Chicken Cacciatore and penne

On Saturday we were hungry for Italian food after a visit to the Italian Grocer. We decided to make chicken cacciatore and baked penne with eggplant and tomato. The chicken cacciatore was very good, and I give it my highest rating - 5 heads exploding out of 5. This is a recipe that simply must be tried. If you're not into the whole eggplant thing you could serve this with just about anything. Acorn squash would be good, fettucini alfredo would be good, a slice of pizza margherita would even be good. The possibilities are endless. The chicken could even be made by my readers in Ledyard, who have access to a country store. I'm going to have to pay a visit there soon.

Chicken Cacciatore

4 chicken breasts
1 32-36 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed with a potato masher (I got a can of La Belle San Marzano from the Italian grocer but you could use just about anything)
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 onion, diced
mushrooms, sliced
1 can chicken broth (14 oz or thereabouts)
1 cup white wine (serve the rest with dinner)
a few dashes dried oregano leaves
a few dashes of dried basil
a few cloves of garlic, minced
salt
pepper

Heat some olive oil (or whatever if you can't get olive oil) in a skillet to very hot. Brown each of the chicken breasts on both sides and remove to a plate. Saute the onions, green pepper, red pepper, and garlic. When they begin to soften add the wine,mushrooms, tomatoes, broth and spices. Return the chicken to the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about a half hour to 45 minutes until the sauce thickens up to a stew consistancy.

Baked Penne with eggplant and tomato

penne pasta (or similar)
sliced mushrooms
diced onion
1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup white wine
1 32 to 34 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed with a potato masher
2 or more cloves minced garlic
a dash of dried oregano leaves
a dash of dried basil leaves

Heat a skillet with some olive oil. Saute the mushrooms, eggplant and tomato until beginning to soften. Add in the rest of the ingredients (except the pasta, which you have hopefully boiled in salted water.) Cook, covered, for 15 minutes at a low simmer. Dump the penne into a baking dish. Pour the sauce over the top and stir. Top the whole mess with mozzarella and bake in the oven, covered, at 350 until the cheese melts or until your chicken cacciatore finishes, hopefully not longer than 45 minutes.

Sloppy Joes - good baby food

In pursuit of the never ending quest to fatten the baby, I made some food that she likes. She really likes sloppy joes. I posted a recipe for this earlier but I didn't have a picture. The last time I made fried cabbage she ate a whole plateful but this time she tasted it and fed the rest to the dog - with disastrous consequence.

Sloppy Joes

1 pound hamburger
1 small (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup Heinz Chili Sauce
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
1 T chili powder
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T prepared yellow mustard
a few cloves minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
a few dashes of hot sauce - I like Louisiana Hot Sauce brand but use what you like

Brown the hamburger and garlic, but instead of using oil, use a little water in the bottom of the pan to keep the hamburger from sticking to the pan. As you are browning it, mash up the hamburger using a potato masher until it is very finely mashed. When the hamburger is browned, drain it really well. Then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally so that it doesn't stick to the pan. Assess the situation. If there is too much liquid then cook uncovered for a little bit. Serve on buns with optional dill hamburger slice pickles.

Weekend Pizzas

We had pizza again on Sunday. I made 3 different kinds. I was planning on making only two, but I went to this new Italian grocer. One of my friends told me about it. I usually go to a place that is by a farmer's market. I can get all the fresh farm grown produce I need on the cheap, and all of the specialty ingredients for whatever Italian feast I happen to be making. I tried the new market because they have better proscuitto (a cured Italian ham) and capicola (another cured Italian ham). When I was in the new market I spotted a kilogram bag of Colavita type 00 flour that I just had to try. Type 00 flour is a grade of Italian flour that is typically used for pizza and the like. I found a recipe for pizza dough using 00 flour over at pizzamaking.com and gave it a whirl.



I made that dough into a pizza margherita. That kind of pizza is dressed only with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves. It is a very simple pizza but is considered the original pizza that started the craze several hundred years ago.



And sliced it looks like this:


We liked that pizza OK but we both like the next one better. I made a dough from my NY style recipe that includes a 'preferment' or an element of sourdough to it. I made it as a pizza margherita but I added sausage, red onion and capers.



The crust was absolutely perfect. A little crisp on the bottom with a chewy character. The rim was oh so delicious with lots of different sized bubbles and a very open crumb. The flavor was just faintly sour from the preferment. Bliss in a slice of pizza.



