Dough that is worthwhile...

It's been awhile, but before i return this book to the library I want to capture this recipe.  So good. No knead. Amazing stuff.

500 grams all purpose flour

1 gram active dry yeast

16 grams fine sea salt

350 grams water

Blend together, cover with a towel and rise at room temperature for 18 hours or until doubled.

Turn out and form into balls

From: Lahey, Jim My Pizza: the easy no-knead way to make spectacular pizza at home Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York, 2012.

Ballard Pizza Company

R, J, M and I paid a visit to Ethan Stowell's new pizza place, Ballard Pizza Company in Ballard today.
They seem to be going for a New-york style pizza with some Italian ingredients.  Like Stowell's other restaurants, the style of the restaurant was great--exposed beams, casual yet also foodie enough to be interesting.  I also dig that they have lots of slices available all the time, and "flour hour" happy hour with $1 slices from 10-11 PM.  Doubt I'll be making it but that's cool.

We had two slices: broccoli and roasted garlic as well as the cheese, and then also a Stromboli and a salad.

Reviews:

Crust 3.5 out of 5
The crust was thin like New York style pizzas and the slices were huge and foldable.  This crust was solid but I didn't find it all that interesting--no sense of fermentation, distinct flavors, and they aren't doing anything particular with the oven (just a regular pizza oven).

Toppings: 4 out of 5
I liked the broccoli and roasted garlic quite a bit although R didn't really care for it. She liked the cheese which I thought was good too but again not that distinctive.

Char: 3 out of 5
Char on the bottom of the crust was just fine but not unique.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5

Overall I'd say this place makes good pizza.  Better than a lot of run of the mill pizza shops, but I didn't find it interesting enough to make it into the top eschelon of Seattle pizza.  I found myself comparing to Pagliacci and while the toppings here were superior I find the crust and flavor at Pagliacci better.

Back at it.

We have a new baby in our family and I'm hoping some new energy for blogging in my spirit!

Not many folks take a one week old to get pizza but we pulled that off today.  Also already made a
pizza at home this week that I liked a lot.  I guess this hobby fits me well.

Wood Fired Breadsticks

One of the joys of summer in our household is lingering by our outdoor fireplace. One of the dreams I've had now for a while is to figure out how to put a wood burning oven in our backyard, but living in a rental house in the middle of the city makes that difficult, even potentially dangerous. Funny this is one of a few things that R fears more than I do!

Tonight, however, tonight! Tonight I saw possibilities of those worlds coming together. The coals of the fire looked just right, and I thought--if I push those over, I can fit a quarry tile or two in there (the tiles that line a shelf in our oven). I happened to have some pizza dough rising in the fridge (new recipe, more on that later this week).

We tried it out and made some quick breadsticks. They were delicious. We only preheated the tiles for about 5 minutes or so, probably another 30 minutes preheat might make it work for a pizza. We'll see if I give it a shot soon. The breadsticks got charred nicely and had some flavor you can only get from burning wood--a really wonderful way to end a day.

Pizza Dough Recipe

Warning...sometimes baking can turn your kitchen into a disaster zone. Like above.

This is Rachel...

I have rights to post on Sean's blog since he took over my Seattleats blog and turned it into this. It has become a justice issue, you are the masses in need and Sean is holding onto all the power (aka money, privilege etc) the the readers of this blog that Sean doesn't post recipes with this bread photos and descriptions.

Since Sean's greatest genius in our baking life has been his pizza...it is now time to share...

Pizza Dough

4 1/2 Cups high gluten flour (no whole wheat you health food nuts- this means white flour)

1 3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp yeast (instant yeast- the standard kind not uber quick rise just regular old store bought yeast) and yes if you are a consistent baker that is fairly small amount of yeast!

1/4 Cups Olive oil

1 3/4 Cups ice cold water

So stir together all the dry ingredients

and then, if you are lucky enough to own a nice mixer put on the dough hook and put in the dry ingredients and then the wet ones on medium for 5-7 minutes. Try to make sure that the dough doesn't slowly climb up the dough hook.

The dough should stick to the bottom and not the sides othe bowl.

THEN,

Cut into 4 pieces and let it sit in the fridge overnight...it will rise in the fridge nicely. If you want to freeze it- do it then.

