This post is Dedicated to Japan 2011: quake, tsunami and Nuclear Disaster victims

I feel so bad for the victims of the quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster victims in Japan.  I don’t know what I can do to help them, but I am thinking about them and what they must be going though.  I also am praying they will get though the great ordeal they have to get though.

I am extremely concerned for the welfare of the children and older adults.  They must be going though so many hard times right now.  Nobody truly knows unless they are one of those victims.

Really near where I live TMI (Three Mile Island) is located.  I remember the days that were fought with anguished and not knowing what to do when Met-Ed, didn’t give much information and then news broke that one of the reactors might be melting down.  I had 3 children at that time and I was a single parent.  I really didn’t have the money to just leave like some people did do.  On the morning of TMI nuclear accident, I was working at RCA and went to leave for work.  There was a taste of metal in my mouth, just like some other people in my area reported.  At that time I didn’t know what that was from.  As days went by, we learned more what had happened.  I guess if things would have gotten really bad, my parents would have evacuated too, along with myself and my 3 children.  Different people were I worked did evacuate for a few weeks.  No knowing what is going on in Japan, has to be really hard on those people.  They had 3 catastrophic accidents at once and their weather is cold.  Anyone that reads this post, please pray if you believe, for the victims in Japan.  They need all the prayers they can get.  This whole world seems to be turning upside down.  I pray for everyone.

These are a few pictures taken just outside from where I live today.  The clouds are in the sky today, but the two steam towers at TMI can be seen where the clouds look like soft billows along the landscape. I don’t worry about TMI anymore, but am not sure how safe it is either.  There is no use in worrying about something that I can’t control.

This is the article about TMI in our area.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident

and the comparison of TMI to Japan’s nuclear accident.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/03/1103165-japan-nuclear-chernobyl-three-mile-island/

Norma

A couple of pictures of Preferment Lehmann dough pizza 3/15/2011

These are just a few pictures of the preferment Lehmann dough pizza made 3/15/2011

Norma

“Greek Style Pizza” by Steve my pizza making buddy 3/18/2011

Steve brought two Greek style doughs to market  yesterday.  He call them “Greek gourmet doughs” because he had put Rosemary in the dough.  Steve dressed the pies with his tomato sauce, white cheddar, Feta, and Salami under the cheese.  They were the best Greek Pizzas I have tasted.   The crunchy rim was delicious! The combination of the Rosemary in the dough with the dressings tasted wonderful.  I am posting the pictures because they were taken with my camera.  Steve gave me some slices to take home to reheat.
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,691.msg131419.html#msg131419

Thanks Steve for the delicious Greek Style pizza.

Norma

Pizza Fusion's Earth Day Pizza Contest. I entered 4/27/2010

I decided at the last minute, to make a pizza for this contest. I saw they changed the deadline for submitting the video to April 30th. I talked to the market manager and he said it would be great to have me make a pizza and enter it into this contest.  I decided to call this pizza, “Root’s Market Day Pizza”.

It was tough doing this video because I really didn’t want to show my face, but in guidelines  rules for making the video, it said you had to introduce yourself as Chef and then your name.  Since I couldn’t see the video until I got home I was nervous.  The video didn’t turn out like I wanted it to, but I am still going to submit it. My mother took the video. I had myself so nervous about making this video this morning that I thought I couldn’t go though with it, but I did.

The pizza did turn out great.  Here are a few pictures of the pizza.  The market manager wanted the pizza, so I didn’t get to taste it, but when I talked to him tonight he said he really liked the pizza.  I used all fresh ingredients from Root’s Market.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,10790.0.html

and

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,10790.msg96761.html#msg96761

Norma

Les’s Sauce 8/02/2011 Tomato Sauce Tonight

Since my different tomato plants were producing many tomatoes and I had used them different ways, I decided after I picked the different varieties that were ripe to go back to this great recipe for tomato sauce, by Les. http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1931.msg17063.html#msg17063   Instead of all grape tomatoes, I just used any kind of tomatoes that were ripe. I let the tomatoes and garlic bake longer because I had just cut all the tomatoes in half.