The topping combination was great. Both my wife and I love this combination of flavors because that is how she makes her rigatoni.

The next pizza I made was the first in a series of experiments I am doing to make a good Sicilian style pizza. Sicilian pizza is usually made in square or rectangular pans. The crust usually has some amount of semolina flour, varying from about 25% all the way to 100% depending on who makes it. This was my first attempt. It was a mixed success. The pizza tasted great but the dough was too hard to work. I am going to try a little bit different recipe next time. Here is a photo of the pie as it came out of the oven. You see the blotches of tomato sauce here and there? That is because for this type of pizza you put the cheese on the bottom and splotch piles of sauce here and there. I also put some sausage and slices of roasted garlic here and there.



You're supposed to put a bunch of oil in the bottom of the pan so that the bottom of the crust fries a little bit like this:


The Sicilian pizza was very good and reminded us of the pizza they used to serve at The Airliner in Iowa City. I'm not going to post the recipe for that pizza until I get it perfected.

Old Favorites and a New Take

On Saturday I decided to fire up the Baby George Foreman Rotisserie. I found a pork loin roast at Sam's Club. It was 4.5 pounds and only $8!!! I can't even buy hamburger for that much. I decided to make it Cuban style because you can use the leftovers in so many different ways.

Cuban Pork Roast

4 pounds of pork
juice of 3 limes
1 t sea salt
1 t ground oregano
1 t ground cumin
2 bay leaves, ground
1 t black pepper
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

Combine everything and marinate in a gallon ziplock bag overnight. Bake in your George Forman Rotisserie for about 2.5 hours or until it looks like this.



We were both hungry for some vegetables. We decided to make one of our all time favorites - fried eggplant with grilled peppers, garlic yogurt and tomato sauce. It was way to cold out so I had to do the peppers inside. Instead of grilling the peppers I broiled them briefly.

Fried Eggplant with Green Peppers, Garlic Yogurt and Tomato Sauce

Take 1 eggplant and peel it lengthwise, leaving a few strips of skin to create a striped effect. Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Soak eggplant pieces in salted water for 20 minutes, then pat dry. Fry in oil and place on paper towels to drain.

Cut a green pepper in half and remove the seeds. Broil it for a few minutes until the skin starts to blacken and the pepper begins to soften.

For the yogurt garlic sauce, take 1 cup yogurt and add 2 cloves garlic, pressed. Add a little salt and refrigerate to combine the flavors.

For the tomato sauce, take 2 tomatoes and peel them by dropping them into boiling water for 30 seconds and then plunge them into cold water. Heat 1 T olive oil. Add the tomatoes and 2 cloves garlic, pressed. Use a potato masher to mash up the tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes soften.

To assemble, put the eggplant and peppers on a plate side by side. Put the yogurt sauce in the middle and top with the tomato sauce. Sprinkle some freshly chopped parsley and feta cheese over everything.



The other thing we had was Greek spaghetti. The recipe comes from the Northwest Cafe in Mason City, Iowa.

Greek Spaghetti
Boil salted water. Add spaghetti, enough to feed your guests. Cook spaghetti to al dante or enough so that it is cooked but not soggy. Drain spaghetti and add:

2 T butter
1 small can chicken broth
1 t greek seasoning
½ t garlic salt or more if you like it
¼ cup parmesan, add and add more if you like more
1 t fresh ground pepper
a good amount of chopped fresh parsley or ½ tablespoon dried parsley

It should look like this:


Babies LOVE Greek Spaghetti!

New Project - Cream Cheese Danish

I am working on a new project. I have always wanted to be able to make a good cream cheese Danish. Here is a photo of my little Danish rolls rising.



And here is a photo of the finished product. Not quite what I was shooting for by absolutely delicious. I'll try again next weekend.

Sunday Pizzas

We made two pizzas on Sunday. I am using my NY-style pizza recipe and processing now. I am trying to make a bunch of pizzas with different topping combinations to see if my good results are reproducible over time. The first pizza I made was a sausage, mushroom and soprasetta pizza. Soprasetta is an Italian dried sausage that is really tasty. If I were going to do something different I would have the soprasetta sliced at the deli instead of hand slicing it. I thought it ended up a little thick.



Here is a closeup of the slice.



