Pizzeria Pizza Dough

  Many years ago I made my own pizza dough at home. I was trying to re-create the dough we used at the pizza shop I worked at as a student, but I never really found what I was looking for and consequently when I discovered I could buy pizza dough balls at the grocery store I had to try them. It turns out they were pretty good and a whole lot less trouble too. But, I can't really take the complete home pizza journey unless I make my own dough. So, after all these years I finally found what I was looking for and I got a little help from an unexpected source. I knew what ingredients I wanted to use and I knew some of the relative amounts, but we used to make 45 doughs at a time at the pizza shop and scaling that down to 1 pizza dough was the real challenge I was facing. Thats where the unexpected help comes in: introducing ..... the Lehmann Pizza Dough Calculator (insert angelic voices here). This tool allowed me to quantify and tweak those ingredients and ratios until I finally found the dough of my dreams. :-)

  Now, having said all that, I am fairly old school when it comes to cooking and baking. I learned to cook using volumetric ratios (ya know, measuring cups and the like), but when it comes to dough, I think a scale is the only way to go (at least for the flour and water). If you want that extra measure of success, you really need to use a scale when it comes to bread and pizza dough.

Pizzeria Pizza Dough
12.82 oz ap flour (100%) (approximately 2 3/4 c)
7.82 oz water (61%)
.03 oz/ 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast (.21%)
.17 oz/ 1 tsp sea salt (1.32%)
.28 oz/ 2 tsp sugar (2.19%)

  I throw all these ingredients into my Kitchenaid mixer and combine with a dough hook for about 5 minutes. I then dump it on to my floured counter top and let it rest for 5 minutes. You should end up with a dough ball around 1.3 lbs that is soft and slightly tacky. This is adequate for a 16 or 18 inch pizza. For a 14 inch pizza you may want to try 1 lb dough balls. You could triple this recipe and cut the resulting mass into 4 pieces or you could use the Lehmann Pizza Dough Calculator (LPDC) to back calculate a 1 lb dough ball from the ratios listed above. Below is a shot of the LPDC in action:

  Ok, so you have a hunk of dough ... now what. This next piece is fairly important if you want to make a round pizza without any holes in it when you stretch it. Hold the dough with both hands and curl your fingers in toward the center of the dough ball while stretching the other side of the dough ball with your palms. Turn the dough a quarter turn and do the same curling motion again. Do this 3 or 4 times. If done correctly you should have a dough ball that is nice and smooth and tight on one side and messy and ragged with a hole in the middle on the other side. Pinch and twist all the ragged parts together in the center closing the hole. This ragged side will be the bottom of your dough ball. Place the dough ball (bottom side down) in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with saran wrap for a few hours to proof at room temperature. You can tell when the dough is done proofing because the dough will have relaxed significantly and it will have a bit of a sheen to it (see pics below). If you want to freeze the dough, stick it in a lightly oiled quart freezer bag to proof for a few hours and then stick it in the freezer in such a way as to preserve the shape of the ball until it is frozen.

Before proofing. Dough is semi-tight with no sheen.

After proofing. Dough has relaxed and has a bit of a sheen to it.

  I am not a big fan of the 'faster is better' philosophy, but sometimes you need to get things done a little quicker than normal. I have proofed this dough in as little as 45 minutes and had good results. For the fast proof method, use warm water when you make the dough and proof the dough in your oven that has been pre-heated to 100 degrees F (turn the oven off after pre-heating). Place the saran covered bowl (and dough) in the oven for 45-60 minutes.

  If you need a little help on stretching the dough to make a round pizza, I discuss this technique here.
 Enjoy!

