Chimp Boy Gravel Pizza

I haven't done a flagrant foodie entry on the blog for quite some time, so brace yourself for a homemade pizza post.

In case you're wondering about the title, there's a deli in town that makes a sandwich called the Chimp Boy Gravel Pants and this pizza is inspired by that sandwich.  They differ in a number of very important points, but I will not claim it as an original - I was challenged by my family to come up with something like it and this seems to do the trick. 

How to make it? First, you need a nice homemade sourdough crust par baked to make it extra crispy. This one was made down at the family homestead, so the crust got put on the stone on the grill at about 500 degrees for about 4 minutes before it came back into the kitchen be covered in goodies. When I'm at home, I use the oven with a pizza stone in it at 475 - 500 degrees. (If you don't have a stone, use a cookie sheet.)

The toppings include some of the pesto that I made and highlighted on the blog at the height of basil season, partially cooked pheasant breast (to give it a nice sear on the outside, but keep the inside nearly raw so that it doesn't dry out in the baking process), sliced sun-dried tomatoes, crumbled buttermilk blue cheese and a drizzle of Italian salad dressing. If you're going to make this, don't overdo the blue cheese, tempting though it might be. You don't want to overpower the rest of the flavors. 

Put it back on the stone and cook it for another 7-8 minutes, until the cheese starts to get little golden spots on it and the crust starts to brown on the edges. 

All you need to go with it is a crisp salad and the beverage of your choice. 

But I don't have any pheasant in my freezer, you cry! No fears. Some smoked turkey breast will work quite nicely. 

(Also, if you don't have sourdough starter, any nice pizza dough will do - it will just have a little less tang.)

See? I anticipated the requests for the recipe! Let me know if you try it and how you like it.  :)

Panning for Gold

Sometimes, when Baloo and I are out walking in the woods, we find something really marvelous. Usually, it's something beautiful to look at or interesting to learn about, but occasionally we discover gourmet delicacies. 

We ran across a particularly nice bloom of golden chanterelle mushrooms glowing like a beacon in the shade of the forest. I know - they look toxic, don't they? One of my brother's friends says that they look like they are positively dripping with poison, but they are among the most choice of edible fungi.

Some of them were pretty sandy, so rigorous cleaning was required, but I ended up with a lovely bowl full of golden treasure. 

Then, after slicing them all up, it was time to saute them in a little butter and olive oil. 

Since mushrooms are mostly water, they took time to cook down. While they did, the nutty, earthy aroma was absolutely moth-watering. 

So, of course, I had to have some for breakfast in scrambled eggs, along with homemade sourdough pita bread. A mushroom lover's delight. Yum! I saved the rest of them for other culinary adventures.

Seriously Simple Staff

Staff of life, that is...  

I was feeling like some fresh bread the other day and broke out my favorite old (and long out of print) Breadcraft book from my very first days as a bread baker. I had been dreaming of sourdough French bread, but, I didn't have the patience to fiddle with creating a starter and waiting for it to mature. I am a brat and I wanted it now - or as near to now as homemade bread can be!

So, I chose a very, very simple French bread recipe that I had never made (there aren't many recipes or variations in that book that I haven't tried, so this was a surprise). This was perfect, since I was in the throes of carving material testing and these loaves required no kneading, no shaping and not much in the way of attention.

Five simple ingredients and about four hours later, I had these two little beauties cooling on my counter. I took one to my sister's house and it didn't make it through the night. The one I kept at my house had a major dent put in it at dinner and the rest disappeared as French toast for breakfast the next day. 

When a batch of bread evaporates that quickly, it's a serious success. Yep. That'll happen again.

You Put the Lime in the....

...coconut?  No, forget the coconut!

You put the lime in the cream cheese Danish, that's what!   Then, you share them with your family for Sunday breakfast.  Yum.

Paska!

