Mark Bittman does it again
22/04/12 18:30 Filed in: Pizza
Mark Bittman creates a potato pizza and the slide show links to other pizza like recipes. There is a reason I love the NY Times so much. 
Comments
Sweet Potato Muffins
22/04/12 09:54 Filed in: Recipes
My family loves sweet potatoes. Given a choice of a baked sweet potato or a bowl of ice cream, I'm not sure which my kids would choose. Me? Not so much. Perhaps it was too many Thanksgivings with that marshmallow-sweet potato atrocity, but for whatever reason sweet potatoes and yams have not made my top ten list with the exception of this recipe.
Adapted from Didi Emmons recipe in one of my all time favorite cookbooks, Vegetarian Planet, this muffin recipe has an astonishing amount of sweet potato in it but doesn't give me the sweet potato heebie-jeebies. My two kids can polish off a dozen each and I'm not too concerned as I know it is a pretty healthy breakfast or snack.
Here is my version of the recipe. You will notice the sweet potato is not cooked ahead of time which means this can come together in just a few minutes.
Whisk together:
1/2 cup brown sugar (more or less to taste- I often use half that amount)
1 egg
1/2 cup water, milk or almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbs oil (or none if desired)
Stir together
1 1/4 cup flour or Pamela's Baking Mix (if Gluten Free is desired)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup dried cranberries, raisins or other dried fruit (optional)
1 tsp baking powder (if not using baking mix)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/4 tsp nutmeg or ginger (optional)
1/4 tsp ground allspice (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional- I usually put the pecans on top of the muffins so they toast nicely)
Grate 1 large raw sweet potato (about 3/4 pound) using box grater and add it to the dry ingredients. Toss to coat with dry mix.
Add the wet to the dry ingredients, mix thoroughly and scoop into prepared muffin tins. (either well greased or with cupcake papers)
Bake 350°F for 20-25 minutes (mini-muffins) or 25-30 minutes for large muffins. Knife should come out cleanly.
Yield: 24 mini muffins or about 6-10 large muffins. Tell me what you think of them!
My Pizza- cookbook
01/04/12 07:01 Filed in: Books
Jim Lahey, of no-knead bread/ Sullivan Street Bakery fame, has published a gorgeous book he calls "My Pizza". In it, he describes his no-knead approach to pizza dough which is, not surprisingly, practically identical to the bread approach that brought him fame in 2006 when the NY Times food columnist Mark Bittman first wrote about it. While I appreciate how many more people are making good bread at home since they heard about this technique, I have to say I don't entirely understand the no-knead mania. To me, it is a bit like getting excited to find shoes you don't need to tie. A small time savings perhaps, but neither shoe tying nor bread kneading ever seemed terribly onerous to me. Perhaps this is because I use a middle of the road approach that I learned from the Tartine Bread book. By autolyzing the dough without salt for an hour or so, the amount of time spent conditioning the dough with a few stretches and kneads is minimal and sufficient.
So I tried Lahey's dough recipe and followed the 9 hour rise he mentioned in this video which was shorter than mentioned in the book. The results were underwhelming. I will try the recipe again and use the 18 hour rise the book suggests. I had to resist the urge to give the dough even a few kneads and the resulting dough, while acceptable, was still a bit uneven and distinctly unfermented in taste. I am certain even 30-45 seconds of kneading would have improved the dough structure and consistency. Is that too much to ask of a home cook? Anyone looking to make outstanding pizza should refrigerate the dough overnight for the improved taste that fermentation provides. Mercifully, Lahey devotes about one page to this no-knead dough approach and then moves on to the task at hand: making great pizza.
