Pizza: Cook-Off 8

[jmolinari]

Here is my contribution to this cookoff. I made my pizza dough with a poolish base. It is excellent. Poolish fermented overnight, then devided the dough into 250g portions, and put in fridge. Took out of fridge 2.5 hours before using. Shaped, put on the tomato sauce and prebaked for 2 minutes, after heating oven at 500. I I also used the broiler, placing the rack/stones at their highest. So the intense heat from above and below make a nice crust.

Anyhow, here is the pizza. I used prosciutto cotto and king oyster mushrooms. Sauce was just san marzano tomatos crushed (from costco), oil and salt.

This next one is a granny smith apply, vidalia onion, mozzarella, and prosciutto crudo..first with no prosciutto, then with the prosciutto added...

[Chris Amirault]

My goodness! These pix are positively mouth-watering! Thanks all for contributing so much -- and keep it up!

Meanwhile, we have another cook-off dish to choose. Any ideas? Remember we want to choose things you wouldn't usually make at home, from different regions of the world, that enable us to learn new techniques but don't require second mortgages for equipment or ingredients.

So: what d'ye think, eh?

[snowangel]

Crepes, anyone? Savory or sweet...I'm still remembering many dinners and lunches at the Magic pan, and the magiv of crepes. Easy, but look difficult.

Or, composed salads (think cobb, nicoise or other inventions), but for me, a member Northern Hemisphere population, would prefer to do this a bit later, when we actually have the veg ingredients available at our local farmer's markets).

Or, we could tackle Carnitas. They could be Mexican style, or what Fifi and I termed "Thai (or Asian) carnitas."

[Susan in FL]

Susan, those ideas sound real good to me. However, I make composed salads fairly frequently.

How about a Cuban dish or some Caribbean cuisine? I'm just starting to make some authentic Cuban dinners, much like when I was a Thai newbie a few months ago.

Another thing that interests me is Lo Mein. Would we have some advisors on that? Chinese egg rolls or wontons?

Authentic Spanish something?

[kanljung]

I'm up for carnitas. I've just started to dig into Mexican cuisine, so it would fit nicely. It is also a cuisine that the cook-off series haven't dealt with yet. It would be really interesting to see all the different ways the carnitas are used and served.

Or we could do a spanish paella. It could be seafood based or meat-based depending on what you prefer and/or can get hold of.

[Rachel Perlow]

Jason and I were talking the other day about sushi being a good cookoff subject. Most people never make it at home, even most Japanese people (I think, right Kris?). We have in the past and it isn't very hard, but it can be time consuming, depending on what type of sushi you're making. So, that's my suggestion, but it doesn't have to be next.

[NulloModo]

Well, Cinco De Mayo was just a bit ago, so we really should pay tribute to Mexican cuisine, either that or southwest.

My vote is for carnitas, chili, enchiladas, something along those lines.

Actually, Chili would be really fun... and there are so many different varieties out there that we would surely learn a lot.

[Behemoth]

How about tamales? I've always been too intimidated to make them at home.

[Jason Perlow]

Mole Poblano. Now THAT is a project.

[Tepee]

How about tamales? I've always been too intimidated to make them at home.

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Behemoth, if tamales doesn't get the vote, you can always join us at the chinese tamales cook-off starting soon.

Mole Poblano? Gosh, I haven't even heard of that before. All the more reason to try making it.

[Jason Perlow]

Mole Poblano is a thick gravy made with a LOT of ingredients, with the main ones being several kinds of dried chile peppers, chicken stock, sesame seeds, bread, and chocolate. And lard. Its used as a topping for chicken (or turkey) enchiladas and also used with pulled meat as a tamale filling.

[Grub]

How 'bout meatballs? Thai, Chinese, Italian, Swedish -- talk about international cuisine...

[little ms foodie]

my votes would go for carnitas, paella, osso busco, gnocchi, crepes! Not nessesarily in that order

Edited May 10, 2005 by little ms foodie (log)

[ludja]

Lots of good ideas for future cookoffs... Personally I think gnocchi (potato-based) would be great for a next topic. I've always wanted to try them but have been lazy. They are famously simple, but not so simple. With our combned talents and experimentation I think we could launch a fleet of new gnocchi makers! Maybe could include choux and cheese based recipes as well...

Also like the mole idea (pipian or sunflower seed versions would be very interesting).

[Khadija]

What a coincidence. I was just thinking that I would like to to try making gnocchi (again) today. I love gnocchi, but the few batches I've made have been disasters. So, my vote is for gnocchi. As a second choice, or for future cook-offs, I'd like to suggest jerk chicken.

[Patrick S]

Crepes sounds like a good idea for a cook-off, since there is an infinite variety of possibilities.

[Jason Perlow]

So we decided to make more pizza tonight, but going with non-processed ingredients and a home-made crust.

Rachel can get into specifics on the crust, but its a mix of bread flour and home-milled whole wheat flour made in our Vita Mix, with a little bit of cornmeal in it.

The sauce is made entirely of vine ripened tomatoes, with garlic and basil.

