Author Topic: Everest Base Camp (Read 745 times)

JamieC · « **on:** July 02, 2012, 08:51:22 PM »

Just getting my new wood fired oven going the last couple weeks, ready to begin my quest for the peak of Neopolitan pizza. When I look at the pizzas that people like Craig have been posting, I'm inspired. It's a bit like climbing Mt. Everest, I'd like to get up there and plant my flag in their worthy company. The beauty of this forum is that I've learned a ton from all of the hard-learned lessons of the members, so I feel like I don't have to start from scratch. It's a little bit like flying straight to Everest base camp to start the journey. I'm still trying to get an Ischia culture up and running (my first try didn't work out, ordered another batch of starter culture to give it another shot with better temperature control), so I'm using a classical dough recipe with Caputo 00 at 60% hydration, ADY and a 24 hour proof. Cooked the first pair (margherita and a clone of Craig's mushroom bianco pie) at about 740 degrees, then ramped up the temp for the last one to about 825, which I liked a lot better. The last 2 photos are my Spanish pizza (top and bottom), with standard tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, Spanish cooking chorizo (the kind that isn't dry cured), piquillo peppers and a dash of smoked paprika. That one came out really nice, although I'm looking for more pronounced cornicione than this.

Jamie

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2012, 10:19:31 PM »

Jamie, all you pies look good, but your Spanish pie is especially nice. Way beyond base camp. That one is about up to the Lhotse face.

CL

JamieC · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2012, 10:22:54 PM »

Thanks Craig, appreciate the compliment!

bfguilford · « **Reply #3 on:** July 03, 2012, 08:34:41 AM »

Nice looking Spanish pie. And the best thing is that you don't have to worry about altitude sickness.

Seriously, this site is fantastic for people like you and me, who want to learn from others who are eager to share their knowledge (and never shy about sharing their opinions). Soak it up like a sponge (or a poolish or a biga).

*turns off bizarre sense of humor (but only temporarily)*

Barry

Tory · « **Reply #4 on:** July 03, 2012, 10:27:01 AM »

JamieC,

Hi. the pies do look delicious.

Tory

JamieC · « **Reply #5 on:** July 06, 2012, 07:29:51 PM »

Made another dozen pies for the 4th of July. Still making progress, the biggest hits were the Spanish pie, and a "Mexicana" that I didn't get a photo of yet. It's a bianco with a base of mojo de ajo (slow cooked garlic in olive oil & lime juice), oaxaca & cotija cheeses, chorizo and roasted poblano peppers. I made an homage to Craig's brussels sprouts pie using bacon instead of pancetta--need to figure out how to get the leaves just a bit more cooked. I've started a new tradition experimenting with dessert pies after making enough traditional pies to fill everybody up. Probably not terribly Neopolitan, but still fun to make. The 2nd photo is a PBJ--that's right, I said PBJ! Not my personal favorite but the teenagers and most of the adults just loved it. The sugar in the peanut butter burns really quickly, so I put non-stick foil on it for the first 30-40 seconds, and added the jelly after cooking in order to get a more pure, less caramelized flavor from it. Still fine-tuning the process. The last photo is still an emerging pizza engineering project but shows a lot of promise--it's a bananas foster pie. I was afraid of burning the brown sugar in the sauce to a crisp so I covered it for too long and it didn't really caramelize enough--next time I'll skip the foil unless it shows signs of burning. Flavor was really outstanding, just need to work on the evenness of cooking across dough and topping.