Tag Archives: homemade pizza

Breakfast a Deux

Posted on November 30, 2017 | Leave a comment

I cook really good meals but sometimes I hit it out of the park, so to speak.

Yesterday I toasted housemade white bread (not from our house) until brown and crisp. Four eggs, two per pan, sunny-side, covered and seasoned with salt and pepper. While the eggs are cooking place the toast in an oven-proof pan and cover each with two slices of prosciutto (I used American, even American Speck), top with barely cooked eggs. Top that with freshly grated sharp Wisconsin (or another state or country) cheddar. Pop under the broiler for a few seconds and voila!

I should have made a salsa out of heirloom cherry tomatoes but thought that was gilding the lily. My husband loved it!

Oh, when I turn the oven to 375 I have to use the useless stove fan. Broiling is not possible as it turns on the smoke detector. Our office is five feet from the kitchen and as it has a closet it is designated a bedroom and must have smoke detectors. We tried to have a MYOP (Make Your Own Pizza night) for a family with two kids, 6 and 2.

I made the dough then taught the kiddos to make their own. I prepared 20 ingredients for toppings. The older boy wanted cheese only. His young sister tried everything and probably topped her personal pizza with ten ingredients, including spinach, goat cheese and olives! Is she Greek?

The smoke detector hurt their ears, it went off every couple of minutes and my husband would have to wave a towel or pillow at it and open windows and doors… yes, the oven is clean. The architecture is flawed.

Bad news. Our ice maker has been on the fritz for weeks and tended by three different technicians. Yesterday I sent a thank-you note. This morning there is no ice and I’m sopping up water on the floor with “dog towels.” As some witty person once said, “it’s deja vu all over again.” Back to the drawing board, Dee! Cheers.

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The Rover

Posted on June 5, 2015 | Leave a comment

Husband is roving, big event today. Home tonight for homemade pizza. He only comes into the kitchen for ice and water or Dr. Pepper. He does not cook.

He joked that he’d take my Italian OO flour and make a well on the airplane tray, rise the dough in a flexible vase, grate the cheese, slice the pepperoni and have a nice flight attendant cook it and share with crew and passengers.

That was a dream. I’m making pizza tonight with my OO flour, fresh mozz, pepperoni, sauteed peppers and mushrooms. He’ll be home for dinner and the dough will have risen and we’ll be glad to see him. Cheers! Dee

p.s. Alton Brown, you are a horrible influence, telling a physicist how to cook. He doesn’t cook, only critiques my work! We love you, D

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New Pizza Chez Dee

Posted on September 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Check out Epicurious for their sweet potato and kale pizza. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sweet-Potato-and-Kale-Pizza-51188430?mbid=rotdNL&spMailingID=5743263&spUserID=MzA1MDEwNjQ1MDQS1&spJobID=338388432&spReportId=MzM4Mzg4NDMyS0

I’ve changed everything up for mine. First I made the dough from Italian OO flour and organic whole wheat flour. It’s rising now but worked beautifully from the start.

The other day I roasted a butternut squash to use for soup but now I’m using it for pizza. I’ve a bit of fresh mozzarella cheese and some feta, and will saute some cavolo nero (Italian black kale or dinosaur kale) with a bit of garlic. I’ll serve it with a salad of baby arugula.

Dough rose beautifully and rolled out like a dream. It’s in the oven now. Butternut squash paste, mozz, sauteed cavolo nero and feta, with a bit of black pepper on top. We’ll see.

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Trajectories

Posted on April 15, 2013 | 1 comment

Before I begin, permit me to honor the life and work of comic genius Jonathan Winters. His brilliance will be missed in this world, but think what kind of party they’re having in the afterlife!

* * *

I just read about horrible job interviews and how they led to refusals or acceptances of what turned out to be great or bad jobs and thought about how these change our lives.

Thinking about our lives now, we are mobile but together, but our trajectories could have changed in any way since birth. Jim may have become a dairyman/rancher if only to keep his father’s business going. He was more methodical and focused but has been bounced around a bit in life by economic downturns.

I have had many decisions to make in life, and in some I’ve done well. In others I wasn’t confident enough to trust my brain and gut to get there but in my 30’s I learned a lot about myself and what is needed to get things done and thank my dear friends for that journey every day.

Jim and I met over lunch at a restaurant in So Cal. Random, or fate. What would have happened if either of us made any other school/job/life decision otherwise, if we’d each taken a different trajectory?

We’ve been together nearly 12 years, married for over ten. We have a nine year-old dog that we adopted as six weeks of age and is going strong. I believe one calls it traction.

* * *

Let’s go to cooking. Friday night is pizza night and I make the crust and everything. I do not like the texture or taste of regular supermarket mozzarella and have been able to find a drier version of fresh mozz that is tasty.