The other pizza I made was one of my favorites - taco pizza. When I was a kid we always used to eat at Godfather's Pizza on our birthdays. My favorite pizza they made was taco pizza. It was basically just a sausage pizza that they dressed with crushed tortilla chips, lettuce and diced tomatoes when it came out of the oven. They served it with Heinz taco sauce. The other place that made taco pizza in town was a small local bar. The only thing they did different was to add refried beans, but it made all the difference in the world.

To make a taco pizza I use taco sauce as the pizza sauce. I put down just a thin smear of refried beans. Then I just add little balls of cooked Italian sausage and mozzarella and bake. When it comes out of the oven I crumble some yellow tortilla chips over the top and finish it with lettuce and diced tomato.



Both pizzas had a great crust. The crusts had all the characteristics I am shooting for in my NY style pizza. Here is a cutaway of the crust showing the different sized bubbles.

Midwestern Spaghetti

The spaghetti I ate growing up was not really what most people would consider authentic Italian spaghetti. It comes from a recipe that has been handed down over generations. I don't make it all the time but sometimes it really hits the spot.

Midwestern Spaghetti

1 pound hamburger
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 stalked celery, sliced
1 bay leaf
1 16 oz can tomato sauce
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
1 t basil (more if you feel like it)
1 t oregano (more if you feel like it)
1 t paprika

Brown hamburger. Add vegis and stir until just starting to soften. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. Serve over spaghetti.

It should look like this:


Here is a big fan of midwestern spaghetti:

Pizza Night - Gino's Updated - NY Style Updated

Last night we had a friend of mine over for pizza. I made 2 thin crusts and a Gino's. I got a lot of good info on processing etc. from pizzamaking.com and I have decided to update my Gino's recipe a bit. I am just going to post the baker's formula I use for now, and I'll post the ingredient amounts later. The important thing here is how the dough is made and how it is put into the pan etc.

Gino's East Baker's Formula

100% flour
50% water
15% oil (I like corn, but some prefer canola)
3% olive oil
2% sugar
1% cream of tartar
1% salt
0.75% IDY
Yellow food coloring - about 1% but be careful. 1/2 t per pound flour gets the right color.

Mixing the Dough

1) Dissolve salt and yellow food coloring in water.
2) Add half of the flour and the yeast.
3) Stir until mixed.
4) Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit for 20 minutes.
5) Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until combined.
6) Hand kneed for 2 minutes.
7) Place dough ball in a gallon ziplock bag and let proof in the fridge for 24 hours.

Shaping the Pizza

1) Remove dough from fridge and allow to warm up on counter for 2 hours.
2) About an hour into the warming up, prepare the oven. (see below)
3) When ready to bake, pour 1/4 cup olive oil into the bottom of a 12 inch deep dish pan.
4) Dust counter with flour and flatten dough ball with hand to make a round circle. Let sit for a few minutes.
5) Using your fingertips, press the dough outward to form a round dough piece. Let rest a few minutes.
6) Using your palms, stretch the dough out further to a diameter of almost 12 inches. Let rest a few minutes.
7) Lift dough from counter and stretch on your knuckles until it is about the right size for the deep dish pan.
8) Place dough in pan and press the edges 1 1/2 inches up the sides of the pan.
9) Top pizza.

For cheese I used Stella (purchased at Sam's Club.)
For flour I used King Arthur All Purpose flour.
For yeast I used Red Star instant yeast.
For sauce I used a can of 6 in 1 tomatoes that I drained a little bit. I added 1 tablespoon of sea salt, about a teaspoon of oregano and 1 teaspoon of basil. I also added about 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes.
The other toppings on my pizza were pepperoni and sausage. Just before putting the pizza in the oven I sprinkled the top with parmesan and some dried parsley.

Here is a photo of the pie just as it came out of the oven.



Here is a photo of the cut pie.



And here is a closeup of the crust.



One of the thin crusts was a 66% dough. Here is a closeup of a slice.



I have made one variation of the 66% recipe. I decided to make a version that included a pre-ferment. I have a lot of experience working with wild yeast sourdough breads, but I am currently banned from keeping a culture in the house for various reasons. The most I could get away with was doing a pre-ferment with instant dry yeast. I decided that I would use the same hydration percent, but use 20% of the dough weight to make a pre-ferment. For two 14 inch pizzas the dough weight needs to be 878 grams. 20% of 878 grams is 176 grams. The preferment needs to weigh 176 grams. When I make preferments, I make them from 50% water and 50% flour by weight. So for the preferment I use 88 grams of flour and 88 grams of water. I mix that up in a bowl and add half of the yeast. I reserve the other half to add later. I let the preferment sit on the counter in a covered bowl for 48 hours. After the 48 hour preferment, I add the rest of the ingredients, staying true to the original bakers formula. For two 14 inch preferment pizzas:
Combine 88 grams Gold Medal Better for Bread flour and 88 grams of tap water in a bowl along with 2 grams of Red Star Quick Rise yeast. Stir until well combined. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to sit on the counter for 48 hours.