TTFN
B

Classic NY Style Pizzeria Pizza Sauce

  If you ask ten people what the best pizza sauce recipe is you'll get ten different answers. With that said, I couldn't really tell you what even I think the best pizza sauce is because there are so many variables and kinds of pizza to consider. Pizza can be as complicated or as simple as an individual wants to make it. We like simple and the following recipe definitely fits the bill. This recipe is based on the sauce we used at the pizzeria I worked at in State College PA when I was a student. This particular pizzeria was very popular at the time and people lined up down the street and around the corner in snow and rain on Friday and Saturday nights to get $1 slices and 25 cent refills. I think this sauce is fairly representative of all the NY Style pizzeria's I have frequented over the years and I like it enough to use it in my own home.

  The sauce is very thin by design and only enough to just cover the surface of the dough is needed. It shouldn't be running off the sides or pooling in the middle of the pie. In a properly heated pizza oven (575 to 800 degrees F), the sauce looses much of the excess moisture and the flavor concentrates somewhat. My home oven only heats to 550 degrees F and this sauce even works well at that temperature. Enjoy!

Classic NY Style Pizzeria Pizza Sauce
6 oz can tomato paste
2 1/2 cans of water
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sugar

  Combine everything in a bowl and mix well. You can use it right away, but it has better flavor and body if you make it at least a day before you need it. It will keep at least a week in the fridge. This is also another great excuse to use fresh parsley and oregano from the garden. ;-)

TTFN
B

2011 Bucket Garden Update 1

  Well, seeds are planted, soil has been prepared and the buckets are being cleaned up for another round of container gardening. Actually, this photo is about a week old and the majority of the plants in the foreground have already been moved to larger pots and are coming along nicely.

  One of the biggest surprises so far are the seeds I saved from the sweet peppers we get from Costco. They have all germinated and so far are the only peppers out of about 10 varieties I started from seed that have done so. I didn't know much about these peppers (other than we really like them) when I saved the seeds. I didn't even know if they were hybrid or heirloom or even if they would grow from seed at all. They are so tasty that I figured they must be some kind of hybrid and I didn't really expect much from them. I have since discovered they are called 'Sweet Pickle Peppers' and they are an heirloom variety which means we will be saving seeds from these plants again for next year. They have germinated so quickly and they taste so good I wonder if they are disease prone or insect magnets. I guess we'll find out. :-)

  All of the basil has popped up as well and with all the pizza action going on around here lately, it is a good thing. Most of the tomatoes have done very well and we certainly look forward to eating some of the new varieties we have come accross this spring. I have several colorful dishes in mind for all the varieties of tomatoes and peppers we are growing this year. I can't wait ... :-)

TTFN

B

Update

  Wow, it has been many months since I have written an entry. My last entry corresponds with the failure of my laptop which is the computer that I had setup to do all my blogging. I haven't replaced it yet, so entries may not be as regular as they have been in the past, but I think it is time for an update. I haven't been completely idle though. I still have several entries from last year to finish and several new items from this year as well. Planning for this year's bucket garden has commenced, and I am excited to see if any of the seeds I saved from last year will grow into nice plants this year.

  The majority of my efforts since the beginning of the year have been spent on bread baking and the pursuit of the perfect (to me) home pizza. I have learned a great deal and have been rewarded with some personal successes. I can't wait to share my findings. Along this same line of discussion I have purchased two books that I highly recommend to anyone interested in artisan bread baking. The first book is the The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens  by Daniel Wing and Alan Scott. This book is of great interest to myself for the detailed discussion on building bread ovens and for the stories of real artisan bakers around the country who make great life sacrifices to create real bread for people who appreciate such things. The second book should be a staple reference for any bread baker: The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. The Bread Bible is a good solid reference for all things bread related.
  As soon as I can get myself back in the habit of blogging on a regular basis there should be a small flurry of entries to get things caught up. :-)

TTFN

B

Vegetable Soup

  Vegetable soup is another one of those foods that is synonymous with the cooler weather of fall. Making the soup also gives us a way to use up all of last year's frozen vegetables that didn't get used up as well as any new fresh vegetables that are available. Usually around the cabbage harvest is when we make our soup, so for our location it is around mid October or so. This is definitely one of our comfort foods and it fills the house with a smell that is so nice to walk in to. This is not necessarily a definitive recipe so to speak, as with many of our recipes it is more of a guide and we use whatever we have available.