I'm sounding overly critical of an excellent book on pizza. Jim seems as obsessed with flavor combinations as the best of us pizza cooks. While never fussy with the preparation of the toppings, he is specific about the how and why he has made particular combinations. For example, in the giardinaiera pie, he balances tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, hot chili flakes, arugula and fresh sweet corn. This exquisite vegan creation is purposeful in the things it omits like meat, cheese, and herbs in order to allow the included items be better perceived. Lahey follows few traditions when it comes to pizza. His "pepperoni pie" for example, has no actual cured meat product. Pepperoni is the italian plural of peppers, you see, so this pepperoni pie includes a variety of sweet and hot peppers. Lest you think he has created a book of vegetarian pizzas, I can assure you every other pizza has meat in some form. The charcuterie pie, for example, is a béchamel sauced pizza of knockwurst, bratwurst, sauerkraut and mustard. Prosciutto and lardons make frequent appearances in the book as well.
My version of a pizza with tomatoes, green olives and arugula.
In trying to re-create the high temperatures of wood fired ovens, he encourages the home cook to pre-heat the pizza stone to 500 degrees or more and then bake the pizza with the broiler on. He aims to cook the pizza in less than 5 minutes this way. You will need to play with your oven to see what it is capable of. Mine seems to work best on the convection setting of 500° as the broiler was not as efficient for me. The pictured pizzas he creates embrace the black char one might associate with using a broiler but not quite the more reserved mahogany char that I get in the wood fired oven. I suppose black char is superior to doughy white pizzas, but it seems a bit excessive at times; for example, the pizza bianco photo on page 112 might more appropriately be titled pizza negro.
PIzza Bianco
In general, his suggestions for pizza toppings are spot on. The balance he suggests in his broccoli rabe pie, for example, with the blend of two cheeses, the broccoli rabe, the béchamel and the heat of the thai chilis is perfect. The commentary next to each pizza about his thought process developing each recipe gives insight into this chef's creative mind.
My version of leek and mushroom pizza
Also excellent are the recipes he includes for soups, salads, and desserts. A whole section is devoted to "toasts" and the spreads that can be created for them. As a bread baker, I'm always looking for ways to use up my week old bread. I could see a dinner party of nothing more than salad, toasted bread, and toppings like "Garlic scape and lovage pesto" or "White bean and mirepoix spread".
The photos in My Pizza are stunning and mouth watering. Every page made me either hungry or want to cook. There were a couple of photos where the food styling slipped into distracting affectations. For example, on p. 78, the "cauliflower pie" is served on newspaper (who wants ink on their food?) and four pages later, the "corn and tomato pie" is shown sitting on hand made japanese paper (what a waste!). I suppose these indulgences are to be expected in the food grooming world of cookbook photography, but I think they're best when they aren't noticed.
Pizza served on newspaper?
Whether you are hoping to improve your pizza game or this will be the latest addition to your pizza library, you won't be disappointed in "My Pizza" by Jim Lahey. The pizzas are refreshingly new and well conceived while the extra recipes for salads, soups and other courses are an unexpected bonus.
So I tried Lahey's dough recipe and followed the 9 hour rise he mentioned in this video which was shorter than mentioned in the book. The results were underwhelming. I will try the recipe again and use the 18 hour rise the book suggests. I had to resist the urge to give the dough even a few kneads and the resulting dough, while acceptable, was still a bit uneven and distinctly unfermented in taste. I am certain even 30-45 seconds of kneading would have improved the dough structure and consistency. Is that too much to ask of a home cook? Anyone looking to make outstanding pizza should refrigerate the dough overnight for the improved taste that fermentation provides. Mercifully, Lahey devotes about one page to this no-knead dough approach and then moves on to the task at hand: making great pizza.
I'm sounding overly critical of an excellent book on pizza. Jim seems as obsessed with flavor combinations as the best of us pizza cooks. While never fussy with the preparation of the toppings, he is specific about the how and why he has made particular combinations. For example, in the giardinaiera pie, he balances tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, hot chili flakes, arugula and fresh sweet corn. This exquisite vegan creation is purposeful in the things it omits like meat, cheese, and herbs in order to allow the included items be better perceived. Lahey follows few traditions when it comes to pizza. His "pepperoni pie" for example, has no actual cured meat product. Pepperoni is the italian plural of peppers, you see, so this pepperoni pie includes a variety of sweet and hot peppers. Lest you think he has created a book of vegetarian pizzas, I can assure you every other pizza has meat in some form. The charcuterie pie, for example, is a béchamel sauced pizza of knockwurst, bratwurst, sauerkraut and mustard. Prosciutto and lardons make frequent appearances in the book as well.
