paulraphael

I get it consistently with a home oven, using (curiously) Renhart's regular neapolitan recipe. I'm just curious to know if this is a style that has a name. It might help me find it out in the world.

I haven't been able to find an answer to this in the archives, but it's been nagging me. Is there a name for a pizza style that's like neapolitan, but crisper on the outside? My favorite pizza crusts are airy and chewy in the middle, and crisp, charred, and blistered on the outside. I can achieve this using Peter Reinhart's Neapolitan Pizza recipe (not as much with the neo neapolitan one). I like authentic Neapolitan style from pizzerias like Una Pizza Neapoletana, but usually wish the crust wasn't so soft in the middle.

I glanced at Peter Reinhart's whole grain book at the bookstore, and it looks like the refinements of his technique should work for white breads, too. Apparently he's taken the process to its logical conclusion, and leaves the yeast out entirely for the aging of the dough. then there's no race between the yeast and the enzymes, and no nead for refrigeration. the wet, yeastless dough just sits at room temperature overnight or as long as you can get away with without it spoiling. then the yeast goes in later and the bread rises normally. I haven't tried it ... haven't even looked at the details. Has anyoned done this or any variations of it?

The key is that there are two processes going on: natural enzymes in the yeast breaking down the large starch molecules into smaller ones and into sugars, and yeast eating the sugars and producing C02 and alcohol. Cold temperatures slow down the yeast process much more than they slow down the enzyme process. So delayed fermentation allows the enzyme reactions to progress much farther before the yeast has made the dough ready for the oven. Encouraging the enzyme reactions like this gives the bread much deeper, more complex flavors. It also provides more sugar for the yeast to do its thing. All the best breads have historically used some version of this. Soakers, bigga, poolish, starters, old dough techniques, etc. etc. are ways bakers have allowed the enzyme reactions to progress more without the yeast progressing too far. The refrigerator technique is just a simple, modern version. There are no rigid guidelines becausee your recipe and the temp of the room and your fridge are big variables. The simplest way to fine tune things to fit your time requirements is to change the amount of yeast. If the bread seems like it's rising too much overnight, just use a bit less yeast next time. That's about as scientific as this gets, as far as i know.

Matt, do you have any idea if their 17 slot model http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=6243 is the same length? I'm planning to ask the store, but I find their info can be dubious on this kind of thing. Thanks, P

I assumed divina meant that it could mute flavor the way it does in sauces. It takes the edge off and makes them more subtle. This has never been a problem for me in something like a basil infulse creme anglaise, but a pesto is supposed to be very direct and pungent. I suppose it's possible that all the creamy cheese muted the effect.

hmmm, maybe that's what was going on. is it possible t make not-very-sweet simple syrup? i found 1TB sugar to be plenty for a full 2oz of basil.

I use soap on my cast iron skillets and spun steel wok all the time. The polymerized oils that make up the seasoning aren't nearly as fragile as people think they are. You don't want to soak these pans in detergent, or scour them with anything really abbrassive, but wiping them down with soapy water and a scrub sponge will do no harm. And it can be necesessary to get fresh oil/food off of them. If you're not convinced, then take a seasoned skillet you don't care about and TRY to remove the seasoning. good luck!

my understanding is that the only thing "rapid" about rapid rise yeast is that it contains a higher percentage of living organisms than regular dry yeast. so for equal measures, you're actually putting more yeast into the dough. if you cut back the quantity by the right amount, the results should be virtually identical. my suspicion is that fresh yeast is popular because the low percentage of live organisms forces you to use a lot of it, which can contribute more yeasty flavors. some people like that effect.

I don't have any spun steel pans (besides my wok) but I know a lot of people love them. They seem to be pretty traditional in French kitchens. I'd be curious to hear from people who like theirs.

I use a pairing knife mostly for detailed things where the food is in my hand, not on a cutting board ... peeling, coring, removing stems from strawberries, etc.. I usually use a pinch grip over the middle of the blade, so just the tip is poking out. I wonder if the 150mm knives are designed for different techniques ... and if so, what?

Thanks, but I have reasons for not wanting a magnetic strip, and for wanting the knives that I have. In another kitchen a strip might be the solution. Most blocks I see that can handle large knives have too many, not too few slots.

One that wasn't designed by people with brain damage? And isn't custom? It's really ridiculous. I just got one (rebranded by Henckels) on Amazon that seemed nice, but I unwrapped it and appears to be designed for a doll house. My bread knife and steel are each over an inch too long! They are not unusually long things. This strikes me as a reasonable check list: -standard hardwood or bamboo construction with horizontal slots -slots for two chefs knives -room for a 12" steel and 10" bread knife -slots for 8 to 10 knives total -no f'ing steak knife slots! -not built/priced like sculpture or handmade furniture Am I asking for something unreasonable?