This sauce with all the tomatoes turn out good, in my opinion.  I just cooked some DaVinci Bowties and mixed the sauce into them and then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

I froze the leftover sauce. I used fresh tomatoes to make Les’ sauce many times.  In my opinion Les’s sauce is really great!  Thanks Les’ for posting about your sauce.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,11539.0.html

Norma

3/15/2011 Another Pizzarium Attempt with blue steel baking pan 18"x26"

Well the “Bad Mama Jama” dough ball was baked into a pizza today.  This was the biggest dough ball I have ever handled and the biggest pizza I have ever made.  This attempt wasn’t as good as some of my attempts, although the dough did work okay.  The oven spring isn’t as good as some of my attempts either.


http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9989.msg131186.html#msg131186

and


http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9989.msg131379.html#msg131379

At least I know I can make a big pizza now.  Steve and I put slices of this big Pizzarium attempt for people to try.  We received quite a few favorable comments.

Norma

Modified Reinhart Country Dough 3/18/2011

I started a thread about Reinhart’s Country dough and Reinhart’s Classic dough at  http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13037.0.html   I am going to make some changes to the Reinhart’s Country dough and see what kind of results I can get, either in my deck oven, Steve’s WFO, or in my home oven.

Steve invited me to his home this morning to bake some pizzas this evening.  I started a Reinhart Country dough this morning and the only thing I changed from the formula Peter set-forth at Reply 23 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13037.msg127597.html#msg127597  was I changed the thickness factor for a 14" pizza.  I started 3 doughs this morning and two of the doughs were baked in Steve’s WFO.  One dough was the Reinhart Country dough with the changed thickness factor.  All three doughs were mixed with just the paddle attachment on my Kitchen Aid mixer.  The modified Reinhart’s Country dough was left at room temperature for 9 hrs. before the bake.  The modified Reinhart’s Country dough did rise about right in the 9hrs at different temperatures.  The dough was easy to open and the pizza was baked in less than a minute.  The rim of the crust was moist.

I used Better for Bread flour and KAWW as the flours in the forumla, with 75% Better for Bread flour and 25% KAWW.

This was an easy dough to make in one day.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13320.0.html

Norma

experimental Pizza with rye sponge starter and a lot of ADY 3/18/2011

I found this thread started by giotto, while I was searching for other information.  http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,524.0.html  After reading some of the thread, and reading at Reply 122  by giotto, how there was over usage of yeast in pizza recipes
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,524.msg17214.html#msg17214 and then continuing reading to post at Reply 126 by giotto about rye appearing to contain hydration levels
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,524.msg17408.html#msg17408 and next Peter posting at Reply 127 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,524.msg17409.html#msg17409 about Alice Waters using rye flour in one of her basic pizza dough recipes, specifically, in a sponge, I thought the recipe Peter copied and pasted would be a good experiment to see how quick that much yeast would make a dough rise.  I can’t recall using that much yeast before too many times,  so I gave the recipe a try this morning.  I mixed the rye flour ADY, and water together and put the sponge in the oven with the oven light on.  Within a little over a half an hour the sponge was bubbly and really smelled of yeast.  I added the other ingredients and in less than three hours the dough looked like it had at least tripled in volume or more.  I only used the paddle attachment on my Kitchen Aid mixer to see if the dough would come together okay.  I knew I was going to use this dough in Steve’s WFO this evening so I thought I better freeze the dough because I knew it probably would be overblown by this evening.   The dough then sat at room temperature for about 3 hrs to defrost before baking.  The dough didn’t feel sticky and did open well.  The taste of the crust was good, but it sure was different.  In my opinion this recipe gave me a good idea how much more yeast will rise a dough fast and also how fast a starter can be made with rye, ADY, and water. No yeast was in the final dough.  I also got to play around with volume measurements to see if a pizza would turn out okay.  