After 48 hours, place 255 grams water in a Kitchenaid mixer bowl. Dissolve 13 grams of salt. Weight out 432 grams of Gold Medal Better for Bread flour and add half of it to the mixer, along with 2 grams Red Star Quick Rise Yeast. Mix 60 seconds on stir to incorporate yeast. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 20 minutes. Mix on stir speed for 5 minutes, adding in remaining flour gradually over the 5 minute mix. Mix on 2/3 for 5 minutes. Check dough temperature with digital thermometer; it should be 80 degrees at the hook. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 15 more minutes. Remove dough from bowl and hand knead for 2 minutes on lightly floured prep area. Divide into 2 equal balls. Place dough balls into separate gallon ziplock bags. Put in fridge for 24 hours. After 24 hours, remove dough bags from fridge and allow to warm for ~2 hours.

Here is a slice of the variation.



And here is a closeup of the rim of the crust.



Both of the thin crusts got gobbled immediately, but everyone seemed to prefer the variation. I suppose that is what I will make from now on. I'm done fixating about pizza for a while.

PS - the cheese on the cheese pizza was: 140G mozzarella, 70 G meunster, 20 G parmesan, 20 grams romano

Photo Update

Here is a photo of the pepper steak I talked about in this post.

65% results

The 65% hydration pizza was very very good. Its almost there. Based on how the dough felt when I was working it I have decided that 67% might be too wet so I am going to try 66% instead.

NY #3
Flour 100%
Water 66%
Salt 2.25%
Yeast 0.75%

NY#3 - two 14 inch pizzas
Gold Medal Better for Bread Flour - 521 grams
Tap Water - 344 grams
Salt - 12 grams
Yeast - 4 grams

NY Pizza #3

I continue to experiment with the NY style pizza. I haven't used the dough from the last batch but I am planning on using it tonight. Report to follow. I am in the process of ratcheting up the amount of water in the dough a little at a time. The reason I am doing that is because my goal is large and different sized bubbles in the crust. From past experience, the more water you have in the dough, the more it will meet that goal. I am trying to find a balance point where the dough has as much water in it as possible without becoming a pain in the butt to work. The last dough was 65% and so far it has behaved very well. I will have a report on how it was to shape later. The next dough I am going to make is going to be 67% hydration.

Here is the dough formula:

NY Pizza #3
Flour 100%
Water 67%
Salt 2.25%
Yeast 0.75%

For 2 14 inch pizzas, the ingredients will be as follows:

NY Pizza #3
Gold Medal Better for Bread Flour - 517 grams
Tap Water - 346 grams
Sea Salt - 13 grams
Yeast - 4 grams

For detailed instructions on how to convert Baker's Formulas to weights, see this post. The instructions are towards the bottom.

Mmmm. Burritos.

I am a creature of habit. Tonight we are having the all time classic - Iowa Farm Burritos. Easy to make, cheap to make, tasty and comfortable. How can I beat it?

This is my mom's recipe for burritos. She got it from this lady that we used to know that lived on a farm. My mom made them all the time after she got the recipe. I used to stay overnight at that farm occasionally when I was a kid and this lady made them one time. I remember the meal because I also got a Welch's grape pop. At the time I wasn't in to the whole red bean sauce, but I sure am now. I remember that when she made them it was the first time that I liked the burritos, and from then on I always looked forward to them. What I liked was that the tortilla was crispy on the outside and a little gooey on the inside. I also liked that the diced onions tasted a little sweet, because they carmelized when they baked. I was like any kid though, and I only ate the parts that I liked.

Why are these Iowa Farm Burritos? Because you can make them on an Iowa farm with no problems, and this lady lived on a farm. You will have no trouble getting the ingredients for these burritos. I was just in a small town with <500 people in it in northern Iowa. Its out in the middle of nowhere and they have an old time general store/grocery store there. I found all of the ingredients needed to make these burritos.