My version of a pizza with tomatoes, green olives and arugula.
In trying to re-create the high temperatures of wood fired ovens, he encourages the home cook to pre-heat the pizza stone to 500 degrees or more and then bake the pizza with the broiler on. He aims to cook the pizza in less than 5 minutes this way. You will need to play with your oven to see what it is capable of. Mine seems to work best on the convection setting of 500° as the broiler was not as efficient for me. The pictured pizzas he creates embrace the black char one might associate with using a broiler but not quite the more reserved mahogany char that I get in the wood fired oven. I suppose black char is superior to doughy white pizzas, but it seems a bit excessive at times; for example, the pizza bianco photo on page 112 might more appropriately be titled pizza negro.
PIzza Bianco
In general, his suggestions for pizza toppings are spot on. The balance he suggests in his broccoli rabe pie, for example, with the blend of two cheeses, the broccoli rabe, the béchamel and the heat of the thai chilis is perfect. The commentary next to each pizza about his thought process developing each recipe gives insight into this chef's creative mind.
My version of leek and mushroom pizza
Also excellent are the recipes he includes for soups, salads, and desserts. A whole section is devoted to "toasts" and the spreads that can be created for them. As a bread baker, I'm always looking for ways to use up my week old bread. I could see a dinner party of nothing more than salad, toasted bread, and toppings like "Garlic scape and lovage pesto" or "White bean and mirepoix spread".
The photos in My Pizza are stunning and mouth watering. Every page made me either hungry or want to cook. There were a couple of photos where the food styling slipped into distracting affectations. For example, on p. 78, the "cauliflower pie" is served on newspaper (who wants ink on their food?) and four pages later, the "corn and tomato pie" is shown sitting on hand made japanese paper (what a waste!). I suppose these indulgences are to be expected in the food grooming world of cookbook photography, but I think they're best when they aren't noticed.
Pizza served on newspaper?
Whether you are hoping to improve your pizza game or this will be the latest addition to your pizza library, you won't be disappointed in "My Pizza" by Jim Lahey. The pizzas are refreshingly new and well conceived while the extra recipes for salads, soups and other courses are an unexpected bonus.
Fire Within Workshops
09/02/12 18:32
The Fire Within just announced new mobile pizza workshop dates for March to go along with the February list. While I have not taken this workshop, they claim they will teach entrepreneurs marketing, writing a business plan and hands on training including how to use the pizza ovens produced by The Fire Within. The two day 15 hour workshops run about $900 for the weekend in Boulder, CO. A business manual titled "Rolling in the Dough" is included with the workshop.
Mugliani oven needs adoption
04/02/12 20:12 Filed in: Pizzerias
Good news! There is a top of the line Mugliani wood fired pizza oven in Eureka, CA in need of a good pizziaolo. The owner of the building that used to house Cin Cin and The Ritz restaurants has installed an impressive Mugliani oven at a cost of over $60,000. Some of his motivation appears to come from his native France where ovens like this are well loved and respected as a center of the community. I admire this motivation but see a big difficulty for this new oven. First, neither the customers on the Ritz side nor the Cin-Cin side can actually see this magnificent oven. This is not good for the ambiance of a restaurant that has put such considerable investment in this oven. If you have been to Brick and Fire Bistro, in Eureka, you know how that Alan Scott oven sets the ambiance. This new restaurant looks like it will hide away its best feature.
While tonight's "free pizza event" should not be used to judge the future pizzas of this establishment, the pizzas were not impressive. It appeared the low hydration crumbly dough was being made just minutes before being used. The dough was neither fermented not cooked to any level of char. Let's hope the future operator knows more about pizza than the newbies who were working tonight. If you or someone you know would like to run a restaurant centered around a gorgeous Mugliani oven, contact the building owner of 421 Third Street, Eureka and start making the food that is worthy of this impressive oven.
