Peanut Butter on Whole Wheat Olive Bread
Jun 25, 2012No, really. Here is a nice while whole wheat boule with kalamata olives that tastes great with peanut butter. The olives seem to give the bread a nice moistness, without overwhelming it. It doesn’t cry out for olive oil and red wine; in fact it’s a really nice bread for lunch. Or in my case, right after running. The Forumula 800 grams white whole wheat flour 200 grams of general... Read More
Yeast is Free (well, almost)
Jun 25, 2012Every year or so it time to buy yeast again. At least that’s how it feels. I really did run out of Dry Active Yeast the other day, and luckily had already scheduled a trip to Costco for vegetables, so I could stock up. What really struck we was how inexpensive yeast can be — if you buy in bulk. I don’t remember the exact cost, but 2 lbs. were... Read More
Got Wood?
Jun 24, 2012You might be wondering how much wood a wood-fired oven really burns and how efficient a modern pizza oven is with fuel. So today I made a test, and the outcome was really very good. The following photos show just how little wood my Prest prototype oven needs to reach pizza baking temperature and hold enough heat to bake a load of bread. To get right to it, and the... Read More
Pizza Making Should be Simple
Jun 24, 2012This photo of Del Popolo Pizza a new wood-fired Food Truck in San Francisco from The Bend Bulletin really struck a cord with me. While the company has been getting a lot of attention in the press for, among other things, the sheer size of the food truck itself (it is based on a 14 ton, 20-foot shipping container that holds the pizza oven), what I like about this photo is how... Read More
Wood-Fired Ciabatta
Jun 23, 2012I changed gears baking today — from France to Italy and from baguettes to Ciabatta. And I had a ball. Working with a classic Italian bread brought back some happy memories, and the bread was really nice. Very nice. The techniques that I have been developing making other types of bread really spilled over into today’s baking. There are lots of little things to say. First, my dough was 82%... Read More
My New (and very nice) Bread Peel
Jun 22, 2012I have been struggling to find a good way to load multiple baguettes into my pizza oven off and on for years. With my recent round of bread baking, my struggles have come to a head. I’ve tried the back of baking pans, short wood pizza peels designed for (that’s right) pizza, standard metal pizza placing peels, my new baguette flipping board and a homemade attempt to making a true... Read More
Truck Pizza in Hudson, NY
Jun 21, 2012Food truck and trailer wood-fired pizza is exploding. Here is Truck Pizza in Hudson, NY, via All Over Albany. I like their design. Read More
More Whole Wheat Oatmeal
Jun 19, 2012I’m starting to get my hands around the weights and characteristics of whole wheat oatmeal bread. If you remember back to a couple of earlier attempts, I basically mixed 1 cup of old fashioned oats with 2 cups of boiling water and a pinch of salt, and added it to a 60% hydrated, 1kg whole wheat bread formula. Not very scientific, and not very accurate. So today, I weighed the... Read More
Dough Folding and Focaccia
Jun 19, 2012There are a number of different flatbreads in Italy, representing a number of different styles. Focaccia from Genoa and in many other locations is thicker, as high as 1″-2″, and softer. Schiacciata found throughout Tuscany is thinner than Genovese focaccia and thicker than a pizza, as is Pizza Bianca found in Rome. In some restaurants and bakeries in Naples and Sorrento, a focaccia is a thin flatbread baked in a... Read More