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Baking| ERGO Knives {a review} & the best pizza dough ever {Peter Reinhart}

“I got the Sun in the Morning and the Moon at Night…”
Annie get Your Gun

The lyrics above from the musical, Annie get Your Gun which we performed in university, sum my post perfectly. I had everything I ever wanted that day! I had Peter Reinharts pizza dough risen and ready to be baked into pizza when the bell rang. It was the good old postman and he looked HAPPY! Was it the misplaced lens cap that I had ordered on ebay? He looked happier than ‘lens-cap happy’, and impatiently thrust a heavy parcel into my hands. “It’s here!” he announced as if I had won the first prize…

ERGO was written boldly across the packaging. I had completely forgotten that the pro knife folk at Ergo had asked me if I would be interested in reviewing their range of knives. YES please! They sent me 2 knives from their pro-series range – a 7″ Santuko Hollow ground edge and a 3.5″ pairing knife, in my opinion 2 knives that are a must have in every kitchen!

Ergo Chef has a fabulous range of knives, ergonomic and stylish in design, forged from one piece of high-carbon German steel (type X50CrMoV15), so there’s no chance they’ll snap in two. They’re also precision heat-treated for long edge life to 56-58 RC. {That’s “Rockwell,” the hardness test for steel}. In layman’s terms, that’s a perfect hardness for long edge life.

I’ve ALWAYS been maniacal about my favourite kitchen tools, especially good kitchen knives. I have an old Santuko which has seen its days and these gleaming Ergo-babies had me chopping in next to no time. The Ergo Chef knives feel good and sturdy to hold, have a razor S H A R P edge, and a comfortable wonderful grip. Have you a ‘thing‘ about chef knives? Do you obsess about no one else getting near your fave kitchen knife or culinary possession?

The design is ergonomic {as reflective of the name ERGO CHEF} and chopping has seriously taken a whole new meaning since they arrived. Onion slices as thin as paper, herbs chopped fine like I love them, the characteristic hollow ground depressions that keep food from clinging to the knife … in my eyes perfect properties for a good knife. We were well on our way to PIZZA now… CHOP, CHOP, CHOP!!This pizza dough is touted by Heidi @ 101 Cookbooks as the best pizza dough ever, and she’s spot on! The last time I made Peter Reinhart’s pizza dough was for a DB challenge. I was far too inexperienced and even though it made a great pizza, what I got this time was simply the best. It’s SO GOOD that I might never bother experimenting with any other recipe. It’s got many plus factors primarily the make in advance factor. That works for me like nothing else. I sleep best when I know I have dough in the fridge. In addition, the crust is light as can be, crisp on the edges, and the resting in the fridge gives it a mature deep flavour …Maybe the dough was good because of the Thermomix {another kitchen ‘item’ I’m obsessive about; add to the list my microplaner … }, or probably the vital gluten that Suma from Bangalore was sweet enough to courier me. Mr PAB called it the best pizza we’ve had! Did I tell you that the dough had a wonderful roasted garlic flavour which came through with just the slightest tang of my pickled red chillies? Of course it had a generous helping of fresh herbs from my flourishing herb garden! Yes, this was the best pizza ever.The toppings were minimal as Heidi suggested and she was a 100% right again. I would have loved to just make it a plain Margarita, but I struggle to get nutrition into my troublesome teen so my toppings on a basic homemade red pizza sauce were finely sliced mushrooms {sauteed in EVOO, garlic and herbs till flavoursome}, and roasted bell peppers, topped with Himalayan buffalo mozarella, pickled red peppers and fresh oregano!! The base took well to the toppings and we really enjoyed this vegetarian pizza! {pardon the pictures of the pizza as it was night by the time I got organised}.

Tell me dear readers, do you have a kitchen gadget/tool that you are possessive about ? What is your favourite pizza dough recipe?

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Peter Reinhart’s Napoletana Pizza Dough Recipe

Summary: Adapted from 101 cookbooks, this pizza dough is touted by Heidi @ 101 Cookbooks as the best pizza dough ever, and she’s spot on! It’s SO GOOD that I might never bother experimenting with any other recipe. It makes a light airy crust which is wonderfully crisp on the edges. The overnight rise in the fridge gives it a mature deep flavour, enhanced by my addition of roasted garlic and pickled red peppers…

Prep Time: 40 minutes {plus overnight rest, and 2 hours rest at room temperature}
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, chilled
4 tbsp vital wheat gluten
1 tsp instant yeast
1 3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 head garlic, roasted
1 tbsp preserved red chillies {optional}
1 3/4 cups chilled water

