OT - What are you doing right now?

lkapigian · September 2018

For @SGH , not a razor but was given these old Clippers today....

JohnInCarolina · September 2018

DoubleEgger said:

northGAcock said:

YEMTrey said:

Doing something out of character for me today. Not doing a damn thing. Got four inches of rain yesterday and it continues today.
Woke up, had a cup of coffee. Then showered, watched football and snacked all day. Even dozed off for a nap for a bit. Can't remember having such a lazy day in a long time! Enjoy your Sundays my friends.

Brother, that is my kind of day. Didn’t know they played football on Sunday though.

That’s when men play football

theyolksonyou · September 2018

Just got back from the fall’s first baseball practice. It was hot out there.

Cornholio · September 2018

I was shopping with my wife until I gave up and came back to the bar we had lunch at.

Botch · September 2018

alaskanassasin said:
@Botch Do you care to share the fruit of all your labor? Dome temp, sauce, dough recipe? We eat pizza once a week, I gave up on using the egg for several reasons, but my latest concoctions have been Bobby Flay dough split 3 ways, running freshly canned tomatoes through the food processor for a the sauce and the oven at 425

I never got the perfect dough recipe for any style of pizza (NY, Margherita, deep-dish) so you'd be better off with a good cookbook or threads here. I will jot down a few beliefs I now have; in order:

Dome temp:
Pizzas are like cuts of meat, the thicker they are, the slower/cooler they must be cooked. I did thin, margherita-style at about 900, cooked in about 45 seconds. NY-style, I preferred 600. A heavier, American style, Poppa Murphy is right: 425. That's probably about right for a Chicago-style pizza too, but I didn't make too many of them (while tasty, they're not pizza, they're casserole). Some here have been frustrated by each successive pizza cooking differently as the stone heats/cools; I've never cooked more than 3 pies in one meal so I'm no help there.

Sauce:
Cento "San Marzano" canned plum tomatoes were my favorite; oddly, I never liked sauces made with local, garden-ripe plum tomatoes as much. I DO like thinly-sliced fresh plum tomatoes on my "summer" pizzas (thin, with thinly-slices 'shroom, arugula, some kind of thinly sliced italian meat (prosciutto, etc), basil, and a light sprinkle of Parmesan cut into ribbons with a vegetable peeler). I've tried crushing canned tomatoes with a potato masher and kinda liked a chunky sauce, but any teenager hates it.
My favorite recipe is a 28-oz can of Marzano's, sent thru a processor or food mill (or VERY briefly in a blender), half a yellow onion grated, not chopped, sauteed in olive oil, then 3 or 4 crushed garlic cloves, and dump the tomato into the pot just as the garlic gets fragrant. Salt, black pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/4 tsp dried oregano, and about 3/4 tsp fennel seeds, run through a spice mill (otherwise they like to wedge in your teeth). Simmer at least 30 minutes.
Honestly, I've tried many different sauces and they were all fine, as long as they match the toppings. Even Marcella Haazan's sauce is delicious
(saute one half of a halved onion in oil, dump in pureed tomato, and salt, simmer then remove/toss the onion half, that's it! Delicious if you have good tomatoes).

Dough:
As I stated above I never really settled on any style of pizza dough, there's so many hydrations/flours/processes, its a lifetime of experimentation (just don't overdo it like I did). But a few thoughts:
- Always proof your dough overnight in the frig, 2 or 3 days is even better!
- Never punch the risen dough down, for a second "rise". This is great for bread, but it seems to increase the gluten and dough that's risen twice, snaps back into place, even with a rest; make as perfectly-round ball of dough up front, let rise a few nights, then let it come to room temp (couple hours) and then stretch to a pizza. (Alton Brown, I love ya like a brother, but you don't know Jack Schitt about making pizza dough, and you set me back two years!)
- I usually flour up a risen, warmed-up ball, push it out gently to a disk, and then lay half the disk across my fists, stretch, and rotate around, stretching the dough; you get a better crust than if you use a rolling pin (and I've tested that). I never got the hang of tossing/spinning; I'm very uncoordinated (have trouble double-clicking) and I'm 6'5" with 8' ceilings. Also, check for ceiling fans.
- Finally (and I'm gonna step on a few toes here): parchment is for p*ssies! You will never see any professional or even a line cook use it for pizzas, it kills trees, complicates the cook, and Monsanto is probably involved somehow. It's like having training wheels on your Harley. Once I'm done stretching the dough, I flop it onto the counter, lightly dust the upper surface with flour, then flop it over, onto a WOODEN peel balanced over the sink (I have a small kitchen) that's been pre-sprinkled with course cornmeal. Dress as rapidly as possible, then snap it onto your hot pizza stone. You do NOT have to put cornmeal on the stone, just make sure its hot. I usually shake the pie on the peel to make sure its not sticking, and you can actually blow under the dough to release any stuck spot (provided no one's looking); it doesn't take too long to know how much flour and cornstarch to use to never stick again.
- Fact: it is nearly impossible to flour/cornstarch dough enough so that it won't stick to a metal peel! (You will make a few sloppy calzones, and (if using an oven) test the batteries in your smoke detector. Get one of each, they have two different tasks and with two, it's easy to build your next pie while the previous is cooking.

