Steve, "My Pizza Making Buddy", Greek Style Pizza using Ischia starter 10% by the water weight of the flour 6/14/2011

This pizza dough and final pizza were made by my buddy Steve.  It was a Greek Style pizza.  He fermented the dough at room temperature and used 10% Ischia starter, by the water weight, to make this pizza.  It turned out fantastic! :)  I really love Greek Style pizzas and this one had a very good taste in the crust!

Congrats Steve!

Norma

Blueberry Pizza Crust, Using Betty Crocker Blueberry Muffin Mix 6/14/2011

Another Sukie mystery pizza was made, using the Betty Crocker Blueberry muffin mix, in combination with Peter’s “goody bag”.  This time I used 145 grams of water in the mix, but think from experimenting with these different mixes in combination with the “goody bags”, there need to be more water added.  When the dough is mixed, it seems very sticky, but after letting this dough ferment at room temperature for 2 hrs., the dough does get drier.  That is why I think more water needs to be added in the beginning of the mix.  I will see after more experiments, if this is true.  The final blueberry Sukie pizza did turn out well, but I think there would have been more oven spring if I had added more water to the mix.

The dressings for this Sukie pizza was reduced sugar strawberry preserves and after the bake fresh blueberries and strawberries were added.  All the near stand holders to me, are always asking when I am going to make another dessert Sukie pizza. They all love the samples. Even customers that go by, are interested in the dessert Sukie pizzas.

I am learning to make Greek Yogurt (with a milk kefir starter, to sell at market), and think if I have it perfected until the next Sukie dessert pizza I make, I might try that as a dressing.  I really love Greek yogurt, but don’t know how that will hold up to the heat of an oven.

Norma

Another Attempt at a Pizza Crust Mix 6/14/2011

This was my next attempt to make a pizza crust mix pizza.  The things I changed in this attempt was I used 220 grams of KABF and 111.7 grams of Purasnow cake flour.  I also used  dried egg white powder, instead of using part of a fresh egg.  The reason I switched the bread flour higher in the amounts of ingredients to the cake flour was the dough had felt too much like a pie crust, in my last attempt.  I also wanted to try out the dried egg whites to see what would happen.  I kept the rest of my ingredients the same.  I forgot to bring my notes home from market as to how much water I added, but think I could have added more water.  My reasoning for adding more water, was in lines with my last post of how the mixtures of ingredients want to absorb water when letting it ferment for awhile.  This dough also felt too dry.  It can be seen on the pictures the rim was too dense and dry, but where the sauce and cheese was applied the dough did rise better.  I think in my next attempt, I will add more water.  This dough was only left to ferment for one hour, before using it to make a pizza.

Norma

Another Day Working Outside, Planting More Tomato Plants, Weeding, and Painting! 6/12/2011

It was cloudy this morning so I decided to go outside and get some more work finished.  I love digging in the dirt, planting anything, and watching things grow.  My cucumbers plants are already producing some cucumbers, but they aren’t ready to eat.  I love to be able to just go outside and pick fresh vegetables, even though my gardens are small.  Friday, I saw some little buggers on my San Mazarno tomato plants.  I posted on pizzamaking.com what they could be, because they were rapidly starting to eat my leaves, just on the San Marzano tomato plants.  Steve, my pizza making buddy, replied to my post that he thought the “little critters” were potato beetle larvae.  It turns out he was right! :) I think I have all the damaged leaves pick off and also all the little potato beetle larvae.  At least I didn’t see anymore today.  It was really getting hot outside, so now I am inside waiting for more storms in our area. Another day with tornado warnings. I don't know why we are getting so much violent weather, but I guess that is the way it is. I think I planted another 20 tomato plants today.  I also got some more painting finished.

Another great day!

Norma

hybrid Reinhart dough ball cold fermenting and wheat fields in our area 6/12/2011

I guess my hybrid Reinhart dough ball, made in the UBM, will last until tomorrow when I do the reball. So far it looks okay. This dough was made in the Universal Bread Maker 6/04/2011. These are pictures of the dough ball this morning.

On another note, there are many wheat fields in my area.  I think it is spring wheat, but am not sure if the wheat grown by farmers in our area is soft or hard spring wheat.  If I had to guess, I would guess it is soft spring wheat, but will ask one of the farmers in my area, what kind of wheats or wheat they grow here.  In a future experiment after I find out what kind of wheat is in the fields, I might try some of the wheat that is grown in my area in combination with another flour, in the UBM to see what happens.

Pictures of wheat fields in our area.

Norma

Experiments with the preferment part of the Lehamann dough 6/10/2011

I decided to start to take the pH numbers of the preferment after it ferments in my Hatco Unit.  I will keep doing this for a few weeks to see if the pH’s of the preferment, after it ferments in the Hatco Unit, after it sits in the deli case for 3 days, and then the final dough pH’s can help me to understand how crusts do brown when using the preferment Lehmann dough.  I don’t think this will lead to any new discoveries, but will see if I can find out anything about if pH levels do affect browning in some way.  I let the poolish (preferment) ferment for 15 more minutes this week.

Picture of the preferment right before it went into the deli case.

Norma

Hybrid Reinhart dough cold fermenting for 6 to 7 days 6/11/2011

These are pictures of the second hybrid Reinhart dough made last Saturday in the UBM.  The pictures of the dough are from yesterday and today.  I normally would have put a dough that is starting to bubble on the top of the dough and fermenting so much on the bottom in the freezer, until I am ready to do a reball, after the dough is unfrozen, but since John (fazzari) posted he had some ugly dough balls before he did a reball after a long cold ferment at Reply 55 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13697.msg142577.html#msg142577 I guess I will experiment with this hybrid Reinhart dough and let it go until Monday, when I do a reball.  If I change my mind, I will post when I would decide to freeze the dough.

Pictures of dough ball top and bottom from yesterday and today.  This hybrid Reinhart dough wasn’t mixed in any special way, but quickly in my UBM (circa 1904).

Norma