Another thing to mention is that the red bean sauce is what really makes the dish. You can make it as mild or as hot as you like, but I usually make it blisteringly hot so that I sweat when I eat these.
Anyway these burritos are awesome. I like to serve up my burrito and then pour red bean sauce over. I like to let it sit for a couple minutes so that the red bean sauce has a little chance to soak into the tortilla. They smell SO awesome when they are cooking. I would highly recommend serving these with grape pop.

Iowa Farm Burritos

1 pound ground beef
1 package flour tortillas, burrito size
1 onion, finely diced
salt
pepper
grated yellow cheese of some sort. I like cheddar but if you like colby use it instead. The original lady made it with longhorn colby. I remember that specifically because she gave me a piece of it and I walked around mooing like a cow for 10 minutes in celebration.
Refried beans in a can.

Brown hamburger in a pan. Add onions and cook until the onions start to soften. To make the burritos take a tortilla and spread a little refired beans on using a butter knife. Then fill with hamburger, onion mix. Line them all up on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until the tortillas start to get a little crisp. Then ends will just start to turn a little brown. Then sprinkle cheese over the top and bake until melted. Serve with red bean sauce poured over.

Red Bean Sauce


1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can old el paso enchilada sauce. For old ladies use mild. For me use hot or at least medium.
about 1/4 to 1/2 cup pace picante sauce.
Chopped green onions if desired.

Dump everything but the green onions into a sauce pan. Heat until boiling then reduce heat so that it just stays warm on the burner. Taste it and add salt if it needs it. About 2 minutes before you are going to serve it add the green onions and stir it up. You want these just to soften a teeny bit. YOu don't want the green onions to be overcooked and look like you added cheap spinach or something.

My friend has the world record for number of these eaten in one sitting. Can you believe he ate 7 of these things? I don't know how he did it but I remember the car being particularly fragrant the next day.

NY Pizza #2

I am experimenting with my thin crust pizza, changing one thing at a time until it is perfect. For my next pizza, I am increasing the hydration% to 65. I am planning on making two 14 inch pizzas. I got a new pizza peel that will hold a pizza up to 18 inches. Unfortunately my stone is only big enough for 14 inches. Here is the dough formula:

NY Pizza #2
Flour 100%
Water 65%
Salt 2.25%
Yeast 0.75%

For 2 14 inch pizzas, the ingredients will be as follows:

NY Pizza #2
Gold Medal Better for Bread Flour - 523 grams
Tap Water - 340 grams
Sea Salt - 12 grams
Yeast - 4 grams

For detailed instructions on how to convert Baker's Formulas to weights, see this post. The instructions are towards the bottom.

Superbowl and Pizza

Last night we sat down to watch the Superbowl. We got about 5 minutes into the game and we both said we didn't care about either team. We decided to watch the Sopranos until half-time. Our episode of Sopranos ended and I switched over to the Superbowl again, just in time to see the Stones taking a bow. So we missed the whole thing. And you know what? Neither of us really care.

The pizzas turned out great. The Little Ceasar's clone was good. If you are having company over for Pizza night and one of your guests, a little kid for example, doesn't like anything but pizza chain style pizza, you should throw a little Ceasar's in. It makes a perfect chain style pizza. The NY style pizza was by far the best thin crust pizza I have made to date. The guys over at pizzamaking.com have literally saved me years of trial and error. I did make a few minor changes to the protocols on the fly. I have updated the posts to include those changes.

My next experiment in thin crust pizza is to increase the water content of my dough by 2%.

Treasure!

I was just given this priceless table and chairs! This is the table that my grandmother and grandfather had in their kitchen since forever. I have eaten so many meals at this table and had such good times that I am almost speechless at the gift. Can you say heirloom? I'm never buying another table.

Little Ceasars Style Pizza - Updated with New Protocol

Snowman's Thin #2 Little Ceasar's
Flour = 238 grams (8.34 oz)
Water = 136 grams (4.77 oz)
Oil = 4 grams (0.14 oz)
Salt = 2 grams (0.07 oz)
Sugar = 4 grams (0.14 oz)
Yeast = 1 gram (0.035 oz)

Preparing the Dough
1) Stir water and salt with spoon/whisk until dissolved in stand mixer bowl.
2) Add approximately half the flour first, then the yeast. Fit stand mixer with hook attachment.
3) Mix 60 seconds on stir to incorporate yeast.
4) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 20 minutes.
5) Mix on stir speed for 5 minutes, adding in remaining flour gradually over the 5 minute mix.
6) Mix on 2/3 for 5 minutes.
7) Check dough temperature with digital thermometer; it should be 80 degrees at the hook.
8) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 15 more minutes.
9) Remove dough from bowl and hand knead for 2 minutes on lightly floured prep area.
10) Place dough into a bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap. Put in fridge for 72 hours.
11) After 72 hours, remove dough from fridge and carefully transfer to a well floured couche, cover with plastic wrap and allow to warm for ~2 hours.

