Grilled Caprese Pizza

Maybe it was the lure of fresh produce from the Farmer's Market.
Maybe it was my dago husband laying around with a sore back in need of sustenance.
Maybe it was because I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles last weekend and couldn't get pizza out of my mind.

Whatever the excuse, I had to make pizza today.

There isn't much that keeps our family from enjoying a pizza except living in a small house with a small window air conditioner during a heat wave.  (It's June 15 and it's already f-ing hot)  So, today, I learned to grill pizza.

Ingredients:
Emeril's Basic Pizza Dough (I replace his 3-4 C flour with: 2.25 C white flour and 1 C semolina flour).
Roma Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Garlic Shoots (or cloves)
Salt/Pepper
Parsley Flakes
Mushrooms (optional)
Fresh Basil
Balsamic Vinegar (optional)

Tools:
Grill
Two Cookie Sheets
Rolling Pin
Skillet


Steps:
1. I started with my variation on Emeril's Basic Pizza Dough.  I used my Ninja:

2. While the dough was rising I sliced 3 tomatoes and diced three garlic shoots.  I cooked the garlic shoots with 4 T of olive oil in the skillet, after a minute I added about 1 t of the parsley flakes, and then added the sliced tomatoes.  After a minute I flipped the tomatoes, added salt and pepper and took off heat. I let that sit so the flavors could blend together.






Then after the dough had risen, I made two nice rounds with it and covered them for about an hour (longer than Emeril said, but it still turned out OK).




3. When the two balls of dough had rested, I flattened each out on a floured (semolina) surface.  I do a combo of flattening with my hands and stretching with my fists...it's probably not "right" but it works.  I got an oval/rectangular shape that fit on a smaller cookie sheet (which also fit on my grill).  I brushed one side of the dough with oil and put that side face down on the floured (semolina) cookie sheet. (And took no pictures.)

4. I heated the gas grill to about 450* on the left side only. I brushed one side of the dough with oil and put that side down and closed the lid for 1-2 minutes.  I flipped the dough and closed for another 1-2 minutes.  (Just until there were nice grill marks on both sides and the dough firmed up.)  With that dough on a tray off to the side, I did the same with my second crust.  (And took no pictures)

5. I took the crusts back inside to brush with the oil/tomato juice/garlic shoot mixture.  I layered the tomatoes on top of the oil, added mozzarella. (And, mushrooms to one of the pizzas.)  Then, I took the pizzas back out and put one directly on the heat for about 2 minutes, then transferred it to the cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet on the right side of the grill (no flame).

I then put the second pizza on the direct heat for about 2 minutes, then transferred it to a cookie sheet, removed the other pizza/sheet from the grill, left the second pizza on for a few minutes.

6. When both pizzas were cooked, I chopped up some fresh basil and put on the top. (Note: I recommend the smaller pan...if I had two, both would have fit perfectly in the grill at once.)




7. We cut our pizza into 8 slices...almost regardless of pizza size... After cutting, I plated and drizzled balsamic vinegar on top.



My husband was totally cool with giving up his grilling post (idk why, he usually grills and I don't, but whatever) for this meal.  We agreed that we should have tried this years ago and will be making more pizzas outside!  Next time I'll watch my crust a little better during the final grilling--one side was a little crispier but it was still delicious.  If you haven't tried this, you should.  If you have tried this...wtf are you reading this for? Make a damn pizza!

My First Brew: My ‘Murican Pale Ale

This is my first brew—I know, the title says it all.  We had some supplies in the basement from a year or so ago when my husband tried his first brew.  I decided to be a good Lutheran pastor, I should probably learn to brew, too.  So, on this day of Sabbath, I’m resting from work and learning to make this pale ale. 

Day 1: Prep and Brew

1.       Get stuff ready.  This recipe uses:

a.       a nylon straining bag for grains

b.      a small muslin bag for hops

c.       a large stock pot with lid, perhaps 2

d.      a thermometer

e.      large spoon (wooden or plastic)

f.        a timer

g.       a funnel

h.      a 3-piece airlock

i.         1 gallon carboy

j.        bung (with a hole for airlock)

k.       2 C Pyrex measuring cup

l.         a glass bowl to hold sanitized stuff

m.    a set or two of tongs (for handling sanitized stuff)

n.      cleaner and StarSan (or you can bleach and/or boil most of the supplies)

o.      a small pot for boiling water to make yeast mixture

p.      The following are actual ingredients for brew day:

                                                               i.      2 gallons of tap water (plus water for StarSan solution and yeast solution)

                                                             ii.      2 lb Great Western 2 Row (American/Pale Ale Malt) , crushed

                                                            iii.      ½ lb Weyermann Munich I malt, crushed

                                                           iv.      ½ oz US Cascade Hop Pellets

                                                             v.      Fermentis SafAle US-05 (use only 1/5  to ¼ of packet)

q.      The following supplies/ingredients are for bottling day (about day 10):

