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At City Olive I spotted this jar and thought of this thread:



I forgot to jot down the price, but thought I'd alert you to it. Next time you're at Pasticceria Natalina, go next door and check it out.

City Olive
http://www.cityolive.com
5408 N Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 878-5408

-Dan

I'm way late to this party as well.

I've been messing around with the family pizza oven in Boston these past few months and thought I'd post some pics (I just recently moved back here from Chicago). I was making quite a few pies back in Chicago in a conventional oven and oddly couldn't seem to get my mojo working in the family wood fired Mugnaini oven with my standard dough recipe. I recently tried making the switch to Jeff Varasano's dough recipe and things have improved substantially, although I think I've still got a ways to go before my pies are at the exacting standards I'd prefer.

Here are a few pics from the most recent pizza making adventure, with apologies for the poor quality of my iPhone camera. I had the oven at 880 degrees, which resulted in a bit of over-charring at times around the edges. despite my best efforts. I am, after all, still a wood fired oven neophyte.


Sauce going on the first pie


Bufala motz, basil and prosciutto pie


In the oven


The finished product, a bit burnt on one side, despite my best efforts to keep the pie moving in the oven


Bufala motz, basil, onion and spicy olive pie


in the hot box


the finished product, a little better with the charring


a peek from below


and a peek from the side. In the future, I'm hoping to get a bit more "lift" out of my crust.


Overall, I'd say I was pretty happy with the results. The texture of the Varasano dough was fantastic, better than anything I'd ever made in Chicago. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I get comfortable enough with the new process to make truly sensational pies.


-MB

MrBarossa,

Great looking pizza. Very jealous that you have a "family wood fired Mugnaini oven"... my family has nothing close. I did get a hand-me-down 18" Weber once.

With the Varasano recipe, are you using a starter or commercial yeast? I've done most of my doughs based on his technique, but adjusting for commercial yeast since I haven't taken starter plunge yet.

-Dan

Dan:

The oven isn't mine, it actually belongs to my parents who re-did their kitchen a couple of years ago and decided to go all out. The benefit of being back East is that I get to play with it on occasion. I do hope to have my own some day, although that's probably a long long way off in the future, especially if my wife has anything to say about it.

My parents are partial to a thin cracker crust--I'm less so, which is why I went searching for other recipes when my fallback Chicago one failed me.

As for the yeast, I used a combination of a sourdough starter and some "optional" commercial Fleishman's instant per Jeff's recipe. My father is an avid baker, so he's had a sourdough starter kicking around the house for years. I think the next time around I'm going to try doubling the sourdough starter in the recipe to see if that might give it the extra boost I'm looking for. The doughs I made were kept in the fridge for 48 hours, so I don't think the lack of rise was due to insufficient resting.

that is a really nice looking pizza you turned out there, and kudos to your folks for such a nice pizza oven.

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I got a real good mind.

Before Cotton was King: http://www.grubseeker.blogspot.com

I made 4 pies tonight, with two of them using Pete-zza's JerryMac variation, sized to 12" pies. Overall I was really happy with the results and am going to play around with poolish-based doughs a bit more.

The first one I made, pictured below, I pulled a bit too early and wish I had let it brown up a little more. I'd like it to be slightly crispier and have the cornicione be slightly less bready. I think this same dough formulation, with a thinner lip and a slightly longer cook time (or higher temp) might do the trick.



The second pie (not pictured) was topped with only lardo and the thinner parts of the crust, not covered with sauce and cheese, bubbled up and got quite crispy, but with a nice interior chew. Of course, the melted lardo likely contributed to the crisping (and deliciousness).

-Dan

White Pizza with 4 cheeses, serrano ham, figs, and truffle honey

Video:

What a great way to start the morning--with a Bill/SFNM pizza video. That looks like a terrific combination. Did you heat the honey and drizzle it on? What were the 4 cheeses?
Graziano's also has truffle honey (I picked some up last weekend) if anyone is looking.

T.O.,

It was cold outside, so I kept the jar of truffle honey in my pocket so that it would be warm enough to easily drizzle on the pie. I used the same truffle honey as shown in the post at the top of this page. It was delicious, but I could sense no difference between this rather expensive product and some good honey with a few drops of truffle oil added.

The cheeses were:

- Robiola Bosina
- Amadeus
- Mozzarella
- Parm

Bill/SFNM

Hate to post after Bill/SFNM .....
But here is Friday night's pizza:

Caramelized onion, walnut, goat cheese, thyme, pear and arugula finished with a splash of EVOO and fig balsamic vinegar. Next time more vinegar and more arugula. Thanks to my Facebook friends for helping me come up with this pizza. I asked for ideas for pizza using fresh goat cheese.

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my food shots

I tried the dough recipe from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" tonight. The formula calls for an overnight ferment so I made up the batch last night with one 6oz ball in the fridge and the other 5 frozen for later use.

