Posts Tagged ‘pizza blog’

Loaf Vadar and Dark Side of Baking

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This  year brought a lot of new and different pizzas and breads to my neck of the woods. For some insane reason I’ve found a particular enjoyment in circumventing conventional baking wisdom and over the years have embraced what another traditional baker has called “the gluten dark side.”  It’s taken years to let nature and circumstance drive my baking and I now realize that the only people that give my efforts any relevance are my customers here in this small corner of Appalachia. I am not bound by inane recipes or tradition but by the seasons, my customers and what my farmer-friends grow. Most weeks I feel like “Loaf Vadar”, taking the culinary path less trodden.  I like it near the edge where true local flavor lies.

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In Athens, Ohio, we have the greatest farmers, ranchers and cheese makers in the country. These great folks are all my friends and I love buying local produce, meats and cheeses from them. This weekly spastic exercise is like a giant chefs basket challenge where the seasonal produce dictates my decisions as to what flavor profiles I can manipulate into cohesive deliciousness. I like to see how funky I can get to turn my customers on to the best damn baked products around by incorporating the best local stuff with great traditional meats and cheeses. (above- fresh celeriac from Shade River Farms and Tat Soi from Barrel Ridge Farms.)

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I  love to use wonderful “Agra dolce” or sweet and sour flavor profiles with old-world ingredients like the Stilton, Cherry Orchards pear and Serrano Ham “Cornetta” above and above top.

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Even Mr. Vadar has to have partners and here at Avalanche because besides being a high-volume pizzeria in a college town, we bake massive amounts of breads every week.  I had lots of  help, mentorship and advice from Joel Fair, Torrey, Dane, Dave and so many other this late summer and into November who constantly brought new ideas and techniques to work on. Lets take a tour.

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Whilst baking, I have plenty of time to bang out some righteous pies using different hydration, flours, temperature and fermentation times. Above left is a very nice “Green Tomato Margherita”, the concept of which I totally ripped off from Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery and Co. It is made with Gibson Ridge Farms green tomato sauce, fresh fiore di latte mozzarella, fresh basil and a dollop of San Marzano’s to stave off any traditionalists snarks. On the right is a straight shooter! Local Shagbark Seed and Mill spelt crust with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and roasted Rich Gardens organic Corolla potatoes with a little sprinkle of white truffle oil after the oven.

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“Slash and Burn” sourdough batards above are very cool looking, fun to bake at 600 degrees and even better to eat.

 

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This fougasse above features some bodacious French Breakfast radishes and fresh ginger grown by my friends at Green Edge Gardens atop a flatbread stuffed with Harmony Hollow ham, Ed Perkins’ fresh cilantro, and black and white sesame.

 

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This was a very Violet day at Avalanche. We stuffed local Integration Acres Feta in dough with Vest Farms Beets, Sassafras Farms dill for a killer fougasse called “Beet me in St. Louis” or “Can’t Beet This” or some other stupid name we come up with at 4 a.m. (Torrey, I miss you telling me how fucked-up the names sound- even though Dane does that now.)

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Pain Tordu, or twisted baguette on the left and some crimped and crispy pizzas on the right are also crowd faves.

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With the coming of the cooler weather, roots of all kinds are a smash hit. On the left are roasted and sliced Shade River organic celeriac and roasted white potatoes from the Chesterhill Produce Auction paired with Parmigiano Reggiano, toasted leek, house-cured Harmony Hallow Pancetta and crushed Castelvetrano olives. On the right is a wonderful combination of curried Vest Farms sweet potato, Gruyere, toasted pumkin seed and local parsley.

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I love making couronne. The large forty-ounce loaf on the left is made with a sixty-hour, cold fermented dough and is called the ‘Flintsone Wheel’ and Dane Salabak rolled some really cool aged mozzarella and provolone with basil pesto into some slitted couronne on the right. Delicious.

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Spanish Saffron is a delight, especially cooked in a moist, wheaty profile like these pizzettes. I made these using saffron, extra virgin olive oil and onions and kneaded into the dough. I aged these for two days in cold fermentation then topped with Manchego Cheese from La Manchia, a bombastic house-made chorizo and roasted Rich Farms Corolla potato.

