72 Hour Retarded SD Pizza and Cinco de Mayo Street Tacos

This was the weirdest pizza dough we have ever crafted.  We too some of our discard from the 3 day old rye starter and feed it some white flour and then a 1:2:3 SD mix with it for a planned pizza the next day.  Sadly, things got in the way after we punched this dough down after the bulk ferment and put it in the fridge.  It sat there for a full 72 hours before we got around to making pizza - which I do not not recommend - 24 hours is plenty for the retard.

In this case, all the sugar was used up in the fridge and the dough didn't brown properly due to a lack of sugar left in the dough.   So i left it in the oven longer which made the toppings darker than our usual.  it wasn't burned but the whole pizza had a caramelized taste - not bad but different.  So if you plan on pizza the next day i would stick to the schedule.

We do something new for Cinco de Mayo every year.  Sometimes mole, carnitas or burritos or enchiladas or tamales from various parts of Mexico since they all have their own varieties of flavors.  This year we did street chicken tacos from Veracruz.  It takes all day to make the flour and corn tortillas, tiny ones in this case, the green and red sauces, marinate the meat, make the beans, guacamole, pico di gillo, grill the onions and fresh chilies, roast the tomatillos, re-hydrate the red chilies, shred the cabbage and cheeses and marinate the pickled red onions and, cucumbers and green chilies - whew!  But if you want authentic Mexican, just like a good SD bread, it has to be home made and it takes time to do it right - not that Lucy is much help being German but after nearly 11 years she has picked up a few of the basics.

Plus, if you aren't from Veracruz you have to find out what the street tacos are supposed t be like there too:-)  in any event the chicken came out delicious.  Veracruz is  my new favorite way to grill chicken.   The marinade has a lot of stuff in it but it is worth it.  Before re-hydrating the dried chilies for the red sauce - 2 arbol ,1 each: ancho, hot and mild new Mexican, Guajillo, negro and chipotle chilies - take half of them and grind them in a spice mill until it becomes powder.

This powder is the basis of the marinade along with some achiote paste, garlic, red onion, Mexican Key lime, silver tequila, orange juice, agave syrup, cumin, coriander, fresh cilantro, olive oil with S&P.   I put a bit of green habanero in there to really spice things up - a different more harsh and less fruity taste than the orange ones.  Just yummy after it sits for 4 hours in the fridge - Make sure to use thighs and drumsticks for the chicken.

Hope everyone had a fine Cinco de Mayo even if you didn't get to slave in the kitchen all day Veracruz taco style like Lucy did.