So here is the uber trick...make sure you oven has been preheating forever at the highest possible temp (usually 550) with tiles or a pizza stone or even a baking sheet if that is all ya got inside of it.

So when you are ready to take it out of the fridge you take it out and roll it out- or moreover work it out slowly put the toppings on (some possibly need precooked) and then put it in the oven with flour on the bottom for like 7-10 minutes. Keep an eye on 'er.

Enjoy.

Source: This Recipe is derived from Peter Reinhart, The Bread Bakers Apprentice

Whole Wheat Bread

I've been working on some bread recipes recently, and found one I really like--Peter Reinhart's Recipe for Whole Wheat bread from Brother Juniper's Bread book. It is 2/3s white flour and 1/3 wheat flour so that's probably why!

Still, the flavor works great, and you feel a little better about yourself afterwards than if it was just purely white flour.

Found some locally grown tomatoes at the market today (ok, British Columbia, but still pretty local), and decided to go for them for some bruschetta. Combined with olive oil from Big John's PFC (more about that later) it was a great appetizer.

Fennel and Sausage Pizza

This is my latest creation, a braised fennel and sausage pizza inspired by 1) leftovers from our CSA box last week and 2) a pizza at Delancey in Seattle that features fennel-flavored sausage. See here, Delancey is amazing and the best pizza we've had in Seattle, or in a long time:

www.delanceyseattle.com.

Also I tried out a new dough recipe and am really happy with it. The overnight rise really helps the dough to be more stretchable and easier to work with, also better for small hands (like J's) to play with without tearing!

The dough recipe can be found here, reference to Peter Reinhart:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html

Trappist Whole Wheat Bread

So its been a while, but last week I had an excuse--a trip to Salt Lake City for a national conference.

Part of that was an excursion to the Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah. Before I left I did some research, since I've always loved about monasteries that they tend to have some sort of culinary art--chocolate, bread, beer, something they make by hand. I wondered about this monastery and found out they were known for bread and creamed honey.

R, J and I were looking for a good whole wheat sandwich-style bread, and there was the recipe! Gave it a try and was really pretty happy with the results. You can find the recipe here:

http://www.holytrinityabbey.org/recipe.htm

Lots of snow when I visited, but admired the monks for how they are present to their losses (average age of community is 81, so they are grieving frequently) and for seeing how deep, compassionate presence and care can be expressed even when I totally am not in the same place theologically.

They have lived in temporary quonset huts since the founding of the abbey in the 1940's, and have a very simple but beautiful chapel with one stained glass window.

Whole Wheat Bread

I've been looking for a bread recipe where the bread will last more than a few hours--made some delicious stuff right out of the oven, but then it gets rock hard and no good the next day.

Any ideas? I went with a Whole Wheat bread recipe from Cooks' Illustrated, but the problem is there are way too many sessions of waiting for it to rise for the time I have as a parent of a 17 month old...so instead everything has been overnight (45 minutes, nope, overnight in the fridge...60 minutes, no overnight in the fridge).

This bread is going to be ridiculously old by the time it gets baked. We'll see baking comes tomorrow.

Eltana--a oasis in Seattle's Bagel wasteland

This is S...

So one of the first things that R, J and I do anytime we go to canada is look for montreal style bagels. This started the very first time when visiting my high school friend Mark in Burlington during college, and took off when my folks were living in Toronto and we would go down to St. Laurence Market for them, bagels that are smaller, a bit sweeter and way more complex in flavor than anything we could find in the US. Montreal style bagels are boiled and then baked in a wood fired oven.

Since then we've been bringing home at least two dozen bagels anytime we go to Vancouver.

But recently a wonderful thing happened--into the bagel wasteland of Seattle came Eltana, a montreal-style bagel place with some really friendly folks working there, and it opens early--6 AM. About 6:45 AM last weekend J and I were there since she decided to get up and they gave us a tour, gave her dough to play with, amazing.

Even more amazing, those bagels are awesome. I have a dream of making a brick oven in our backyard if/when we ever buy a house, and bagels would be part of that.
I totally agree with this reviewer:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/tastingmenu/archives/238299.asp

Go check it out for yourself.

Cooks Illustrated Thin Crust Pizza

This is S.