Unluckily, I got ovolini, fresh, and tried to dry it out on paper towels before adding to the pizza (which also had sauteed porcini and a few slices of deli pepperoni. The mushrooms lost all their liquid by the sautee so the cheese leaked all over the pizza, the crust was stuck and it was a nightmare to clean up after, but tasty. Live and learn. Next one will be Fontina val D’Aosta and perhaps roasted butternut squash, even though my dear husband will ask “where’s the meat?”

We’re very different but belong together as we make each other stronger. Plus he has saved every electrical cord he’s met since birth. Years ago there was a cable company that only took care of our condos. They’d leave for two hours at a time and come back smelling like cannabis.

They’d been at our place for a 10-minute installation and I wanted to get out of there and run some errands. When they said they had to go back to the truck to get some simple tv/cable wire I said “Wait!” I got Jim’s box off the top of the closet, picked a set of wires and asked “Is this it?” Reluctantly they said yes and fixed it immediately without another 2-hour cannabis session in the truck.

Yes, my stuff is in his way and his is in mine but that’s the way it goes in a friendship, relationship, marriage. See, I have saved things that he needs now.

That fateful day we met, we talked for over three hours, then exchanged numbers (I had no cell phone) and shook hands and walked away. The next day, he called and asked me to the movies and dinner and opened the car door and when he took my hand to open the door for me to exit, he held it and has never let go. When I look up the printed maps for our old neighborhood, I see directions to my place from 2001 and it’s heartwarming. Good and tired after taxes were accepted. Dee

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Pizza Dough

Posted on January 24, 2013 | 1 comment

People are always amazed that our Friday night “Pizza Night” consists of pizza I make from scratch. They ask if I even made the dough. Of course!

I learned to make pizza dough when my mother got a cuisinart food processor in the seventies. It was so easy!

Since then I’ve lived in many different climates with incredibly high or low humidity so do it by feel, and have changed things. I keep a jar of yeast, not packets and have never found or used fresh yeast or rapid rise yeast. Just an old fashioned gal, I guess.

For two pizzas, cookie sheet sized (rectangular): 1C whole wheat flour; 2C unbleached white flour; and 1t salt in a food processor (I’ve switched to Kitchenaid). Mix 1C tepid (baby milk temperature) water with 1T yeast, a pinch of sugar and flour and 1T olive oil.

Pulse the dry ingredients and drizzle in the yeast mixture. Let the dough form a ball, adding drops of additional water as needed, 25 times around and stop. Wait five minutes. Go another 25 times around the bowl and stop, pour onto a floured counter and knead for a minute and form into a ball. It should bounce back when you touch it with your finger.

Place in a bowl and cover with a damp, clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place for 90 minutes. I prefer the microwave, off of course.

Remove, divide into two equal portions – a bench scraper works well here – and knead each segment rolling it back on itself then forming tight balls. Flour over and under and cover with the bowl you used to proof the dough for ten minutes.

Roll to size, I prefer a straight wooden pin and cut off excess with a rolling cutter. I find that not only is the whole wheat healthier, it gives the dough the ability to stretch and stay stretched and makes quick work of rolling it out.

The toppings are endless so don’t get me started. I’d be more creative if my husband didn’t like cheese, pepperoni and sauteed mushrooms. We did have a participatory pizza party with guests which was fun. I don’t normally use tomato sauce.

Ideas: sliced parboiled potatoes, rosemary and fontina. Sauteed spinach, roasted garlic and feta. Roasted butternut squash slices with gorgonzole dolce. Pissaladiere with caramelized onions topped with anchovies (sliced small, it’s a great appetizer). Think up the best things from your childhood and make a pizza. Just make sure that if anything cannot cook in time, roast or saute it beforehand. Likewise if something is going to give off a lot of moisture, like mushrooms or onions, saute them first until their water is nearly gone.

Cheeses are always an issue and the cheese lady at the local market told me to use fresh mozz but slice it and dry it on paper towels so it makes for a tasty, not soggy, pizza. After all, you spent time making that dough and you want it to be crisp and tasty! Hoping that you get the kids involved, come on, it’s only another load of flour-coated shirts… and enjoy my time-tested climate-change dough recipe.

Cook in at least a 450 degree oven for ten minutes, turning the pans halfway through and changing oven shelves. Wait for the cheese to melt and brown, and for the crust to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let sit for five minutes, cut with your roller and enjoy! Cheers, Dee

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Jobs

Posted on August 30, 2011 | 1 comment

I found something interesting the other day, top dog at a museum somewhere in the USA.  Sounded great, I’m perfect for it.  But there are several issues.

First, it pays half of what any top non-profit position paid 30 years ago.  They want the applicant to have personally raised millions of dollars and go it alone without a board or staff assistance.  Their program must be in the dark depths because their paid attendance is abysmal.

So, I didn’t apply to the position.  Instead I checked out their website and e-mailed the chairman of the board and offered some free advice from a professional.

