[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks everyone. I've toyed with the idea of a baking steel and it might work if I made one pizza a night. With Sam in school I am down to five regular pizzas and a mini pizza for Violet. There is usually some leftover for lunch the next day.

When we had two working ovens I could go between them and keep one hotter and one cooler. Now with one oven I can only set the temp. I set it to about 500 and preheat for about 90 minutes (sometimes longer). I usually start in the middle shelf to set the pizza then move it to the top shelf to finish it and brown the cheese. I am using the bottom shelf for par-baking but I could finish that before I start making pizzas but that makes the whole process take longer.

I want to keep my dough high in whole grains because we do this almost every week. I used to use all whole wheat flour but Kate didn't like the result.

One last thing. I am roasting the vegetables to reduce the water in them. I could pre-cook the sausage but I am trying to get back to my South Side roots.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've been experimenting with pizza. It was too soggy for me, especially the center of the pizza and especially with veggies or sausage or pepperoni.

First, I modified the crust and subbed out some of the pastry flour for bread flour. This made the dough more elastic but it was still soggy in the center. The amount of whole wheat/flax/white flour is the same I've just increased the gluten.

So I par-baked the crust for about a minute. But that created the Boboli problem (do Bobolis still exist?). Everything just sorted of floated on top of an already cooked crust and did not mesh well. It did not taste the same but it did eliminate the dreaded "soggy bottom" problem.

Then I par-baked and docked the crust. This was much closer to my unbaked crusts in flavor and much crisper.

I par-bake on parchment but then after I top the crust I just go right from the peel to stone. I was putting a bunch of flour on the peel which stayed on the crust AND made a mess in the oven. So then I tried lightly dusting the bottom of the crust before I topped it and leaving a small edge hanging of the end of the peel. That fixed the flour problem.

I have at least a couple more things. I want to dock BEFORE I bake to see if it makes a difference. Also, talking to some tavern pizza makers they bake on a pan I forgot to ask if it was hot or cold when they put the dough on it but if it is hot I will have to top the dough then slide it on to a hot pan. Some oil on the pan may crisp it up too. In college we sprayed pans with oil then baked the pizzas most of the way in the pan and took it out at the end for a few minutes on the deck to crisp up. But these were more like cake pans and the pizza was more like Greek style.

I have a few different recipes too so I may play around with those but I do not want to change too many things at once.

No pizza making for a while as we'll be out of town and then it will be Passover.

I also made matzah at Sunday School yesterday. We had pre-K through 6th grade come in and mix, roll, and dock dough. The entire process of making matzah, from adding the water to the flour to finishing the bake is supposed to be 18 minutes or less to prevent any rising. We also slid the matzah on to pans that had been heating in the oven. It was a little daunting until I realized it's not really too different from using a stone.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, we were on the same wavelength! I made more of your crackers this morning. Came out much better than the batch earlier this week.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Rottie. I don't have a smoker and I am not sure I have the patience. A buddy down the street has one and I'm sure he would let me use it but this is for Passover and I'd like to roast it like my mom and the ladies did back when I was growing up.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Violet and I made green cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day. It was another Duff Goldman recipe and the first I've tried that was not very sweet.

The cupcakes used melted butter, something I've never done in a cake before.

I think Iover-mixed and over-baked them. They were a little hard and dry. We added the food coloring after the mix, in several batches until we had a color that Violet liked. I think this is when they became over mixed. Next time I'll mix the coloring into the melted butter & sugar before I add the eggs.

I did not get to try brown butter buttercream because Violet wanted to make the frosting and decorate with Kate so I was kicked from the kitchen (not really I just worked on dinner).

Next time.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I wasn't actually going to make corn beef. When I have made it I use the flat, not the tip and I trim off most of the fat (beyond what the butcher trims). For pastrami I'm told you leave the fat on because it keeps th emeat moist when it's smoked.

I also steam/braise corn beef instead of boiling.

[aaronatthedoublef]

CWC - that is a great idea. I don't make cream cheese frosting because two of my crew do not like it. But I could use this for buttercream.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made BA's crackers for the first time in ages! Too thick and a little overdone. Need to get my touch back.

Not sure what else I will bake this week.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, the brown butter is for shortbread.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi BA. I haven't tried it yet. First week in a new job so not much spare time for this.

Aside from Sundays at the bakery (which stopped because of a remodel) I haven't baked much at home. I need to fix that.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks again. Hadn't seen this recipe by Stella. I would have just used a half sheet so using a non-metal pan with high sides (less spilling!) will be good too.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike.

Does anyone have a recipe for toasting sugar?

Say I want to toast 3 lbs. How hot for how long?

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, have you ever tried nonfat sour cream? My chocolate cake recipe has oil and sour cream. I've used nonfat a few times when it was all I had. Some people notice but most don't.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA - forgot to say congrats and your stepson and new daughter-in-law to be.

And Mike, congrats on 50! Isn't eating 50 year old cake a Seinfeld episode? Elaine eats old cake

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, interesting tip about the olive oil. I've always added some coffee as it's supposed to bring out the chocolate flavor. My chocolate cake calls for oil. Never thought about using olive. Always used some neutral cooking oil. Next time I'll try olive oil.

What kind did you use? Right now we have several different ones from the inexpensive big jugs of Spanish OO from Costco to some fancy Italian oils to some interesting Israeli stuff my brother gave me when he came to visit. All are extra virgin.

My kids would love it if I made different cakes to test the different olive oils but my wife might kick me out.

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