Today I made a honey-wheat crust, using the sourdough starter that I harvested from beer yeast this summer! I actually harvested in from my favorite beer on earth - Hair of the Dog Fred.
For all intents and purposes one can only get this magical brew in Oregon. When they bottle the beer the brewer adds some of the brewers yeast to the bottle to allow the flavor to continue to develop for many years to come. More on how I harvested it and propagated it on an upcoming post.
While the crust was proofing I took advantage of the hot oven and tossed in a loaf of rosemary-basil chiabatta bread. Before tossing it onto the baking stone I brushed it with an oil blend that I made using garlic, basil, and rosemary. Finish it off with a liberal sprinkling of flaked seas salt and in it goes for 45 minuted at 425.
When the boss got home with the girls the declaration was made that they were starving! I sliced the warm bread and slid the butter to them so I could get on with the pizza making. I was told that it was the best bread to date! "Pnut" kept saying "more-more-more". It was certainly a hit, with it's salty,herbaceous, garlic encrusted exterior, and that perfect warm chewy interior soaked with melted butter!
On to the pizza!
I rolled out the huge rectangle crust that is roughly the size of my pizza stone, and slipped it into the oven to bake off. A bit earlier I caramelized three whole onions, until they were golden and sugar-sweet. I sliced the kalamata olives, FRESH mozzarella, peeled, seeded, and diced three tomatoes. Thinly sliced several porcini mushrooms, and raw garlic. Our friend Karen was kind enough to let me pick a LOT of fresh basil from her garden last night, and my intent was to made this aromatic herb the star of the show!
Once the pizza crust is almost cracker-crispy I pull it out and brush it with the garlic herb oil, then begin the layering of all the goodies! The sweet caramelized onions were first, then a thin glaze of scratch-made pizza sauce, those earthy porcini mushrooms, huge discs of fresh mozzarella, kalamata olives, diced tomatoes, slivered garlic, then LOTS of fresh picked basil!
Back onto the HOT pizza stone for about 8 minutes, then under the broiler for 2-4, and VIOLA!
Seriously the best pizza on earth!
Sunday is our crazy make-all-the-food-for-the-week day!
While I was making bread and pizza I was also grilling chicken out on the BBQ.
I am a little biased but I think I make the best chicken you're ever likely to find!
I made 8 breasts, then they get sliced and placed in freezer bags for the weeks lunches.
Come on over, we'll feed ya!
As time goes on I will be posting recipes, and techniques, however feel free to contact me if you should have any questions about the things we whip up in our kitchen!
"life is too short to eat bad food"
I think this may be one of my favorite blogs. I want to cook like you do!!
ReplyDeleteThank you SO much for the kind words, Molly!
ReplyDeleteWe can hardly wait to have you and your beautiful family out for the christening of our new home! We'll cook up something yummy!