Pizza Made in Indoor Electric “Pizzaiolo” Pizza Oven

After my wife gave me this indoor electric pizza oven for my birthday (at the end of March), I have made quite a few pizzas (4-5 times, total of 10-12 pizzas) in the past 2 and half months. The  pizzas I made were quite good (better than the ones I made using our regular oven) but they can be improved and I kept changing the settings and dough recipes. I also got a pizza steel made for the Pizzaiolo and tried that too. 

Compared to the pizza stone, the steel retains and conducts heat better. When making multiple pizzas, the pizza stone requires a few minutes to recover and reach the correct heat settings after making each pizza. The pizza steel appears to stay hot.  The bottom of the crust gets carbonized a bit too much, though. I only used the pizza steel once.  I have to try a few more time before I can evaluate properly.  I am sticking to the pizza stone for now. 

In any case, picture #1A is my most recent pizza (using “00” flour, half Margherita and half pepperoni). To me, the crust charr marks are just right (“Darkness” setting at 11 o’clock) as compared to #3 which was too charred with the “Darkness” setting at one o’clock.

The next pizza (picture #1B) is our first attempt using pesto (from the basil on home-grown on the window sill) and red pepper sauce. The cheeses are low moisture Mozzarella and fresh goat cheese.

The picture #2 is another Margherita I made earlier. It looks “charred” but the taste was not bad, it did not taste like you are eating pure carbon but it was too much charr. This was the “darkness” setting at one o’clock.

Picture #3 is one of our most popular pizza; artichoke hearts (from a jar) with olives. Cheeses are mozzarella, Irish cheddar, smoked gouda and fresh goat cheese. This was baked immediately after the #3 pizza (I prepared this pizza in a wooden pizza paddle while the first one was being cooked). This made this pizza crust bottom not as crispy and charred since the pizza stone was not completely recovered heat.

Although this is still on-going process, the below are my current set-ups for the oven and dough.

Dough: I tried both “00” and bread flours with and without addition of olive oil. “00” dough without olive oil is a bit too chewy for us but addition of a small amount of olive oil appears to make it better (may not be authentic for Neapolitan or New York pizza). For us, the bread flour or “00” flour does not make a big difference but  we may even prefer “bread-y” consistency of crust using the bread flour.

Ingredients:
3 and 1/2 of flour (either bread or “00”)
2 tbs olive oil
1 (or a bit more) cup of water
2 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp instant yeast

Directions: (I use the food processor fitted with a kneading blade in low-speed up to 4 cups  of flour).
After running the blade to mix all the dry ingredients, I drizzle the water in a thin steady stream as it is running until the dough forms above the blade (the surface is a bit sticky). Let it sit for 5 minutes for better hydration and run another 1-2 minutes. Take it out on a floured board and hand knead until elastic. Placed the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat all the surface, cover it with a plastic wrap and place it in a proofing box at 85F for 1 hour or until doubles.

Deflate gently, fold several times and divide it up into 4 equal dough balls (I weigh making 4 balls of a bit over  200grams each). After the first rise, I divide the dough and form 4 balls with a smooth surface. Place it in a small Ziploc bag coated with olive oil inside and let it sit in the refrigerator at least overnight or up to  several days. I take out the dough balls one hour before baking and let it come to the room temperature. If I do not use it within several days, I freeze them. (to use the frozen dough, I transfer it to the refrigerator one day before to completely thaw).

I hand stretch the dough to make 10 inch pizza, coat it with olive oil with crushed garlic. I place the slices of  low moisture Mozzarella first and then tomato sauce.

Oven settings: “Wood fired” and the darkness setting to “11 o’clock”. Preheat for 30 minutes. I use the modified the wooden paddles which fit the oven perfectly. I use corn meal on the paddle so that the dough slides better. I cook for 2 minutes (as it is the automatically setting). Steam and some smoke come out during cooking so I use the oven under the hood with the exhaust fan running. For the next pizza, I wait until the stone temperature completely recovers (a few minutes until the “at temp” indicator light stops blinking).

Is it worth it?? Although pizza I made using the regular oven and pizza stone was quite good, pizza cooked in the Pizzaiola is definitely much better. They cook so quickly (instead of 6-7 minutes in the conventional oven they’re done in just 2 minutes). So if you have a pizza party, you could turn out a few pizzas in a jiffy. I am trying to keep this oven clean but it is a bit of a chore. Other use of this oven may be to bake focaccia (which we tried with a good result) or naan (which we have not tried yet).

Israeli (Pearl) Couscous Salad イスラエルクスクスサラダ

The other day, we were taking inventory of our pantry and found boxes of couscous (classic and Israeli or pearled) as well as tabouleh all of which were way pass their BUB (best-used-by) date. We sniffed and did not detect any rancid oil odor so we cooked the classic couscous and the tabouleh. But once they were cooked, it was clear that in these cases the BUB date had some meaning—they tasted terrible. So we discarded those boxes and bought new ones. We decided to go ahead and try cooking the Israeli couscous* and it turned out to be OK. So we decided to use it to make a salad. We looked up recipes on the web and essentailly combined two recipes omitting some of the ingredients called for in the recipe while adding others not mentioned.

