Anna N

The kitchen gods favour some of us. The others of us not so much. I belong to the latter group. I might change my ways going forward. I changed all my loaf pans from ones that looked as though they barely survived the Battle of Britain to ones that appear as though they might release a loaf upon command. On the other hand I think I’ve offended the kitchen gods far too often to take chances.

@JoNorvelleWalker Jo— Nice looking loaf. Was this still the French lean bread?

I just cut two pieces of parchment now for a loaf pan — one that fits the long dimension and one which fits the short dimension. Like so.

As I suspected Burnt crust and toppings sorry about the blurry picture but obviously very little leoparding. And a not very exciting crust. The upper pizza stone, the one which was in use, measured 544°F before I slipped the pizza onto it. Initially I baked it for seven minutes and decided it was not quite done. In another minute it was quite obviously burned. But I still wanted to see what would happen if the cheese was dumped on at this point. It obviously survived somewhat better but it barely spent any time in that heat. Back to the drawing board.

Oh Shelby. So many of us do that! Then we go out and buy more. Finally when we see six bottles of fish sauce in the pantry we accept that we actually have some and don’t need to buy anymore.

Next time look for Red Boat.

Some days only diner food will do. We were in Waterdown again and Angels Diner checked all the right boxes. Click. We needed dark rye flour and Kerry is still hoping to find a griddle plate to use in her CSO at home. She has one in the CSO at work. In the same plaza as Angels Diner is a thrift store and a Bulk Barn. We got the rye flour but no luck on a griddle plate. For Kerry the Amarillo chicken breast with beans and sauce picante. For me liver and onions with fries and coleslaw. The liver was gorgeously cooked and they must’ve read my mind about the amount of onions on top. Once or twice a year I love slumming it!

Ok. Confession time. Mea culpa. I read and reread the instructions once again and see where I made my mistake. The instructions I was using were for a home gas oven. I have an electric oven! The instructions for an electric oven are to preheat at 500°F for one hour then to switch to high broil for five minutes but with the baking stone 4 inches from the broiler (not 8 inches). According to the kitchen manual, and I am quoting directly: “Finished Neapolitan pizzas are golden brown with some black blistering on the crust. The cheese should be browning in spots, and the bottom of the pizza should have some spots or leoparding...” My thought experiments based on this do not at all convince me that it is better than what I have been doing but the only fair thing is to give it a try.

Snarky indeed. Useful? I don’t think so.

I don’t think you sound caustic and pedantic and you are probably much more knowledge than I especially about baking pizzas. However, I somehow have to believe that their method was well tested and produced satisfactory results. Otherwise I have to dismiss a whole team of very qualified scientist and bakers. I will give the method in the book another couple of turns before I dismiss it completely and attempt your solution. I do have an infrared thermometer which I’m guessing should tell me the surface temperature of the baking stone. Next time I pre-heat the oven I will use it to see how hot each of those stones get. Please understand I am not dismissing your suggestions. I am merely trying to pursue one step at a time. I continue to appreciate your insight.

Ha ha!

Thank you. Yes it does have cocoa powder. It calls for 8.6% Dutch processed cocoa powder.

Thank you. Thank you. I will consider it a Christmas present from you to me. You were thinking of one, right?

My thought, as I fell asleep last night, was that my next attempt will not put the cheese on at all. I will find out first what the cook time is to bring my crust to where I want it. Once I determine that then I will make a decision as to when I might be prepared to open the door and toss some cheese on. I will certainly report back.

Chris, This review suggests that there is something basically wrong with the recipe for canned pizza: “(Future editions of the book will be changed to reflect the proper temperature, and corrections will be noted on the Modernist website.)”

Same day pizza — take 2 I rearranged my oven and the (relevant) pizza stone could hardly be any closer than 8 inches away from the broiler element. What changed? Not very much. The cheese is still way overcooked. The crust is getting closer to where I think it should be but there is zero leoparding despite that there was not even parchment paper between the crust and the stone this time (as there was last time). Baking time was exactly 8 minutes. Still think The crust would benefit from a long a baking time but then the cheese would turn to charcoal. It was at least edible this time but only barely. The last one I picked off a few toppings and then threw it into the bin. Perhaps this time I’m extra hungry. Not willing to give up but not sure where to go from here. Tomorrow I will buy some fresh mozzarella and dry it out as they suggest. Beyond that I don’t know what steps I could take but I’m wide open to any suggestions that don’t include building a brick pizza oven in my below zero and very small postage stamp sized backyard.

