Pepperoni Pizza

The magic of the Whidbey MFA residency passed too quick! I have the post-residency blues akin to the post-pizza blues—too good, too much, too fast. And although right now I feel as if I shall be full for weeks, tomorrow, I’ll already be hungry for more.

Love is half a longing possession does nothing to mitigate—this line from the prophet M. Robinson is perhaps my life mantra.

Pepperoni Pizza

Adapted from Baking Illustrated

INGREDIENTS for the Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast

1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting (used all-purpose)

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

For the Extras
3 cups pizza sauce, I use marinara

4 ounces mozzarella, shredded

8 ounces sliced pepperoni

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and stir to combine.
Add flour and salt to the liquid ingredients. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.
Shape into smooth round ball and cover with a damp cloth. Let dough relax for at least 10 minutes (no more than 30 minutes)
Brush rolled out dough round with oil. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce even over dough round, leaving ½ inch border. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella, and cover with pepperoni.
Slide on peel (covered with corn meal) onto pizza stone (which should have been heated for at least 30 minutes at 500 degrees) and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan or more mozzarella.
Repeat with the two other rounds.

So thrilled to have joined my mother for a mother-daughter weekend retreat in Woodinville, WA at the Matthews Estate Winery. Tomorrow, we hike the spring green hills from tasting to tasting. Tonight we brought one another up to date on each of our most recent theories of knowledge, of self, of love. We ate crab and steak at Purple Cafe. It feels luxurious to be so seen and heard by the one who has undoubtedly invested more of herself in me than any other person on the planet. In many ways, conversations with Mom are dialectics with a flattering mirror.

Caramelized Onion Pizza

A fable on onions from The Brother’s Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the translation by Constance Garnett:

“You see, Alyosha,” Grushenka turned to him with a nervous laugh. “I was boasting when I told Rakitin I had given away an onion, but it’s not to boast I tell you about it. It’s only a story, but it’s a nice story. I used to hear it when I was a child from Matryona, my cook, who is still with me. It’s like this. ‘Once upon a time there was a peasant woman and a very wicked woman she was. And she died and did not leave a single good deed behind. The devils caught her and plunged her into the lake of fire. So her guardian angel stood and wondered what good deed of hers he could remember to tell to God; ‘she once pulled up an onion in her garden,’ said he, ‘and gave it to a beggar woman.’ And God answered: ‘You take that onion then, hold it to her in the lake, and let her take hold and be pulled out. And if you can pull her out of the lake, let her come to Paradise, but if the onion breaks, then the woman must stay where she is.’ The angel ran to the woman and held out the onion to her; ‘Come,’ said he, ‘catch hold and I’ll pull you out.’ And he began cautiously pulling her out. He had just pulled her right out, when the other sinners in the lake, seeing how she was being drawn out, began catching hold of her so as to be pulled out with her. But she was a very wicked woman and she began kicking them. ‘I’m to be pulled out, not you. It’s my onion, not yours.’”

Of course, on account of her greed, the onion breaks, and the woman falls back into the fiery lake. The moral? Share your onions. The other moral? One good deed can save millions.

The picture is blurry because KP was hurrying to eat it. Sorry.

Caramelized Onion Pizza

Adapted from Baking Illustrated

INGREDIENTS for the Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast

1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting (used all-purpose)

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

For the Extras
3 cups pizza sauce, I use marinara

2 medium yellow onions, haved and sliced thin

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

¼ cup grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and stir to combine.
Add flour and salt to the liquid ingredients. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.
Shape into smooth round ball and cover with a damp cloth. Let dough relax for at least 10 minutes (no more than 30 minutes)
Saute onions until caramelized. Stir in thyme and set aside.
Brush rolled out dough round with oil. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce even over dough round, leaving ½ inch border. Scatter a third of the onions over the sauce. Add olives or anchovies if that is your thing.
Slide on peel (covered with corn meal) onto pizza stone (which should have been heated for at least 30 minutes at 500 degrees) and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Repeat with the two other rounds.

This pizza was fantastic. I am CRAVING another one right now having just run a few loops through the hills on Whidbey Island. The unexpected joy from yesterday’s late season snow was that today, as the sun shone and the snow curled back from the edges of the roads like lips from their teeth in smile, I felt Spring as verb. Pure verb.

Mushroom Pizza with Sage, Fontina and Parmesan

Amazing, but true—the snow did follow me to the West Coast. First Boston, now this. Woke up with 4 or 5 inches of fresh snow on the hills of Whidbey Island. Magical, but I’ve had enough.

