Posts Tagged ‘stanislaus tomatoes’

Late April Superbaking

                                     

Patty Nally is the brains behind our whole baking operation. She has mastered the art of baking and makes practically all our schiacciata, fougasse and specialty stuffed breads.

Dag! The worse thing about having a blog and making alot of food is being too busy (and thus too forgetful) to document all the processes, recipes and drama that happpens in baking.

                                       

Above is my “Scaletta,” an Asiago-stuffed slim ciabatta with black and green Cerignola olives, Molinari pepperoni and roasted garlic.

This year, I’m trying to commit myself to document some the righteous, bodacious, delicious and downright wierd stuff we bake here at Avalanche. Luckily, I’ve got a grat guy named Keith Mc Carthy to help with photo’s. Otherwise, I’ll  stop, was my hands, grab the camera and snap away.

                                           

Here is my King Family Farm chorizo and peppered bacon meatballs on a schiacciata with Bellweather Farms Crescenza from Sonoma County, fresh mozzarella, Stanislaus Alt Cucina tomatoes, fresh basil and Calabrian chili’s. (do I even havta say ‘yum’)

                    

I love making these Boule’s or what the French call “Bowls.” I use an organic levain made with spelt flour and knead these three times over a period of 2 days while they are retarding in my walk-in, this makes for a tight but consistant crumb perfect for sandwiches or bowling. “Steeeee-rike”

Here is a video of what we baked for this weeks Farmers Market. Please try to overlook the fact that my brain is fried from baking for 12 hours straight. (I mis identify the large loaf which is actually what I call a “Flintstone Wheel” or a Tortanno-type of large bread.)

Baking in the “Great Unwashed Middle of America”

It’s early November and while the country is clamoring for (yet another) “change” in government, some of us keep on bakin’.

We’re here in Southeast Ohio, a place Katie Couric describes as the “Great unwashed middle of America.” We’re keeping ourselves busy fermenting, mixing, holding, filling, topping proofing and schlepping pizzas and breads to our loyal customers. The veggies  came from either the Athens Farmers Market or from the Amish in Chesterhill, Ohio.

Besides some big Fougasse and Northern-pike looking garlic-pudding stuffed Fougasse, Patty Nally, Joel Fair and I made big Turkish Spinach Pides (Pi-DAY) with ricotta, Parmesan and aged cheddar. Today’s Pizza al Metro are made with Stanislaus Alta Cucina tomatoes mixed with our organic Christina’s tomato puree from Escalon.

I use a stellar organic sauce on my Pizza Margherita.

We also made Schiacciata with arugula, Parmesan, purple carrots, pickled green tomatoes and turnip, French fingerlings and the last of the Starline Organics cherry tomatoes. All are coated with melting Gruyere.

Add to this mix the Sukkar bi Tahin, sweetened tahini rolled in dough and cooked, then stuffed with a poached pear.

We went through a tremendous amount of mushrooms for the Super Mushroom Bread and the mushroom pizzas. I used porcini, shiitake, portobello, button and oyster mushrooms, along with imported Fontina and Gruyere.

I topped the Scaletta, or ladder sticks, with heavily-smoked local pepper bacon or immature Cerignola and Castelveltrano olives from Italy that I usually mispronounce.

It was a great crowd and I felt so good, I decided to treat myself  to my monthly shower. Thanks for reminding me, Katie!