Prepare the oven after the dough has been on the counter for 1 hour.

Preparing the Oven
1) Place a baking stone on the lowest rack in the oven.
2) Place another baking stone (or some unglazed quarry tiles) on a rack 3 notches above the first. Notches vary from oven to oven so shoot for 7.5 inches.
3) Turn the oven to the highest possible heat and preheat for 1 hour.
4) While the oven is preheating you will hear the gas turn off. When this happens open the door until the gas kicks back on.

Little Caesar's Pizza Sauce

1 12 ounce can Hunts tomato paste
1−1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon Accent (optional−−−but if you want it exact, use it.)

Pre−mix the dry ingredients, mix, and set aside. In a small saucepan,
combine tomato paste and water. Over medium high heat, bring to a simmer.
Add the pre−mixed spice, stir in well. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 35−40
minutes, stirring occasionally. You will need to add a little more water occasionally if it thickens too much. At the end of cooking taste the sauce. Adjust the spices according to your tastes.

Cover sauce and refrigerate until needed. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

Cheese
Use 2/3 low moisture part skim shredded mozzarella and 1/3 shredded muenster.

Dough Shaping Steps
1) Place dough ball in flour bowl. Dust both sides well. Dust prep area with flour.
2) Flatten ball into a thick pancake-like shape with palm of hand, ~ 2" thick. Keep well dusted. Rest 5 minutes.
3) Press fingertips into center and working toward the rim until skin is ~7 inches round. Keep well dusted and rest 5 minutes.
4) Place hands palm down inside rim and stretch outward while turning. Stretch to ~9 inches round. Rest 5 minutes.
5) Place skin over knuckles (1st time dough is lifted off bench) and stretch to 12 inches.
6) Pat excess flour off skin. Place onto a round pizza pan that has been dusted with corn meal.
7) Top with your favorite toppings and put the pan onto the lowest pizza stone. Bake until done.

NY STYLE PIZZA - updated with new protocol

Dough Recipe for 1 12 inch pizza
Gold Medal Bread Flour 194 grams
Sea Salt 4.3 grams
Red Star instant yeast 1.5 grams
Kansas City tap water 122 grams

Preparing the Dough
1) Stir water and salt with spoon/whisk until dissolved in stand mixer bowl.
2) Add approximately half the flour first, then the yeast. Fit stand mixer with hook attachment.
3) Mix 60 seconds on stir to incorporate yeast.
4) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 20 minutes.
5) Mix on stir speed for 5 minutes, adding in remaining flour gradually over the 5 minute mix.
6) Mix on 2/3 for 5 minutes.
7) Check dough temperature with digital thermometer; it should be 80 degrees at the hook.
8) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 15 more minutes.
9) Remove dough from bowl and hand knead for 2 minutes on lightly floured prep area.
10) Place dough into a bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap. Put in fridge for 72 hours.
11) After 72 hours, remove dough from fridge and carefully transfer to a well floured couche, cover with plastic wrap and allow to warm for ~2 hours.

Prepare the oven after the dough has been on the counter for 1 hour.

Preparing the Oven
1) Place a baking stone on the lowest rack in the oven.
2) Place another baking stone (or some unglazed quarry tiles) on a rack 3 notches above the first. Notches vary from oven to oven so shoot for 7.5 inches.
3) Turn the oven to the highest possible heat and preheat for 1 hour.
4) While the oven is preheating you will hear the gas turn off. When this happens open the door until the gas kicks back on.

Sauce

Let 4 plum tomatoes sit on the counter for a few days ripening.

Preheat the broiler. Take the tomatoes and wash them and put them on a cookie sheet. Broil the tomatoes under the broiler for a few minutes, turning occasionally, so that the skin blackens a bit on all sides. There are usually a few spots of skin that stay red. After the tomatoes cool, peel most of the blackened skin off, leaving a little behind. Run the tomatoes through a food mill to grind them into a thick chunky sauce.