                                                               i.      ½ C water

                                                             ii.      1 T granulated sugar

                                                            iii.      sanitized bottles (or carboy) and lids

                                                           iv.      sanitized spoon

                                                             v.      sanitized funnel

2.       I began by setting out all my supplies to double-check that everything was present.  Then, I used my largest stockpot for boiling water to sanitize stuff.  I melted my airlock—because, duh, it’s not glass—and went back to the store and invested in StarSan and a non-melted airlock.  (I was taking a Sabbath from thought, okay?)  After returning from the store, I dumped my previously boiled water and went on with my merry experiment.

3.       I put two gallons (two carboys) of water in the large stockpot and put it on to warm up to 156*.  While the water was warming, I opened my grains and put them in the nylon bag and tied the top of the bag in a knot. When temperature was reached I shut the heat off, dropped in my bag of grains, stirred for 2 minutes, then covered the pot for 1 hour. (I left it on the same burner…maybe I should have taken it off?)

4.       While that was doing its thing, I mixed the StarSan solution according to the directions right in my carboy.  I shook the carboy up, let it sit a few minutes then dumped the solution into my smaller stock pot.  This left some bubbles in the carboy.  I didn’t want bubbles, but I didn’t want to contaminate, so I dropped a turkey baster into the solution, then gently rinsed the bubbles out with more solution.  Then, I rinsed the glass bowl (which, yes, was already cleaned in the boiling water) and tongs with the solution.  Next, each piece of airlock, the funnel, the bung, the foil, the measuring cup…and anything I could get my hands on…was put in the solution with the tongs and put in the glass bowl to air dry.

5.       After 60 minutes, I removed the lid and pulled the grain bag out of the pot.  I let the bag drip for a while to get as much moisture out as possible (without squeezing…I read that I shouldn’t do that to the mash?).

 

6.       I turned the burner back on. When the water started to boil I put the hops into the small muslin bag, tied it shut, and threw it in the pot.  I boiled the hops for about 1 hour without the lid. While that was boiling, I put the spent grain in a bucket and took to the chickens next door.

7.                   Also, while the hops were boiling, I boiled a small pot of water.  I dumped one cup of the water into the sanitized measuring cup (and put in a sanitized thermometer).  When the water is down to 90* add the yeast and mix with a sanitized spoon.  (Reserve and keep sanitized the rest of the water in the small pot to put in the airlock later.) Let rest until mixing with wort.

8.       Near the end of the hops boiling, I put ice water in the sink.  When the boiling was done, I set the whole stockpot in the sink (careful to not get anything in the wort) to cool.  When it got down to about 75* (which took FOREVER, even in cold water) I used the sanitized tongs to put the sanitized funnel in the sanitized carboy.  Then I poured half of the wort into the carboy, then the yeast into the carboy, then the wort.  I left some room at the top for head…maybe enough, maybe not?

9.       After putting the liquids in the carboy, I put the sanitized foil over the top, held it tightly and shook it up to mix the yeast.  If you’re smart enough to get a lid for your carboy, you could sanitize that and use it instead of the foil.

 

10.  I filled the airlock to the line with previously boiled and therefor sanitized water (leftover from mixing the yeast), put the airlock together with the bung and popped it in the carboy and put the carboy on a towel under a table in the dark, cool basement.

Day 2-3: Watching, Waiting, Commiserating  

On Days 2 and 3, the yeast really grew… Turns out I didn’t leave enough head space.  So, on Day 3, I popped out the bung and airlock, used a sanitized turkey-baster to suck out some of the foam/liquid, covered it with a sanitized piece of foil, sanitized the airlock and bung and replaced them.  I was pretty convinced that my beer was ruined.

  

Day 11:

1.      

Boil ½ C water with 1 T sugar, mixing with sanitized spoon, and let cool.

2.      Sanitize bottles/carboy, lid(s), funnel.

3.       Pour carboy into sanitized pot with sugar water and mix with a sanitized spoon.

4.       Pour beer into sanitize bottles/carboy, cap, and put in cool dark place for 14 days. 

Note: I filled three 22 oz bottles and had probably a glassful leftover for a taste-test.  It tasted like flat beer—a good sign?!

Day 27

1.       Put beer in the refrigerator for 2+ hours.

2.       Drink beer.

3.       Record tastes.

Verdict:

The beer tastes like beer!  It’s a little under-carbonated, maybe a few more days of sitting in the dark before refrigeration would help.  I’m more than surprised that this pale ale is palatable.  Both my husband and I agree that this recipe is a keeper—onto a larger batch! 