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Not all pizza have to be round! This crunchy pizza (above) is my Vest Farms “Carrot Star” with Gruyere, Integration Acres chevre, roasted beet and sweet Toro peppers from Cowdery farms.

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I sell a lot of filled ladder bread like the Italian sausage, above left with onion, green pepper and poppy seed. A real fun fougasse that I made was this pork belly sunburst fougasse; cured pork belly sliced and baked with plenty of fresh Green Edge Gardens cilantro, corn, onion and topped with sunflower seeds.

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Above is my Pissalidiere New Style; Sicilian and Turkish white anchovies adorn this crisp olive oil crust with a scallion-basil-lemon pesto, Spanish Manchego Cheese, Cowdery Farms “Cherry Bomb” peppers roasted and filled with San Remo olive pesto, capers and finished with real Sardinian Bottarga!

 

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Using a technique to bring as much saffron flavor into dough, I’ve kneaded roasted onion into a very hydrated saffron dough and incorporated it into a Focaccia al Metro above. Kernza is a perennial wheat that is heralding the beginning of sustainable farming techniques that cut out tilling, (and thus erosion), chemical fertilizers, water and all the energy and oil involved with the stupid practice of re-planting seeds every year. It has a nice nuanced molasses flavor akin to pumpernickel.

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Dane really kicks ass with massive amounts of fresh ciabatta that he baked. This sandwich has Prosciutto di Parma, fresh arugula, roasted sweet peppers, roasted Portobello, brie and balsamic glaze with a little Parmigiano Reggiano.

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On the left, above is a fab Spanish style Coca with an organic potato-garlic puree, saffron onion, white beans and Manchego with roasted Cowdery Toro peppers and Spanish Boquerones or white anchovies and capers. On the right is our “Canoli-rita” with roasted Chesterhill roma tomato, fresh basil, Piave Vecchio and Parmigiano Reggiano. Wow!

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“Italian Stallion” stuffed fougasse above with sweet Soppressata, roasted garlic pudding, aged provolone, fresh spinach, roasted Vest Farms carrots and Yukon gold potatoes.

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Baguettes are one of the first things we make each and every morning, above left. Sometimes, (meaning always), I get a “wild hair” and fold in some cool shit to bake. Example- the Chinese Five-spiced batons stuffed with aged provolone, kimchi and rolled in toasted sesame. Major yum!

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Left above is a stellar “Agra Dolce” profile in a Turkish Pide style dough. This has Stilton, braised Shade River Organic endive, Adriatic fig jam and Marcona almonds.

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I am now experimenting with Kernza. This is a product made from the first harvested Kernza in Ohio with Parmigiano, fresh mozzarella, roasted Portobello’s, Prosciutto di Parma, balsamic glaze and a blast of white truffle oil.

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Above is my take on the traditional Slovakian Cabbage Bread. I took some radical Shade River Organic purple cabbage and Shews Orchard Granny Smith apples, roasted both with caraway and kneaded, baked and sold all 28 of them in under an hour. (I think it was the freaky scales that did it!)

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I love stuffed breads so I had to do my version of a traditional Casatiello di Napoletana. This is with Parmigiano Reggiano, roasted Cowdery Farms roma tomato, Prosciutto di Parma, Genoa salami, fresh basil and Fiore di Latte curd. What a killer bread- sure to show your “O” face while eating this baby!

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We tie a lot of gluten at Avalanche. many knots appear on our Turkish style Pide like the (above left) “Berry Me in Bacon” with King Family bacon, fresh blueberries, aged provolone and Coonskin Sugarbush Maple Syrup. On the right is another long, crisp Spanish style Coca with cured pork belly, Manchego cheese, saffron onions, Stanislaus Valorosso tomato, fresh spinach and basil.

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These Chinese style Shao Bing crackers we served with our vegan boxes. toasted sesame oil with seeds folded over and over. Speaking of folding, above right is our “Gorrilla Bread”, cinnamon, vanilla, maple and a nice steamed, sweet pull of….sweet, sweet bread!

