Wed. Jul 8th, 2026

Mike Nolan

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Viewing 15 posts - 3,931 through 3,945 (of 8,009 total)
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  • in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of February 28, 2021? #28924
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      Probably closer to 15 ounces of cheese by the time you add in the 4 cheese blend that I sprinkle on top.

      But keep in mind this pizza is 15x20, which is the equivalent of a round pizza that is over 19 inches in diameter.

      Godfather's Pizza used to advertise that they put over two pounds of mozzarella on their large (16 inch?) pizza.

      I've done par baking for pizzas that I cooked on the grill, but not the ones I do in the oven. I pre-heat the oven to 375, the pizza is on the bottom rack (on an upside down sheet pan) and I bump the temperature up by 5-10 degrees several times during the baking cycle (about 25 minutes) so that the lower element in my electric oven stays on. I think that does a better job of cooking the pizza from the bottom up.

      in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of February 28, 2021? #28922
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        A hobby store or one that supports modelmakers is another place you can get wood strips in various thicknesses. I've even seen them at some hardware stores. They're usually a soft wood, like pine or balsa, the wooden wands that King Arthur used to sell were made from maple, which is a much harder wood. If anybody's still making them, I haven't found them online. Maybe Etsy, that seems to be where the crafters hang out?

        in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of February 28, 2021? #28917
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          BA, you're dinners tend to sound so well-planned and rounded. Around here we don't do a lot of sides with meals. A salad and a bowl of soup or a sandwich is often dinner, sometimes not even the salad.

          in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of February 28, 2021? #28891
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            Recently I've been topping pizza with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, tomato chunks, 8 ounces of whole-milk mozzarella, 6 ounces of havarti and a sprinkling of 4-cheese blend (parmesan, asiago, provolone and romano.) This for a 15x20 pizza.

            My sauce recipe, which I'll post after the next time I make it, makes enough sauce to lightly cover 3 of these pizzas. I brush it on so it is pretty uniform.

            I think sauce is more important in a stuffed pizza than in a deep dish one, and for a thin crust pizza you really don't want the sauce to overpower everything else.

            in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of February 28, 2021? #28884
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              Happy Birthday, Joan.

              in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of February 28, 2021? #28876
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                A dough with a lot of oven spring makes a great deep dish pizza.

                in reply to: Covid 19: The Next Six Months #28869
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  We have appointments to get the vaccine on Wednesday.

                  in reply to: Scoring bread #28868
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    I've tried several lames, the one I like best is a holder for a double-edge razor blade that I got at SFBI, but most of the time I wind up using a 7 inch knife.

                    I've been tempted to buy a surgeon's bistoury, but I really think the problem isn't the blade, it's the dough. Some days it slices beautifully, other days with the same dough recipe it is like slicing peanut butter, it stick to everything.

                    I'm going to try a different way of proofing my doughs, I bought a plastic storage box that fits over my 3/4 sheet pans, that way I don't have to cover them with plastic wrap and I can use some hot water to raise the humidity, a bit more like a professional proofing cabinet.

                    in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of February 28, 2021? #28866
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      Tonight's pizza was really good with a thin but crisp crust. I put some ham on half of it, it was good but probably not something I'd do very often.

                      in reply to: Scoring bread #28865
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        I haven't done any of the BBGA online courses yet, they're a suggested fee of $125, and I think that's a bit steep for less than a half-day of online training, especially since I'm a hands-on learning person. But if Debra Wink does her sourdough class online, I'd probably take that one. (I was scheduled to go to Texas for her two day seminar on sourdough when Covid started cancelling everything.)

                        in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of February 28, 2021? #28864
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          I'm planning to rebuild a rye starter again, I may try using that on my Roman/semolina crust with an overnight retarded ferment.

                          in reply to: Scoring bread #28854
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            Chatham is also running a course in April on using stencils and dyes to decorate breads. I'm thinking of taking that one, too.

                            I saw an example of a bread that was shaped as a boule and then scissors were used to cut a fancy pattern in it, probably beyond my limited artistic skills, though.

                            in reply to: Challah Artistry #28853
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              No eggs in his dough recipe, but it does have sunflower oil and he uses an egg yolk wash.

                              There are some vegan challah recipes out there, and one site claims it is OK to use either egg or olive oil, so I guess it is possible to make challah without egg.

                              I may have to make a small batch of his dough just to see how it feels and what it tastes like. I usually use the challah recipe in BBA, and it is pretty eggy. One thing I've noticed when trying to braid it is that the strands will start to puff up again right after they're rolled out, so by the time you have 8 of them done you've got to de-gas them all.

                              in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of February 21, 2021? #28845
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                I started a batch of pizza dough tonight, Sunday will be Pizza Day.

                                in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of February 21, 2021? #28844
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  I wasn't patient enough with my rye bread and got blowouts along the length of both loaves. Doesn't ruin the taste, though.

                                  We're in the middle of a thunderstorm, believe it or not!

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