When I took it out of the fridge today, I was surprised how light it was. I stretched it out to about 12" and let it rest for a bit while I made the sauce (standard Molto Mario recipe) and par-cooked the hot sausage from Bari. The cheese was scamorza, which I got yesterday from JP Graziano along with house made pickled peppers

Overall I was very happy w/ the taste and consistency of the crust. It caramelized nicely and had a nice depth of flavor. I was surprised, however, that it didn't rise any more than it did, though that's to be expected in only a 500 degree oven. I've been wondering if creating a little mini-kiln w/ bricks and a ceramic top would increase the radiant heat from above and give the dough a little more bounce and perhaps at least a little char. But, until I get a Bill/SFNM oven on my deck, I suppose I'll need to be content with results.

My first Pizza here! I'm usually more of a traditionalist, but made this one the other night and thought I'd post it. Parmesan cream, brussel sprouts, sweet potato, homemade sausage and fresh mozzarella topped w/ chili oil (not pictured). It was good, but I wish'd I had some bacon or speck in place of the sausage.




Jeff

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http://eatpizzeriavalentino.com
http://valentinopasta.com

just put my pizza dough in a warm place to rise. hope & pray it comes out...never made dough before and it was a little tough going as I had to scrap the first run through.

going to be making calzones or strombolis tonight. hope & pray, again, that it comes out edible.

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Rock 'n Roll Ghost

ugh...had dough problems - had problems folding the dough over the filling. it was somewhat tasty, however. but nowhere near perfection.

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Rock 'n Roll Ghost

Don't fret, it's taken me close to five years to perfect my "chicago-style" pan pizza dough and toppings...

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Reading is a right. Censorship is not.

Wife worked from home today...
Goat cheese, caramelized onion pizza (then topped with arugula and EVOO & fig balsamic vinegar)

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my food shots

Been playing with leftover pizza dough lately, Scallion Pancakes a couple of days ago and last night calzone, though as I shallow fried I don't know if it is actually calzone or something entirely different.

No preparation sequence pics, it was a last minute use up stuff in the fridge getting late lets eat that worked surprisingly well. I basically jammed mozzarella cheese, Italian sausage, green pepper, onion and red pepper flakes between rolled out disks of dough and shallow fried until the exterior turned toasty brown and cheese bubbly.

For a haphazard toss-together the not-sure-its-Calzone worked well.

Calzone, maybe. Tasty, yes

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

Today's lunch
Crimini mushroom & shallot pizza with arugula

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my food shots

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my food shots

My pie tonight, basil, caramelized onions, San Marzano tomato Sauce with four cheeses. Cooked in a way hotter oven than earlier pizza (from 400˚ to 475˚convection) and about an hour of heat into the stone….
Much better crust at the higher heat (I'm new here...)

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my food shots

...and so it begins.

Nice looking pizza!

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http://eatpizzeriavalentino.com
http://valentinopasta.com

Every time I see one of your photos I want to move into your house or at least eat there on a regular basis. You are awesome!

MHill, very nice looking pizza!

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

I was really pleased with my first-ever attempt at making a pizza in the home oven...

Roasted pepper puree, fresh mozzarella, basil:

The crust came out almost-crackery crisp, but still had plenty of pleasant chew. I used 2 cups 00 flour, 2.5 cups KA All Purpose flour, 2 heavy pinches of salt, 1 packet active dry yeast, 1.5 cups warm water, 1/4 cup olive oil. Rested in the fridge overnight, then a few hours on the counter before forming the dough, which was surprisingly easy.

Undershot:



Homemade pizza - I'm hooked.

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...defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions." Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

Fuckerberg on Food

Looks great, Kenny. Cooking on a pizza stone? Looks like your fresh mozzarella didn't weep out too much moisture - did you do anything special?

-Dan

Thanks, D. Yep, 5/8 inch ceramic stone preheated in a 550 degree oven. Whole Foods house brand fresh mozzarella seems to have just the right amount of moisture for weepless pizza, and it's also a good price ($6.99 for 4 large balls). I dried it with a paper towel and sliced it about an hour before using, but otherwise did nothing special.

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...defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions." Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

Fuckerberg on Food

Look really good, in particular for a first attempt. Most all the pizzas in this thread look wonderful, but its Bill SF/NM's latest pizza I'd like to take on a long weekend.

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

Agreed. I hope to make good pizzas, but won't bother aspiring to Bill's pizza greatness. Especially since I've already encountered the sophomore slump. Second pizza hasn't gotten into the oven yet, because I've been struggling with tearing/ uncooperativeness with the dough. Don't know what I'm doing differently from the first time, which I guess was just too easy. Might have something to do with relative sobriety levels, I suppose.

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...defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions." Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

Fuckerberg on Food

Thank you, Gary. However, that may be a violation of the Mann Act.