I wanted to bake something special for Easter feasting this year, so I decided to make this delightfully  rich, symbolic and decorative bread which claims roots in both Poland and the Ukraine.  

The dough is enriched with butter and eggs, which gives it a lovely creamy color, both while it's worked and when the final product is sliced. The larger piece on the counter will be used for the main loaf, while the smaller piece is held in reserve for all the decorations.  

It will rise well above the edges of a standard cake pan, so a buttered parchment collar helps the loaves keep their shape.   

Once the loaf has risen about half way, use the reserved dough to roll out the pieces to make the curved cross, seven pointed sun figure and the coiled ropes to wrap around the edge.  Other traditional decorations derived from nature can also be used.  Sometimes birds are nestled into the arms of the cross, rosettes, vines, braids - pretty much anything representative of spring or rebirth. 

When the decorations are all in place, let the paska continue to rise until it is nice and light.  

Just before baking, gently brush the top with an egg wash.

Voila!  Loaves ready to be blessed and shared for the feast.

Paska has a lovely texture.  It's wonderful with butter and marmalade (or honey), and if any is left over for the next morning, it makes fantastic French toast.   

Culinary Adventures

I have been refining and experimenting with my cream scone recipe.  My sister and her husband have had to put up with several iterations (poor them) as I have played with various methods and flavorings.  My brother-in-law always tells me that each batch is better than the one before, but not as good as the next batch.  He knows which side his scone is buttered on....  

This iteration is a tart cherry and toasted almond combination with just a hint of vanilla. They pair very nicely with a cup of tea - or a steaming mug of latte.  Buttery breakfast goodness.  I probably need to take Baloo for another walk now!    

Pizza Party!

Yes, we still love to eat!  

Here's a Greek pizza with olives, peppers, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, red onions, pesto, capers and feta cheese.  This was an experiment that worked out deliciously. 

Chevre, pheasant, morel mushrooms, caramelized onions, and Parmesan cheese, topped with fresh basil and chives adorn this family favorite.  It's a regular on pizza party menus.   

The sun decided to shine through the dining room window, putting pizza and salad (lettuce, celery, apples, walnuts and blue cheese with a champagne vinaigrette) in a natural spotlight.  

Pizza-thon!

It wasn't even Pi Day!  This is overdue, since I've been living a dog-centered life, but I just had to share the adventure. 

My family and I have a tradition that has developed over the last few years (ever since I discovered the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes tricks) of creating fun, interesting and delectable pizzas.  I make up the dough and have it ready and then we all go into a frenzy, chopping and preparing all the things that will be used for toppings.  We have a few favorites, but we usually try and come up with several new ideas for pizzas we haven't done before. After the flurry of preparation, I'm usually left to decide exactly what goes with what else and assemble things (and occasionally cry for a little more of this or that to go on top).  Then, my brother takes them out to cook on the grill.  This is our crop of artisan pizzas.  

I had heard of making pizza with wild ramps and since we had some growing out in the woods, my sister gathered them and I cleaned them up and sauteed them to use as one of our main focal points. My brother was a little skeptical - he thought we'd be overwhelmed with the flavor of too much onion, but we were all pleasantly surprised with the fresh, delicate flavors. This one has just a brushing of olive oil, ramps, a little tomato, a sprinkling of red pepper flakes and Romano cheese.  It reminded us of leeks and spinach, since we used both the stem and leaf parts of the plant. 

My sister's husband grilled some of his famous wild grouse breasts to use for this one and it has fresh mozzarella, just a touch of tomato sauce, a little Romano on top and a sprinkling of fresh scallions when it came off the grill.  The grouse speaks very well for itself.  Yum! 

 This one was simple and deliciously fresh tasting.  It's an idea I read about this spring.  The asparagus is prepared by using a vegetable peeler to shave thin strips of the stalk and head (you can hold the woody end while you're doing this and not have to worry about breaking that part off). Toss in a sprinkling of kosher salt and let it sit while rolling out the dough.  Then, just use a light brushing of olive oil, some fresh mozzarella and the asparagus. 

