Photos Of Pizza Made With Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough

Dough after 18 hours  in the fridge and 2 hours on the counter.

 Kale, chard and basil from the garden that went on the pizza. I sauteed the kale and chard first.
This again was not a bumper crop, but it came to 3.45oz.

 Pizza with all of the toppings: onion, mushrooms, chard, kale and finely shredded parmesan cheese. Fresh basil was sprinkled on it after the pizza was taken out of the oven.

The finished product and it was delicious. It is a keeper of a recipe. For the recipe, scroll down to Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough.

Hot, Hot, Hot

I went for my walk this AM around 6:45 and I thought wow it seems pretty darn warm compared to yesterday morning around the same time. When I got back, my husband asked how it was and I said if you going on one of your 20 mile bike rides you better get out their now. So he headed out and I decided to plant the 3 gallon rose bush I won.
Ok this is where the digging of the hole for the rose bush turned into a battle. I hit a rock that seemed like a bolder. Ultimately I got this 2 foot by 1 foot by 6 inch pain out. Of course now it is about 80 degrees, and humid, but  the rose was positioned and gently watered.
Now I am in the house drinking ice tea at 8:45 am. I typically do not drink tea at this time of the day, but it certainly hit the spot.

Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough

 Saturday I made Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough, which we will make pizza with tonight. It really was incredibly easy to make the dough, and  it doubled in about 18 hours. I have just enough basil from the garden  to use on the pizzas tonight, and my husband has made homemade sauce.Pictures to come later.

There is a great video at serious eats that can take you through it step by step.

Recipe

Makes 4 balls of dough, enough for 4 pizzas, active time 10 minutes, total time 8 to 18 hours

• 500 grams (17 ½ ounces or about 3 ¾ cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping the dough
• 1 gram (1/4 teaspoon) active dry yeast
• 16 grams (2 teaspoons) fine sea salt
• 350 grams (1 ½ cups) water

Procedures

1. 
   In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and, with a wooden spoon or your hands, mix thoroughly.
2. 
   Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature (about 72°F) for 18 hours or until it has more than doubled. It will take longer in a chilly room and less time in a very warm one.
3. 
   Flour a work surface and scrape out the dough. Divide it into 4 equal parts and shape them: For each portion, start with the right side of the dough and pull it toward the center; then do the same with the left, then the top, then the bottom. (The order doesn’t actually matter; what you want is four folds.) Shape each portion into a round and turn seam side down. Mold the dough into a neat circular mound. The mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust with more flour.
4. 
   If you don’t intend to use the dough right away, wrap the balls individually in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Return to room temperature by leaving them out on the counter, covered in a damp cloth, for 2 to 3 hours before needed.
   
   Here are further directions from Bon Appetit for baking the pizza. I used pizza pans and have not tried using my pizza stone yet. I did not preheat the oven for an hour, but preheated it for about 15 minutes
   
   

To Make the Pizzas

• During the last hour of dough's resting, prepare oven: If using a pizza stone, arrange a rack in upper third of oven and place stone on rack; preheat oven to its hottest setting, 500°–550°, for 1 hour. If using a baking sheet, arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to its hottest setting, 500°–550°. (You do not need to preheat the baking sheet.)
• Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough generously with flour and place on a floured work surface. Gently shape dough into a 10"–12" disk.

If Using Pizza Stone

• When ready to bake, increase oven heat to broil. Sprinkle a pizza peel or rimless (or inverted rimmed) baking sheet lightly with flour. Place dough disk on prepared peel and top with desired toppings.
• Using small, quick back-and-forth movements, slide pizza from peel onto hot pizza stone. Broil pizza, rotating halfway, until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, 5–7 minutes.
• Using peel, transfer to a work surface to slice. Repeat, allowing pizza stone to reheat under broiler for 5 minutes between pizzas.

If Using a Baking Sheet

• Arrange dough disk on baking sheet; top with desired toppings. Bake pizza until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a work surface to slice. Repeat with remaining pizzas.

