Monday, a Day Before Root’s Market-My Trip

My typical Monday is preparing dough balls for Tuesday to use at my market stand at Root’s Market, making sauce and getting other things ready at market.  Some Mondays or other days of the week I have to pick up flour at C.O. Nolt and Sons, Inc.  I could get them to deliver for me, but it would be more than the gas I use and also trying to fumble about with 50 lb. bags of flour when I am trying to wait on customers would be hard.  I picked up flour today.  There is a train track that goes behind C.O. Nolt & Sons, Inc.  In some of the pictures it can be seen what C.O. Nolt & Sons, Inc. looks like.  Also in the same area there are many Amish families.  I took some pictures of the Amish farms today along with how they hang their wash on long clotheslines.  I find it fascinating how they hang their clothes on long wash line that the women can reel the wash back into their homes. The children was just leaving school today after I picked up the flour.  The all go together in a little one room school house.

I also took a picture of the kind of Tomato Sauce I use on my pizzas at market.  I only use KASL flour for my pizzas at market, because I don’t want to use bromated flour.  Many pizzerias across the US do use bromated flour in their pizzerias.  I pay a little bit more for KASL, but I think it is worth it not to make my pizzas with bromated flours.  Bromated flours are banned in many countries.

Norma

Life in being a person that is obsessed with PIZZA!!!!!

This is post is try to explain what it is like to be obsessed with PIZZA and all what goes into making different kinds of pizzas.  My relatives have called me a pizza geek and I know I spend way too much time trying to understand how dough behaves and all what can go into many different kinds of pizzas.  I know I could make better use of my spare time, instead of going over and over what can go into making a great pizza.  I really can't explain why I am so interested in pizza.  It is something that began when I decided to open a pizza stand at market.  I always did love pizza, but now the understanding of how all doughs behave differently has intrigued me to the point of I am also studying about dough, sauces, preparation of doughs, yeasts, starters, time, temperature, flours, hydrations and how this can all fit into making the kind of pizza I desire to make at any given time.  I have learned a lot on my journey, but always I seem to want to know more.  I don't know if I could be called a pizza addict, but I am more tending to think I am, by the way I behave and always having to look at all the posts on pizzamaking.com, Slice, and other websites about pizza.  I don't know where this journey will take me in understanding more about pizza, but the journey is interesting.  Every time I think I am going to shift my focus somewhere else, I am back on the seeking trail about pizza.  I have been helped on my journey by many people, as I posted before.

This is something to show what I have accumulated in the past 1 1/2 years since I began this journey.  I do have other folders that I didn't post in these pictures.  I am always studying over different formulas and also studying what can go into making a better pizza.

I wish this hobby wouldn't take up so much of my time, but right now it does.  I know if anyone reads this post, they might think I am crazy to spend so much time trying to learn about pizza. This is my way of life right now.  Maybe things will change in the future and I might, if I am lucky, be able to get away from being so involved and obsessed with pizza.  I would like to just be on this journey part of my waking hours.  Each day I try to not wonder so much about pizza.  Hopefully in the next few months, I will be able to start paying attention to other things in my life.  Many times it is a lonely road when trying to understand pizza.  I can think of many other ways I could improve my life.  I could improve my relationship with other people that are close to me, or even develop new relationships with others.  I also have many ways I could improve where I live or at my pizza stand.  My place where I live needs my attention, too.  Some of these things would make my life more positive than studying about pizza all the time.  I will continue to help others learn about pizza, if I have enough knowledge to help them, as others have helped me.  I think in a way, my life has become too consumed with pizza.

I am always trying to find the best crust taste I can achieve. I think the crust taste of a pizza is what is most important, although the dressing for a pizza can also influence how a pizza tastes.

Norma

Happy New Year 2011 to anyone that reads this blog!!!!! :)

I want to wish everyone that reads this blog a Happy New Year 2011, with blessings for a safe, healthy and prosperous New Year !  Also may you share friendship with others.
I was lucky enough to go out with friends last evening to celebrated the ringing in of the New Year 2011.  I had fun and danced the whole night.  At least I still can dance all night long.
Sorry, I didn't get pictures of everyone at our table.  I hope everyone that I was with had a good time, like I did.  My name is still Aunt Flo (to my friends) and I can still say, "Kiss my grits".  lol  I even got to play around with pizza dough yesterday, so my New Years Eve and New Years day was complete!!!!!!

Norma :)

Next Attempt for a pizza like Pizzarium

I think I might have let this dough ferment for too long.  The one bubble on the dough popped on its own, so I decided to shape the skin and let the skin proof for an hour.  The skin was easy to open. There was a little rise in the skin while it was proofing, but not as much I would have thought. That is another reason why I think I let the dough ferment too long and also I didn’t get the oven spring as my last pie. I had covered the skin with a linen cloth.

I dressed this pie with olive oil, grated zucchini, Kalamata olives, Italian herbs, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella, Feta, and tomato sauce.

The pie was really tasty, and had a nice crunch when eaten.  The bake time was about 10 minutes and I baked on the stone at a little over 500 degrees F.  The taste of the crust was good from the longer ferment time. I don't know why some of my side pictures of the crumb didn't turn out right, but I took two more pictures of a side shot, to show how the crumb looked.

A article about Forno Campo di Fiori and their pizza al taglio and the breads they make at their bakery.

http://www.wantedinrome.com/articles/complete_articles.php?id_art=943

A blog about Forno Campo di Fiori.

http://girlshopsglobe.blogspot.com/2010/07/around-campo-forno.html


Forno Campo di Fiori- Rome

From this video Toby (foolishpoolish) referenced before, this shows how pizza al taglio is made at Forno Campo di Fiori- Rome at Reply 11 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,12651.msg121415.html#msg121415

and in that post is the video.

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

This is a blog about pizza al taglio at Forno Campo di Fiori and how they don’t reheat slices and what the blogger had to say about the toppings being fresh and robust but was no shocker that the highlight here was the crust. It was gently crispy on bottom and chewy all around. The inside resembled a beehive and was so light that it seemed hollow.

http://blog.forzapizza.com/2010/02/pizza-romana-and-its-double-personality.html

A video from Forno Campo di Fiori.

http://www.fornocampodefiori.com/mediaplayer/popup.html

In this blog if anyone is interested you can go down in the page and read about pizza al taglio and see pictures.

http://tamarindandthyme.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/campo-de-fiori-rome/

Some more pictures of pizza al taglio at:

http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/outoftown/italy/lazio/rome/fornocampodefiori/index.htm

Forno Campo di Fiori website where it says their team of experienced bakers who produce every day and offer the same bread, the same pizza and the same specialties 'that more' than 30 years delighting the palates of old and new customers.

http://www.fornocampodefiori.com/main.php

These are the pictures from beginning of the dough, bake and end pizza of this attempt.  This dough had a poolish that was left to ferment one day and then refrigerated for one day, before incorporating it into the final dough.

Norma