*Digression alert: While we were looking up recipes, we found that Israeli or pearl couscous was invented by an Israeli company as a substitute for rice in 1959 since there was a rice shortage at that time.In any case, the end result was a quite nice filling salad. The vinaigrette had a nice lemony flavor with dill which made this salad very refreshing.

Ingredietns:

For Couscous
1 1/2 cup (250gram or 8oz) Israel couscous
1 garlic clove, minced (I used three)
1/2 small onion, finely mince (I used one small onion)
2 tbs olive oil
1 1/2 chicken broth (I used our ususal low sodium Swanson)
1 cup water (we did not add the water. The couscous was fully cooked and the liquid was completely absorbed but although it was not scorched, the couscous stuck to the bottom of the pan. So next time we will try it with the additional water.)

For the salad
5 Campari tomatoes, skinned and cut into quarters
2 tbs dill, finely chopped
6 marinated artichoke hearts, cut into half length wise
1 can (15.5 oz) garbanzo beans, drained and skin removed (optional, but my wife insist on removing the skin)

Other items could be olives, cucumber and other greens.

For dressing
Zest and juice from one lemon
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: {For couscous)
Add the oil in a pan, sauté the onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes, add the couscous and sauté another minute
Add the chicken broth and simmer for 10 minutes
Fluff it up with a fork and let it cool to the room temperature

Mix all the ingredients and the dressing.

Although we forgot to add one cup of water, the couscous was nicely cooked without. The lemony dressing really worked.

Tomato ribbon salad version 2 トマトリボンサラダ V2

This is another variation of my wife’s famous ribbon salad. The red layers are tomato juice based aspic but  the cream cheese-based white layers are a bit more complex than the previous version. I helped by chopping up and slicing the ingredients. Initially, my wife was dissapointed since she expected the white layer to be more flavorful. But a few days later when we had this again, the ingredients had melded together and we could taste much more flavor.

Ingredients for Tomato aspic:
3 cups tomato juice (we used V-8)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. Sushi vinegar
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
Onion juice to taste (About 3 Tbs.
2 envelopes gelatin

Ingredients for white section
1 envelope of gelatin
1/4 cup cream
1 tub (8 oz.) or 1 block (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tbsp. mayonnaise
2-3 ribs celery, minced
1 med. green pepper, (jalapeño) finely chopped
2 med. onion, finely chopped
1/4-1/2 cup pimento stuffed olives, sliced
1/4-1/2 cup ripe (black) olives, sliced (we didn’t use because we didn’t have) 
(Optional) 1 ripe avocado, peeled & sliced (we did not use) 

Directions:
Soften gelatin in 1/2 cup of the tomato juice. Add mixture to the top of a double boiler. Heat until the gelatin melts. Put the rest of the tomato juice in a pan. Heat until all ingredients dissolved. Add the gelatin that has been melted in the double boiler. Chill 1/2 of the tomato aspic until set, in a 9 x 13 inch pyrex dish (below).

 

Soften the gelatin in the cream. Add mixture to the top of a double boiler. Heat until the gelatin melts. Mix cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise until smooth. Add the melted gelatin then the chopped celery, jalapeño, and onion. Spread cheese mixture over the congealed aspic. Add the olives on top of the cheese mixture. (Next time it would be better that the olives are finely diced.  Cut like this they made it hard to slice the ribbon salad into servings). (If using avocado lay the slices on top of the cheese mixture.) Refrigerate until firm (below).

Pour the second half of the tomato aspic gently over the avocado slices, to cover all. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate until set.

Although this is a variation on the previous tomato ribbon salad, it is clearly in the same tradition. The red layer is much the same. The white layer is much softer. The olives are a great addition. They add a burst of saltiness. The flavors get much more pronounced after a day or two when the ingredients have had a chance to meld together. In general, this salad and its precursor are a light cool refreshing addition to a meal on a hot summer day.

No knead pizza dough 捏ねないピザ生地

Since we are into "no knead" breads, when my wife found a recipe for "No knead pizza dough", I had to try it. Using this dough, I made my usual version of Pizza Margherita.

The pizza shown below was my wife's suggestion including several cheeses (mozzarella,  Monterey jack and smoked gouda) with baby artichoke herts, black and green olives (Devina brand).

No knead pizza dough recipe came from King Arthur flour web site.

Ingredients: (this makes two pizzas like above)
250gram AP flour
1/8 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
185gram lukewarm water

Directions: (only making dough part was quoted here)
1. Stir all of the ingredients together. Cover the rough, sticky dough and let it rise at room temperature for 24 hours. After this first rise, you may choose to refrigerate the dough for up to 6 days, which will help develop its flavor.
2. Divide the dough in half. Shape each piece into a ball. Place each ball seam-side down into a floured bowl.
3. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to proof (rise) for 45 minutes to an hour, while your oven preheats.
4. Scoop the dough onto a well-floured work surface and dust the top with flour. Using your fingertips, gently depress the dough, being careful not to touch the outer edge of the crust; you want it to remain thick.
5. Lift up the pizza and use your knuckles to gently stretch the dough into a circle about 10" to 12" in diameter. Move it to a well-floured pizza peel (I use yellow corn meal).

