pizza dough - who to believe?

I have made a bunch of pizzas at home and, predictably, some have been better than others. The problem is that most home ovens can only reach 500-550F (on a good day) and you need temperatures in excess of 800F to make a traditional Neapolitan pie (is there really any other?).

I've tried recipes from Alton Brown, Rose Levy Berenbaum, Cook's Illustrated, and several suggestions from the internet. This website has a recipe for pizza dough which takes two days to make. The author writes in extreme detail about every step of the process, up to how he rigged his oven to be able to cook pizzas on the self-cleaning cycle. He insists that good dough needs this kind of time to develop flavor and texture and I tend to agree with him. This leaves me an unfortunate conundrum, however.

I don't want to have to plan two days out to have a slice of homemade pizza. And I certainly don't want to disable the safety locks on my oven so that I can crank it to the extremes necessary for homemade Neapolitan pizza. But I do want that special combination of flavors and textures that you get in a good slice of pizza.

My inspiration for a solution came from making homemade matzo for a friend. Why not -- matzo, pizza, roti, pita -- they're all flatbreads anyway. I altered the aforementioned Rose Levy Berenbaum's recipe for matzo and baked it, topped with a light brushing of tomato sauce and thinly sliced mozzarella cheese. It doesn't produce Neapolitan pizza -- nowhere even close. It does, however, taste really good and can be done in a home oven without any problems.

"pizza" dough
2 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour (13.7 oz - King Arthur brand is my favorite)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (1.25 oz)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
1 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
(optional -- up to 1 TB dried herbs or spices such as cracked black pepper, rosemary, or fennel)

Mix all ingredients together until all the flour is just moistened. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes. Knead by hand on a well floured surface for 1-2 minutes until the dough is smooth. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for an hour at room temperature.

At this point, the dough can be turned into pizza or placed in the refrigerator for up to three days. When you are ready to make pizza, place a pizza stone in your oven and preheat it to as hot as it gets (usually 500F) for an hour. Cut the dough into 8 pieces and roll two out very thinly. I like to use my pasta roller and take it to setting #4, but you can do it by hand with a rolling pin -- I have and it's turned out fine. The pasta roller gives you long sheets, but you can make circles by hand. Cover the remaining dough balls until you need them again.

Hopefully, you'll have already made:
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tomato sauce (adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)
1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes (I love Pomi brand -- it's only 26 oz, but that's fine.)
5 TB butter (yes, butter -- I was amazed at how good this made the sauce taste)
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
1 clove garlic, pressed or very finely minced

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Turn heat to low and allow to simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Remove onion and do with it what you want (You might want to toss it, but I put it on a piece of Italian bread and inhaled it). If you like your sauce smooth, puree it in a blender or hit it with a stick blender until it's the consistency you like.

Serve most of it with pasta and lots of parmigiano cheese. Reserve about 1 cup for pizzas and chill.
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On a well-floured pizza peel, place your thin pieces of dough and very lightly brush with sauce (use a pastry brush if you have one). It should be about a tablespoon per pizza, if not even less.

Place a few pieces of thinly sliced (maybe 1/8 inch) fresh mozzarella (it slices easier if it's cold) onto the sauce and drizzle on extra virgin olive oil. All the while, you should be checking that your dough isn't sticking to the peel. If it is, you're working too slowly! Toss more flour under the dough so that it will slide off easily. Bake on the preheated stone for 4-6 minutes -- you should see the cheese melting and the dough make some bubbles that start to brown.

As soon as it comes out of the oven, top with whole basil leaves and eat. You could have rolled out more dough while your pizzas were baking -- just don't top them until just before you put them in the oven, or you'll have a tough time sliding them off the peel.

Enjoy this non-traditional take on pizza with lots of friends and a bottle of wine per person!

[recipe redone] date branana muffins

I have mentioned on numerous occasions that when I'm trying things out, I like to try the Cook's Illustrated version of a recipe first. The food always turns out good and usually gives me a good base for making my own tweaks. In fact, the narrative that comes before the recipe gives great insight into the decisions they made while developing their recipe. So if they say something like "we tried 8 TB butter but found it to be too rich" and you think the recipe could be richer, just use the 8 TB -- it'll still turn out. Baking is more scientific than other types of cooking, but it doesn't have to be as precise as some people would have you think.

Anyway, I digress...I wanted bran muffins last week for breakfast, so I made the Cook's Illustrated recipe entitled "Better Bran Muffins." Using Kellogg's All-Bran cereal instead of wheat bran was supposed to make it easier for people to make -- in their words, "We wanted a bran muffin that didn't require a trip to the health food store." The ingredient list was smaller than that of their "Best Bran Muffins" (and I had everything already) making the choice of "Better" over "Best" an easy one.

