The Roadside Pie King's blog

By: The Roadside Pie King The original plan called for candied ginger and candied rosemary. Well don't you know I brought basil by mistake? I decided to go with the flow. Please mind your eye on photos one through three, candied basil. The next step called for pealing the fresh, frozen at the peak of flavor peaches. The skins were to be discarded however they smelled so darn good I decided to pulverize them with the sugars. The still partially frozen peaches are de-stoned and sliced. By this time the candied basil has dried.

My humble interpretation. I had no dried onion. I hear tell the substitution of finely diced fresh will not taste the same. However, I can attest that these smell out of this world!  I can also guarantee this will not be the last time I make this quick easy recipe! Follow this link for the original formula. With thanks to the generosity of Norm (may he rest in peace,) a baker with a a big heart!

I already posted these creations to the C.B.  I feel these first specialty pizza pies of mine desire a blog entry also.

 This morning I whipped up a batch of my IDY pizza dough by hand, scaled for two 12- inch pies (324 Grams Ea.) The plan is for a seven-hour room temperature ferment. For these special Community bake pies, I am going way off the reservation in regards to toppings. My wife requested chicken as her topping, her pie will be chicken cordon blue pizza. My pie is going to be Italian eggplant Parmigiano pizza. Smile... This is exciting!

Pizza Wednesday...05/22/19
Sourdough / 10% WHOLE GRAIN
N.Y. style: Sausage, pepperoni and peppers.
So it begins....80hrs. cold ferment, 11/2 hr. bench rest prior to stretch.

Sourdough crust, 10% Whole grain, (spelt & whole wheat.)

Fresh mozzarella, cooked crumbled hot Italian sausage, fire roasted red peppers and parmigiano reggiano.

I learned that I absolutely can bake an 18" pizza utilizing an 18" pizza screen. Since the screen keeps the pie rigid, it can be placed directly on an oven rack or on a smaller ( in my case 16") pizza steel. With this revelation, I have reached the size cutoff point for the confines of my home oven. My sourdough crust is working very nicely this particular pie is a 24hr cold ferment. The dough was easy to stretch into an 18" skin and was not overly extendable. 10% of whole grain gives great flavor and a nice bite. Very nontraditional for Brooklyn style, but the wife gives it high marks.

Please don't count me as pretentious. I truly do not have delusions of grandeur. However, I have a lot of fun putting my limited knowledge and experience to the test. When I spend hours thinking about a bake before the spatula ever hits the flour, it is like a vacation for my anxious mind. Believe it or not, even writing a halfway intelligent blog entry helps my mild anxiety. Enough about me, this morning I saw a very nice looking Turmeric sourdough Bread, at one of the bread making clubs on FB. The poster did not link or post a recipe.

On today's installment of cooking with Pop-Pop, we will take you through the steps for reviving Slo-Mo from his golden, albeit chilly refrigerated slumber, and prepare for a bake. For this exercise, we will need the following. 60 g of sleeping wild yeast @ 100% Hydration 1- 4 cup Pyrex glass storage container with a lid 1- 1/2 Pint Ball canning jar with a lid 1- slender mixing spoon 1- digital scale Bread flour UN-chlorinated Water.

While we all love a nice crusty loaf of bread. Pillow soft buns with nary any crust at all have a place too.

Friday night dinner.
Mississippi chicken on fresh, home made pillow soft buns.

The Roadside Pie King