Mushroom Pizza with Sage, Fontina, and Parmesan

Adapted from Baking Illustrated

INGREDIENTS for the Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast

1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting (used all-purpose)

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

For the Extras
3 cups pizza sauce, I use marinara

1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced thin

6 ounces fontina cheese

1 tsp minced sage leaves

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and stir to combine.
Add flour and salt to the liquid ingredients. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.
Shape into smooth round ball and cover with a damp cloth. Let dough relax for at least 10 minutes (no more than 30 minutes)
Saute mushrooms with sage.
Brush rolled out dough round with oil. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce even over dough round, leaving ½ inch border. Scatter a third of the mushrooms and then ½ cup fontina cheese over the sauce.
Slide on peel (covered with corn meal) onto pizza stone (which should have been heated for at least 30 minutes at 500 degrees) and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Repeat with the two other rounds.

Margherita Pizza

As I am wont to adjoin my baking exploits to profound philosophical musings, the depth I have to offer today is: Izzy looks like Hungry Hungry Hippo.

Busy day, that’s what I got.

Margherita Pizza

Adapted from Baking Illustrated

INGREDIENTS for the Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast

1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting (used all-purpose)

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

For the Extras
3 cups pizza sauce, I use marinara

12 ounces mozzarella, shredded

½ cup packed fresh basil leaves

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and stir to combine.
Add flour and salt to the liquid ingredients. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.
Shape into smooth round ball and cover with a damp cloth. Let dough relax for at least 10 minutes (no more than 30 minutes)
Brush rolled out dough round with oil. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce even over dough round, leaving ½ inch border. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella.
Slide on peel (covered with corn meal) onto pizza stone (which should have been heated for at least 30 minutes at 500 degrees) and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan. Tear a third of the basil leaves and scatter over pizza.
Repeat with the two other rounds.

Lemon Pound Cake

I am quite sure many catastrophes have been inspired by the words of Eleanor Roosevelt’s immortal line, “Do at least one thing every day that scares you.”

Last week, I was scared by a rococo cake pan with a lemon and leaf imprint. And the pound cake it yielded also scared me. Apparently it tasted good, I made the cake in a rush the day I left town for Whidbey and probably didn’t allow enough time for the cake to properly cool. But the pile of crumbs it became says nothing but Pity Me.

Lemon Pound Cake

Recipe from Mom

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
Mix together 1 cup sugar and butter.
Add eggs and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice; mix well.
Add salt, flour, and baking powder to mixture.
Add milk.
Bake at 325°F in a well greased loaf pan for 1 hour or until golden brown.
Mix 1/3 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar.
Use a toothpick to make holes in top of cake and drizzle lemon juice and sugar mixture over the top of the cake when removed from the oven.
Serve warm or cool.

Made not in this pan, this cake would probably be a pleasant dish to accompany Spring, whose arrival we celebrate today. I thought about remaking the cake for the sake of a prettier picture, but Mother says I should not be too quick to hide my failures.

Fresh Tomato Pizza with Arugula and Prosciutto

Discovered the Bluffs at Ebey’s Landing this afternoon on a jog that turned into a four-hour wandering on Whidbey Island. The highlight was divining a trail through the half-plowed fields of a farm, cutting my way through bracken and clover to the sea, along the damp rocks of which I found my way home.

Fresh Tomato Pizza with Arugula and Prosciutto

adapted from Baking Illustrated

INGREDIENTS for the Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast

1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting (used all-purpose)

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

For the Extras
3 medium ripe tomatoes, or lots of halved cherry tomatoes

6 ounces mozzarella, shredded

4 ounces thin-sliced prosciutto

3 cups stemmed arugula leaves, washed and dried

DIRECTIONS

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and stir to combine.
Add flour and salt to the liquid ingredients. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.
Shape into smooth round ball and cover with a damp cloth. Let dough relax for at least 10 minutes (no more than 30 minutes)
Brush rolled out dough round with oil. Arrange a third of the tomato slices in concentric circles over the dough, leaving a ½ inch border.
Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with 1 tsp oil.
Slide on peel (covered with corn meal) onto pizza stone (which should have been heated for at least 30 minutes at 500 degrees) and bake for 6 to 10 minutes. Lay a third of the prosciutto slices over the tomatoes and sprinkle with ½ cup mozzarella. Continue baking until the cheese melts. Toss 1 cup arugula with teaspoon oil in a small bowl. Remove pizza from oven and top with arugula.
Repeat with the two other rounds.

Three-Cheese Pizza

Participated in a student reading today at the Whidbey Workshop, always a nerve-wracking experience because of the mother-love one comes to have for their own writing; though my essay may very well be a butt ugly baby, I want the audience to smile and coo at it all the same. I had just such an audience today: my MFA cohort, a whole room full of insecure mothers. Tomorrow, and with revision, the world.

But I could never ask for a better audience than Izzy. She is a true listener in the kitchen.