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Above left we baked Tavola da Surf. These surfboards rock with local Shagbark Seed and Mill polenta, roasted Rich Gardens fingerling potato and Cowdery farms potato-garlic pudding-stuffed cherry bomb peppers along with corn. Above right is some knotted pide with the same garlic pudding, Chesterhill pattypan squash and a dandy sweet puree of Cowdery Farms finest sweet peppers!

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I took a real walk on the wild side with this “Ribread”. Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried this cabbage, Gruyere and baby back masterpiece!

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Asian flavors in bread are not commonplace but my customers love the flavor profile so I continue to make this long tall fougasse, (above left.) It is toasted sesame, local Green Edge Gardens ginger, fresh basil and lemon- the smell as these pop from the oven is alluringly heaven-like. On  the right is our Shagbark Seed and Mill spelt couronne using local spelt grown only 20 miles away by the Amish. It features dried Michigan cherries and walnuts.

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For a great filling dessert type bread, I also make a Lebanese Sukkar bi Tahin. Sweetened tahini rolled in high protein flour then coiled, baked and either topped with almond and maple syrup or a maple poached Cherry Orchard pear.

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So that’s it folks, I hope you can make a few of these delights for your customers or family and friends. I’ll post a video we made last week with more baked goods.

And remember all you freaky traditionalists, if you’re not having fun with food, get a life and join the dark side.

Steely Pan; Naturally Leavened Sourdough Pizza!

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“The spore is in the wind tonight, you won’t feel it til it grows.” – Steely Dan, Rose Darling

Sourdough has been around as long as that small bacterial spore of lactobacilli landed in someones porridge that was left to ferment in some warm place. The ancient Egyptians coaxed the flavor from milled grain and water to make their breads and the Greeks used basil leaves to create the starter for their traditional sourdough.  This bread product has a long history of bakers, pundits and scientists dissecting the types of bacteria that make great sourdough but the basic premise is that sourdough is long fermentation of dough containing natural lactobacilli and yeasts. Like the yeasts, the weaker lactic acids and stronger acetic acids ferment some of the sugars and create carbon dioxide gasses. Acetic acids contribute to the wonderful flavor in this dough as the sour taste. The carbon dioxide pushes against the gluten net forming the cell structure of the finished product.

 

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I’ve been working with sourdough breads and pizzas for 12 years now using straight natural starters as well as old dough, levain, biga, poolish and commercial yeast and any/every combination there is. I’ve found through massive fails and celebratory bakes that there is no single way to produce a fabulous bread or pizza dough. It all depends on time, temperature, flour, yeast, ovens, moisture and for me, what level of finesse my customers expect from me. Above left are the boule and above right the long, naturally fermented Pizza al Metro with fresh spinach, basil, Valoroso tomatoes and fresh mozzarella with ramp pesto and chorizo meatballs.

 

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It takes a certain type of confidence in nature as well as a boatload of patience to not only make but especially to sell  naturally-leavened sourdough pizzas. The time involved in coaxing the dough to optimum sourness is just one aspect making a great sourdough pizza. The technique involved in mixing, holding, forming, panning, proofing, par-baking, baking, cooling and serving is hard to explain to a cost-complaining customer who wants their pizza fast but also to heavy handed employees with other things on his mind. The intricate nature of making a great pan pizza is hard but the reward is in the smile achieved each and every time that beautiful square gets coaxed from the steel pan with its bark riding high.

 

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I have found in my very unprofessional experiments that I can get a better, more sour flavor from the acetic acids by having a 60 to 70 percent hydration level as compared to a more hydrated dough. As with my starter, it is derived from wild yeasts from the Dolomite Mountains of Italy which can tolerate more acidity than commercial yeasts. I’ve refreshed it every other day because the lower hydration (more like a wet biga or sloshy levain) enables the yeasts to eat slower. I do not use commercial yeast in the sourdough, only the starter, salt and water. The key to all this becoming a great bread and pizza is time and temperature. My baker Torrey Evans has also perfected the sourdough process and does it very well producing hundreds of crispy sourdough boules and batards and baguettes each week.