Preparation

1. Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment), If you are mixing by hand, repeatedly dip one of your hands or the metal spoon into cold water and use it, much like a dough hook, to work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand. Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn’t come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55F.
2. Thermomix method for dough: Place all ingredients in TM bowl and mix at speed 6 for 8 seconds. Run for 2 minutes on interval mode. Turn prepared dough out and proceed to step 3.{Donot leave TM unattended while running on interval mode}
3. Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment and misting the parchment with spray oil (or lightly oil the parchment). Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you are comfortable shaping large pizzas), You can dip the scraper into the water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it, Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan, Mist the dough generously with spray oil and slip the pan into a food-grade plastic bag.
4. Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to 3 days. (Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to 3 months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.)
5. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Before letting the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours, dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. Now let rest for 2 hours.
6. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a heavy duty spare sheet pan on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven as hot as possible. {If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan.}
7. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands, including the backs of your hands and knuckles, in flour and lift I piece of dough by getting under it with a pastry scraper. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. If it begins to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue shaping it. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss as shown on page 208. If you have trouble tossing the dough, or if the dough keeps springing back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax, and try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, though this isn’t as effective as the toss method.
8. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 9 to 12″ in diameter for a 6-ounce piece of dough), lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with sauce and then with your other top- pings, remembering that the best pizzas are topped with a less-is-more philosophy. The American “kitchen sink” approach is counterproductive, as it makes the crust more difficult to bake. A few, usually no more than 3 or 4 toppings, including sauce and cheese is sufficient.
9. Slide the topped pizza onto the stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan) and close the door. Wait 2 minutes, then take a peek. If it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for even baking, do so. The pizza should take about 5 to 8 minutes to bake {Mine too about 15-18 minutes as the highest oven temperature is 250C}. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone to a lower self before the next round. if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone for subsequent bakes.
10. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before slicing and serving, to allow the cheese to set slightly.

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Baking| STOLLEN PUDDING … a Daring Bakers Stollen in Bread Pudding

“The Sky is the daily bread of the imagination.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hello there. It’s time for the Daring Bakers to strut their bakes! {Before you panic that I’m posting the challenge early, because of the holidays you can post any time between December 23 through December 27, 2010}. This is the most exciting Daring Bakers month of the year, a month where I eagerly await a Christmas bake. My first year with the DB’s had a Yule Log hosted by the talented duo – Hilda of Saffron & BlueBerry and Marion of Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. That was quite the mother of all challenges. I still have a picture in my mind of the beautiful log Hilda presented that year. Gorgeous! Last year was Gingerbread Houses … and I loved it so. Such a canvas for creativity and so many special houses. This year has been wonderful too …

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book………and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

I stole the stollen and made pudding! This time around, we were enticed by the sweet Penny from Sweet Sadie’s Baking to make Christmas Stollen. Stollen is a bread-like fruitcake made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Candied orange peel and candied citrus is often also added. Over the centuries, the cake changed from being a simple, fairly tasteless “bread” to a sweeter cake with richer ingredients. The recipe is a combination of recipes put together by Penny, and includes a bit of a recipe from her German friend who bakes Stollen every year, from a Peter Reinhart recipe, and the wreath concept from Martha Stewart. I was tempted to bake my Christmas Stollen {Dresden Stollen} that I made last year. It had quark as an ingredient, and was certainly the best Christmas bread we’ve had to date. I hope to make it once again this winter, hopefully in January. In a last minute daring change of mind and spirit, I decided to go with Daring Bakers recipe. Am I glad I did! It’s always a challenge and an adventure to try a new recipe, something that holds intrigue and a surprise in the end. That said, once baked, the stollen was H U G E. It was like a football field … don’t know why I said that, but that was precisely the thought racing through my head. Whatever would I do with so much stollen? Should have listened to my head, not my heart, and made half the recipe! Then again, we had a few slices of warm stollen each. Mmmm…wonderful warm straight from the oven. The crumb was soft and well risen, quite delicious. Next morning, I sliced up some more. Toasted it for breakfast. Slathered with slightly salted butter, it was luxury in every bite. For once too much was too good, and the morning seemed very delicious. I still had a lot to mull over though. Still so much stollen left… after all 770gms makes a lot. I had to put it to more creative use. Contemplated freezing some, but then had a better idea. Bread pudding! STOLLEN PUDDING! Yes, that was a good idea. If brioche could make a fab bread pudding, then stollen couldn’t be far behind. I began with adding a scraped vanilla bean to 2 cups of milk, simmered it, and then thought some low fat cream might make it better. So in went cream, simmered again. Left it awhile for the vanilla flavours to mingle…mmm … this was beginning to feel like fun.Pastry creams, custards, pot de cremes … all need eggs to set, and my pud was going to be no different. Milk, cream, sugar, eggs…and of course, vanilla bean! The sugar and the eggs, yolks & are all whisked immediately; if you don’t then the yolk gets stringy and lumpy…beware! The recipe is much like a pastry cream. Warm simmered vanilla milk poured over the yolk mixture, whisked and then strained over the sliced bread, dressed with dried tart cherries {I do love those}, and slivered almonds. Into the oven it went, in a bain marie. The aromas were enticing. I was like an expectant father, pacing the ground outside my oven to see if it would work, and my pud would set!Get set it did! YAY! If you daring kinda folk, like me, made a HUGE stollen, then you MUST try this pudding. WE LOVED IT!! The dried tart cherries, the now roasted slivered almonds, the wonderful vanilla flavours … a sifting of sugar later. It was ever so good, just perfect for a cold winter day. Another great satisfying dessert, another favourite added to my list. I still have a hunk of stollen saved up, and I have an idea for that too. Though I still do prefer the stollen I had made last year with quark as a slice and eat Christmas bread, I do love the versatility of this one. Will make this again, even if it’s just for a bread pudding, well half of it anyway!

