Pizza saga continues

Here's my second attempt at sourdough crust pizza. As I said, this seems to be a long learning curve! I think there's a problem with this dough recipe or with the sourdough starter. Next time I'm going to try a different recipe. The toppings (kielbasa,extra mozarella,onions,yellow peppers, mushrooms,and fresh basil leaves, were great, but the crust was tough and didn't rise, which makes me think the problem is the starter or the instructions. I even got my studio gram scale to weigh everything but the dough was still dryer than it should be, so I added a little more water - maybe too much. :-( Since I'm a cockeyed optimist I figure every failure is a learning experience.

Yesterday wound up being a planting and cooking day. I got one row of potatoes started,came in to make some guacamole for lunch, then went back out and continued planting, finished that row and started another. I called it a day when I was too tired and my lower back was too sore to continue and by then it was time to do the 90 minute oven preheat for the pizza and get the dough for the crust out of the fridge for another rise.

All the red Pontiac potatoes are planted and most of the Yukon golds are in. Last month I planted a row of Kennebecs but I have more of those to either plant or give away. How many potatoes can 2 people eat!

My potato planting techniques is to dig a hole about 18"x18" and around 7-9" deep, sprinkle some organic fertilizer on the bottom, cover that with some soil and plant the potato seed. Some of our soil is pretty heavy clay and that's what I hit when I started the second row. I think I'll try a straw technique where you just lay the potato seed on the ground,cover with straw and put a strong tomato or similar cage around it. You keep adding more straw as the plant grows, always leaving about 11" of leaf and stem growth exposed. Harvesting would certainly be a lot easier and you can get a lot more potatoes by going vertical.

There are pots to assemble and trim, and more throwing to do today. We're expecting thunder storms, so I won't even try to get any gardening in since I'm still tired and sore from yesterday. I'm going let myself enjoy a lazy Sunday morning, enjoy a leisurely breakfast and read some of the Sunday paper before I head to the studio.

Time to check the freezer and figure out what I can make for dinner tonight.

Till later,
June