Add a teaspoon of sea salt to the ground tomatoes along with 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper and a scant 1/4 t very finely ground fennel seed. After stirring for a while taste the sauce. The flavor that you will be adjusting for will be the saltiness. BE VERY CAREFUL. You don't want the salt to be too overpowering. Add just a little at a time.

Dough Shaping Steps
1) Place dough ball in flour bowl. Dust both sides well. Dust prep area with flour.
2) Flatten ball into a thick pancake-like shape with palm of hand, ~ 2" thick. Keep well dusted. Rest 5 minutes.
3) Press fingertips into center and working toward the rim until skin is ~7 inches round. Keep well dusted and rest 5 minutes.
4) Place hands palm down inside rim and stretch outward while turning. Stretch to ~9 inches round. Rest 5 minutes.
5) Place skin over knuckles (1st time dough is lifted off bench) and stretch to 12 inches.
6) Pat excess flour off skin. Place on floured peel and dress with favorite toppings.
7) Just before sliding off the peel and into the oven, run a piece of dental floss under the dough. That will help the pizza slide off easier.

Making My Doughs Tonight

Tonight I am planning on putting together my doughs. I am planning on pizza on Sunday. I'm on call on Saturday so I won't be able to do anything that day (its call where I have to stay in the hospital for 24 hours). I've decided to try a 72 hour cold fermentation for both pizzas. That is a full 48 hours longer than I have ever done but the guys over at pizzamaking.com have had great results. I love that site because a lot of my trial and error stuff has already been done.

Along those same lines I have discovered a thread over there about dough processing. They worked out a processing protocol over several months of work by multiple different people. They have been getting pretty good results using this protocol:

Preparing the Dough
1 - Stir water and salt with spoon/whisk until dissolved in stand mixer bowl.
2 - Add approximately half the flour first, then the yeast. Fit stand mixer with hook attachment.
3 - Mix 30 seconds on stir to incorporate yeast.
4 - Add preferment.
5 - Mix 1 minute on stir to incorporate preferment.
6 - 20 minute autolyse. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP (or you will die painfully).
7 - Mix on stir speed for 5 minutes, adding in remaining flour gradually over the 5 minute mix.
8 - Mix on 2/3 for 5 minutes.
9 - Check dough temperature with digital thermometer; it should be 80 degrees at the hook.
10 15 minute autolyse. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP (or you will die really painfully and slowly).
11 Remove dough from bowl and hand knead for 2 minutes on lightly floured prep area.
12 Cut into 2 equal pieces, form into balls, place dough into bowls, cover with shower caps.
13 Place dough in the refrigerator. Ferment for 24+ hours.
14 On the following day(s), remove dough from refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Note: Do not punch down, reform balls, or do anything to the dough other than let it warm to room temperature.

Stretching Steps
1 - Place dough ball in flour bowl. Dust both sides well. Dust prep area with flour.
2 - Flatten ball into a thick pancake-like shape with palm of hand, ~ 2" thick. Keep well dusted.
3 - Press fingertips into center and working toward the rim until skin is 10 inches round. Keep well dusted.
4 - Place hands palm down inside rim and stretch outward while turning. Stretch to 12" round.
5 - Place skin over knuckles (1st time dough is lifted off bench) and stretch to 16"+/-
6 - Pat excess flour off skin. Place on floured peel and dress with favorite toppings.
7 - Peel dressed skin into preheated oven (1 hr+ at max temp) outfitted with tiles.
8 - Bake until lightly or heavily charred (more flavor).

Because I have much less experience in working with thin crust pizzas I have decided to incorporate that mixing/shaping protocol for both of my pizzas this weekend. It would literally take me years to arrive at that protocol because I don't make pizza so often. The other thing that is nice about that protocol is that it has been tweaked for a Kitchenaid mixer, which is what I use. I'll post an updated version of my recipes to reflect the new protocols for dough processing.

Little Ceasar's Pizza

The guys over at Pizzamaking.com have been working on Little Ceasars pizza. You can see the thread here. I have taken the various dough formulas and converted them to baker's formulas. If you look at the thread my conversions are there towards the bottom. For the superbowl I am planning on making my NY style pizza and a 12 inch Little Ceasars according to Snowman's Thin #2.