Vegetable Soup (Makes about 12 quarts)

2 quarts vegetable stock

2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes with basil

3 quarts frozen crushed tomatoes (from last year)
2 quarts frozen sweet corn (from last year)
2 quarts frozen Lima Beans (from last year)
2 quarts frozen green peas (from this year)
1 quart frozen yellow squash (from last year)
1 medium head of cabbage, sliced medium thin
1 quart of fresh carrots, course chop
1/4 c fresh parsley, course chop
3 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pepper
2 tsp garlic powder

  We used a 15 quart pot to make the soup. I added only enough water to get the pot up between the 14 and 15 quart mark. It will cook down to about the 12 quart level. We add everything to the pot and brought it to nearly boiling and simmered it for about 8 hours. Be sure to taste it at least at the halfway point to adjust any of the seasoning components. Stir it every now and then to keep the soup from scorching. If the soup does scorch, don't scrape the stuck bits on the bottom of the pot. This will contaminate the whole pot. Just transfer it to an appropriately sized container and clean the soup pot or use another one if you have it to spare. If you are going to eat it right away or freeze it then it should be ready to go.

  If you are going to can the soup here are a few things to remember:

• Don't add any starch components to the soup like pasta, potatoes or thickening agents. You can add these things when you heat the canned soup for consumption.
• You can cook the soup for 2 hours less because the canning time is 1.5 hours.
• Do this when you have enough time to can the soup after making it. We can only do 5 quarts at a time and since we canned 10 quarts total we had about 4 hours of canning time after making the soup. If time is tight, you can make the soup one night and store it in the refrigerator (after it cools) and then can it the next night. Just remember to get the soup back up to near boiling before jarring.

  We put ours in hot clean quart jars and processed them in a pressure canner for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. This was the first time we canned it and we have sampled the final product and it is wonderful. We will definitely do this again!

TTFN

B

Poultry Seasoning

  Poultry seasoning must be worth about the same amount per pound as gold or at least my local grocery store thinks so. I must have spent $20 last year on this blend alone. After that I made up my mind I was going to grow as many of the components as I could in my garden and find the rest of the ingredients cheap at a bulk spice retailer. I was able to easily grow the sage, thyme, parsley and rosemary. The volume I made today would have cost me over $20 in bulk already mixed and about $40 in those tiny cylindrical containers at the grocery store. I calculate it cost me only $1 using the stuff I grew and the other bulk components I bought. Ka-ching! Now if I could only find a way to get those bagged bread cubes for something less than the going rate for silver I would be in business. :-)

Poultry Seasoning

1 tbsp dried sage

1 tbsp dried rosemary

1 tbsp dried thyme

1 tbsp dried marjoram

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp dried parsley

3/4 tsp ground pepper

  Put it all in a coffee grinder and mix it for 5-10 seconds. Done! This makes about the same amount as one of those small cylindrical containers you buy at the grocery store for $5.

TTFN

B

Lucy's Awesome Carrot Cake

  I never met Lucy. She befriended my girlfriend in another life and she wrote down her carrot cake recipe for her to try. Lucy is no longer with us but she is immortalized through her recipe. This is a perfect excuse to use up some those miniature carrots I grew in the bucket garden too. :-)

Lucy's Carrot Cake (1 loaf pan or 1/2 small cake pan)

1 c sugar (the poor dear forgot to write this down ;-)

1 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

2/3 c veg. oil

2 tsp grated orange zest

1 tsp vanilla

1 c carrots, finely chopped

3/4 c golden raisins

1/2 c walnuts, chopped

  Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Mix all ingredients together. Bake for 40 minutes in a loaf pan. Double the recipe for a medium to large sized cake pan.

Cream Cheese Frosting (makes about 1 1/2 c)

1/2 stick butter, melted

3 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c 10x sugar

1 tsp grated orange zest

  Mix ingredients well. Frost cake when cooled. Enjoy!

TTFN

B