The best recipe I've found in a while comes from a source we use all the time for things that aren't pizza: cooks illustrated online. I won't put up the whole recipe, but key elements include:

* An overnight rise in the fridge. I don't think I'll try rising dough again another way because the dough that this creates stretches beautifully and doesn't break part or tear which can be super, super frustrating. This relates to the nice color on the crust too.

* Mixing the dough in a food processor and then only a little kneading. Seems to work better for me than other recipes I've tried with a dough hook.

Here's some photos of the results:

Spirituality of pizza

This is S...


R has been encouraging me for months now to restart this blog, to share and remember some of the best meals we've had in Seattle recently and especially to write about pizza. I've been spending a lot of time with dough--actually, one of J's first words was dough and she is always trying to press out balls of dough into little rounds of pizza. When I was a kid I never knew where I could turn to be creative--art wasn't it, athletics wasn't it--and now with R's support I am finding some outlets, my guitar, and also especially making pizza.

Something about this pizza making has been healthy, even healing for my spirit:
I love how messy I can get. I love the playfulness of trying to toss and stretch and knead. I love how embodied I feel, hands sticking to risen dough that is alive, filled with the gift of yeast fermenting and moving and changing it. I also love sharing what I create with R and J, and the joy that comes from eating something I have made.

Plus, pizza is delicious, and I am trying to find a place of simplicity with it.

Here's a poem/prayer that's been very meaningful to me these past few months:

BakerWoman God
Bakerwoman God,
I am your living Bread.
Strong, brown, Bakerwoman God.
I am your low, soft, and being-shaped loaf.

I am your rising bread,
well-kneaded by some divine and knotty pair of knuckles,
by your warm earth-hands.
I am bread well-kneaded.


Put me in fire, Bakerwoman God,
put me in your own bright fire.
I am warm, warm as you from fire.
I am white and gold, soft and hard, brown and round.
I am so warm from fire.

Break me, Bakerwoman God!
I am broken under your caring Word.
Bakerwoman God,
Remake me.
Alla Bozarth-Campbell

Seattle Summer

I lived off the coast of New Hampshire for a couple summers. On hot days the morning fog started thick and cool and eventually the sun would burn off the fog and gorgeousness would settle in.

This must just be a phenomena of living close to the water. Today while driving Sean to work I caught a glimpse and smell of the sound and knew it was going to be one of those beautiful summer days where the fog burns off and gorgeousness settles in.

Columbia City Bakery

In our neighborhood, Columbia City, along Rainier Ave. S sits a wonderful little bakery. This bakery with the unclever name "Columbia City Bakery" ceases to be uninteresting with it's name.

I am a not a stickler for a bakery but I am also not uncritical either. I hate getting things that are too stale, too boring, that were thawed overnight and then baked in the AM etc. But this bakery is doing what bakeries should- baking amazing, delicious wonderful baked goods and serving them up with lattes with art on them (because in Seattle a latte without art is a shitty latte).

I believe that this bakery is so good it is worth an out of the way stop and must be avoided if you live locally (because you'll be hooked). There cookies are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had, their cupcakes are perfectly sweet (and not too sweet -the downfall of many cupcakes), their breads are rich and moist, their coffee cake crumbly but not dry. . . on and on.

Point being. This is not just a coffee shop stop (though you can make it one if you want) this is a wonderfulness stop on the ride of life! Don't miss it.

Mioposto in Mt. Baker neighborhood. Eat it. Enjoy it.

Salad and Pizza A plus!

Review of Winter

So is it strange to review a Season? Yes. Am I going to anyway. Yes.

Having lived in the Southern Midwest and in New England I have experienced the diversity of 4 seasons. Seattle is proving to be a tad bit different, and frankly, weird.

To start off one should know that I HATE being cold. I would rather be hot any day. Except that it has to be REALLY REALLY hot for me to classify as "hot." Also, when I get cold it takes me sometimes hours to warm up.

Seattle is weird. It's not cold in the strictest sense. In fact, it rarely stays below freezing. But that is what is actually hardest. The "mildness" of the winter stops me from wearing long underwear- or bundling really well every time I go outside. So in fact, I am finding that if I am not careful I get colder than I anticipated- because it a bit more mild but not so mild that I don't get cold.

