11/10/12 My Quest for the Perfect Crust

I don't know anyone who doesn't like pizza.

The night before I was born, my mother ate an entire large pizza by herself.  Little did she know that she had just solidified my love for pizza.  When I was little, it was cheese pizza.  I grew up a little and moved to pepperoni and cheese.  Then I started working in a pizza kitchen.  This opened up a whole new world of pizza toppings for me.  I'm still a pizza purist (meaning I believe the best pizza has a good crust, red sauce, and no more than 4 toppings) but I have broadened my horizons as to which toppings make a really great pizza.

But first....the crust. 

I have tried about 6 different dough recipes.  Some of them tore too easily, some of them turned out soggy in the middle, some were too doughy, some were not crunchy at all!  So I started experimenting with different amounts of yeast and how long to let the yeast bloom.  Some recipes call for a full bloom and some recipes want you to mix the yeast and water straight into the flour, then let it rest. Being a novice at pizza dough, I didn't know what methods and ingredients I needed to get my personal taste for the crust.  I found a really great dough recipe the other day!  This one calls for AP flour, normal yeast, some kneading, and some resting.  That recipe was pretty close to what I'm looking for. It stretched out to a decent size (between 10" and 12") and had decent heft to it, but it wasn't airy enough for me.  I did some more research and found out that I need to be using high gluten flour!

Have I lost you yet?

Gluten is what makes bread awesome.  Higher protein flours are best for breads, pizza doughs and whatnot because protein equals gluten, and gluten is what gives you that chewy, airy goodness we all love in a pizza crust.  So I found some high gluten flour.  I also decided I am going to try to duplicate one of my favorite dough recipes at home.  The Mellow Mushroom has some of the best pizza crust I've ever had.  Their dough has the perfect amount of airiness, chewiness, and crunchy-ness for me.  Again, after doing more research I discovered two things about their dough.   The first is that they use spring water rather than tap.  That may seem inconsequential, but think about it.  Why does New Orleans have the best French bread?  Why does NYC have world-famous pizza?  WATER!  It's all in the water!

The second thing unique to Mellow Mushroom's dough is molasses.  Most pizza doughs call for sugar or honey to feed the yeast.  The recipe I linked to earlier does not call for either.  I know molasses has a unique flavor that you can't really get around, and spring water is cheap, right?  So I bought a jug of water and a jar of molasses.

I currently have a dough ball rising on top of my fridge (best place to let dough rise because it needs to be in a warm place) that is an amalgam of both tecniques.  I used the same proportions from the recipe I linked to, but to the dry ingredients I added about 2 teaspoons of dried rosemary and 2 tablespoons of molasses, while using high gluten flour and spring water.

This is what it looks like before kneading:

This is what the dough looks like after 8 minutes of kneading and about 30 minutes rising: 

This is what the dough looks like after a full 1.5 hour rise , being punched down, and pinched in half.  The recipe makes enough dough for 2 12" pizzas.  Save the second dough ball in a greased bag in the freezer, or in the bowl in the refrigerator for up to  24 hours.

This is the dough stretched out on my peel.  I could tell this dough was going to be a winner as soon as I started to stretch it.  Full of gluten, it was hefty enough for me to slap hand to hand in the air without tearing!  That, my friends, is GOOD pizza dough!

This is my dough topped....

And THIS is the finished product!!!!

I turn my oven up as high as it will go (500 degrees) and slide the pizza onto the stone that's been preheating.  Fresh pizza needs to be cooked HOT and FAST!  My pizza usually takes about 10 minutes to fully cook.  Trust me.  See how the crust has a nice big air hole in it? 

See how the bottom browned so nicely? 

I think I've found my perfect at home pizza dough.  The molasses gave the dough a nice earthy flavor without changing the taste too much.  I'm sure you could cut the molasses in half and still have great dough, but I like the look and taste it gives my pizza. 

The point I'm trying to make with this post is that great pizza can come from your kitchen!  My molasses cost $3, a 5 pound bag of bread flour was about $5, and a gallon on spring water was less than $2.  For ten dollars I will be able to make at least 50 pizza dough balls.  Literally 50.  Probably more than that!  I also bought my yeast in a jar rather than those little packs, and I keep it in the freezer.  It cost me $5 two years ago and I have just under half the jar left to use. 

 Getting your dough right is a matter of trial and error.   Don't get discouraged if you run into problems at first.  Everyone does!  The important thing is to keep trying.  If you love pizza as much as I do, the savings are monumental by making gourmet pizza at home.  I'm talking literally pennies on the dollar compared to ordering out.

I hope this post inspires you to give home pizza a shot!  Thanks for reading!

10/30/12 "Stock"ing Up for Gumbo

Hello everyone!

Today is a good day, because today I am making gumbo.