The topping and baking parts I followed my usual way. Although I cooked the pizza the usual 5 minutes, because of the high water content of the dough, retrospectively, I would have cooked the pizza longer maybe 7-8 minutes.

This pizza crust was a bit more flavorful but not that much different from my usual crust. Handling the dough was much more tricky since it was so wet. I may try it again with a longer cooking time.

Two Pizzas; Baby artichoke with goat cheese and Margherita ピザ２種類

I make a pizza every-now-and-then from scratch (dough and sauce). I do not go fancy in terms of the cheeses, dough, and tomato sauce and use a regular oven with a pizza stone (on "intense heat" setting at 470F). It takes only 5-6 minutes for the pizzas to bake. We really like it (so do our friends). For sure, they are much better than the ones from a chain pizzeria. Since I made baby artichokes braised in olive oil and lemon juice a few days prior, I made artichoke pizza with oil cured black olive and three cheeses (smoked mozzarella, double Gloucester, fresh-not aged-goat cheese).

I finished with grated parmigiano reggiano cheese.

The goat cheese and garlic infused olive oil (1-2 cloves of garlic, through a garlic press, mixed in 2-3 tbs of olive oil) which I paint the pizza dough before baking, really makes this pizza. It is a perfect match to my home-made baby artichoke hearts. I used home-made frozen pizza dough I made some time ago. Compared to freshly prepared dough, this pizza came out cracker-like consistency (rather than bread-y), almost like one I occasionally make with Italian "00" flour.

At the same time, I made a variation of pizza Margherita with smoked mozzarella and black olives. I put the cheese on first and then the sauce to prevent the dough from getting soggy.

I added fresh basil and graded parmesan after the pizza was out of the oven but did not take a picture. I made the tomato sauce from skinned Campari tomatoes, onion and garlic. Compared to using canned plum tomatoes, the sauce came out much less acidic.

We had this as a weekend lunch. We had to resist the lure of drinking red wine with this lunch. But the leftover (we each ate three 1/8 wedges each which leaves ten 1/8 slices) are great snacks for weekdays when we come home. It heats up nicely in the toaster oven and we can have a glass of red wine with it.

Baby artichokes braised in olive oil and lemon juice ベィビィアーチチョーク

While we lived in California, we developed a taste for artichokes. Whoever decided the giant thistle buds could be eaten must have been really hungry and other edible items must have been really scarce. We have posted few artichoke dishes including baby artichokes. In any case, it is very unusual to see good fresh artichokes in D.C. area and baby artichokes are rarer. My wife found a package of baby artichokes from California at Whole Foods on one of our visits there. This was a week after getting marinated baby artichoke hearts from the bulk self-serve counter at the same store which were essentially not edible. They were inedible because the fibrous inner petals were not adequately removed and when we bit into them it was like getting poked in the mouth with a pin. It was worse than fish bones. We ended up throwing out the entire batch. So, I was given the challenge to make better baby artichokes. Again, I proposed deep fried baby artichoke (Roman Jewish style) but as before, my wife declined. I was to  recreate baby artichokes marinated in olive oil, which we usually get commercially in a jar. Not being one to shy away from a challenge, after looking through a few recipes on line, this is what I came up with.

I served this as a small appetizer which goes with wine. I added oil cured black olives.

The below is a package of baby artichokes we got. It was not the best and some are too small and some had the inner petals all discolored to black but many were still good.

Ingredients:
For marinade (see #1 below):
4tbs olive oil
4tbs water
juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp Kosher salt and 1/4 fresh ground black pepper

1 package (2lb) of baby artichokes (#2);

Directions:
For preparing baby artichokes. (80% will be wasted through the preparation).
1. Wash the surface of the artichokes under running water with a brush.
2. Remove hard green outer petals until tender pale yellow inner petals appear. Cut off the stem and top 1/3  and peel off the bottom (where green outer petals were attached) and cut in half. (You need to be very aggressive in removing any green or fibrous petals, otherwise no matter how long you cook, it remains fibrous. The baby artichokes of this size have not yet developed the chokes, so you need not to worry about them).
3.  Immediately place the prepared baby artichokes in the marinade and coat the surface to prevent discoloration (#3).
4. Place the marinade and artichokes in a frying pan with the cut side down (#4) with a lid.
5. As the marinade evaporates, the cut surface browns, turn them over (#5) and continue to cook.
6. If the liquid evaporate too much, add a few tablespoonfuls of water and keep braising. You may have to add water few more time or until the bottom is soft and throughly cooked  and sauce forms (#6).
7. Taste and if needed season with more Kosher salt and black pepper.

When I tasted it warm, I thought it was too sour from the lemon juice. But the next day after being kept in the refrigerator, it had mellowed out and was perfect. This was infinitely better than store bought or even the ones in a jar. After eating these it will be hard to go back to the other kind. They went beautifully with red wine. We used to make pizza using marinated baby artichokes. I have to make one with this.