The first pizza is our take on Donald Trump and Dominos -- a "Cheeseburger" pizza, made from a crumbled up leftover hamburger from last night's dinner, with shredded mozzarella and sharp white cheddar cheese. With a few leftover cooked mushrooms.

Pie #2 is a Spanish-Style "Shrimp Ajillo" pizza, with garlic/saffron/paprika shrimps and mozzarella.

Pie #3 is your standard mushroom pie, made with "baby bellas".

Pie #4 is a sort of Brazilian/Italian fusion, made with Chicken Linguica, Pork Chourico and cooked broccoli, with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.

Cheeseburger Pizza, cooling.

Cheeseburger Pizza Closeup

Shrimp Ajillo Pie.

Shroom pie.

Shroom pie closeup.

Linguica, Chourico and Broccoli

Nice crust char on the bottom.

Side profile of cheeseburger slice.

[Susan in FL]

Pizza really is food pornographic, isn't it? Beautiful, All.

[Rachel Perlow]

The dough recipe I used called for 4 cups of flour. I used 3 cups of bread flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat, 1/2 cup cornmeal. Although we like the texture the cornmeal lends to the bottom of the crust (from putting it on the peel), Jason didn't like it in the finished crust and I found the grit affected the texture of the raw dough too much. The dough wasn't as stretchy and it would tear more easily. The whole wheat was completely unnoticable. I think next time we'll skip the cornmeal in the dough and up the whole wheat to 3/4 cup.

In the pictures, it looks like the dough is thick, but I did manage to get it pretty thin with a combination of hand stretching and rolling, 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

[Eden]

Crepes sounds like a good idea for a cook-off, since there is an infinite variety of possibilities.

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ooh yes crepes! I make a killer buckwheat crepe, but haven't gotten a sweet crepe recipe that makes me really happy yet...

[Eden]

I'm coming in a little late on the Pizza cook-off, but I spent the last 3 weeks in Italy doing "research" so that should exonerate me

Pepperoni with gorgonzola=

I've tried for neapolitan style in the past and made very good but not quite there pizzas. I think the soft flour combo suggested above will help, and I definitely think trying to get something warmer than my 500 degree oven would make a big difference. Also I was just not getting the crust thin enough, but again found some great ideas here. thanks!

so I have a couple of questions. 1) has anyone put a thermometer into their BBQ to see how warm it actually gets in there? is it really enough warmer to bother?

2) has anyone tried using a pizza stone/BBQ in combination?

3) My pizza stone was a gift, not what I would have chosen, and is an underwhelming 1 cm thick. A couple of people talked about breaking thinner pizza stones. was this from exposing them to excessive heat or did they just get banged around too much?

4) is anyone else familiar with the wonderful potato pizza of Florence? (thin slices of potato with rosemary on a much thicker pizza crust than neapolitan style) It's one of my favorites & I'd love to recreate it, but have no experience with making that thicker crust pizsza. is it just a focaccia recipe?

And re storing your pizza peel, mine lives in a bag stored flat on top of my fridge - it's out of the way, but always clean when I pull it out of the bag (ditto for my oversized pastry board) and I can stack other stuff on top of it when needed...

Off to buy mozzarella and pepperoni later this morning.

[snowangel]

Has anyone had any success with pre-baking crusts and holding them for a few hours before topping and giving them the final blast?

[little ms foodie]

Has anyone had any success with pre-baking crusts and holding them for a few hours before topping and giving them the final blast?

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We do this with our El Gaucho pizza but we don't really hold it that long. Pre bake, then load and cook, take out and add goat cheese, back in for a minute and then out to add arugula. The crust on this is from Food&Wine, I love it!

[natasha1270]

I have tried numerous recipes in my search for the best homemade pizza dough...Wolfgang Puck, Alice Waters, etc.

Until recently, I ordered the '00' flour from King Arthur. A few months back, a local store started carrying Bel Aria '00' and I have switched to this.

My main problem (I think) has been impatience. Waiting for the dough to rise. Waiting for the oven to heat. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. This remains an on-going problem.

Last week/weekend, I tried Albistons 48-hour dough and it is great! The flavor, texture, stretch was the best I have been able to create at home thus far. But there is that waiting and planning ahead problem for me.

I see alot of people have tried the American Pie/Reinhart recipe. Is this the same as his Pizza Napoletano in the Bread Bakers Apprentice? I am planning to try this very soon.

Reading everyone's posts on pizza has been very helpful. Thanks!

N.

[snowangel]

I see alot of people have tried the American Pie/Reinhart recipe. Is this the same as his Pizza Napoletano in the Bread Bakers Apprentice? I am planning to try this very soon.

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They are slightly different. BBA calls for high gluten, bread or AP flour, and a bit less (flour) than American Pie which is specific to use AP flour. The American Pie book calls for slightly more water, so it may balance out.

So, I think I'm going to give it a go again tomorrow, because I still have ramps. But, I am probably going to pre-bake all of the crusts, hold them for a few minutes while we top. The problem with 5 people in the family, three of them very hungry kids, is getting them on the table fast enough. Plus, my crusts didn't brown enough on the bottom before the cheese got too brown. I do think I'll set the oven to broil to heat it and the stone up.