

Tortilla or piadina?

I haven't been thrilled with my tortillas of late and decided to search for a flour tortilla instead of masa to see if I liked them better. I found one of Bayless' many recipes. I wanted to just try a little batch to see what they were like. I made a math mistake and scaled the fat wrong, but the experiment was fun.

I cut lard (20 g, should'be been 10 g) into white wheat flour (60 g) and salt (ca. 1 g) and to this added water (40 g). The 100 g of dough was divided, rounded and pushed into squat 4" diameter disks to rest. I pushed them into ca. 8" discs using a tortilla press and tossed 'em in the fridge (fatty dough sticks, it's easier to handle when slightly chilled) and fired up my gas grill with the cast iron grate.

I cooked them a minute or so each side. We probably should've let them sit a bit, but ate them both immediately. They were really good, but a tad doughy tasting. I may not have aged the dough sufficiently before cooking.

I think these were a success, but they raise a few of questions:
1. This is essentially the same recipe (only white, not wheat flour) as the Piadina of Emiglia-Romagna. Piadina were graciously served to us by dear friends some time ago and I'm not sure if they taste similar because it was long ago. I'll be consulting with them soon when I remake these.

2. Are they satisfactory tortillas? Again, I think they have to be repeated with unbleached white.

3. Are they good? Heck ya, no matter how they're used, they were good.  I'm still not sure if this is the way I want to cradle my taco fillings though.  Again, precooking resting is in order as is the use of white flour.

Here's a couple images of the pressed out tortillas and final cooked product:

Guest blogger Frankie: On the international appeal of meat and potatoes (and cheese)

Relaxing at her Clintonville ranch, Frankie talks about tonight's casserole and the bigger scene in simple foods.

Not creme de menthe

Me: When did you get the idea to prepare and serve us Tater Tot Casserole?
Frankie: Yesterday at camp (Kids in the Kitchen, OSU's Camp Recky) we made it and split 1 casserole for two tables. We had 2 or 3 tables and 1 piece each and you won't believe how good it is!
Me: How much cheese?
Frankie: A lot! We used the whole bag yesterday.
Me: What goes in first?
Frankie: First the meat, then the tater tots and then cheese and then it's cooked.
Me: Should I cook the meat first?
Frankie: Yes and I'll put it together.
Me: [meat is browned and Frankie places it in an even layer in the baking pan] How many tater tots go on top?
Frankie: Rows of 5 until it's filled, then tons of cheese.
Me: Toss it in the oven.
Frankie: No you, it's too hot for me [I toss it in].
Me: Do French kids eat tater tot casserole?
Frankie [exasperated]: I don't know, and could you make me a bigger lunch for tomorrow?
Me: Peanut butter, jelly then peanut butter?
Frankie: Duh.
Me: Got it.

Voilá
Fin

petite brioche

In four acts, here's our breakfast brioche. Recipe is here, only this time I baked at 375°F and used half white wheat and half unbleached white. I like all unbleached white better. This time I was testing out my mini parchment scheme. It worked swimmingly. Despite the yolk glaze dripping below to the bottom of the breads, no stick to the paper. All popped out. Here's a few images of the morning.

The dough had been in the fridge yesterday and taken out last night at 11 to warm up all night on the counter. The dough was scaled to 60 gram pieces, rounded and plopped in for a 20 minute proof.

After their proof, a painted yolk glaze.

After about 25 minutes at 375°F.

Inside they're very tender. Still, all unbleached white would be better. After all, there is nothing healthy about these.

Wouldn't these be a killer bun for sliders?

mini molds

Ah, I remember why I don't make brioche much. When I do the final glaze, the glaze drips below the edge of the bread into the loaf pan and makes the bread stick. When a beautiful loaf comes out of the oven, nothing is more anger-provoking than that kind of complication. So, a better mold - a mini too. I like to make small breads to share, especially such rich ones.

I recently tried cupcake wrappers, but these suck for breads, they don't release. Here's my yet untested solution. Wish me luck. Parchment never fails, it always releases a bread. I'm going to line my little muffin trays for the loaves tomorrow morning.

