The family flew back to L.A. yesterday so holiday wining and dining is over for a while and it's time to put away all things Christmas today and tomorrow. Other than the tree, which comes down tomorrow, all other Christmas lights and decor are packed away till next year.
While Jim took care of that chore, I busied myself in the kitchen. After breakfast I made mushroom bisque for tonight and salad dressing, did some other chores, cooked lunch, then went through a bunch of Pizza dough recipes I researched yesterday, and made a batch of New York Pizza dough for tomorrow night. This is part of my current pizza dough experiments.
My research involved joining an on line pizza forum - pizzamaking.com (great information there), and watching a lot of you tube pizza dough and pizza making videos till I was bleary eyed. I have a very good dough recipe from my friend Ron, but I want to see if I can make the kind of pizza I grew up eating in New York - thin, but foldable and chewy. The research gave me a lot of information on Neapolitan and New York pizzas, mixers (Europeans don't use Hobart mixers, but use fork mixers which don't over heat the dough), flour and yeast types, and on and on. I don't think you need a mixer well over a thousand dollars to make good pizza, but there is definitely a lot of other time proven ingredients and combinations and other things like weighing of ingredients in proper proportion to get correct hydration, as well as other considerations for making decent pizzas, or what we called them in New York - pies.
There is a huge selection of techniques to try - warm rise, cold, slow rise, as well as many choices of flour, salt, yeast, and even water! I'm getting the feeling that I'll be making a lot of pizzas this winter! Studio work starts back up on Wednesday since tomorrow is dentist and new saute pans shopping day; but for now, its time to get dinner on the table.
While Jim took care of that chore, I busied myself in the kitchen. After breakfast I made mushroom bisque for tonight and salad dressing, did some other chores, cooked lunch, then went through a bunch of Pizza dough recipes I researched yesterday, and made a batch of New York Pizza dough for tomorrow night. This is part of my current pizza dough experiments.
My research involved joining an on line pizza forum - pizzamaking.com (great information there), and watching a lot of you tube pizza dough and pizza making videos till I was bleary eyed. I have a very good dough recipe from my friend Ron, but I want to see if I can make the kind of pizza I grew up eating in New York - thin, but foldable and chewy. The research gave me a lot of information on Neapolitan and New York pizzas, mixers (Europeans don't use Hobart mixers, but use fork mixers which don't over heat the dough), flour and yeast types, and on and on. I don't think you need a mixer well over a thousand dollars to make good pizza, but there is definitely a lot of other time proven ingredients and combinations and other things like weighing of ingredients in proper proportion to get correct hydration, as well as other considerations for making decent pizzas, or what we called them in New York - pies.
There is a huge selection of techniques to try - warm rise, cold, slow rise, as well as many choices of flour, salt, yeast, and even water! I'm getting the feeling that I'll be making a lot of pizzas this winter! Studio work starts back up on Wednesday since tomorrow is dentist and new saute pans shopping day; but for now, its time to get dinner on the table.
If you find a good New Yorker style recipe please share it, that's my favorite too. I make lots of pizza but sometimes think that my everyday oven puts limits on the types of pizza I can make at home.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter lives in New Haven, Ct. and when I visit we always order a few pies from Frank Pepe's... delicious!
If you find a good New Yorker style recipe please share it, that's my
ReplyDeletefavorite too. I make lots of pizza but sometimes think that my everyday
oven puts limits on the types of pizza I can make at home.
My daughter lives in New Haven, Ct. and when I visit we always order a few
pies from Frank Pepe's... delicious!