Archive for the ‘Northern Italian Pizza Recipes’ Category

When a Fold is Knot Enough

I do alot of tying and folding with all sorts of pizza and breads. Here are a few. These delicious “O Face” pizzas (above) are very popular. They are the spawn of two elements; Very large blobs of sourdough and not enough time to ball, wait and form a disc before cooking. These have my favorite combination of cured baby bok choy and Tokyo Turnips wtih Gochujang, miso and teriyaki with pumpkin seeds atop aged provolone. (Don’t laugh- the flavor is spot on!)

Traditional bakers shutter at this horrendous baking activity. I admit that this may go against forming the perfect alveoli or cell structure, crust… bla, bla, bla, but this is delicious and really cool. I call it “Pane Groviglio,” (tangled bread) and is a prime example of when a bread crosses the line to pasta, then encased like sausage or crepinette. I first flattened and cut strips from an aged sourdough keeping them separate then tossed in a cured local pork belly that I roasted with Baharat spice, pine nuts, Jerusalem artichokes, cilantro and lemon zest. Then I wrapped and tied with caul fat after topping each batard with basil. This is a tricky bake but if you are crazy enough, you can pull it off.

  

Look at that anti-crumb and crisp, porky crust. DEElish.

There are some other breads and pizzas that I twist, tie, slice and stuff like this spelt “Cornetta” with lovely local Vest Farms carrots that I par-roasted and wove into this dough.

Talk about a mega-fold. This is our “Gorilla Bread” which I make in some old Detroit pizza pans. Like Monkey Bread, its a amalgamation of dough, sweetness, spice and nuts. This contains copious amounts of maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, pecan and walnut. I have to skewer these to keep them in line but this works well to stick them in large pumpkins like a pin cushion.

Dr. Seuss is in the house! One of my favorite knotted pizzas is this “Quattro Nodi” or four knot pie with some great summer cherry tomatoes from Cowdery Farms, Green Edge Gardens basil, aged mozzarella and fior di latte mozzarella with Corto extra virgin olive oil.

 

Here is a traditional, non-traditional Stuffed Simit wtih almond, cashew, local Integration Acres Feta, za’atar, fresh spinach, sesame, mint and pomegranate molasses. First it is sliced with a razor blade then folded over and over again, brushed with the molasses and sprinkled with sesame.

These are one of my favorites. The traditional Pain Tordu or twisted baguette or batard is twisted into a new flavor profile with two things I like best on high hydrated ciabatta dough- Chinese five-spice and sesame. The fragrance and taste is incomparable.

“Tangled up in Ramps.” (Pain tresse au poireau sauvage) This is a springtime wonder as a folded and knotted batard with dough impregnated with King Family bacon ends, Harmony Hollow Ham, cracked peppercorn and Integration Acres Caprino Pecorino.

Well, there you have a few of my twisted creations. Now, I’ve gotta remember how to tie my shoes. See ya

 

 

Bone Marrow, Turnip and Staghorn Sumac Pizza

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Winter is a great crisp season with plenty of cabin time to contemplate exactly what makes a fabulous pie. Gone are the playful distractions of summer and the bounty of all the great produce from farms around these parts. These cold months used to be the leanest times in the days of old as foods were either pulled from pickling jars in root cellars or fermented to lengthen the lifespan. These days, it seems that everything is so readily available as long as those giant fossil-fuel, tractor-trailers keep loading up our mega stores with foods from all over the world.

Convenience is the hallmark word of todays food system where terms like ‘Conventional’ has replaced ‘sprayed’ and “local” is relegated to tags referring to a distribution hub, not a field. (That’s you Kroger!)

I’ve decided to embrace three of the foods I’ve found outside in the these winter days of southeast Ohio; The Staghorn Sumac and a frozen Italian flat-leaf parsley plant along with some crisp radishes that my friend and teacher Keith Mcartney grew with his class at Federal Hocking High School. I’ve incorporated all three into a pizza with roasted bone marrow, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Teleggio.

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I started with the Staghorn Sumac as a tea. The sumac I collected was from atop a mountain in a forest in Vinton county right over where we saw some nice logs of bobcat scat. It was perfectly dried from the strong winds.

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After rinsing the sumac thoroughly, I reduced it  in a pot of boiling water brought to a simmer until the liquid looked dark and tasted like a sumac tea. I then strained the sumac and reduced the liquid by half. Then I added sugar and local honey to taste and reduced further for a wonderful balsamic like glaze, (above). This sumac glaze had a wonderful cranberry-pink lemonaide flavor with hints of raspberry and was very easy to make.

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Now I wanted to use a frozen parsley plant that was lingering in my garden.

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So I just yanked that baby up and went right after the “artichokes” that were growing off the hearty root bottom. These were crisp and tender.

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After cutting and cleaning these artichoke-like buds, I quickly heated a brine of apple cider vinegar, champagne vinegar, cumin seed, mustard seed, black peppercorn and celery seed with a little local Cantrell honey then poured it over the chokes and let them steep until they were pickled and ultra tender. I then refrigerated them

I then sliced the turnip thinly in discs and sautéed in extra virgin olive oil with a thin seasoning of salt and white pepper until tender.

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I took the marrow bones and placed in a pre-heated 450 degree oven for only about 12 minutes until the marrow was just loosened up. (Remember, this will cook on a pizza later.) Letting the marrow cool, I then coaxed it out with my finger and sliced for topping.

So now I was ready to make my pie.

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I first made sure my oven was at or above 600 degrees then topped my disc with the Parmigiano and the turnip discs.

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Then I topped with teleggio followed by the sliced bone marrow.

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I  stoked the this baby in the oven until nice, golden brown and crisp then I added Japanese-mandolin-sliced rasishes, the pickled parsley root artichokes and a nice swirl of the Staghorn Sumac glaze.

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This pizza has it all for a great winter adjective chowfest! The creamy Teleggio melted in with the beefy marrow and meaty turnip followed by the lingering Parmigiano umami, the crunch of the radish and sweet and sour welcome of my wild friends of winter.