Cool huh!

Brioche

They disappeared minutes after baking.
I'll replace this image when I remake them.

I don't make brioche enough. Recipes vary, but it's essentially a yeast-leavened pound cake. I made a bunch this morning to give to Frankie's teachers. Not all of the rolls made it to school. 500 Feet out of our driveway, Frankie and I spied a yappie Jack Russel. She was tagged, running in the street and we decided to use the bread to aid our rescue attempt. Frankie placed bits of her roll in the street; the dog snatched it and ran back to bark at her. Similar schemes played out for the next 20 minutes until a neighbor drove up and told us we'd never get her. The dog lived 2 houses down and rules the street. She was totally playing us. At least we gave her breakfast.

Recipe
Sugar, 50 g (1/4 C)
milk, 160 g warm (1/2 C)
eggs, 3 yolks, 2 whites
softened butter, 57 g
canola oil, 57 g
yeast,  1 pkt rapid rise (7 g)
salt, 7 g and (1.5 t)
just enough flour, 420 g (3 C unbleached white)
...to make it stick together (I spun the dough in a bread machine for 5 minutes). Ferment 1 h at room temp, chill for 5-24 hours, let warm at room temperature the night before baking (or at least 2-3 hours at room temperature, form into 60 gram rolls, proof 20 minutes in cupcake tins, paint with yolk, bake 350°F about 30 minutes, makes 12-15. Distribute to loved ones.

Focaccia tip, tie down the rosemary with a fastener of dough.

Hand rolled semolina pasta filled w ramp, ricotta & walnuts and Baparoma baguettes to accompany dinner

All to be served w/ minted pea puree and grilled lamb. Perfect. Simple.

Crusty breads in a pan using passive steam

Recently I was poking around Ruhlman's Ratio and noticed his raving of the cooking a boule in the covered, then uncovered, pot as the most valuable part of Lahey's no knead bread. I've had some luck with this, but the results weren't always consistent, but I think it's because of the hydration level of the dough inside. I wanted to explore this more.

Last weekend I made a sourdough starter. I don't know if this really counts as a sourdough starter, but it's close enough. I made a poolish of 1:1 flour:water (w/w) and a ca. 1/8 t yeast and let it ferment overnight, dumped out all but ca. 50 g and refreshed a few times over the next few days with 1:1 flour:water (100 g each) and by the 2nd-3rd refresh, considered it a starter. Purists, go stomp on grapes or dissect a rasin or whatever it is you do to get a starter, I'm busy.

I plopped a 100 g of the starter into water (300 g) and unbleached white flour (Montana Sapphire, 500 g) and salt (9 g) and let it knead in a bread machine.* The first rise went overnight and formed it into a boule and placed it in a covered sauce pan to proof until "double," always a tricky estimation on a sourdough - in this case 5 hours, but it's tough to overproof a sourdough, so don't fear. I baked it in a simple 3 3/4 qt sauce pan covered for 40 minutes at 425, removed the cover and baked until brown on top.

*Bread machines are abundant and about $5 in any thrift store.

Notes to me
-Cast iron isn't needed for this capture of steam (steam from the dough alone is referred to by some as passive steam), in this case, I only used a medium heavy saucepan.

-Cooking like this, as in the Baparoma steam pan, doesn't even require the oven to be preheated

-This covered/uncovered method appears incredibly robust compared to any baking on a stone or other surface I've tried (with regard to spring and crust).

-I don't like the size of the Baparoma steam pan and may fabricate my own covered aluminum/ss/? pan, more efficiently sized for the oven based on this and ongoing expts.  Lowes has some conveniently sized pieces of metal to work with.  I'm thinking about 24" long and cylindrical with a slightly flat bottom and loose fit lid ...

-If anyone has ever heard of another term for passive steam in this context, please let me know via the comments, thanks.

(Did anyone catch the white squishy hot dog rolls in the background of the first image?  Hah, I'll eat anything.)