“Real New York Frozen Dough Balls”..from Brooklyn, NY 4/16/2010

I was at the grocery store a little while ago and am always looking for something pizza related.  I found these “Real New York Dough” balls, from Brooklyn, NY.  There are two in a pack.  From what I understand they don’t have any preservatives in them and are supposed to be all natural, unlike most frozen dough balls.  I bought them and might try at market on Tuesday to make one of them into a pizza.  I wonder if there is anyone else that has tried these “Real New York Dough” balls from Brooklyn, NY.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13592.0.html

Norma

My Pan Flatbread Pizza 4/03/2011

I was at the local grocery store when and saw these Kontos Pan Plano Flatbreads and thought they looked interesting and decided to use one of the flatbreads to make a pizza to see what the crust would taste like.  The crust was very tasty in my opinion.  This was a quick way to make pizza.  If anyone is interested, these are the Nutrition Facts and ingredients for the Sweet Onion Pan Plano Flatbread I used for the pizza pictured in my last post.  http://www.foodfacts.com/food/Pita%20Bread/Kontons%20Pan%20Plano%20Sweet%20Onion%20Flatbread/48116

The Kontos Pan Plano Flatbreads do come in other flavors.  This is the company that makes the Sweet Onion Flatbreads I used for the pizza.  http://www.kontos.com/Pages/about_us.html
and the flavors of flatbreads that Kontos offers.  http://208.64.161.54/kontos/Pages/products_flatbread.lasso?markets=retail

I know this forum is based almost all on home pizza making, but if in a pinch for time or not wanting to make your own dough, I would rate these as very good.  I know I cheated when I made this pizza, because I didn’t make my own dough, but the flatbread I used to make the pizza, had a better flavor in the crust than some other doughs I have made homemade.

Picture of the Sweet Onion Flatbreads I used.
I made a pan flatbread pizza 4/03/2011.  The dressings were regular tomato sauce, Polly O mozzarella, Franks’ hot sauce chicken, and salsa.  The rim was somewhat crispy and the crust was somewhat soft.  Overall I enjoyed this pan flatbread pizza.

Norma

Adventures in gardening and growing tomatoes started 3/17/2010

I had asked forum members on pizzamaking.com where to find seeds for tomatoes and perennials.

If you are interested this is the thread about my adventures in gardening with pictures, this is the link.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,10535.0.html

Norma

Preferment Lehmann dough 4/12/2010

I don’t know what was the problem with my dough yesterday, but I think I might have reballed it too much or either the temperature when I made the final dough made a difference.  Last week when I balled two different batches of dough, I did reballed on one batch of dough balls two times.  I thought last week, they were harder to open than normal, but wasn’t sure.  I decided on Monday to reball the dough balls from two batches 1 time again. This sure could have been a mistake.  I had good luck with reballing a higher hydration dough like Reinhart NY style dough two times or more.  That is one reason I was experimenting on the preferment Lehmann dough balls. Yesterday those two batches of dough balls were really hard to open and some of the skins wanted to tear in a few places.  Usually when opening the dough balls there aren’t any problems with opening the dough balls.  We broke a record for temperatures in our area on Monday when I made the final dough.  It was 84 degrees F.  I still don’t know if this also might have caused the problems with opening the dough, but it might have.  I sure didn’t like how these dough balls behaved.  Even Steve opened a few dough balls and had the same problems.  I surely don’t want these problems every week.  The dough balls seemed to ferment so much faster too, when left out at room temperatures to temper, yesterday.  I don’t usually open my dough balls right out of the cooler, but that seemed to work  better.  It was cooler in our area yesterday (47 degrees F and raining most of the day).  From the experiments in reballing in the last two weeks, I think, but am not sure, knowing when to reball can be complicated.  There must be some relation to hydration, temperature, and just enough tightness in the dough balls. All these dough balls were left to cold ferment for almost a day, so I would have thought the gluten would have been aligned okay. At least these are my opinions for now.


http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9908.msg135118.html#msg135118

Norma

Dave’s Farsided Cartoon of me!..lol 4/12/2011

Dave, the man that drew the drawing for me the other week, came to my pizza stand a few times yesterday.  He said he had made a cartoon of me, but wasn’t finished.  I asked him if I could see the cartoon, because I was curious to see what it looked like.  He brought the cartoon for me to see.  I have to laugh out loud, because I thought the caption was funny about me.  I told him the drawing was fine and he didn’t have to do anymore on it.  He said he had wanted to color it in more and it was only a first draft.  I told Dave it was fine.  Dave told me that it is based on cartoons he has followed by B. Kliban and Gary Larson.   He told me that Gary Larson had been influenced by B. Kliban.  I don’t really think the caption is what I would dream of, but I  thought it was hilarious.    Dave said he would do more cartoon or drawings for me, whenever I wanted.  He even said he would draw a book about my pizza making, with captions, if I wanted.  Dave does have a degree in art and does teach children how to draw cartoons, in addition to being a maintenance man at market.  I really like Dave and think his drawings, cartoons and ways of thinking are unique.  He always makes Steve and me laugh.

Thanks Dave, I really love this cartoon of me! :)

Norma

Dave’s "The Dough LI Lama picture of dough!" 4/03/2011

The one maintenance man (Dave) at market, is a friend of mine, and also really likes the preferment Lehmann dough to make pizzas.  He buys dough balls from me and also tries some of my experimental pies.  He is always asking what kind of experimental pizzas either Steve or I am making for the week.  When he came to buy dough balls from me Tuesday, he drew a picture on a paper plate.  He said the name for my pizza stand should be Norma’s Dough-LI-Lama Pizza, since I like to play with dough so much.  I really liked the name he suggested and also how he drew a dough ball.  The maintenance man drew this picture in less than 5 minutes.  I asked him how he can draw so fast and he said he just visualizes what he wants to draw and then does it

Thanks Dave, for the Cartoon! :)  It looks to me like a dough ball in different fermentation times.

Norma

My Pie Monday 4/11/2011

My Pie Monday: Smoked Jalapeno, Langoustine, California Club Pizza, and More!
If you're ever at a loss for what to put on your homemade pizza, this is the place to be. This week for My Pie Monday, we've got a California Club pizza with avocados, chicken, and bacon (yum!), a langoustine-topped pie, and a pizza topped with smoked jalapenos, and lots more!


http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/04/my-pie-monday-20110411.html

Slideshow: http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/04/my-pie-monday-20110411-slideshow.html

My Reinhart NY style dough pizza.  Norma's Pepperoni Pie: "I experimented with another Peter Reinhart NY style dough at home. The Reinhart NY style dough was made with a higher hydration of 67%, honey 4.4%, olive oil 6.67% and Better for Bread flour. This pizza was baked in my home oven with the temperature of my baking stone at 518 degrees F.”
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/04/my-pie-monday-20110411-slideshow.html#show-152539

Steve’s NY?Neapolitian Pizza in his modfied semi-wood oven.
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/04/my-pie-monday-20110411-slideshow.html#show-152540

Norma