I like the idea of stufffing the berrries. although i'll miss the visual of the green tips. and i'm not sure i'll like the coarse texture in that application either. I thought about cooking the basil in butter or something to extract more flaver, but i'm afraid of losing the fresh basil pungency in doing this. the flaver and aroma seem so delicate. It seems strange that it's hard to get a smooth puree out of this stuff. I wonder if a food processor would do better than a blender. Or if the fine disk of a food mill would make any difference.

if anyone has an extra pacojet, i'm more than happy to pay for shipping. so with the alternative oils, do you think these will help blend to a finer texture? my only issue with the flavor was that the basil wasn't as intense as i would have liked ... possibly an issue with the basil itself. maybe a more oil-based infusion would draw more flavor out of the basil, but the mascarpone is 50% fat by weight, and the butter is 80%. i chose milk only because i wanted some liquid to help puree the leaves, and it seemed like something that would fight the least with the mascarpone. the final thickness at room temperature was just right.

handwashing dish soap is actually detergent. not that this automatically means much; any mix of chemical surfacants (as opposed to natural fat-based soap) is called detergent. i imagine some detergents are much nastier than others. dishwasher detergent has a lot of stuff besides surfacants in it that you don't want on or in your body--like powerful alkaline chemicals and bleaches.

The recent thread on what to do with basil in a dessert gave me the idea of strawberries with sweet pesto. I tried it this weekend; what I arrived at was 2oz basil leaves, 2oz mascarpone cheese, 2 oz whole milk, 1/2 oz butter, 1 TB superfine sugar I blended the basil with the milk (using the milk to help get as fine a blend as possible), then melted the mascarpone and butter with the sugar. I mixed it all together and blended again. I served the strawberries whole, point-side up, in a pool of light creme anglaise, with the tips dipped in the pesto. It worked ok, but the concept seemed better than the execution. For one, I wasn't thrilled with the texture. I was hoping to get a smoother, creamier puree, but it ended up being fairly coarse. I tried forcing it through a strainer but couldn't ... all the solids just stayed behind. Also, the flavor wasn't as intense as I'd hoped. I was afraid the basil might overwhelm the strawberries, but the opposite actually happened. I'm wondering if basil is just less pungent this time of year. Any ideas? Do you think a mortar and pestle might be able to get a smoother texture?

this is what I thought, but the whole waxed vegetable thing still concerns me. if any water soluble pesticide has soaked into the skin of a vegetable, and then the whole thing gets waxed, isn't it possible that the poison's been sealed in? i also wonder about the possibility of pesticides getting INTO the plant, since the water based pesticide is bound to flushed into the soil where it could be picked up by the root system. has this been studied?

Thanks Bob, I hadn't seen any of those ... had just been looking at Korin and at the more familiar lines at JCK (hadn't checked out Hattori because of price). It's curious that with brands like Misono they dont cary pairing knives in their lower lines. The Tosogata looks interesting. Cheap! I'm normally not a fan of the traditional handles, but they might work for a pairing knife. What do you think about this one?

I never see anything smaller than 120mm from most of the manufacturers. It might indeed be bad translation when people call these paring knives, but I don't see anything that's more like a paring knife. Who makes paring knives??

i don't know if this violates the plan, but you can get battery powered coolers for the car: http://www.compactappliance.com/xq/JSP.jum...ble_Coolers.htm a photographer friend of mine has one of these, and we used it on a road trip through the deserts in the southwest. worked great.

I've been wasting a fair amount of my employer's time leering at Japanese knife porn these last few days, and am curious about the rationale behind 150mm paring knives. I think the western 75mm to 150mm standard works just fine. I can only see the extra inches getting in the way for the things I do with a small knife. Am I missing something?

i have a bunch of those pyrex cups that get used for nothing else. also got a great deal on ebay on a stacking set of heavy stainless mixing bowls, that included four 1-1/2 cup bowls, all with plastic lids. these are great too.

Rona, I tried this combination for one of the pizzas and it was perfect. Thanks for a great idea! The crust was Peter Reinhart's variation on Neapotitan dough. The other pizza was more italian .. fresh mozerella, prociuto, san marzano tomatoes, and some choppe asparagus. And thanks everyone else ... a lot of good ideas, definitely worthy of future pizza experiments. The phyllo crust sounds like a fun variation.

And some of us like the look of tarnished, scorched, used copper. I love it. If someone polished my pans I'd be pissed.