[aaronatthedoublef]

One of my all-time favorites is Rosie's Bakery All Butter, Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed Baking Book. The old version I have is available used on Amazon. There appears to be a newer edition available though.

I love that book

Like BakerAunt, I think RLB can be a little challenging. She left an important step out of her buttercream recipe that caused me to lose several batches before I asked my friend and she told me what I was doing wrong. I also like the Bernard Clayton Complete Book of Bread.

Peter Reinhart's BBA is a great read even if you never make a recipe from it.

I really like the KAF Baker's Companion. I use it a lot. I also like Jacques Torres Dessert Circus. But it is very expensive now. I bought it on remainder at the public television store after they cancelled the series.

I am still a big fan of The Joy of Cooking. I have several different editions including my mom's from the 50s and I like it better than the Mark Bittman or the New York Times attempts to displace it.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I know, I know... but, as the Great Chicago Pizza Book points out, most Chicago pizzas are made using a sheeter. I remember watching them at Giordano's.

The other day we had a dough shortage (we had an extra teenage boy at the last minute!) and I bought some dough at the store. I started to hand stretch it and then, for fun, started to toss it at which point my middle looked at me and said "stop showing off". 🙂

So I can and have done both. For most nights I prefer my rolling pin as does my family (which is really who this is all for).

[aaronatthedoublef]

Interesting... We do about a load a day - we're a family of five.

We hand wash pots and pans. I guess they are dishwasher safe but we still hand wash them.

I also hand wash most of our metal mixing bowls. Yes they can be put in the machine but dishwashers are not designed for bowls and I find it easier to just use my hands.

When we have people visiting we'll usually do two loads a day.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks. I used KAF bread flour so it's definitely high in protein but it's no-knead so I didn't think the gluten would have developed much. I actually followed the recipe exactly and even weighed the ingredients. I needed a bit of extra water as the dough was too dry.

I still have half a recipe left so I'll play with this. I may try using a rolling pin which is what I normally use. It makes it thinner than I can get hand tossing and I do not have the big crust on the edge.

Thanks for all the help.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike, beautiful challah!

Just out of curiosity, have you ever made a six strand challah? I've tried a couple but they don't come out as nice as the two layer challahs.

I made two different pizza recipes, mine and Jim Leahy's no-knead pizza dough. It's interesting because the method in the book appears to be different from what is online in places like this http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/03/jim-laheys-no-knead-pizza-dough-recipe.html.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks everyone. Some day I'll write my dough recipe down and post it. I actually need to write it up before I do my talk...

I'll look at the recipes you all suggest.

This weekend in addition to my normal pizza I made a Jim Leahy no-knead pizza dough. Leahy, in his My Bread book says this should be ultra thin and almost cracker-like. I could not stretch it this thin and it was actually pretty thick and bready. I should have put it aside and let it rest but I was feeding people. I still have a half recipe left so I'll try it again some time under less urgent circumstances.

I really want a go to no-knead recipe for people who do not have a stand mixer and do not want to knead it by hand.

The other new thing I tried with my own crusts was to bake it part way with just crust and sauce then pull it from the oven and put cheese and other toppings on it. This was to try and make the crust crisper and it definitely worked. Normally the outside edge is cracker crisp and the pizza become softer the closer I move to the center. With these pizzas the pizza was crisp from the outer edge to the middle even with extra sauce and lots of veggies.

But my family did not like it this way so I won't do it again as it's more labor intensive.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The only nit I have to pick is Mike characterizing the Chicago style of thin crust as being "North side". As a fourth generation South Sider there was and is plenty of the distinctive, ultra-thin pizza on that side of town too. In fact, the legend of Ike Sewell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ike_Sewell) aside the first place in Chicago to server pizza was a tavern in Hyde Park called Ken and Jacques's. In the late 50s Urban Renewal razed the entire block and Ken and Jacques's became a group of row houses one of which became my family's home.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks. I have not tried vinegar instead of sugar. I have to make some dough tonight so maybe I'll try it with this batch and let you know. I'm also going to make some no knead too. I'll let my family decide what they like better.

I know that Leahy uses sugars in some of his doughs but not in pizza. I haven't read enough of the book yet to understand why he does when he does.

Also, you pointed me to some recipes for different Chicago pizzas in the past but I lost them. Would you mind pointing me to them again?

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

Fascinating... Whole Foods in Connecticut has both types. The organic WF brand is long and skinny and the inorganic (I know that's not the real term) is short and stubby.

My favorite is LoL half sticks which packages eight half sticks instead of four quarter pound sticks per box.

As for pricing $3.99 a pound is pretty good. Here we're looking at $5+ on average. Whole Foods inorganic is actually the best bargain on a regular basis at $3.69/pound. I usually buy LoL when it is on sale (usually two for $5 which is different from $2.50 per pound) and stock up with it in the freezer. If I need something that requires butter that has not been frozen I'll go buy some for the occasion and depending on the occasion I decide what butter I want to buy.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks. I've tended to either weigh or scoop flour (usually scooping). I'll have to start weighing it. Something that is very nice about weighing over measuring that I've never seen anyone talk about is that it is easier to keep track of the amount when you are interrupted in mid-measure. We have a very busy kitchen and a very active three year old who will toddle in and decide she wants to help. If I am three cups into a measure of five cups I usually have to start over. If I am 16 oz. into 20 I can just pick up where I left off (so long as the scale has not switched itself off).

[aaronatthedoublef]

Sorry I did not see this sooner.

I have a beehive wood burning oven and I've used it to cook chicken as well as pizza. You will need a roasting pan that will stand up to the heat as well as a way to handle the pan. My oven heats up to over 1000 degrees (I once leaned in to close and singed my hair off). The oven also came with a wooden door I can use to close it off.

There are basically two ways I can cook meats. I can heat it up (it takes a few hours) and put the chicken in while it is hot. The heat is intense and I can roast a chicken super fast.

Or I can let the wood burn down and put the chicken in and then put the door in. This cooks slower and works more like a smoker.

How do you like the Jim Leahy no knead pizza dough? I am looking for a no knead recipe to go along with my standard recipe for a pizza class I am teaching.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks. Is this the same for all flours?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Glad to hear everyone is safe. Up in New England it is giving us some much needed rain. It's enough so that soccer was just cancelled which never happens.

Hope the power outages are brief and the clean up goes quickly.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

It being the week of Rosh Hashanah I made challah. I made it extra sweet and with a sweet egg wash instead of my normal one. Then I sprinkled sparkling sugar on top. I also added an extra egg but that was by accident. I had four out warming - three for the dough and one for the egg wash - and without thinking put all four in. I did not add apples (which I've done in the past) because I was rushing and out of time (hence the accidental extra egg).

I made two round loaves each almost two pounds and took the nicer looking one to my cousins' for dinner.

I won the family challah competition and did not even know there was one!

Also my wife and kids like the sweeter version better so it looks like I will be making that from now on.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I wonder if that was because of the baking soda. I've frozen several things with baking soda only and never had that problem.

Could it have been something else?

Also, there are TONS of frozen cookie doughs on the market. I'll start looking to see if the use soda or powder or both (and by both I don't mean double acting baking powder).

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