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My daughter the Cake Princess looked quizzically at the dough laid out on a wooden peel in the kitchen. “Do you make pizza every day?” she asked, striking a pose. “Just this week,” I assured her. “Yeah, right,” she said, and flopped off to check her facebook page.
Thin to thick: Last week's selection
We’re all [...]
My son the meatatarian can eat pepperoni pizza every day. It’s that good. But can you make a pepperoni pizza that rivals the freshness of pizza parlor pizza, and have it on the table in under an hour? Yes. And it’s easy, if you know how.
The secret is dough made with Fleishmann’s Pizza Crust Yeast, which proofs [...]
A newly minted yeast showed up on my grocer’s shelves last week. Made specifically for pizza crust by Fleischmann’s, a venerable yeast company now owned by Associated British Foods, Pizza Crust Yeast promises a fully risen crust in just 30 minutes. Turbo-charged in other words. I just had to give it a spin.
Fleischmann's Pizza [...]
Our waiter was clearly worried. He guided us to a table with a view out onto the Campo, jabbed menus into our hands and headed back to confer with the indoor waiter. Standing nervously at the arched doorway, he leveled a severe look on a group of Italian tourists drinking from paper cups at one [...]
A friend who once owned a cheese shop told me the Cambozola story. That blue cheese with brie was a winning combination had been well known in cheese circles for years, but the French refused to adulterate their Camembert with blue cheese and the Italians didn’t want to tone down their gorgonzola. In 1970, a German [...]
We make pizza nearly every week here at Chez Bullhog. When you have an outdoor pizza oven, it’s hard not to: pizza has become an obsession. But, even without using the special oven, we’ve gotten pretty good at turning out a quality pizza. Here are some tips:
For half the flour in the dough, substitute Caputo [...]
Every self-respecting Italian pizza is made from dough that was made the day before. The long rise brings out flavors in the dough that aren’t there when fresh, and allows the dough to be pulled amazingly thin. What’s changed is the gluten – the protein in the dough that allows the stretch.
To see the difference, [...]
When I was a kid, the Italian lunch ladies would sometimes serve up trays of pizza: fat slabs of rich yeasty crust slathered with oregano-spiced tomato sauce and mozzarella. When I bit into a hunk of that pizza, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. On those days the lunch lines were long, and [...]
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Welcome Aboard At Woodfiredkitchen.com, Sortachef takes you on adventures in the kitchen and beyond, with tales to suit. Many of his offerings are woodfired - a flaming good recipe for pizza, bread, or something different. All recipes are original and tasty. Enjoy!
Sortachef Adventures Early this summer, Sortachef took his trusty steed down to California for two weeks, camping and cooking with fire along the way. In Arcata, Lodi and Mt. Shasta City, he visited with owners and operators of woodfired ovens.
The trip opened new avenues for woodfired ideas. See ‘Camping Clam Spaghetti in the Redwoods’ and ‘Beautifully Barbecued Baby Back Ribs’ for two of his stories.
In mid summer, Sortachef spent several weeks collecting material in the U.K., where he followed leads on bakers using specialty ovens and sampled a variety of pizzas. See 'The State of British Pizza: 2010' for an overview; it just might change your views on British food.
Sortachef and the Salad Queen will be heading to Puebla, Mexico in October to visit the birthplace of Mole. Stay tuned for more, Amigos!
Flame On!
Got a good campfire cooking story? In his quest for the perfect camping food, Sortachef talked to many folk from Grants Pass, Oregon to Yosemite. Almost everybody had a tale to tell. If you’ve got a good one, send it to Sortachef@gmail.com, and he’ll try to use it in an upcoming entry.
Kudos “Do you know those days when it feels like a hot chocolate day? That’s what Don’s site makes me feel like.”
“Sortachef on Woodfiredkitchen.com includes an eclectic mix of travel, food memories and photographs to accompany his recipes. Since we believe food, wine and travel are the best geography lesson you can have to understand and appreciate various cultures, his style of sharing his message is what we enjoy.
"(Don) may not be a chef, but he is a great cook and a good writer which shines through on his blog.”
“You have two very special gifts, one your love of cooking and the other, one with words.”
"Sortachef's woodfired chicken is not just a recipe to try, but his writing is just as savory. Part travelogue and part rambling joke, you'll enjoy the introductory anecdote just as much as the cooking."
“Reading your post nearly brought me to happy tears remembering how (my mother) prepared this masterpiece with such loving care. I didn’t have a copy of her method so I think I will bridge the gap with yours.
Thank you so much for jogging a jovial food memory for me.”
“The bread is as beautiful as your writing.”
“One of my favorite things is when people blog for themselves and the people they connect with, not to make money or to get a book deal. That being said, I think Don should make money and get a book deal”
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