EL-7 with Lehmann lower hydration dough 6/21/2011

The EL-7 product did work as intended.  The dough ball was easy to open and before I knew it, I had stretched the skin to 18".  The pie also baked well.

The only problem was Steve and I both thought this pie tasted just like all other pies that can be normally purchased at most pizza businesses.  There wasn’t much flavor in the crust.  Maybe we are getting to be too picky about the kind of pies we like.   I thought the salt taste in the crust was too strong, but Steve didn’t.

Norma

Some preferment Lehmann Pizzas made at market 6/21/2011

These are some of the pictures of the preferment Lehmann dough pies made Tuesday at market..  If anyone is interested, Peter and I were posting about how a preferment can affect dough, in my other thread.  Peter started in this post about how a some doughs, that uses a preferment or a natural leavening system, where the acid production are high enough to cause a strengthening of the dough can lead to the point where it is hard to open up the dough balls. http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13820.msg144121.html#msg144121

In the following posts, using a preferment and the acids it can create are discussed because I have been having problems on and off with my preferment dough balls being hard to open.  The reason I started taking the pH numbers was because I wanted to see if I could understand more about if too many acids might be causing my dough balls not to open properly and also to see if I could learn more about crust coloration.

Hopefully until next week, I might be able to try some new methods so I don’t have the on and off problems of opening my dough balls.

Norma

My Pie Monday: Mango Chicken, White Sicilian, Confit Ramps with Morels, and More! 6/20/2011

Posted by Meredith Smith, June 20, 2011

There are some fine looking pies in the My Pie Monday gallery today. In the Margherita class we have a traditional rendition via Damian, a pepperoni topped pie from JeanB, and Ev takes his the Italian Sausage route. ESNY1077 has a mini skillet Sicilian in white, jamesws creates an allium trio with morels, Billgraney goes with a bell pepper trio, there's a veggie bbq pie from James S., shrimp and onions top Tscarborough's pie, and Amusebouche1 finds inspiration at Trader Joe's. Experimenting with an 11-day cold ferment yields some satisfying results for Norma427, and Jimmyg learns a thing or two about Pillsbury flour.

SLIDESHOW: My Pie Monday: Mango Chicken, White Sicilian, Confit Ramps with Morels, and More!  http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/06/my-pie-monday-slideshow.html
"My experimental pie was a hybrid Reinhart pie, made in the Universal Bread Maker (circa1904) and cold fermented for 11 days, with a reball the day before the bake. This pie has great oven spring, moistness in the crust, and a great taste from the long cold ferment. The dressings used for this pizza were my regular sauce, spinach put under the cheeses, (my blend of mozzarellas, Montena/Toranto Fresh Mozzarella cheese, and grape tomatoes."

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/06/my-pie-monday-slideshow.html#show-167632

Norma

5 test dough balls on hybrid Reinhart dough, preferment tests and new dough ball with EL-7 6/20/2011

I took the pH reading of the preferment today and it was 5.44.  After the first final dough was mixed the pH was 5.55 The final temperature of the first batch of dough was 74.2 degrees F.  I usually then add water to what is left of the preferment in one container and let it sit in the deli case until I am ready to use the preferment for the second batch.  I don’t know why, but the second batch of dough had a pH of 5.65.  The final dough temperature on the second batch was 75.3 degrees F.  To me the preferment didn’t look as bubbly today as it usually does, but it seemed okay.


I reballed the 5 hybrid Reinhart dough balls today at market.  I had all the 5 dough balls on the same shelf  in the deli case, but it seems the one dough ball did form bubbles on the top.  I don’t know why that happened.  The hybrid Reinhart dough did come out of the plastic bags okay, and didn’t leave any mess.  I decided to ball the dough balls different to see what happens.  I reballed some with just olive oil, some with olive oil and flour and one with just flour.  The dough is very soft, but it wasn’t sticky.
I took the pH of the dough if anyone is interested.  The pH of one dough ball was 5.65.

I mixed the Lehmann dough with the EL-7 this morning that Peter set-forth the formula for.  I used my Kitchen Aid mixer and mixed on speed one and two.  All the other ingredients were put into the mixing bowl and mixed before the olive oil was added.  The final dough temperature was 79.5 degrees F.  I let the dough rest for 15 minutes and then shaped it into a dough ball.  The dough felt soft.  The Lehmann dough ball with the EL-7 is at market.

Norma

The Weber Grill is Clean Up and ready to be modified! 6/19/2011

I finally got to clean up the 22.5" Weber Grill and now it is ready to be modified.  Hopefully something will work out to make decent pies in the modified Weber Grill.  The cleaning time took much longer than I expected.

Norma

My Pie Monday: Six Reds and a Half Dozen Whites 6/13/2011

Posted by Meredith Smith on http://slice.seriouseats.com/

The dozen entries for this week's gallery are split 50/50 between pies with tomato sauce and those without. Ricotta, creme fraiche, potatoes, Alfredo sauce, and roasted garlic paste are a few of the white varieties in the line-up. In the white corner we have Amusebouche1, olsonmatt, Norma427, Scott D, ACBova, and Dhorst. On the red team, CompletelyPizza, C.Mac, flavacrisp, jimmyg, unpocojmoney, and billgraney. Red or white, they are all awesome looking pies. Check them out in the slideshow!

SLIDESHOW: My Pie Monday: Six Reds and a Half Dozen Whites

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/06/my-pie-monday-six-reds-and-a-half-dozen-whites-slideshow.html

Norma's Insalata Pizza Alfredo: "This dough was a Ischia starter by 5% of the water weight and fermented at room temperature for 26 hours. I used Caputo Tipo "00" Rinforzato for the flour. The pie was baked in my friends Steve's (Ev) WFO. The pie was dressed with Alfredo sauce with minced garlic, 781 Brick Oven Fresh Mozzarella cheese, and Mediterranean mix of greens from my garden after the bake. The 781 Brick Oven Fresh Mozzarella from Russo's in Wyomissing, PA was delicious."

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/06/my-pie-monday-six-reds-and-a-half-dozen-whites-slideshow.html#show-165928

Full Article:

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/06/my-pie-monday-six-reds-and-a-half-dozen-whites.html

Norma

The Food Lab: The Science of No-Knead Dough Posted on Slice!

Posted by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, June 17, 2011

I'm telling you right off the bat here, that as far as personal innovation goes in this article, there's not all that much. All I'm doing here is taking someone else's brilliant idea and breaking it down for you a bit, offering a few suggestions and other applications.
That said, I've never seen what I consider to be a really satisfactory explanation of the science behind the No-Knead Bread recipe,* so I'm gonna try and fill that hole here. And what cool science it is.
*Addendum: In a completely inexcusable bout of absentmindedness, I completely forgot to mention the excellent chapter on No-Knead bread in Aki and Alex of Ideas In Food's book. Those guys have got science to spare, and if you haven't read it yet, it's worth more than a thumb through!
In 2006, Mark Bittman introduced the world to a recipe from Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, which had a whole bunch of home cooks opening up their Dutch ovens and exclaiming oh my goodness—I can't believe I just did that! It certainly had me thinking that.
The No-Knead Bread recipe became an instant hit, and, I'd be willing to wager, started off an entire generation of home bakers on an entirely new journey.
Here's how the recipe works: combine flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl. Add water and stir with a spoon. Allow to sit overnight. Shape into loaf and allow to rise. Bake in a preheated Dutch oven.
That's it.

want to read more, click here:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/06/the-food-lab-the-science-of-no-knead-dough.html

Norma