Another Day Outside Planting more Tomatoes, Herbs, Sanding the Deck and more

It was another nice day in our area, so I went and picked up more herbs, some tomato plants, and other veggies to plant outside.  I bought Bertzel eggplant, Roma Tomatoes, Amish Paste Tomatoes, Green Zebra Tomatoes, peppers, Senorita jalapenos, Super Helian Tomatoes, Viva Italian Tomatoes, English thymus, more basil, Grape Tomatoes, Jet Start tomatoes and majoram.  It took awhile to get everything planted.  I also tied some of my other tomato plants again. My tomatoes from seed are growing more. Then it was onto the deck and sanding the steps and edges to get ready to carpet the top, after I get the other parts painted.

I was also studying more about making pizza today.  Tonight I am going to grill on the BBQ grill.  If I am lucky tomorrow, I might be able to make a pizza.  Time will tell what will happen tomorrow.

Spring is great! :)

Norma

More Gardening Adventures and how my Tomatoes from seed are doing 5/26/2011

It had more adventures outside today, with gardening, mowing, weed wacking, helping the air-conditioning mechanic get my central air fixed, and generally doing other things outside.  I think I am really tired today.  It was hot in our area, and I am not that used to the heat yet..lol  More flowers are blooming, plants are growing fast, oregano plants are really growing, and now something is eating at my basil.  At least some of my gardening will be used on Pizzas!  O well, it still was a good day.  Especially the part about getting the central air repaired.

This evening there was a tornado warning, but luckily all my area got was wind and rain.  Some areas near me got hail, downed trees, power outages, and many other problems. There is still a tornado warning, but I think we are okay in our area.  I was fortunate! :)

Norma

Making Some Pizzas is Like “Making a Silk Purse, Out of a Sow’s Ear” The Story of Sukie!

One would think that making pizza is easy, with only four basic ingredients of flour, yeast, water, and salt, but so much more can go into learning to make any kind of pizzas.  Trying new styles of pizza is almost like a chemistry lesson, even though I never have taken chemistry in school, but can relate to how chemistry works in each kind of pizza experiment.

It is always challenging when trying to learn ways to make new pizzas.  Each new ingredient, whether it be the type of flour, type of  yeast, type of salt, hydration, whether or not to add oil and so many other variables can make learning to make pizza so much fun.  One variable, whether it is the ingredients, room temperature, time of proofing, temperature of proofing, cold fermenting or bulk dough or individual dough balls, room temperature fermenting can all change how a pizza turns out or what kind of style you might be trying to achieve.  I have only touched the surface on learning all these principles and sure I will continue learning about all this, as I try to learn as much as my brain will allow, probably for the rest of my life.  That is one of the reasons why I refer to making pizza is something like “Making a Silk Purse, Out of a Sow’s Ear”.  Sukie was an ordinary pig, that her ear, was transformed into something that noone had thought possible.  Though chemistry, the dreams and ambitions of chemists, it truly did happen that a sow’s ear did become a silk purse.  Although no one really used this method, after it was perfected, it shows if enough perseverance and chemistry is used, something can be accomplished, at least some of the time.

I invited you to read the story of Sukie and what happened and see if you think making some pizzas is something like “Making a Silk Purse, Out of A Sow’s Ear”.


http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/purse/index1.html

http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/inc-arthur-d-little/on-the-making-of-silk-purses-from-sows-ears--a-contribution-to-philosophy-hci/1-on-the-making-of-silk-purses-from-sows-ears--a-contribution-to-philosophy-hci.shtml

To understand how to use baker’s percents, goes a long way, in containing each variable, to understand more about learning more about pizza making, at least in my opinion.

Norma

Following the poolish part of the Preferment Lehmann dough, (a never ending journey to understand pizza dough) 5/25/2011

This is something that has been bugging me for awhile.  The other time I thought I was having trouble with my poolish for the preferment Lehmann dough, I was thinking it might be the flour, that was making the poolish act differently. I noted the poolish at Reply 643 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9908.msg112876.html#msg112876 and the browner crust pizzas and the poolish acting differently at Reply 623  http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9908.msg112128.html#msg112128 I never figured out why the poolish did act like it did (with a liquid layer on the bottom).  The only thing I noticed from using that poolish, was my crusts seemed to brown better.  Well, Friday when I went to clean and make my poolish at market, it was warmer and I was busy cleaning, stocking sodas, putting pizza boxes together, etc. and doing things, I normally do on Fridays.  I normally keep my Hatco Unit at about 120 degrees F, for the poolish to ferment.  It usually takes anywhere around 1 hour or a little more, for the poolish to start to bubble a little, before I put it in the deli case to ferment more, until I use it to make the final dough on Monday. Sometimes if the flour is colder, it can take a little longer, for the poolish to ferment.  I was busy cleaning and doing the other stuff, and almost forgot about the poolish fermenting in the Hatco Unit.  I was at market about a little over 2 ½ hours.  When I took the poolish out of the Hatco Unit, I saw the poolish had fermented more (with bigger bubbles, than normal) and I thought, I hope the poolish lasts until Monday.  The poolish did last until Monday and looked about the same as usual, but had more big bubbles. There was no liquid on the bottom of the containers. I am timing my doughs, when using the Hobart mixer for the last few weeks, and the final dough seemed the same in every way.  When I went to start making pizzas Tuesday morning I was surprised that my rims did get browner.  This lasted though out the day.  I mentioned to Steve, that I wonder if because the poolish had fermented more in the first place and might have had more acidity, if that is why  my crusts were getting browner, even in the same amount of bake time and bake temperatures.  I am still not sure if this is why my crust did turn browner, but it will be interesting to watch and see what happens.  Steve and I were stumped by this.  I was always blaming my oven, for my crust not getting darker, but maybe it isn’t my oven after all.

BTW, Lorenzo has been at market for the last three weeks and keeps telling me how good my pizzas look and I am doing a great job with them.  I have asked him all three weeks, if he wants to try a slice for free to see if he really thinks my crusts are good.  Each time, he tells me, I can tell they are good, I don’t need to taste them.  He is still asking me to sell my little pizza stand to him.  I still can’t figure out why he wants to buy my small pizza stand, when he already owns a much bigger pizza business.

Pictures of some of the pies made yesterday.

Norma

Stretch-Out Lehmann Dough Experiment 5/24/2011

The Lehmann dough with the Stretch-Out product, was experimented with the same formula I had used before, but this time I used ADM bleached and bromated flour as the flour, to see what would happen.  This time the dough, mixed by hand, fermented quicker than last week.  It was ready to be used in less than 1 ½ hrs.  I attributed the quicker ferment to the higher ambient temperatures at market yesterday, but I am not sure if that is why the dough did ferment faster.

The dough ball was very easy to open, and the final pizza did taste very good, with a decent oven spring and a nice moistness in the rim.  The only thing I could detect with using the ADM bleached and bromated flour, was the rim and bottom crust were much crisper, than when I used the KABF last week.  All in all, the Stretch-Out product does make a pizza dough really fast and the final taste of the crust is like about a 2 day cold fermented Lehmann dough.

Norma