Yes. But it has been an issue forever and nobody seems to be addressing it. Leads one to wonder if it’s advantageous to them to continue the status quo.

I keep losing your recipe. Do you think you have time at some point to put it in the recipe archive here?

Oven mitts? Uh? We haven’t done oven mitts in at least 20 years It’s a Canadian-made pan but predates metric by quite a lot. Inside rim to rim on the upper edge it is 8 1/2 inches. Cooking surface is 7 1/2 inches.

Well not all experiments are one hundred percent successful. But if they teach you even one thing then you can’t consider them a failure either. The Same Day Pizza — take one The cheese is over cooked. The crust is under cooked. There is very minimal leoparding. So here are a few details. The tomato sauce is good and is the one in the books. Even without the specifically recommended brands of tomatoes and tomato paste this is a lively and interesting fresh tomato sauce. I pre-sautéed the mushrooms and the leeks. The cheese is the abominable skim milk “pizza” mozzarella. The dough was extremely elastic and a bit challenging to shape. I did let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes between attempts to stretch it out. Circles are not my forte. I managed something around 10 inches. That would likely have had an effect on the doneness of the dough. Now to the oven set up: There was little likelihood that I would move the lower pizza stone which someone had especially made for me and is simply too heavy to be manipulated unless you are young, strong and healthy (or foolhardy). I can guarantee you I am none of the first three and I try not to be the fourth. And so I had a smaller ordinary commercial pizza stone which I put on the upper shelf. The directions were clear: to preheat the oven at 500°F for at least an hour — check. to switch the oven to the high broil function five minutes before you plan on placing the pizza in the oven — check to place the baking stone 8 inches from the broiler element — hmmm This presented a problem and it’s one I am sure will face others. Home oven shelves are not infinitely adjustable. I chose a position that most nearly matched the one recommended but in fact my pizza stone is closer to 7 inches than to the recommended 8 inches. My bake time was exactly 7 minutes. I find it very difficult even with my oven light on to see what is happening in there. I have smoked glass oven doors which hide the mess but also make it difficult to see what things are doing in there. My next attempt will be with the shelf one step lower — that is a further away from the broiler — in the hope that the crust will have more of an opportunity to bake while the cheese doesn’t get quite so brown. I know some people who put cheese on halfway through the baking but you would lose so much doing that in this situation.

Who knew? 14 1/4” and it does clear the glass in the door. Does not change the fact that I’d like one of the ones referenced — without the handle!

Nah. Not for me, but thank you. I have enough trouble lifting cast-iron and I don’t think it does anything more for a loaf of bread than an ordinary loaf pan (except maybe on a campfire). But for an artisan-type boule, cast-iron pan would work great. Allows me to keep my cast-iron to a minimum. It would also make a great roasting pan for almost anything. Are use my 8 inch cast-iron pan in the Brevillev but it will not fit in the CSO.

I am thinking it should work for bread in the CSO

Over here, Chris remarks how forgiving dough can be. And that is so true. Because the recipes are so precise I find myself overthinking all too often. I mentioned that life got in the way this morning and my carefully planned baking schedule went to hell in a banneton. What to do? What to do? Well I have pre-shaped four (250g) portions of (same day) pizza dough. The day still remains dicey in terms of meeting any sort of schedule. But I am going to slip these boules of pizza dough Into plastic bags and into the refrigerator. I figure one and a half hours before I want to put the pizza in the oven I will take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it warm up on the counter. I will then shape it, top it and bake it. Could happen today. Might happen tomorrow. Probably could go as long as Wednesday and still be good. That’s my theory anyway.

@Chris Hennes is right. The fresh pizza sauce is delicious. There is a batch waiting in the fridge now for my first pizza which is not going quite as well as I hoped due to the vagaries of life. Hoping I am back on track now and things will proceed smoothly.