Cheese:
Skip the pre-shredded mozz at the supermarket (Sargento, Kraft, et al). Find a ball of fresh mozz, usually packaged in water, and use that (avoid the tub of small, marble-sized balls, half of them will roll off the pizza when you snap it onto the stone, and wear out the smoke detector batteries you just replaced). I've got a multi-wire "slicer" (also used for boiled eggs and I guess strawberries) but the slices are too thick for my taste, so I usually stack them and cut them into sticks, you get a more even and lighter spread of cheese on the pie. Sometimes, I just rip off chunks with my fingers and throw 'em down, depends on your mood. Parmesan, I cut with a veggie peeler onto the "summer" pie (see above) before adding it to the Egg, all other pies I use a medium Micro-Plane to coat the pie to taste, after it's removed from the egg. Speaking of which:

Basil:
Every recipe, every famous chef, every landmark pizza joint, puts leaves of fresh basil onto the pie before its put into the oven. ****! They're all wrong, and I'm right: put the basil on after you remove the pie, and are waiting for it to cool enough to eat. I tried adding a fresh basil leaf to the stone for just a few seconds, it was half-green and half-charred, and then ate it plain. It smelled pretty damn good, actually, but tasted like an ashtray. Instead, Chiffonade a few fresh leaves while the pie is cooking, then sprinkle them on the pie while its cooling (along with the parmesan and a drizzle of EVOO); just the heat of the cooling pie warms the oils in the fresh basil and the aroma is incredible!

Geez, that Botch guy went bla-bla-bla again for a long time, didn't he?

Hope there might be a nugget in there that you can use.

blasting · September 2018

Botch said:

alaskanassasin said:
@Botch Do you care to share the fruit of all your labor? Dome temp, sauce, dough recipe? We eat pizza once a week, I gave up on using the egg for several reasons, but my latest concoctions have been Bobby Flay dough split 3 ways, running freshly canned tomatoes through the food processor for a the sauce and the oven at 425

I never got the perfect dough recipe for any style of pizza (NY, Margherita, deep-dish) so you'd be better off with a good cookbook or threads here. I will jot down a few beliefs I now have; in order:

Dome temp:
Pizzas are like cuts of meat, the thicker they are, the slower/cooler they must be cooked. I did thin, margherita-style at about 900, cooked in about 45 seconds. NY-style, I preferred 600. A heavier, American style, Poppa Murphy is right: 425. That's probably about right for a Chicago-style pizza too, but I didn't make too many of them (while tasty, they're not pizza, they're casserole). Some here have been frustrated by each successive pizza cooking differently as the stone heats/cools; I've never cooked more than 3 pies in one meal so I'm no help there.

Sauce:
Cento "San Marzano" canned plum tomatoes were my favorite; oddly, I never liked sauces made with local, garden-ripe plum tomatoes as much. I DO like thinly-sliced fresh plum tomatoes on my "summer" pizzas (thin, with thinly-slices 'shroom, arugula, some kind of thinly sliced italian meat (prosciutto, etc), basil, and a light sprinkle of Parmesan cut into ribbons with a vegetable peeler). I've tried crushing canned tomatoes with a potato masher and kinda liked a chunky sauce, but any teenager hates it.
My favorite recipe is a 28-oz can of Marzano's, sent thru a processor or food mill (or VERY briefly in a blender), half a yellow onion grated, not chopped, sauteed in olive oil, then 3 or 4 crushed garlic cloves, and dump the tomato into the pot just as the garlic gets fragrant. Salt, black pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/4 tsp dried oregano, and about 3/4 tsp fennel seeds, run through a spice mill (otherwise they like to wedge in your teeth). Simmer at least 30 minutes.
Honestly, I've tried many different sauces and they were all fine, as long as they match the toppings. Even Marcella Haazan's sauce is delicious
(saute one half of a halved onion in oil, dump in pureed tomato, and salt, simmer then remove/toss the onion half, that's it! Delicious if you have good tomatoes).

