Cooler weather today - perfect for pizza

[pz]

Quite a bit cooler today, and overcast so it was a great day to fire up the pizza oven.  It takes anywhere fro 2-4 hours to build up enough heat in the walls of the dome to effectively bake, but part of the fun is being in the back yard all by myself with a glass of wine while I tend the fire.  It started to rain, so up comes the umbrella and I'm as snug as a bug in a rug.

Nothing like a blowtorch to start a fire...

... 5 minutes later and the fire is roaring

Bought these tiny cast iron cookie pans at Costco today - their recipe was no good, but the iron works fine.

Coals are now ready, pushed to the side and back

Today is pizza Marguerite day - simple but very flavorful.  We're using a mix of heirloom and store bought tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil from the garden.

Just going into the oven...

... the finished pizza - crisp crust, what I call "glassine" meaning that it is brittle as glass.  I love it that way.

Another pizza

... and to top it off, tomatoes Ahron into the oven for the night - those babies are going to be delicious tomorrow when we're doing SRG chickens and baked 'taters.

[Saber 4]

That's some good looking pizza, glad you're getting to enjoy that awesome outdoor kitchen of yours. My wife would love that pizza.

[pz]

Thanks Saber!  I took your suggestion of blending rosemary and thyme (kind of) in a couple of loaves of thyme bread sprinkled with rosemary finishing salt.  Tomorrow I'm planning on making thyme and sage salt, plus smoking a plate of coarse sea salt in the Bradley along with several cheeses (goat, Swiss, Gouda, mozzarella).

[Saber 4]

Thanks Saber!  I took your suggestion of blending rosemary and thyme (kind of) in a couple of loaves of thyme bread sprinkled with rosemary finishing salt.  Tomorrow I'm planning on making thyme and sage salt, plus smoking a plate of coarse sea salt in the Bradley along with several cheeses (goat, Swiss, Gouda, mozzarella).

That is some nice looking bread, please post your method of making the finishing salts I'm interested in how it's done. I would have to buy fresh herbs as we don't have an herb garden now. I am going to get this covered bread baking stoneware next trip to Dallas http://www.breadtopia.com/store/oblong-la-cloche.html to make longer loaves for better sized sandwich making.

As for your cheese smoking we love going to our friends Greek restaurant so when it cools down enough in TX I'm going to get a couple of blocks of Feta Cheese and try to smoke them along with some other cheeses. I think family is going to get smoked and baked basket's for Christmas, so I'm going to need a bunch of salt, cheese, and meats smoked in time.

[pz]

Thanks Saber!  Although I pecan smoked some kosher salt, it did not turn out as "smoky" as I'd hoped, so I need to find a better method.  We did not do the herbed salts because it rained early in the morning and soaked our herbs.  Coincidentally my wife mentioned that we should do gifts like this for X-mas

One thing we like to do over the winter is to use Aerogardens, which is a hydroponic form of growing plants.  We grow tomatoes and herbs (mostly basil) in our bedroom in the middle of winter.  These units turn their lights on in predictable patterns, and I actually use them as an alarm clock of sorts - I have them turn on their lights at 5am - no noise, and it causes me to arise in peace and quiet.

We've not done the finishing salts yet, but the method for herbal salt is really simple:

• 1/4 cup herb
• 1/2 cup kosher salt

Clean, de-stem, and dry herbs, and place in a food processor with half the kosher salt.  Pulse until the herbs are fine, and evenly distributed.  Add the rest of the salt and pulse until uniform.  Remove and place on paper plates until everything is really dry (overnight).  This results in an herbal blend of fine and coarse salt. Package and prepare to send it to friends as gifts.

I want to try something different - use the juice from fresh tomatoes to super-saturate with salt, then dry and food process or grind to make a coarse tomato salt.

Thanks for the link to the oblong La Cloche - I mentioned it to my wife and she's on it - the next online purchase.  It looks perfect for baking French loaves.

That feta sounds like it would be delicious - will definitely give it a go next time I smoke cheese.  We did a couple of goat cheese logs today, and it is one of my wife's favorites.

[Saber 4]

I'm using Hickory for the salt as 10.5 indicated it takes a strong wood to get into the salt, I'm also smoking it more than once and it takes on more color and smokiness with each round in the smoker. 10.5 also suggested that I put the salt back in the bottles it came in and give them a roll around every day and they will darken and take on more smoke and it seems to be working so far.

I'm going to copy the herbal salt recipe to save and I think the tomato salt sounds really good, especially if you smoked it afterwards as part of the drying process. I'm not a big soup fan but I can just smell a homemade tomato soup seasoned with a smoked tomato salt.

Glad you liked the loaf pan, I may get up to Dallas to get one this week if I can squeeze it in before we leave for Paducah on Thursday.

[SiFumar]

Let me make a small suggestion here on your finishing salts.....My German mother used to make them many years ago, but we called them "flavored salts" lol.  She would make her tomato salt with tomatoes from the garden she had dried and ground up in a hand meat grinder type of thingy(no food processors in her day :D) At times she combined herbs like basil, parsley, and rosemary with the tomato.  She would also flavor sugar with lemon and orange peel.  About 6 lemons zested into cup of sugar(4 oranges), mix well into jar, store in refridge.  In baking you can use 1 Tbs of this sugar for the 1 tsp zest needed in a recipe.  Fresher than dehydrated zest.

[rveal23]

Looks awesome, and taste even better I bet!

[pz]

Thanks, all!

Appreciate the tips for the salts - they are kind of fun to experiment with, and the best part is that I can't burn them  ;D

How thick do you do your salt layer in the smoker, and what surface do you use?  I used simple paper plates, and a thin layer of salt (1/8 inch)

[SiFumar]

How thick do you do your salt layer in the smoker, and what surface do you use?  I used simple paper plates, and a thin layer of salt (1/8 inch)
[/quote

Use large coffee filters, smoke penetrates much better than paper plates.  I go about 1/2" thick layer and stir a couple of times.

[pz]

Use large coffee filters, smoke penetrates much better than paper plates.  I go about 1/2" thick layer and stir a couple of times.

That's a great idea and so simple - lol, makes me feel kind of stupid not to have come up with coffee filters as a good material for this purpose - I use several of them every day to make coffee throughout the day.  Thanks for the tip!

[Saber 4]

Use large coffee filters, smoke penetrates much better than paper plates.  I go about 1/2" thick layer and stir a couple of times.

That's a great idea and so simple - lol, makes me feel kind of stupid not to have come up with coffee filters as a good material for this purpose - I use several of them every day to make coffee throughout the day.  Thanks for the tip!

x2, I got the coffee filter idea from TenPoint5 and I try to go no thicker than 1/2" less if I can manage it, plus the stir.

[SiFumar]

I didn't come up with it...one or two of the great people here did!  Paper towels work in a pinch!

[pz]

There are so many people that deserve credit on so many levels that all I can do is say thanks to everyone for making a collective great place to discover new methods, and get ideas for new adventures in cooking.  ;)