In my opinion the whole thread that giotto started has a lot of good information, if anyone is interested in reading the whole thread.

Norma

Classic Reinhart dough 3/15/2011

This is my next attempt for the Classic Reinhart dough to be made at market. This is also the formula I used and pictures of what the dough looked like after being mixed (with paddle attachment only), reballed, and other workflow I used are on the formula sheet.  The dough is now going to cold ferment until tomorrow.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13037.msg131154.html#msg131154
and
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13037.msg131346.html#msg131346

Norma

“My Pie Monday” 3/14/2011 My Pie Monday: Luscious Topping Edition

Slideshow http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/03/my-pie-monday-20110314-slideshow.html

Norma's High-Hydration Dough: "This was another experimental pie I made this last Tuesday. It was a Peter Reinhart's classic dough without any oil, sugar or honey. It is a higher hydration dough. I used Better for Bread flour. The higher hydration did give this pizza a moist and tender crust."—Norma427

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/03/my-pie-monday-20110314-slideshow.html#show-146382

Thanks Slice for posting my pizza on “My Pie Monday”!

Norma

My Friend Steve's WFO and the Pizzas he baked 3/18/2011

My friend invited me to his home for pizza 3/18/2011.  He made dough with CY and Pizzeria flour for his pies.  They sure tasted good!

Thanks Steve for inviting me to your home.  It was nice visiting with your family! :)  Wish I would have gotten a video of your daughter-in-law that worked for Papa John's opening the dough.  She sure was good at opening the dough! :)

Thanks for the great ribs you also made in your WFO.  They were delicious, too!

Norma

Peter Reinhart’s Classic Dough 3/08/2011

The Peter Reinhart dough was used to make a pizza with John’s method.  I did reball the dough 5 hrs. before baking.  This dough was a somewhat sticky dough, but like John posted it did form many bubbles in the dough when opening the dough.  This dough almost felt like some of the Pizzarium attempts I tried, when opening the dough. The rim of the crust was very moist.  This rim and crust of the finished pizza almost reminded me of some of the Pizzarium attempts I did, too.  It was very light.

Thanks John (fazzari), on pizzamaking.com, for telling me of your new method in making Peter Reinhart’s dough.   It did perform like you posted.  This dough is really easy to make and the finished pie was the best of the day!

To see other pictures of this pie, this is the link. http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13037.msg130481.html#msg130481

Formula used for this pizza below.

Norma

“My Pie Monday” on Slice 3/7/2011..Crazy Oven Edition

These were the pies on MPM on http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/03/my-pie-monday-20110307.html

Slideshow of the pies on MPM this week.  http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/03/my-pie-monday-20110307-slideshow.html

This was my pizza on MPM  http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/03/my-pie-monday-20110307-slideshow.html#show-144949

Norma's New Method: "I tried a new method of baking a pie in my deck oven, this past Tuesday. I know pizzeria flour doesn't do well at the oven temperatures I keep my deck oven at market, because there are problems with browning with Italian flours. I used 283g pizzeria flour, 187 water, 2 grams cake yeast, and 4 grams sea salt. I was surprised to see that pizzeria flour did bake well in my deck oven at my regular temperatures. This pie was dressed with my regular pizza sauce, and 2 kinds of mozzarella."

This was posted by Maggie Hoffman.  Thanks Slice for including my pie on MPM! :)

Norma

Pizza Class Videos 3/12/2011 from Fred's!

Videos of Fred at his Pizza Making Class Today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuOQKHfkIEc 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzVHZuQUPuA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0caitTC4yes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQlpaKznIUA 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APqww2v53tI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LedFr3YS5tI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycFSviJJiCs 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpnzTxfDaQg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcRi3sZ8Rro

I hope these videos can help someone understand how to make pizzas better.

Norma