Gary Isben TomatoFest

Now how much fun would it be to go to Gary Isben's TomatoFest. That is where I found the below poster you can buy. 

My First Green Tomato and...

As promised, a picture of my first green tomato--Black Krim

So far zucchini is coming along, but I will need to put up screening to prevent SVB,

and peas are still growing. Maybe next week they will be ready to pick?

Another Great Podcast-Tasty Tomatoes

As many of you know, I love podcasts. Ken Druse podcast about great tomatoes can be found at this link -Ken Druse REAL DIRT- 4-27-12 Tasty Tomatoes. If you are a tomato lover, I think you will enjoy this podcast.

Here is more about the tomato podcast that is directly from the above website:

"Steve Bogash, Regional Horticulture Educator for Penn State Extension, Franklin County, Chambersburg, PA joins us to share the results of the 2011 tomato tasting, and make some suggestions for the tomatoes to order now to grow this year in your garden. The trials focusing mostly on tomatoes (also peppers and other plants) have been running since 2000. Every year, up to 70 tomato varieties are grown and judged for taste, production, disease resistance, ease of training and appearance.
     Steve found that although the heirloom varieties are often delicious, the yields may be low. Some of the winning old-timers have drawbacks, for example incredibly delicious and beautiful yellow, orange and red ‘Pineapple’ is susceptible to cracking. Do we home gardeners care? Some of us do, some are happy to put up with blemishes for wonderful flavor. Steve again recommended Burpee’s ‘Brandy Boy’, which combines the flavor of the favorite heirloom ‘Brandywine’ with the high yield and disease resistance of a modern hybrid for those who want the best of both worlds. Other well-known heirloom winners included ‘Mortgage Lifter’, ‘Arkansas Traveler’ and ‘Marianna’s Peace’.

     If sweetness is what you are after, many of the cherry and grape types will be the varieties you’ll hope to grow. ‘Sakusa Honey’ is just about the best, but Steve pointed out that the price of the seeds (from Johnny’s Seeds) was steep – a whopping $9.95 per pack. Other cherry types noted were ‘Red Pearl’, ‘Five Star’, ‘Maglia Rosa’, and ‘Sun Gold’ -- a small orange, moderately disease-resistant variety with a flavor that was described as “candy.”
     Slicing tomatoes that were judged best for taste included ‘Scarlet Red’, ‘Big Beef’, ‘Celebrity’ and ‘Stupice’.
A few patio types to try in containers that did well in the judging were ‘Bush Early Girl’, Bush Steak’, and ‘Sweet ‘N Neat’. (Photos courtesy Steve Bogash and PA Extension.)"

Tuesdays With Dorie : Baking With Julia-French Strawberry Cake

Although we are not supposed to post pictures of our French Strawberry Cake creation until June 19, what I can tell you is that I baked the cake layer today and took liberties. Those of you who know me well will say--well we are not surprised. The cake batter is a genoise and it is supposed to be intimidating. Well it really is not as long as your follow the instructions. Where folks often go wrong is not beating the egg and sugar mixture until it triples in volume. With my KitchenAid standing mixer that took about 10 minutes. After that you just fold in the butter and flour. Then get that pan in the oven pronto.

Here is where I took a different path. The recipe calls for an 8 inch cake pan. I wanted to use a 6 inch spring-form that is 3 inches tall. Let me just say that the spring-form is wonderful because this cake has a tendency to not want to come out of the pan even if you butter and flour it and use wax paper on the bottom. The spring-form makes it a breeze to remove the genoise from the pan. However, since I was going down in size I had to calculate the amount of batter to use--which was just under 4 cups. Then I had to play around with how long to  bake it.  This is a cake that you do not want to open the oven until it is somewhat firm or it will deflate. I estimated that 20 minutes would work for the first check on this little beauty.Baking time was almost 30 minutes in our over at 350. It looks fabulous. Next comes the lawyers of strawberries and cream. Stay tuned for that post.