Thank you Penny for the fun, festive and fulfilling challenge, and thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!!

Stollen Wreath
Makes one large wreath or two traditional shaped Stollen loaves. Serves 10-12 people
¼ cup lukewarm water
28gms fresh yeast {or 14 grams active dry yeast}
1 cup milk
140gm unsalted butter
5½ cups {770 grams} all-purpose flour , plus extra for dusting
½ cup{130gm} vanilla sugar {I added an extra 15gm in error}
¾ teaspoon salt {if using salted butter there is no need to alter this salt measurement}
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Grated zest of 2 oranges
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 cup currants
1 cup firmly packed raisins
3 tablespoons rum
12 red glacé cherries {roughly chopped} for the color and the taste.
1 cup almonds, chopped
Melted unsalted butter for coating the wreath
Powdered sugar for dusting wreath
Note: If you don’t want to use alcohol, double the lemon or orange extract or you could use the juice from the zested orange.
Method:
In a small bowl, soak the raisins and currants in the rum {or in the orange juice from the zested orange} and set aside.
Whisk together the eggs, vanilla and orange extract, and scraped vanilla bean. Reserve.
Melt the milk and butter gently in a pan. Stand until lukewarm. {I warmed the milk and poured it over the butter, and gently stirred it over low heat to hasten the process}
Pour ¼ cup warm water into a small bowl, add fresh yeast and let stand 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast completely.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange zest.
Then stir in {or mix on low speed with the dough hooks} the yeast/water mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk/butter mixture. This should take about 2 minutes. It should be a soft, but not sticky ball. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
Add in the soaked fruit and almonds and mix with your hands or on low speed to incorporate. Here is where you can add the cherries if you would like. Be delicate with the cherries or all your dough will turn red!
Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading {or mixing with the dough hook} to distribute the fruit evenly, adding additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky. Knead for approximately 8 minutes. The full six minutes of kneading is needed to distribute the dried fruit and other ingredients and to make the dough have a reasonable bread-dough consistency. You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough – a few raisins will start to fall off the dough onto the counter because at the beginning of the kneading process the dough is very sticky and the raisins will be held into the dough but when the dough is done it is tacky which isn’t enough to bind the outside raisins onto the dough ball.
Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Put it in the fridge overnight. The dough becomes very firm in the fridge {since the butter goes firm} but it does rise slowly… the raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want.Shaping the Dough
Let the dough rest for 2 hours after taking out of the fridge in order to warm slightly.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to moderate 180°C with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
Punch dough down, roll into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches (40 x 61 cms) and ¼ inch (6 mm) thick.
Forming and Baking the Wreath
Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder.
Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan. Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle. You can form it around a bowl to keep the shape.
Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along outside of circle, in 2-inch (5 cm) intervals, cutting 2/3 of the way through the dough.
Twist each segment outward, forming a wreath shape. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Proof for approximately 2 hours at room temperature, or until about 1½ times its original size.
Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes. The bread will bake to a dark mahogany color, should register 190°F/88°C in the center of the loaf, and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.
Transfer to a cooling rack and brush the top with melted butter while still hot.
Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter.
Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over the first.
The bread should be coated generously with the powdered sugar.
Let cool at least an hour before serving. Coat the stollen in butter and icing sugar three times, since this many coatings helps keeps the stollen fresh – especially if you intend on sending it in the mail as Christmas presents!
When completely cool, store in a plastic bag. Or leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly, German style.

Stollen Pudding
350gms Stollen, sliced
200ml milk
200ml low fat cream
1 vanilla bean, scraped
2 yolks
1 egg
1/2 cup vanilla sugar {or plain sugar}
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup dried tart cherries, snipped
Powdered sugar for sifting
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C.
Place sliced bread in 9″ baking dish, slightly overlapping each slice as in pictures.
Put milk, cream and scraped vanilla bean in a saucepan and simmer till bubbles appear around edges. Take off heat and let the flavours seep for 20-30 minutes.
Place egg, yolks and vanilla sugar in a largish bowl, and whisk immediately to mix.
Bring the milk mixture back to a simmering boil, take off heat, and slowly pour over egg mixture whisking all the time to prevent lumps getting formed.
Strain this over the bread slices in baking dish, sprinkle over dried cherries and almonds. Bake in a bain marie for 30-40 minutes/ until the edges of the custard appear to be firm and set If the top browns too soon, loosely place a sheet of foil over it.
Remove from oven, and then from bain marie as soon as it’s warm enough to handle. Sift with powdered sugar. Allow to stand for 20-30 minutes. Serve hot or warm.
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