Greek Style Pizza at Market 4/12/2012

Just a few pictures of the Greek style pizza made every week with the regular Lehmann dough I use for the Greek Style pizza. The edges, or rim, sometimes can get more puffy than it should.  The dressings on this Greek style pizza were sauce, spinach, 3 types of cheeses, red peppers and grape tomatoes.  The crusty edges are really good and are from the cheese melting along the sides of the steel pan.


I saw an interesting article in PMQ pizza magazine this month about Greek Style pizzas at pages 40-41 http://www.pmqmag-digital.com/pmqmag/20120607#pg42 What is basically says is that at Baco’s Pizza http://bacospizza.com/ in Enfied, Conn, that the major difference is the Greeks bake their pizzas in pans instead of directly on an oven’s stones. The really traditional Greeks allow the pizzas to proof in pans for at least eight to 12 hrs before cooking. The dough is allowed to rise for 2 to 3 hrs (I guess cold fermented), then they’re sauce and placed in the cooler until they’re ready for toppings or cooking.

I never tried the method of proofing for at leaat eight to 12 hrs., after the first rise. I wonder how that would work out. It also seems like Baco’s Pizza does not use cheddar in their blend for their Greek style pizzas. http://bacospizza.com/Menu.html I also wonder just how many different types of Greek style pizza there are in the New England area.

Norma

Does Humidity Play a Role when using the Lehmann dough...I sure don't know 7/10/2012

This post is just to express that I still think humidity does play some kind of role in how pizzas turn out when using the same formulation. I had wondered, and was very curious, of why my preferment Lehmann dough pizzas and doughs weren’t anyways the same week to week though out the year. Since I have no been playing around with a basic Lehmann dough for a little while, I also see the same thing.


Last week it was hot and there was a much lower humidity at market. The dough balls when trying to open them dried out so fast, which had never happened for me before. I ended up opening the dough ball right out of the deli case without a warm-up This week it also was fairly hot, (but not as hot, around 90 degrees inside at my stand) and the humidity was much higher and there was no kind of problems with dry skins when opening the dough balls, even with the fans blowing the same as last week. My thermometer with humidity isn’t exactly correct, so I don’t want to post the humidity from yesterday inside my stand, but I know it was higher than last week. The dough balls could sit out for up to 2 hrs. for warm-up and they worked fine.

The resulting pizzas also turned out different even using the same formulation.

I still have not figured out what role humidity does play in how dough balls behave when opening them, or the final pizzas do differ, but just wanted to post if someone else has problems with their dough balls and final pizzas maybe humidity does play a role. I believe most members that make pizzas at home would not see these differences, but since I work in so many different kinds of temperatures and humidity’s at market, I think I might see more changes then other members. I still have no conclusions, or really can’t do anything about what temperature or humidity it is at market, so I just watch and try to learn what might happen. Maybe, it wasn’t even the preferment Lehmann dough that seemed to give me problems sometimes, but might have been the humidity.

I also used the same formulation for the Lehmann dough and replaced the oil with MFB. For some reason (I think Steve said there was some sauce on the end of the peel), but there was a loading error when he went to slide the pizza into the oven. The pizza almost ended up heart shaped. I am not posting the results of that test, but will try to do the test again next week. I want to see what MFB will do as a replacement for the olive oil I am using in the final pizza.

These pictures weren’t of the best looking pizzas made yesterday, but just some to show how some of the pizzas turned out yesterday.

Norma

Another Mack's attempt 7/10/2012

Using Peter’s (Pete-zza) dough formulation for a clone Mack’s attempt and the AMPI cheddar cheese these are the results.


Some of the AMPI mild white cheddar (from a 5 lb. loaf) was left out for a day at market (wrapped in aluminum foil) and then refrigerated for about 2 hrs. The other part of the AMPI mild white cheddar was grated about 1 hour before the bake and then also refrigerated. Steve and I tasted both cheddars from the loaf. The cheddar that was left out for a day tasted less twangy than the cheddar that was just grated. I sure don’t know why that was. Steve also noted the same differences.

The Gagni sauce, with added spices, was applied in a swirl pattern. Steve and I did add more cheddars on both sides than we should have, but that was to see if we could decide if the cheddar taste of the AMPI mild white cheddar was right when baked on the Mack’s attempt.

Steve applied oregano to the side that had the cheddar that was just grated and not refrigerated, so we could tell the differences in the cheeses when we tasted slices.

What surprised us was that the cheddar that wasn’t out for a day did taste better and melted better when baked on the Mack’s attempt.

Although both Steve and I can’t be sure if the AMPI mild white cheddar is what Mack’s uses on their pies, it sure tasted almost like a Mack’s pizza. I also thought the pizza tasted like a Papa Dino’s pizza.

When my daughter returned home from work last evening she reheated the slices with both cheeses (I already was in bed). I didn’t talk to her until this morning, but she told me she thought the same thing as Steve and I thought, that the slice with the AMPI mild white cheddar (that was not left out) did taste like a Mack’s pizza and also a Papa Dino’s pizza. My daughter has tasted both Mack’s pizzas different times and also Papa Dino’s many times, but not Papa Dino’s recently. Her favorite pizza in our area was Papa Dino’s also.

If anyone can purchase the AMPI mild cheddar I would be interested in their thoughts when baked on a clone attempt. If anyone thinks that using the AMPI mild cheddar does make a pizza that tastes like Mack’s I will attribute that to what I saw at Joey Mack’s.

Either next week or the following week Steve and I will apply less cheese to see what happens.

Norma

Another MM attempt from Dave (Tampa's) formulation 7/10/2012

This is the MM pizza attempt using Dave’s (Tampa) formulation. It no way does this mean that the dough formulation I used of Dave’s is supposed to be a clone dough formulation for a MM pizza (because the numbers aren‘t right), but I just wanted to see how it would turn out with a higher hydration, lower amount of molasses and no oil.


The attempted pizza was very good, but didn’t get the big rim.

Norma

Aunt Molly's Husk Tomatoes, other Tomatoes, veggies and flowers 7/8/2012

It was 100 degrees F yesterday in the shade before lunch time yesterday. It is good weather for tomatoes, but surely not for humans. It is very dry in our area and I do need to water the tomatoes and other veggies every other day. I thought it was going to rain last evening, (with all the thunder and lightening) but it didn’t.


These are some of my tomato plants and the tomatoes that are now on the plants. Some are Italian. The San Marzano’s now have very small tomatoes on some of the plants.

This is the first year I planted the Aunt Molly’s Husk Tomato. What I find interesting about this tomato is it is enclosed in papery calyxes first, before the actual tomatoes appear. This heirloom is not actually a cherry, but rather a small ground tomato. The fruits were recorded in horticultural literature as early as 1837 in Pennsylvania and are still common today at roadside stands in late summer. This outstanding Polish variety is prized for its clean flavor, with hints of vanilla and pineapple. Because of their high pectin count, the Ground Cherries can be used for preserves, pies, over ice cream or in fresh fruit salads. This tomato is only harvested after the tomato drops to the ground. It is then ripe.


I picked my first cucumber this morning and also picked up a couple of the Aunt Molly’s Husk Tomatoes that were on the ground a little while ago.. I opened the husks and tasted the Aunt Molly’s Husk Tomatoes and they sure are good. This was the first time I tasted any Aunt Molly’s Husk Tomatoes. I wonder how I could use the Aunt Molly’s Husk Tomatoes on a pizza.

I love Tiger Lilies and am amazed at how beautiful they are. 

Norma