While tonight's "free pizza event" should not be used to judge the future pizzas of this establishment, the pizzas were not impressive. It appeared the low hydration crumbly dough was being made just minutes before being used. The dough was neither fermented not cooked to any level of char. Let's hope the future operator knows more about pizza than the newbies who were working tonight. If you or someone you know would like to run a restaurant centered around a gorgeous Mugliani oven, contact the building owner of 421 Third Street, Eureka and start making the food that is worthy of this impressive oven.
Dutch oven at Costco
04/02/12 14:56 Filed in: Bread
Great news if you have been wanting a large enameled dutch oven without spending the price required for a Le Creuset cast iron pot. There has always been the Lodge series, but now an impressive and large top quality pot appears to be available at Costco. If a warehouse is near, you, pick one up today!
Great gluten free crust
03/02/12 08:09 Filed in: Pizza
Thanks to Frankie G for introducing us to the tasty gluten free crusts made by Venice Bakery. These large 12" crusts come in either plain or herbed varieties and are vacuum packed for freshness. Nonetheless, we froze most of the ones we got and take a few out to thaw at a time. We have tried several types of crusts including Amy's rice crust, Bob's Red Mill crust mix and of course Udi's which had, until now, been our favorite. The Venice Bakery crusts are far superior to the competition with a nicer chew, slight crunch, and better flavor.
Customer Service
18/01/12 18:07
You ever get the feeling that some companies make a more personal connection with you than others?
In the middle of the pack are companies like amazon.com that do everything professionally and honestly but hardly go out of their way to make a personal connection with their customers. At the bottom are companies like ebay.com that promise to take care of you while the reality, in my case, has been watching them walk away when I was having trouble with a seller. I hope your experience is better than mine.
Now for the best of online companies. One that comes to mind is fgpizza.com: a family based company that would be in the middle of the pack if they only sold professional products to home bakers at a fair price and never made money on shipping costs. However, if you do any business with them you’ll quickly see how far they will go out of their way to do better than the minimum. Send a gift card with that present? No problem. Need a recipe for an obscure Italian dish? Frank will get on it for you and probably film a video of the process for you to see how to do it yourself. If you are learning to bake sourdough, you get the feeling Frank would bring you some of his sourdough starter and a fresh loaf from his wood fired oven. Great company from which I will continue to do business.
Another company that recently went out of their way for me was Pleasant Hill Grain. Reading about this company for some time on forums, websites and blogs, I had never heard a bad word about them. So when I wrote to them looking for a new dough mixer, I could not have been more impressed. Dee Ann, a customer service representative, spent the better part of a morning and a half a dozen emails patiently explaining to me the differences between mixers like the Bosch Universal vs. the Electrolux Verona. She shared her own experiences as well as those of customers. She even found a mixer that had just been returned to their company and offered this mixer to me at considerable savings. Another top notch company that I can recommend with confidence.
Do you have a company you love? Tell me about it.
In the middle of the pack are companies like amazon.com that do everything professionally and honestly but hardly go out of their way to make a personal connection with their customers. At the bottom are companies like ebay.com that promise to take care of you while the reality, in my case, has been watching them walk away when I was having trouble with a seller. I hope your experience is better than mine.
Now for the best of online companies. One that comes to mind is fgpizza.com: a family based company that would be in the middle of the pack if they only sold professional products to home bakers at a fair price and never made money on shipping costs. However, if you do any business with them you’ll quickly see how far they will go out of their way to do better than the minimum. Send a gift card with that present? No problem. Need a recipe for an obscure Italian dish? Frank will get on it for you and probably film a video of the process for you to see how to do it yourself. If you are learning to bake sourdough, you get the feeling Frank would bring you some of his sourdough starter and a fresh loaf from his wood fired oven. Great company from which I will continue to do business.