Another new things for me is that at times it warms up into the lower 50's and then it smells like springtime smells in Massachusetts and Illinois- The melting wet ground gives me false springtime hope when in fact, it is only January!

I guess this isn't a review as much as a topic. But so be it.

Seattle Public Libraries

For the first time in my life I am using a public library- frequently. When I was a kid we didn't live in town and my parents bought a library card (don't pay city taxes no free library) and we would venture into town and then the (air-conditioned) library. When I got older and we were in school we stopped going to the library so much and then it was over. I had access to libraries in college, and graduate school do I didn't have the need for public libraries until now.

The Seattle public libraries are rumored to be one of the most well funded library systems in the US. True or not I think they do a great job.

Fees

Fees are minimal, check out lengths are somewhere between finishing the book and forgetting about it.

Book requests

As far as I am concerned they could be a tad faster but pretty much every book I've requested and under every topic I have found something (from Phillipino short stories to Catholic Feminism)

Diversity

Our neighborhood is fairly diverse. And the book options cater to that diversity at our local branch. I am frequently picking up novels (with pretty covers or intriquing names) and finding that the characters are minorities. Or that the books are translated from the original language.

Service

Good. Real people with answers. And they are downright good to kids.

Building

The Columbia City Branch (our branch) is a Carnegie library- so it has interesting architechture. But the flagship is the downtown library. It's just cool. Take the elevator up and walk down the ramp that goes down all the floors. It's a nice weave through the world of literature.

-So obviously I haven't eaten out recently. But I've been reading a lot.

St. Cloud's in Madrona

I love St. Cloud's in Madrona. I have never had anything bad there. In fact, I have never had anything less than wonderful. My problem with St. Cloud's is that I want to eat everything on the menu. They do an amazing brunch, but what inspires me to write this is not their (amazing) brunch but is their amazing dinner. Beloved and I were invited on a whim to go to St. Cloud's. It was late but we hadn't eaten so we shared a dinner.

So my review.

St. Cloud's for dinner ain't cheap. Entrees range from 14-21 (there are a couple things that are market price so periodically more than 21). With a salad or a drink this could add up fast.

We only got one entree: the Parmigiano-Crusted Pork Tenderloin - served on a bed of penne tossed with bacon, spinach, capers & tomato, topped with spinach aioli for 21.00. It was amazing. The flavors mixed well it was definitly comfort food in terms of having carbs and meat- but resisted boring!

The service, as always, was great! After all the same people have worked there for what seems like generations. We happened to be there when there weren't very many guests and we were treated to a piece of birthday cake that had been served in the bar. It was an impressive amount of generosity.

Finally, St. Cloud's feels kind of like you enter into a family when you eat there. Servers remember people, they give back generously to their community. And frankly, I think they love what they do.

Me Gusta St. Clouds. 5 *****

So my beloved and I have eaten here a couple of times since being here. Let me be frank. I think that it is overrated. I think the pizza is okay- but it is soggy. I think that it is reasonably priced but it is not exceptional. Honestly, what I think is the best is the

Beloved and I got the special with broccilicini on it.It was perfectly fine but the broccili was was overcooked, and frankly it didn't blend well with the flavors. Their canolli is pretty good. Their coffee is very good. Even though the place is down the street, I don't think we'll make a habit of it.

Goodwill

Wow, I love the Seattle goodwill on Dearborn Street. It is first of all an amazing gathering of humanity. Many languages, creed, ethnicities, colors. It is a little bit like being in Cambridge- with more real and less education. Oh speaking of colors, I LOVE how GoodWill stores organize their clothing according to color. It makes my heart leap with joy when I see it. I love rainbow organization of clothing.

Okay but beyond my emotional response, the Goodwill has just an amazing amount of stuff. It changes over a lot. The furniture selection there is relatively interesting. Beloved and I got a Nintendo 64 and some controllers their for very cheap- some baskets, fabric, and other decent housewares.

As with all goodwill stores it is hit or miss. And though I celebrated the electronics they had it can be a real bear digging through all the baskets and baskets of cords, adapters etc. It's brutal. Some stuff there is crap like cameras and CD's.

As a fan of garage sales, consignment shops, trash, and salvation army/goodwill stores I highly recommend.