The Grinder

Back in the day, I had a college professor who took our Greek class to The OP (aka: The Other Place) for our final class for pizza and refreshments.  My end of the table was graced with this delicious pizza called "The Grinder."  It was a beautiful combination of sausage, ground beef, sauce, mozzarella and cheddar, topped with pickled jalapenos.  Pure deliciousness.

Last weekend, I was craving this pizza.  The only problem: The OP (and every other OP restaurant) is a good 1200 miles away from my apartment.  It wasn't going to happen.  So, this pretty and fresh substitute was created...

I started with this crust recipe adapted from Alton Brown's recipe on allrecipes.com. 

· 2 tablespoons honey
· 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic salt
· 2 tbsp olive oil
· 3/4 cup: about half water (hot) half milk (cold)
· 1 & 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup wheat flour
· 1 teaspoon instant yeast

· Some semolina flour for dusting dough.

Combine hot water and cold milk in med-lg measuring cup.  Add honey, and yeast.  Let the mix do it's thang for 15 minutes or so.  Then combine with all other ingredients.  Let rise for an hour.  Knead.  Let rise for 1-3 more hours.  Roll out, dust both sides with semolina flour and bake at 325* on heated pizza stone for 2 minutes.

Move to cool pan and add sauce and toppings.  Slide back onto hot stone and bake until cheese is golden.

Toppings for my version of The Grinder:

· Sauce: 1/2 can of tomato sauce with some generic Italian Seasoning blend.

· 1/2 lb ground beef browned with a bit of fresh jalepeno diced small and 1/2 a white onion

· 1 chicken breast ground up (or processed in a Magic Bullet) with a bit of sage, fennel, red pepper flake, ground black pepper.  Browned with olive oil.

· 3-4 sliced button mushrooms

· Kroger "pizza blend" cheese--about 1 & 1/2 cups, Kroger "mexican blend" cheese--about 1/2 cup

· 1 sliced fresh jalapeno

Verdict: It's not my college-days pizza, but it was pretty darn good.  The wheat flour gave the crust a nice crunch and nutty taste.  Having had no sausage on hand, the chicken was a decent substitute.  With the current price of pork products, the next pizza we make will likely include another sausage experiment.  The peppers on this puppy were HOT.  Good, but hot.  I'd use pickled jalapenos for a more 'authentic' replica, but the fresh were good enough to feed my need for pizza.

This is pizza has a nice combination of crunch, chew, and cheese.  This is for someone with appetite and adventure as it is hearty and spicy.

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New Year, New Pizza!

First of all...like all other 'bloggers' say when they're not satisfied with a picture but LOVE what's in it...please, forgive the photography here.  This is the only picture I snapped ( to send to my Mom and Dad who sent my husband and me this pizza stone) before we dug in.

I called this our New Year's Pizza...because we've made it on New Year's Day, clever, I know.  It's not the best pizza we've made and it doesn't take much for us to demolish a pizza of any quality, but it was an overall GOOD pizza.  The crust is pseudo-deep dish, crisp on the bottom, thick and bready on the edge...I could go on, but I'm salivating and might short out my laptop.

Here's my crust recipe (I adapted this from another recipe, but I can't seem to find the original...it didn't include wheat or semolina flour):

1. Combine in measuring cup: 2.75 tsp yeast, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 cup warm milk and let sit for 5 min.

2. Combine in bowl: 2.5 cups white flour, .5 cup semolina flour, 1 cup wheat flour, 1 tsp salt.

3. Combine in small measuring cup: 6 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp veg. oil.

4.  Combine all concoctions and knead briefly in bowl.  Cover for an hour.

5. Knead dough (about 5 minutes) and cover until ready to use.  Punch down.  Roll out dough.

EASY!  Admittedly, my husband rolled out the dough and placed it on the pizza stone while I prepared our toppings.  We baked the crust for about 3-4 minutes (at around 375*) with foil over the edges before putting the toppings on.

Sauce and Toppings:

Since we had an opened jar of Prego mushroom pasta sauce in the fridge, I decided to be a good steward and use it up.  If you're wondering, it's pretty decent dumped on a pizza crust.  Atop the sauce, I put:

1/2 pound of browned ground beef

Sauteed garlic (2-3 cloves) and onion (1/2 small onion)

Mushrooms....lots of mushrooms...these ones were button.

1.5 cups cheese (Kroger brand pizza blend and a little Mexican blend because we were short)

Oh, yeah.  Don't forget to bake the pizza!  A good 8-12 minutes should do, or until the cheese gets a delicious golden, bubbly, artery-clogging look.

Things I'd do differently next time I make this pizza:

1. Add some oregano to the crust

2. Brush crust with oil/butter and garlic

3. Try it in a cake pan, sauce on top of cheese.  Like a good Chicago-style deep dish.