Snowman's Thin #2 Little Ceasar's
Flour = 238 grams (8.34 oz)
Water = 136 grams (4.77 oz)
Oil = 4 grams (0.14 oz)
Salt = 2 grams (0.07 oz)
Sugar = 4 grams (0.14 oz)
Yeast = 1 gram (0.035 oz)

I plan to process the dough according to Randy's instructions which are:

"Mix flour and salt. Put yeast and half the flour in the mixer. Mix the sugar and honey into the hot water. Pour mixture into bowl and place mixer using dough hook on stir for about 2 minutes. Stop mixer. Add Olive oil and the rest of the flour, then set mixer to knead. Knead for 6 minutes stop mixer for 5 minutes then start mixer back on knead speed for 6 more minutes. If the dough is sticking to the bottom of the bowl add a tablespoon of flour or more until the dough patch beneath the ball is say the size of a silver dollar. You may need to add water. Finish knead on a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball Place in the refrigerator in a lightly sealed container coated with olive oil. for overnight up to three days.

Remove 3 hours before panning
Remove from the fridge and either divide dough in half on a slightly wet marble or counter for two 12” pizzas or leave whole for one somewhat thicker 16” pizza. Work each piece of dough into balls with wet hands."

Notice that his processing includes an autolyse and a cold fermentation.

Cheese
They also have a discussion on the cheese used by Little Ceasar's. They think it is a blend of 2/3 mozzarella and 1/3 muenster. I'll try that.


Sauce
IlliniPizza posted a recipe for Little Ceasar's Sauce:

Little Caesar's Pizza Sauce

1 12 ounce can Hunts tomato paste
1−1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon Accent (optional−−−but if you want it exact, use it.)

Pre−mix the dry ingredients, mix, and set aside. In a small saucepan,
combine tomato paste and water. Over medium high heat, bring to a simmer.
Add the pre−mixed spice, stir in well. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 35−40
minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cover sauce and refrigerate until needed. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.
(4 − 12" pizzas)

I'll give it a try and post results.

Pepper Steak Stir Fry

I am a big fan of properly made stir fries. When I was a research assistant in Iowa City, Iowa I used to go and eat lunch at a little family run Chinese diner called Easy Place. It was the real deal. All of the dishes were cooked right after you ordered them in big woks. The vegetables were just cooked and still had crisp left in them. I have a recipe for pepper steak that we like real well. We had it a couple nights ago.

Pepper Steak

3/4 pounds steak of some sort, frozen and just starting to thaw
1 green pepper, diced into large pieces
1 red pepper, diced into large pieces
1 onion, diced into large pieces
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 tomato, halved and cut into wedges
4 oz canned sliced mushrooms

Sauce
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 inch ginger, very finely chopped
1 cup beef broth
2 T soy sauce
1 T corn starch
1 t salt

Most of the work of this is in the preparation. You have to have all the ingredients prepared ahead of time because it only takes a few minutes to cook the entire dish. Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Chop all the vegetables up according to instructions. Next slice the beef into 1/8th inch strips. It helps to have the beef frozen and just starting to thaw. If you try to cut raw beef 1/8th inch thin it is very difficult.

Next heat the steel wok very hot. Put a little peanut oil in the wok and immediately add the beef, stirring constantly. It will take less than a minute to cook the beef fully. When the beef is cooked set it aside in a bowl. Next add the onion, peppers, and celery to the wok and cook briefly, stirring constantly until the vegetables just start to soften. You want them to still be slightly crisp when they are served. When the onions, peppers, and celery just start to soften, add the tomatos and mushrooms and stir until the mushrooms and tomatoes are heated. Return beef to the wok and add the sauce. Stir everything constantly until the sauce thickens up. Serve immediately over rice.

Sloppy Joes Revisited

We have some leftover hamburger buns so I thought I would make another kind of sloppy Joe. This recipe is similar to Maid Rite sandwiches. There is no tomato sauce or anything like that. The secret is that instead of using oil to brown the hamburger, you put a little water in the bottom of the skillet. When everything is nice and browned you pour off all the liquid and viola - non-greasy delicious loose meat sandwiches!

Maid Rites

1 pound hamburger
1 small onion, finely diced
salt and pepper to taste

Put a little water in the bottom of a skillet and brown the hamburger and diced onion, adding more water as needed to keep the hamburger from burning. While you are browning the hamburger, use a potato masher to mash things up very finely so that the meat pieces are no bigger than a grain of rice. When everything is cooked add salt and pepper to taste and drain well. To serve scoop meat onto a bun. At the restaraunt they come with mustard and pickle but you can add any toppings you want.