Also, I talked to my father, who has headed several non-profit organizations, and is running one now even though he turns 80 in a couple of weeks.  He says job sounds great, money is off and they need serious help before embarking on a capital campaign to raise mega-bucks.

Of course the Chairman never got back to me.  That tells me about the seriousness of the Board of Trustees.  So now they can go back to their bake sales and continue to drain the coffers while offering little to their patrons and visitors.

As for me, age has done nothing good for my figure, but my aptitude for figures, attention to people and situations and what works has been honed.  I believe it’s called wisdom.  See, I could’ve gotten this job and tried to sow the field and grow the crops but without willing participants even if I dragged it along and it succeeded despite them I’d have failed.

Now I’ve saved all that time and effort!  Wow!  That’s great.  It’s pizza night, and I’m trying a new one with prosciutto and arugula.  Had to buy overproofed dough from Whole Foods because I didn’t have time for dough to rise.  The guy was shocked that I make dough every week.  I asked if I could join him or his colleagues to make dough one day.  What I’d really like to do is be in the butcher’s section behind the scenes.  That’s strange because my husband’s parents met very young and were working at a grocery, his dad as a butcher and mom as a wrapper.

Now history is repeating itself.  That’s what’s happening here today, folks.  Go back to your own life now.  Cheers, Dee

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Pizza

Posted on December 16, 2010 | 2 comments

I mixed things up the other night with homemade pizza. Usually I do a white pizza with sauteed peppers and mushrooms, pepperoni and mozz. The dough is 2/3 unbleached white flour, 1/3 whole wheat flour, water, yeast and a touch of olive oil.

Used to be I’d make two cookie-sheet sized pizzas but that’s too much food so I halved the dough recipe. This week I made Jim a meat-lovers pizza with the usual mozz and mushrooms, pepperoni and I bought one mild Italian sausage and sauteed it. He got half the pizza.

My half was a reminiscence of the best slice of pizza I ever had, from a shop just off the main piazza in Siena, Italy. I parboiled a few small red potatoes and sliced them thinly, grated some Gruyere cheese for the bottom, arranged the sliced potatoes and brushed them with olive oil. Seasoned with salt, pepper and fresh rosemary and a sprinkle of Parmigiano Reggiano. It was so delicious I ate some for breakfast yesterday morning and still have a slice for lunch tomorrow.

I love trying new things, especially when Jim says his was the “best pizza ever!” Cheers, Dee
p.s more about yesterday’s stew later.

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Keys

Posted on February 17, 2009 | 5 comments

Our next door neighbor moved away a couple of weeks ago. A few years ago she adoped a “Katrina” rescue dog and I offered to walk him at lunch time on weekdays and also learned he was terrified of thunderstorms, which we get a lot in TX, so I’d bring him over for the duration so he could burrow under my down pillows.

Someone is moving in tomorrow and I realize I have the key, so looked on my key racks (two, imagine that) and I had a couple of other neighbors’ keys as well so turned them in. When I first moved here I learned that the people who live here “trade” for dog-sitting. I took care of one neighbor’s dog once a day for two months before she returned from an overseas gig and we finally met – we’re now fast friends! For three years I collected keys and took people’s dogs out or over here for a weekend, all for free. A couple of years ago an emergency came up and Jim and I had to go away for a few days and I called ten people who I’ve helped numerous times without them EVER taking Zoe. Everyone turned me down, so she had to board at the vet’s. So I quit taking care of other dogs, except my neighbors but only in thunderstorms.

Years ago, in another location, my neighbor always called with an emergency, that he’d be working late or such, and wanted me to take care of his two wonderful Aussies. A couple of years after he moved away, there was a knock on my door from the new condo resident. “Do you have a screwdriver” he asked. “What kind?” “Both.” I asked what he was trying to do and he said he forgot his keys and needed to jimmy the lock.

I asked if he’d ever changed the locks then sheepishly added that the former owner gave me his key. I apologized and gave it to him. Five minutes later there was a knock on my door. He was giving me the key back. I told him he should keep it. He said “no,” that he misplaces his keys from time to time and would knock on my door if there was a problem. It happened a couple more times during my tenure there.

I’m making pizza tonight. The dough is rising now and I have peppers and mushrooms prepped and sauteed. All I need to do is separate the dough, form it and let it rest, slice pepperoni and put the mozz through the food processor. I’ll freeze the cheese and shredding disc for about fifteen minutes beforehand. Mozzarella gets extraordinarily gummy. As it is, I had to buy pepperoni from one store and cheese from another. Last time I got the really expensive mozz at the specialty store it was very salty and I’d rather it be more bland so that the vegetables and pepperoni can shine.

Hope you’re cooking your loved ones a fantastic meal! I made pizza because I already had peppers and mushrooms in the frig (so they’re “free”). Tell my brother that I knew I didn’t have much flour so went out and bought 5#, and when I took out the flour canister there was already a 5# unopened bag behind it. Oops. Cheers! Dee

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