Here we go.

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This is a steel pan. Some jamokes in Detroit call these.. ‘Detroit Steel Pans’ but most of mine were made in Pennsylvania.  Nonetheless, they can be found anywhere and everywhere. They are fantastic for baking a great deep dish pizza in. First though, they need to be seasoned. Seasoning is the black coating of carbon on the inside and outside of every steel pan as it produces a better, more intense bake for any dough’s that are encapsulated in it. To season the pan, wipe with a very thin coating of oil. Vegetable oil seems to work best. Then cook the empty pan at high temperatures, (we prefer 550-600) but look out, the pan will smoke something fierce. Do this a few, maybe ten times for a deep, dark, black sheen of carbon on the steel and you are in business.  To bake a pizza, add a coating of good extra virgin olive oil in the cooled pan and you are ready to make a great pizza.

 

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For this pizza, I used a 30 ounce dough made from Manitoba hard wheat flour and a starter of local Amish spelt and 14 percent protein flour. It was cold fermented for over three days and had a hydration level of 65 percent.

 

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Taking the dough while still cold, I formed a square on a stainless steel table. Because the dough was cold, I was assured I wouldn’t do any damage to the gluten net that would have already formed (by the rise produced by the yeast) if I had let the dough proof in the warm air. I pulled the corners to accommodate the pan.

 

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Then I used Corto olive oil made by my friends, the Cortopassi’s of Stanislaus Tomato Company fame. These guys are as psycho about quality as I am and I switched to their olive oil because simply, it is the best. After stretching, I used my fingertips to “dopple” the dough. This bears down on every internal part of the pizza making sure that a single mega-bubble of carbon dioxide will not blow up in the dough when I bake it.

 

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After covering with plastic wrap I set this pizza near my oven in 70 to 75 degrees to proof for an amazing nine hours. Because I am using natural yeasts that are converting sugars to carbon dioxide in a high-protein environment, the proof is warm, slow and steady. This gives time for the lactic acid as well as the acetic acids both time to thrive on the sugars. Both will create the carbon dioxide that will fill the high-protein gluten net creating the rise in this pan. The sides of the pan will push the cell structures toward the middle of the pan in a small hump. (Note- if I was to try to ‘correct’ the pizza now by sticking my fingers, a spatula or even a small knife near the edges or sides of this proofed pizza, I would ruin it by displacing the gasses and letting some excape creating a dropped or bowed effect anywhere I touched….leave it alone!)

 

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To create a level top to the pizza, I use an old technique of putting a hard-aged cheese around the side of the steel pan. Here I spread a few ounces of aged Asiago. This will act as a glue to keep the dough pushed against the side of the pan in my 550 degree deck oven.

 

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Before par cooking, I put  some aged mozzarella all over the sides and top to help hold the dough down as it hits the heat of my hot oven.

 

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As you can see, after 12 to 15 minutes in a 550 degree oven, the area that I left bare of cheese “popped” up tremendously. Still, the Asiago glued to the side of the pan and held the pizza together. If I hadn’t done this the pizza would look like a mountain.

 

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I let the pie cool for five minutes then topped with more aged mozzarella and provolone and some natural casing pepperoni that will ooze out some glorious juices cooking under the cheese.

 

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I then returned the pizza back to the oven for the final bake, (12-20 minutes should do it, just remember, you have to cook the interior of the pizza dough, there is nothing worse than cutting into a pan pizza and finding dough- this is why I use a long proof time.) I’m crying now….it is a thing of beauty!

 

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I let the pizza sit for at least seven minutes to set the bark along the edges. The key to any sourdough pizza in my neck of the woods is to have a bark that is intact and not fallen down by taking out of the pan too soon. I topped this with some crushed Stanislaus pear tomatoes and some local Snowville Crème Fraiche mixed with just a touch of ricotta as well as some chopped fresh basil.

 

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I suggest leaving the pizza intact just to gloat at the magnificent thing of beauty you have created.

 

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Then slice away and pig out on the crunchy corners first saying to yourself, “All good sourdough comes to dems dat wait.” Amen!