Pizza/Bread Dough

Well, the experiments I was running concerning the water/flour ratio, were consistently producing the same results (or near enough that the criteria I was working with wasn't greatly affected). However, what I did notice was that a water/flour ratio above 0.7 resulted in pizza dough that was hard to work with. I was constantly having to flour it and apply fresh cornmeal to prevent it from sticking to the counter while forming the shell as well as sticking to the peel while assembling the pizza toppings.

The bread on the other hand, does not need to be worked, so stickiness does not factor into it. A higher ratio would be possible without any added difficulty. However, there did come a point where the the bread no longer grew larger (lower ratios had a smaller loaf produced). Luckily for ease of the math involved, this also occurred around the 0.7 ratio mark as well.

All of this combined, has led me to believe, that my maximum water ratio is 7 parts water and 10 parts flour, both by mass.

My next task is to expand on this. Since varying the water didn't enhance the flavours (probably because water isn't flavourful...) is to vary the liquid I use. My current experiments are with substituting some of the water with milk. I chose milk because of its fat content which in theory will help add flavour, I had originally wanted to test oils and butter, which are both fats. But the ease of using milk called to me and overruled my better judgement. I have started with a ratio of 1:1 (1 part water and 1 part milk). I should find out how this turns out in a few days once the dough has fully matured. I don't knead bread right now (pun intended), but I will be wanting pizza. So my experiment is continuing there.

Bread and Pizza

Well, I cooked the bread today, followed immediatly by the pizza. Both turned out exceptionally well. As you will remember, these were the 0.700 ratio doughs. I will move onto the 0.750 dough later this week.

PIZZA!

Well I am back to experimenting with pizza. For now I have putoff testing the chemical leavener in favour of experimenting with other factors. The only things you can really change on a pizza are:
1) Dough
2) Sauce
3) Cheese
4) Toppings

I recently went through the cheese phase (which I will have to go through again). I tried Provolone and Havarti (under recommendation from a cheese monger, err I mean retailer). While good, the cost increase with both compared to Mozzarella was a little prohibitive compared to the flavour imparted. That, and Havarti is hard to shred! I went back to mozzarella, broken and defeated until I realized that Mozzarella comes in multiple different types. The majour differences are the moisture content and milk fat content (As far as I was able to find out, please correct me if I'm wrong).

There were noticiable differences between each cheese, but the two main criteria I selected that I wanted to optimize for was stringyness (I like some, but not a lot) and browning (browned mozzarella tastes much better). This experiment failed, mainly because I didn't cook them side by side or one right after another. I didn't take pictures, and I wrote a quick note on the qualities. There were no real controls and the criteria was entirely objective, no measurments at all. So alas, dear reader, I can't tell you the optimal values for a non-stringy, nicely browning cheese. What did come of this experiment though was a reduction in the amount of cheese I use, I found that I enjoyed the crust with minute amounts of cheese more than the solid sheet in the center. I am still working on finding the optimal cheese amounts.

Funeral Potatoes

There are very few meals that I seem to gorge myself on. The two that come to mind are my mothers Honey Garlic Ribs on Rice (something I have no problem making on my own) and her Funeral Potatoes. My aunts and make them just as well as my mother, but every time I try to make them, even following the same recipe, I fall very short of the mark.

Now I know what your thinking, Funeral Potatoes? What am I doing eating this on a semi-regular basis? Well, a long story short, I've heard this dish called by a number of names, but Funeral Potatoes is what I call it because I liked the name. No I'm not morbid or anything, I just thought it to be a fun name to give to something I enjoy so much. My Aunts and mother all call it a potatoe casserole, but whatever you call it, it is delicious!

All it really is, is hashbrowns in a cheese sauce with buttered cornflakes crushed on top.

You would think that something so simple sounding could be made by anyone! But apparently I am not in that grouping.

Either way, whenever I visit my family and Funeral Potatoes make an appearance on the dinner table, I either finish them all off (which is harder to do now that my Mom has been making more for the meal), or I end up taking a doggy bag home with me. They aren't as good when reheated for a lunch, but they still get ranked really high up on the list of favorite lunches.