I have to say that it was just ok, though. I thought that they miscalculated something -- the muffins tasted soapy! Knowing that too much baking powder can do that to a baked good, I double-checked if I mis-measured...nope. The recipe called for a lot of baking powder -- 2 teaspoons by itself (to be counter-balanced by 1 3/4 cups yogurt). I decided that in my redo, I would reduce the soda by a 1/2 teaspoon and replace it with 2 teaspoons of baking powder, which has the same leavening capacity (1 soda:4 powder) but comes with enough acid to balance itself out. Also, I had one banana that was just about on its way out, so I subbed that for some of the yogurt. Finally, I had some chopped dried dates that I'd use instead of raisins.

The resulting muffins were, in my opinion, much better than the first go-around. Not soapy at all, tasting faintly of banana, and with little pockets of sweet dates to liven up the sometimes-boring bran, this muffin made my mouth happy for almost two weeks.

1 cup chopped dried dates
1 teaspoon water
2 1/4 cups All-Bran Original cereal (5 ounces)
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (2 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar (4 2/3 ounces)
3 tablespoons mild molasses (or light)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), melted and cooled
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 1/4 cups plain whole-milk yogurt

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray standard-sized muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine dates and water in small microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife, and microwave on high power for 30 seconds. Let stand, covered, until dates are softened and plump, about 5 minutes. Transfer dates to paper towel-lined plate to cool.

2. Process half of bran cereal in food processor until finely ground, about 1 minute. Whisk flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in large bowl to combine; set aside. Whisk egg and yolk together in medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar, molasses, and vanilla; whisk until mixture is thick, about 30 seconds. Add melted butter and whisk to combine; add yogurt and mashed banana and whisk to combine. Stir in processed cereal and unprocessed cereal; let mixture sit until cereal is evenly moistened (there will still be some small lumps), about 5 minutes.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and gently mix with rubber spatula until batter is combined and evenly moistened. Do not overmix. Gently fold dates into batter. Using 1/3-cup measure or ice cream scoop, divide batter evenly among muffin cups, dropping batter to form mounds. Do not level or flatten surfaces of mounds.

4. Bake until muffins are dark golden and toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out with a few crumbs attached, 16 to 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

After they have cooled, muffins can be frozen in a zip-top bag and reheated whenever the mood strikes by using a microwave oven -- zap for 2 minutes at 20% power.

greek-inspired hamburgers

The Greeks have their own version of hamburgers -- depending on their shape, they're called kafta or bifteki and can be found at many Greek restaurants and diners. More like a miniature meatloaf because of the way they are handled (and the inclusion of eggs to bind), they don't really scream "hamburger" to me.

To me, a hamburger is made of some sort of ground meat (beef, lamb, pork, etc.) that is handled very gently and is seasoned on the outside only before being cooked, because kneading seasonings into it changes the texture of the meat (that meatloaf thing). When I was coming up with this recipe, I kept this in mind because I wanted that hamburger texture in addition to the Greek flavors.

I have made this burger with a variety of meats. While it works best with something that has a decent amount of fat (85/15 beef, lamb, or pork), the feta on the inside ensures a juicy burger with even 93/7 lean ground beef or ground turkey breast. Just be careful to handle the meat as gently as possible.

Greek-Inspired Hamburgers
makes four burgers

hamburger patty:
1 lb. ground meat (beef, lamb, pork, or turkey)
4 oz. feta cheese (crumbles or block, reduced fat will work too)

spice rub:
1 TB kosher salt
1/2 TB freshly ground black pepper
1/2 TB paprika (smoked is really good here)
1 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

If using block-style feta, cut into thin slivers.

Divide meat into 8 equally sized mounds and gently flatten into 1/4" thick circles. Place the slivered or crumbled feta onto four of the rounds (leaving about 1/4" border). Place the remaining rounds on top of the feta and seal the hamburger patty by pressing the edges together. Put a thumb-sized indentation in each burger to keep them from puffing up in the center while they cook.

Mix the ingredients for the spice rub and sprinkle liberally over both sides of the patties.

Grill over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes per side, depending on how you like your burger cooked. Even if you like your hamburger well-done, it will still be juicy from the feta embedded within.

I like to serve these with some thinly sliced cucumber, tomato, and spring greens that have been tossed in a small amount of Greek dressing on either a hamburger bun or inside of a toasted pita.

Enjoy!