Mexican pizza is a longstanding favorite.  It can take a lot of different forms, depending on the ingredients at hand, this one had salsa,  some refried black bean dip we had on hand, onions, jalapeno and poblano peppers, cheddar and jack cheeses.  We top these off with fresh tomatoes, scallions and avocado slices (and sometimes black olives, sour cream and anything else that sounds good) when they come off the grill.  

Here is the final wreckage, after we'd all eaten our fill.  Of course, these are all great as leftovers, too, so it's fun to be extravagant and make a bunch of different varieties, as long as the dough is made and the grill is hot!  

I hope that's an inspiration for a summertime dinner or two.  Leeks or shallots and spinach or kale would work well in place of the wild ramps, and chicken or turkey could be substituted for wild grouse, if you aren't lucky enough to have a game hunter in the family.  There are no wrong answers with artisan pizza!  :)

This one's for Judy!

Judy is the adventurous soul that sent my sister the information about artisan bread and the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook. My sister sent the information to me, hoping I would figure it all out and show her the technique. Nothing easier – really!! Anyway, my sister, sister-in-law and I had a great time playing with bread (and all of us enjoyed eating it) and we almost always got a photo before the bread of the day was consumed. Almost… So, this one is for Judy, to give her some idea of what she started. I have shared this technique (and copies of the book) with the above mentioned sister and sister-in-law, along with two good friends who are off and baking. I have told co-workers about the technique and seen them hop on the bread wagon, too. It’s just too much fun not to share!!

Roasted red pepper pizza with mushrooms, herbs, and three kinds of cheese made with the basic dough.

Grissini (bread sticks) and peasant bread, made with a whole wheat enhanced version of the basic recipe.

This is the tapenade bread -- the photo is a bit blurry, but it was such a delicious bread I had to include it!! One note of caution, though. If you want any tapenade that goes into this dough left over to spread on anything, make a double batch of it.

Sun-dried tomato and Parmesan bread, made with olive oil dough.

Classic challah with poppy seeds (foreground) and dried tart cherry and toasted almond bread (background) made with the challah dough.

Roasted red pepper fougasse made with olive oil dough.

Calamata olive bread made with the basic dough.

Pan d'epi served with grilled wild trout (caught by my brother) and grilled wild asparagus (gathered by my sister and brother-in-law). Yum!

Pecan rolls made with challah dough are wonderful. These have a light honey topping in lieu of the sugary topping in the book with cinnamon and sugar swirled inside. It's a less sweet version of the classic sticky bun.

So, see what you started, Judy? Isn't it grand?

Bread Adventures

My sister sent me a challenge -- or maybe it was more of a request. This is the same fabulous sister who helped me reorganize my whole studio, shop, and part of my home -- the organizational genius! How could I possibly refuse her anything??

A friend had sent her the base recipe from a book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois and, since I'm the bread baker in the family, she wanted me to try it first and work out any kinks there might be in the recipe. Then, when we get together the next time, I can show her how to do it. She is particularly interested in trying to get a result like one of her favorite, very expensive, specialty bakery loaves.




Here is my first attempt at Pan d’Epi, as it sits resting, along with a standard boule. I think my dough may be too wet, or perhaps it had not aged long enough (only about 26 hours), so the shapes didn't hold quite as well as I had hoped they would. It was still a lot of fun. Here's the final feast photo -- at least part of the feast. There's a blueberry pie I just had to include in the photo, along with some lovely French wine and a large salad of mixed greens. Yum!



The bread was a huge success! As I said, the dough didn't hold the pretty shapes as well as I had hoped, but it was delicious and I do mean "was". It's all gone. So, I know this isn't the usual kind of blog material, but I just had to post some pictures so that my sister and her friend could see how everything came out.

I'll actually have some Stampeaz news to post very shortly. I have cool new stuff. :)