I used to make gumbo all the time when I worked at Whole Foods.  We had these huge commercial electric skillets that held 30 gallons, so when I made gumbo at work it was huge, serious undertaking.  It's funny but even when you've made something a million times, it's very different to make it in a huge batch. 

30 gallons of gumbo at work?  No problem!
2 gallons of gumbo at home? Um...where's that Emeril recipe....

The first time I made gumbo at home, I used this recipe.  I made a few changes because of what I had on hand, and it came out amazingly. I used breast of chicken rather than thighs (I love thighs, I just didn't have any).  I omitted the green onions, parsley, and file simply because I didn't have any.  Guess what?  It was still amazing.    One of my friends told me it was the best gumbo she'd ever had.  For a foodie, this is the highest compliment you can receive.  I was beaming. 

The big thing that was missing in my mind however, was the stock.  I used my favorite chicken base Better Than Bouillon (thanks Beth! read her blog Budget Bytes)  to make chicken broth and it tasted great!  But having made stocks of all kinds at Whole Foods and being told that I made great stocks, I was dying to make one at home.  The trouble is, a good rich stock takes many things that if you go out and purchase specifically for stock, can be quite expensive.  So I started a bag.  Into this bag I put my onion skins, green onion ends, a piece of a shallot I had leftover.  I also added some celery ends, a cut-up carrot, and some herb stems.  I chucked this bag into the freezer and whenever I cooked, I put my food "waste" into this bag.  Soon I had filled a quart size bag and I was happy. 

Man cannot make chicken stock with veggies alone, however, so I was stuck.  I usually only keep frozen chicken breasts on hand.  With Fall fast approaching I knew what to do. 

"I am going to roast a chicken!" said the single girl who lives alone.

Luckily for me I have friends who like to come eat when I cook.  So I roasted a chicken. 

And it came out pretty damn good.  But I had an ulterior motive.  BOOOOOOOONES!  I needed the bones!  And all that yummy connective tissue that kinda grosses me out on a visceral level but the cook in me knows is VITAL to a rich flavorful stock!  So I saved those bones. 

This is the beginning of the stock:

Besides the chicken carcass and all the veggie stuffs, I added some whole black peppercorns and a few herbs.  Most stocks call for parsley and thyme, but I had basil, oregano, and rosemary. 

So basically what you do is get your biggest pot.  Put your stuffs in there.  Fill it with water.  Bring it to a boil, then let it simmer or "soft boil" for 2 hours.  Strain it out REALLY GOOD because there's gonna be lots of yucky bits in there.  Then you can either let it cool and freeze it for future use, or use it that evening.  There's nothing like homemade chicken stock.  NOTHING! 

This is my stock less than an hour in:

See how the water has become murky?  That's what dreams are made of.  I will continue this process for at least another hour and a half.  Then I will have liquid gold!  My mouth is watering for the gumbo I will make tonight.  Oh and did I mention fresh bread?  Yeah I'm gonna make that too.  You wanna make bread too!?  Well you're in luck, because this is the easiest, tastiest bread I've ever made.  I call it THAT BREAD because it needs no other explanation.  Enjoy!

Well I think I've talked enough for today. My condo smells great right now thanks to my stock simmering merrily away.  I think I'll watch some 30 Rock while I'm waiting to strain it. 

As always, thanks for reading!

10/21/2012 Vocalpoint

There it is. A new adventure! Since I am currently(temporarily [hopefully]) unemployed, I began looking around the web for freebies. There's a whole fleet of companies dying to let you try their product for free. They want to send you free stuff so badly, and the trade-off? Your opinion! Yes, these companies want your opinion on their prodcuts! I stumbled onto vocalpoint through an offer. It said you had to register with vocalpoint to get the offer, but i did some research and this site seems legit. This article says that vocalpoint is a Proctor & Gamble run website that sends free samples to get the "mom"'s opinion. I'm all for it! So I put my official vocalpoint badge at the top of this post. I'll let you know what I receieve and when, and post my review of it here as well on vocalpoint. I can't wait for my first sample!

10/9/12 Resurrection

My, my, my. It certainly has been a long time.
My life has seen some major changes over the last few months. When last I wrote and you read, I was still new at my job. I had lost the condo of my dreams. My mom was cancer-free. First things first: Mom is still cancer-free! She's doing wonderfully. My mother is probably the strongest woman I have ever met, but also the biggest worry-wart on the planet. She continues to amaze and inspire me with her understated strength. I think what makes her so awesome to me is that she doesn't even know how strong she is. She will worry about me going out at night, but she can handle 6 weeks of radiation treatment every day by herself. She's still dancing and living her life to the fullest. She's my hero.

