Update

 So, it's been a little while since I last posted. I assure you that I have in fact been busy (At times). In the past few weeks Teegan and I have made several trips down to Regina to set up life/job and my garden plot (Pictures below), I have been packing (Move day is tomorrow) and in the last few weeks I have found myself busy making and refinishing furniture (Because one must have something to put a TV on!)

2 nights ago I made some BBQ pizza and I couldn't have been happier with the results (It makes me sad that this was the first time I have ever tried it)!

Once I found out that I did in fact rent a garden plot I started another tray of seeds - even though most of these seeds don't need an inside start, I decided I would give them a head start (Zucchini, cucumber, mint, catnip, etc.).

This sideboard (Which is going to hold my TV), is currently a gardening table allowing my little seeds to get sun all the day long. The sideboard was initially a full kitchen table, but I ripped it down, glued it together and sanded it thinking I was going to give it a coat of paint, but my mother in law wouldn't have it - informing me that distressed furniture is quite popular these days. So for the time being it will look like this.

 

My garden plot is about a 5 minute drive from our new place. I went down earlier this week to plant everything but things took a little longer to get going then I thought. The 2 biggest struggles were getting my plot tilled and fighting the wind (Which did eventually win the battle). I left my plot there to sit until my return (Probably Monday), 10% planted.

V-Day Supper (Pizza)

This was supposed to be a heart - but my the rise of the crust, kind of kiboshed my plans.

Nothing says "I love you" more then pizza! Well in my world anyways.

I was perusing through my previous pizza posts and I soon realized that I no longer make pizza like I used to. My former go to pizza dough recipe has fallen by the wayside, and I am now aware of its shortcomings.

Here's one of the new recipe I use.
I should say that it's loosely based on Peter Reinhart's Napoletana pizza dough recipe.

5 cups unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour

I usually sub in 2 cups of multi-grain bread flour

1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt

1 teaspoon instant yeast

2 cups plus a few extra splashes of water

You could also add in some olive oil (about a 1/4 cup)

Stir the yeast into the water and let it sit for a few minutes till dissolved or until foam develops - then add the water/yeast to the rest of the dry ingredients, which by this point have been stirred all together (I like to use a whisk). Then stir everything together for about 3 minutes till you end up pushing a ball of dough around the bowl. Once it's at this point knead it for about 30 seconds or give it a stretch and fold (I prefer this - here is a quick video if you have no clue what I am talking about - I should also point out that this pizza dough is not going to be nearly as soft/wet as the one in the video). Place in an oiled bowl and put into the fridge overnight (it can be kept like this for a few days).

On pizza day take the dough out of the fridge and cut the dough into smaller balls, depending on the size of pizza you want (I like 4 to 5). Once cut and shaped into little tight balls let the dough warm up, loosely covered on an oiled sheet for 2 hours before using.

At this point in the past I would bring out my rolling pin and start going at this dough with gusto, but I have learned the error of my ways (granted I would still roll if I was making a big pizza). I now stretch the dough using the back of my hands and thumbs. I can't find a good video of that, but basically you want more dough on the outsides of the pizza so you get a good crust.

I used to cook my pizza's at a temp of 350 - 400, but It's only as of recent that I have been brave enough to turn my oven to full blast. I don't think I would be that eager if I was using a normal baking sheet (which can warp and bend when heated to hot), but my pizza stone seems to thrive in the heat.

I don't know what's up with blogger so ignore, the weird spacing and text.

100th Post

It seems just like yesterday I was writing my first post. How time fly's.

This blog was initially going to be a way of keeping myself creative. I would do something and blog about it. Slowly but surely it became focused on food, and now more recently bread. I do have dreams to blog about my big garden that I have been planning and growing in my head - but that may have to wait a year or 2 till my life gets more settled. So stay tuned (Darren, Jen, Mom and everyone else who's reading!)

Meanwhile.

This is the sourdough waiting for the oven.

The sourdough bread to the left was made with yeast, where as the bread on the right was not. There was quite a difference in size between the 2. The bread with the yeast turned out great - it looked so nice, it has a good crust and crumb (The inside of the bread) and tasted great. The natural sourdough however, didn't really rise, didn't taste good, didn't cook all the way through and found its way into the garbage. Perhaps the initial starter was flawed, or perhaps my approach was - perhaps another try in the future.

The inside of the good bread.

I picked up some more bread flour today (unbleached and multi-grain), so I could finish the rest of my pizza dough (One with unbleached bread flour and the other with - you guessed it! Multi-grain). I ended up breaking both doughs down into 10 individual pieces and froze them for another day.

Tonight for supper I was going to make 2 bigger pizza's, but after doing a little research - I found out that in a normal kitchen oven, smaller pizza's cook better then bigger ones. So I made 5 individual pizza's (about 10 inches round). It took longer, but I was in no way disappointed with the results. In fact, this was the best pizza I have ever made!

After 2 minutes in the oven.

The temperature in the oven was set to 550 - as high as my oven goes.

The Pizza's cooked in about 5 to 6 minutes.

1. Buffalo Chicken

I mixed some Franks buffalo hot sauce with a little ranch and topped with some shaved deli chicken and mozzarella cheese.

2. Salami

Just pizza sauce and salami

3. Buffalo Chicken

4. Salami

5. Buffalo Chicken

p.s I once again have room in my fridge.

A Good Cooker!

I had planned this Christmas Season to try a kitchen experiment with my nephews/niece. I coined the experiment - "Pizza". I wanted them to see the whole process of making dough - from adding all the ingredients, kneading the dough, to most exciting (well in my opinion) seeing the dough rise.

Ruah (the self proclaimed) good cooker. He was the most enthusiastic about the whole process. Here I am teaching him to knead the dough.

I didn't think Manoah would be quite old enough for this task, but she took to topping her little pizza with so much vigor and gusto. 

Ruah's finish product!

Tobiah's favourite - Cheese Toast!

1 Cheeseburger + 1 Pizza = 1 Cheeseburger Pizza

 

This pizza includes:

Ground Beef (cooked), Bacon (Fried), Mushrooms (Sauteed), Cheddar cheese (Grated), Blue cheese (crumbled), Pizza sauce (From a can) and the Dough (Recipe Here).

This pizza is a combination of 2 of my favourites things to eat. So good!!!!

Pizza!

For those of you who don't know, I am quite fond of Pizza. Ever since my brother and sister in law gave me a pizza stone for Christmas (2008) I have been tinkering with recipes almost on a weekly basis (I will admit the pizza stone is seldom used).

My dough recipe came from the same box as the pizza stone - it's pretty good. I have altered it a bit though - here is the basic recipe with my additions in brackets.

1 Cup warm water
dump in 1/2 tsp sugar and 2 1/2 tsp of yeast (I use traditional).
Let this sit for 5 minutes till it bubbles.
Meanwhile mix together
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups (roughly) of flour (I sub in 1 cup of Semolina)
Add the water and yeast mixture and mix/knead until you have a nice ball of dough (5 minutes or so).
Cover and give it an hour to rise.

Fresh Basil goes great with pizza.

Some of the toppings - Parsley, Zucchini, tomato sauce

Pizza 1: Salami, Zucchini, Basil, Pizza Sauce and Mozzarella
Pizza 2: 3 cloves Garlic (minced), Olive Oil and Parsley

The finished product.