Dough:
As I stated above I never really settled on any style of pizza dough, there's so many hydrations/flours/processes, its a lifetime of experimentation (just don't overdo it like I did). But a few thoughts:
- Always proof your dough overnight in the frig, 2 or 3 days is even better!
- Never punch the risen dough down, for a second "rise". This is great for bread, but it seems to increase the gluten and dough that's risen twice, snaps back into place, even with a rest; make as perfectly-round ball of dough up front, let rise a few nights, then let it come to room temp (couple hours) and then stretch to a pizza. (Alton Brown, I love ya like a brother, but you don't know Jack Schitt about making pizza dough, and you set me back two years!)
- I usually flour up a risen, warmed-up ball, push it out gently to a disk, and then lay half the disk across my fists, stretch, and rotate around, stretching the dough; you get a better crust than if you use a rolling pin (and I've tested that). I never got the hang of tossing/spinning; I'm very uncoordinated (have trouble double-clicking) and I'm 6'5" with 8' ceilings. Also, check for ceiling fans.
- Finally (and I'm gonna step on a few toes here): parchment is for p*ssies! You will never see any professional or even a line cook use it for pizzas, it kills trees, complicates the cook, and Monsanto is probably involved somehow. It's like having training wheels on your Harley. Once I'm done stretching the dough, I flop it onto the counter, lightly dust the upper surface with flour, then flop it over, onto a WOODEN peel balanced over the sink (I have a small kitchen) that's been pre-sprinkled with course cornmeal. Dress as rapidly as possible, then snap it onto your hot pizza stone. You do NOT have to put cornmeal on the stone, just make sure its hot. I usually shake the pie on the peel to make sure its not sticking, and you can actually blow under the dough to release any stuck spot (provided no one's looking); it doesn't take too long to know how much flour and cornstarch to use to never stick again.
- Fact: it is nearly impossible to flour/cornstarch dough enough so that it won't stick to a metal peel! (You will make a few sloppy calzones, and (if using an oven) test the batteries in your smoke detector. Get one of each, they have two different tasks and with two, it's easy to build your next pie while the previous is cooking.

Cheese:
Skip the pre-shredded mozz at the supermarket (Sargento, Kraft, et al). Find a ball of fresh mozz, usually packaged in water, and use that (avoid the tub of small, marble-sized balls, half of them will roll off the pizza when you snap it onto the stone, and wear out the smoke detector batteries you just replaced). I've got a multi-wire "slicer" (also used for boiled eggs and I guess strawberries) but the slices are too thick for my taste, so I usually stack them and cut them into sticks, you get a more even and lighter spread of cheese on the pie. Sometimes, I just rip off chunks with my fingers and throw 'em down, depends on your mood. Parmesan, I cut with a veggie peeler onto the "summer" pie (see above) before adding it to the Egg, all other pies I use a medium Micro-Plane to coat the pie to taste, after it's removed from the egg. Speaking of which:

Basil:
Every recipe, every famous chef, every landmark pizza joint, puts leaves of fresh basil onto the pie before its put into the oven. ****! They're all wrong, and I'm right: put the basil on after you remove the pie, and are waiting for it to cool enough to eat. I tried adding a fresh basil leaf to the stone for just a few seconds, it was half-green and half-charred, and then ate it plain. It smelled pretty damn good, actually, but tasted like an ashtray. Instead, Chiffonade a few fresh leaves while the pie is cooking, then sprinkle them on the pie while its cooling (along with the parmesan and a drizzle of EVOO); just the heat of the cooling pie warms the oils in the fresh basil and the aroma is incredible!

Geez, that Botch guy went bla-bla-bla again for a long time, didn't he? Hope there might be a nugget in there that you can use.

I don't quite understand - @Botch, do you mind going into more detail please?

jk - that's mighty nice of you to write all that down.

Acn · September 2018

Cool and rainy here, so we went comfort dinner, stewed beef served over trinxat (mashed potato and cabbage, then sautéed with lots of garlic), with cornbread on the side:

Botch · September 2018

blasting said:jk - that's mighty nice of you to write all that down.

Caught me at a verbose moment, I guess...

bgebrent · September 2018

Stuffed (fontina & prosciutto) chops, N’s garden carrots-glazed.

alaskanassasin · September 2018

Wow @Botch thanks for that!! I really appreciate you sharing your experiences! I am going to copy this into a word document and print thanks again!

NC_Egghead · September 2018

This is happening tonight:

Battleborn · September 2018

Relaxing this Sunday evening.

NorthPilot06 · September 2018

@Botch may get tired of pizza, but not I...

DoubleEgger · September 2018

The Bears are a joke

DMW · September 2018

DoubleEgger said:

The Bears are a joke

Yeah, but that was quite the game.

NC_Egghead · September 2018

The finale:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ih/7q58racbparv.jpeg

thetrim · September 2018

Yes! Great work @NC_Egghead

johnnyp · September 2018

Jeremiah said:

theyolksonyou said:

Just saw a commercial for Oprah’s new pizza line. 1/3 of crust is cauliflower. So, there’s that...

She’s not invited to wing ding 4.

idk, she might give everyone a car

fishlessman · September 2018

did pork sirloin steaks and somehow no pics, italian macaroni salad was good though. not sure why it takes me so long to stack wood, 4 cords should last two years. build a woodshed, strange woman next door has a duplicate built, just glad she built it on her lawn