As far as my job is concerned, a lot happened there. I made a few amazing friends, met some really heinous bitches, and had one of the worst bosses ever. I worked there for eight months and decided to call it quits because their values didn't match my own. I guess I'm grateful for the experience, but it was the kind of place that made you fantasize about a meteor hitting the building on your day off. I started to daydream about Dexter-style revenge on this horrid man. Thankfully for both of us I left the place before starting to seriously consider buying visqueen and a hunting knife.

Now I'm on the hunt for my Next Big Thing. I'll probably have to wait tables again for a while, but I'm okay with that. One thing I cannot abide by is being talked down to by a boss that has no idea who I am or what I'm capable of. I have no regrets about quitting the bakery. Now, while I may indeed have to take some shit from customers I wait on, they will go home after an hour and I can get them out of my mind.

Last but not least, regarding the condo.... I AM A HOMEOWNER!!! When I opted out of the deal due to the water damage, the bank that holds the title decided they did not want to fix the problem. They wanted to dump the property. They cut the asking price in HALF and since I'd already had an offer in, I got first dibs on the new deal. Well, we jumped at it. I signed the new pruchase agreement the next day and began the process of closing. On May 14, 2012, I became a homeowner. It was a very surreal feeling. Sometimes I still sit in awe and wonder how I got so lucky. The catch? The water issue was now my problem to fix. I hired a tree service to remove the tree and grind out the stump, and my father and his bestie regraded the soil away from my building. We painted every wall, ripped out all of the old ruined laminate flooring and replaced with 5 year old bamboo in the living room. We put a beautiful grey champagne frieze carpet in my bedroom, and the most amazing Italian tile in my foyer. My father and I even wallpapered an accent wall in my bedroom all by ourselves. The pièce de résistance is my custom built bar. My father built me a bar! It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It is My Precious. I wanted a dark wood shelved bar with a lean rail and a tile top to match my foyer. My dad gave me just that- the bar of my dreams. Forgive my picture quality, I'm still twerkin the iPhone 3GS.



She's a beauty, eh? I know this post has been mammoth and I appreciate you sticking with me. If you've read this far, leave a comment! My new crib includes wifi (HALLELUJER) so I will try to make regular updates. Thanks for reading :)

3/5/12 Pinterest mini post!

I'm officially on Pinterest, so follow me! So far I've pinned mostly food, but we'll see ;)

Happy reading!

2/24/12 The Good, The Bad, The....Bored?

Hi readers!

First things first-  my mom had a PET scan and a bone scan this week and they both came back negative!  As of right now she is CANCER-FREE!!!!  I'm so excited.  She will do 6 weeks of radiation therapy and maybe some other treatment, but this is very good news.  So far, no chemo...*sigh of relief*

Now the bad...I am not getting the condo.  I should say, not getting THAT condo.  As we all know, Mardi Gras just passed and the one parade I really make a big deal out of is Spanish Town.  This year I had my tutu, a big shiny pink plastic boa, and I even made my own pink and white feather headband.  Well, it POURED on the Saturday of the parade.  My father, ever the cautious one, said to my mom "let's go check out the place while it's raining.' Lo and behold, the condo was full of water.  And mold.  The problem was not flooding, rather that the ground outside was above the slab.  The rain water was draining into the apartment, rather than away from it.

I was heartbroken!  Devastated!  But also feeling pretty fortunate that we uncovered this problem before I signed the papers!  I just keep going back and forth between feeling really sad and feeling really happy that I dodged a bullet.  I mean this place was beautiful, in our price range, etc etc and I'll admit I got my hopes up a little bit.  Oh well.  There is most likely another place out there with my name on it.

More good news:  I am officially done with DWI court!  I was arrested in 2008 and have been in and out of court for almost 4 years.  Well folks I completed everything the judge asked me to do, paid all of my fines, and on Ash Wednesday was officially DONE!  Feels like winning the lottery.

So, work isn't crazy anymore!  Yesterday was my first day after King cake season and I was almost literally yawning all day long!  That was certainly not expected.  I guess I'll start finding things to lean- I mean CLEAN..yeah that's it....clean.  Heh.

Til next time, happy reading!

2/12/12 Times, they are a-changin'

So much has happened since my last blog post, I barely know where to begin.

Since last I typed and you read, I started my new job at the bakery so I'll talk about that for a little bit.  One word describes pretty much every day there:  crazy.  The customers are crazy about cake (I need a strawberry cake, but not that one, it's too pink), the workers are crazy over the customers (seriously who pays this much for a cake?!?!), the business hours are crazy (6am to 6pm most days), and Saturdays are nonstop.  There is a steady stream of people coming through the door from around 10am til we lock the doors at 5pm (or in yesterday's case, 4:55) and even then people still try to come in for one last cake.  Most of the customers are really nice and very patient.  The best part of my day is seeing a customer's face light up like a child's when I hand them their sweets.  I love seeing happy faces.  I also love when a customer comes in to pick up the cake they ordered, and it exceeds their expectations to the point where they can"t stop smiling, and waiting in a line with 15+ people is no problem.