Another company that recently went out of their way for me was Pleasant Hill Grain. Reading about this company for some time on forums, websites and blogs, I had never heard a bad word about them. So when I wrote to them looking for a new dough mixer, I could not have been more impressed. Dee Ann, a customer service representative, spent the better part of a morning and a half a dozen emails patiently explaining to me the differences between mixers like the Bosch Universal vs. the Electrolux Verona. She shared her own experiences as well as those of customers. She even found a mixer that had just been returned to their company and offered this mixer to me at considerable savings. Another top notch company that I can recommend with confidence.Do you have a company you love? Tell me about it.
Ciabatta
15/01/12 16:08 Filed in: Bread
Here I am trying to stick to the challenge of baking one recipe from Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Bread cookbook each week, yet I keep getting distracted with all the other breads in the world. For example, ciabatta.
I remember trying to make ciabatta a few years ago and being overwhelmed with the wet globbiness of it all. So when I saw the easy looking recipe for Jason’s Quick Ciabatta on The Fresh Loaf, I knew it was time to try again.
In step 2 he says the “dough” (if you can call it that) will pull away from the side of the bowl in your mixer. After 20 minutes at speed 2, my pudding, er, dough still was clinging to the bowl. I almost gave up but gave it another 10 minutes at which point it started to come off the walls. I found a video which shows I could have mixed on speed 6 instead of 2 on my kitchen aid. This would have brought the time down. The video has some annoying aspects (the narrator always leaves the first A out of ciAbatta, for example) but is well worth watching for the confident lift and flip step at 6:44 into the video. I left out that step and still created some respectable ciabatta but next time I will be braver.
If you have never tackled this bread, I encourage you to try. I think it could be a bit tastier with an overnight fermentation or perhaps the semolina option, but the crumb and holes are great fun. Follow the directions exactly. Keep mixing until the dough forms a ball that pulls from the sides of the mixer. Use parchment paper.
Update: A week later, I remade this bread with 25% whole wheat and an overnight fermentation of the poolish as suggested by Reinhart. This time, the bread behaved perfectly in forming but did not have the large holes of my first version even though I kept the hydration at a whopping 95%. My family in encouraging me to keep trying as the bread is delicious nonetheless.
I remember trying to make ciabatta a few years ago and being overwhelmed with the wet globbiness of it all. So when I saw the easy looking recipe for Jason’s Quick Ciabatta on The Fresh Loaf, I knew it was time to try again.
In step 2 he says the “dough” (if you can call it that) will pull away from the side of the bowl in your mixer. After 20 minutes at speed 2, my pudding, er, dough still was clinging to the bowl. I almost gave up but gave it another 10 minutes at which point it started to come off the walls. I found a video which shows I could have mixed on speed 6 instead of 2 on my kitchen aid. This would have brought the time down. The video has some annoying aspects (the narrator always leaves the first A out of ciAbatta, for example) but is well worth watching for the confident lift and flip step at 6:44 into the video. I left out that step and still created some respectable ciabatta but next time I will be braver.
If you have never tackled this bread, I encourage you to try. I think it could be a bit tastier with an overnight fermentation or perhaps the semolina option, but the crumb and holes are great fun. Follow the directions exactly. Keep mixing until the dough forms a ball that pulls from the sides of the mixer. Use parchment paper.
Update: A week later, I remade this bread with 25% whole wheat and an overnight fermentation of the poolish as suggested by Reinhart. This time, the bread behaved perfectly in forming but did not have the large holes of my first version even though I kept the hydration at a whopping 95%. My family in encouraging me to keep trying as the bread is delicious nonetheless.
Grain Mill
02/01/12 16:36 Filed in: Bread
New Year's Challenge
02/01/12 16:06 Filed in: Bread
I’m considering a Julie and Julia type challenge for myself this year: bake all 55 recipes in Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Bread cookbook by the end of the year. That’s about one recipe per week. Here are the first 29 breads. Am I up for the challenge? The challenge has now begun.