One downside is that I'm on my feet for literally 8 hours, with only 30 minutes for lunch.  It's nothing I'm not used to, but that doesn't make it any easier.  As long as I stay hydrated though I'm okay. 

I like my job, and that's the most important thing.

The second big change since last I typed you read is my living situation.  I currently live alone in a one bedroom apartment.  While I like it, it is a little trying sometimes.  I have some loud neighbors, my place is really small, there is no yard, etc.  But it has some good things too.  It's small, and my landlady loves me.  I've lived there for almost 4 years and have never had any real problems.

As of this week, I am trying to buy a condominium.  Oddly enough it's about 30 seconds from where I live right now, but with some HUGE plusses.  The first is that it's over twice the size of my apartment.  It's also on the first floor and has a beautiful front yard with 3 huge old live oaks in front of my door.  It's also a walk across the parking lot to the pool :) and the pool has a pavilion for parties! 

It's hard for me not to get my hopes up when something like this is so close to my reach...my parents are very VERY generously helping me with the loan.  Without them, I would probably be doomed to rent forever.  They showed me the place on Monday; Tuesday we filled out the loan application.  Wednesday morning we turned in the app to the bank and by noon had learned that we qualified for the loan.  Thursday night I signed a purchase agreement. 

It's a terrifying, exhilarating experience.  We scheduled the closing for April 2nd, so if everything goes well (all my home inspections, the appraisal, etc) I could be a homeowner in about a month.  A MONTH!!!!!!!  It's absolutely insane to me to think that just last month I was struggling to pay my bills, and this month not only do I have a great full-time job, but I'm actually trying to buy my own home, and will be responsible for a 30 year mortgage.

It's enough to keep me up at night.

Somehow I mananged to get to sleep after signing the purchase agreement.  I'm sure that soon I will start having nightmares about termites, black mold, and frozen pipes that may burst...and then who do I call?  I'll be my own landlady.  Again, the thought is exhilarating, but terrifying.

Lastly, the most important news of all...
Around Christmas we found out Mom has breast cancer.  It was a huge devastating blow.  She was classified as Stage 1, and had a lumpectomy which went well.  But they said her lymph nodes tested positive, which changed her staging to high stage 2, possibly 3.  This was really hard for me to handle.  She was at home for almost two weeks after surgery, and it really took a toll on her, and most of all my dad. But we stayed strong.  We kept thinking good thoughts. 

Well finally the tissue samples came back (the same day we qualified for the loan) and her cancer is apparently very low risk, and she most likely will NOT have to go through chemo.  I cried tears of joy when I found out. 

I guess I'll wrap things up for now since this post is ridiculously long.  I hope you have enjoyed reading, and hopefully I'll post again soon!

1/19/12 A New Hope

Good morning everybody! Today marks another change for me in 2012. I got a job at a bakery! I've thought and thought about working in a bakery but last week i finally got around to applying to some around town. My interview this morning went great and I should start in about a week. I'm so excited! I'll be behind the service counter for a while, distributing pastries and barista-ing. I can't wait to start what feels like my new career.

However, this throws one huge fucking wrench into my weight-loss aspirations.

-G

1/16/12 Out of facebook, a blog.

A blog.

I've often thought about starting a blog, mainly when my friends would tell me "Your facebook statuses are so hilarious!" At the risk of sounding conceited, I think I'm pretty funny.  I was more than thrilled when other people told me they thought I was funny too. 

So here I am, starting a blog!  I will admit, I kinda have no idea what I'm doing yet.  I know I want to talk about my life.  I want to talk about my love of food, but I don't neccessarily want to be exclusively a food blogger.  I will most definitely air my grievances, which will most definitely be peppered with four letter words common to sailors.  I want to talk about my dreams, which are crazy vivid and often just plain crazy.  People say to write what you know.  Well, I'm going to be writing what I know, what I wonder, and what I love.

That being said, you can't blog without an internet connection.  I, sadly, do not have an internet connection at my apartment so my posts may have some time gaps between them.  For that reason I will be dating my posts when I write them.  If I happen to have inspiration strike while I'm at home, I can hammer out some text and post it the next time I find a wifi bubble.  Please bear with me!

Last of all, I want to talk about my blog title, Gina-fied.  I thought it was a good enough title to have my name in it, it's short and sweet and easy to remember, and it doesn't limit me to just cooking or dreams or whatever.  This is a new adventure for me!  I welcome comments and constructive criticism (but go easy on me please, I'm a delicate flower) and hope to write something that is not only for me, but for you as well.

2012 promises to bring lots of changes, and my blog is just one of many in my life.  If you've made it this far, then maybe I can keep you going just a bit further.

-G