Three-Cheese Pizza

Adapted from Baking Illustrated

INGREDIENTS for the Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast

1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting (used all-purpose)

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

For the Extras
4 cloves worth minced garlic

4 ounces mozzarella, shredded

8 ounces Gorgonzola, crumbled

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and stir to combine.
Add flour and salt to the liquid ingredients. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.
Shape into smooth round ball and cover with a damp cloth. Let dough relax for at least 10 minutes (no more than 30 minutes)
Brush rolled out dough round with oil. Sprinkle evenly with 1/3 cup mozzarella, leaving a ½ inch border. Dot with 2/3 cup Gorgonzola and sprinkle with a third of your minced garlic.
Slide on peel (covered with corn meal) onto pizza stone (which should have been heated for at least 30 minutes at 500 degrees) and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Repeat with the two other rounds.

The combo of cheeses on this pizza was snazzy. It would not pass the Lindsey Willis “Are all the colors of the rainbow present?” health assessment, but its orange, yellow, and brownness should not be held against it. 4 stars.

White Pizza with Spinach and Ricotta

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It is wonderful to be in a green place, the Pacific Northwest, for the holiday. Sometimes a poem can be like a tuning fork for a day, setting a pitch for our thoughts. It seems fitting to let Seamus Heaney’s poem “Oysters” be the note to strike, as I sit on grass by the sea on an Irish Sunday:

Oysters

Our shells clacked on the plates.
My tongue was a filling estuary,
My palate hung with starlight:
As I tasted the salty Pleiades
Orion dipped his foot into the water.

Alive and violated,
They lay on their bed of ice:
Bivalves: the split bulb
And philandering sigh of ocean —
Millions of them ripped and shucked and scattered.

We had driven to that coast
Through flowers and limestone
And there we were, toasting friendship,
Laying down a perfect memory
In the cool of thatch and crockery.

Over the Alps, packed deep in hay and snow,
The Romans hauled their oysters south of Rome:
I saw damp panniers disgorge
The frond-lipped, brine-stung
Glut of privilege

And was angry that my trust could not repose
In the clear light, like poetry or freedom
Leaning in from sea. I ate the day
Deliberately, that its tang
Might quicken me all into verb, pure verb.

White Pizza with Spinach and Ricotta

Baking Illustrated

INGREDIENTS for the Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast

1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting (used all-purpose)

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

For the Extras
4 cloves worth minced garlic

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

1 ½ pound spinach, stemmed, washed, and chopped coarse

1 15 oz container ricotta cheese

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and stir to combine.
Add flour and salt to the liquid ingredients. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.
Shape into smooth round ball and cover with a damp cloth. Let dough relax for at least 10 minutes (no more than 30 minutes)
Sautee garlic and red pepper flakes in 2 tablespoons garlic. When garlic is fragrant, add wet spinach, reduce heat and cover until spinach is heated and soft. Discard liquid.
Brush rolled out dough round with oil. Arrange 1/3 spinach mixture on the pizza, leaving ½ inch border uncovered. Dot with ricotta cheese.
Slide on peel (covered with corn meal) onto pizza stone (which should have been heated for at least 30 minutes at 500 degrees) and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Repeat with the two other rounds.

A wonderful pizza topped with greens. 5 stars. In fact, my palate hung with starlight, and I hope that afterwards I went on and ate the day.

Hearty Herb Bread

Something in my neck has coiled as it should not. My world has been halved with left hemi-neglect. Please approach me from the right until further notice.

This bread was not the best, it’s contest winning somewhat suspect as now is my opinion of Bob’s taste. It is, however, healthy and hearty and nicely herbed. It is a salad stuffed into a brown square.

Hearty Herb Bread

Bob’s Red Mill Contest Winner: Lise Thom from Portland, Oregon

The most ingredients ever–

5 c. Bobs Red Mill Unbleached White Flour

1 c. wheat germ

1/2 c. rolled oats

1/4 c. instant non-fat milk

1/4 c. wheat bran

5 tsp active dry yeast (or possibly 2 pkgs)

4 Tblsp. sugar

1 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp parsley flakes

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 1/2 tsp thyme

1 1/2 tsp marjoram

1 1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp sage

1/4 tsp celery seed

2 c. warm water

1/4 c. canola oil

1 egg

2 Tbsp. chopped onion

1 c. Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour

Directions

1.Combine 2 c. flour, wheat germ, oats, bran, lowfat milk, yeast, fructose, sea salt and seasonings; mix thoroughly. Add in warm water and oil; beat at medium speed for 2 min. Add in 1 c. flour and egg; beat at high speed for 1 minute. Stir in onion.

2. Combine 2 c. unbleached white flour and 1 c. whole wheat; stir into dough. Place on floured surface and knead till smooth. Let stand 20 min.

3. Punch down. Divide in half and shape into 2 loaves. Place in greased 9″ x 5″ loaf pans. Cover and let rise in hot place, free of draft, 1 to 2 hrs till doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 400 F. Bake 20 min.

3 squat stars. I let it rise too long and precious lifting air snuck out. My yeast is fine.

Pizza Bianca with Garlic and Rosemary

The view from here is the Olympic Mountaintops in the dense clouds hanging low over the Puget Sound. Whidbey Island Fort Casey is where I meet annually with my inimitable MFA cohort–an arts colony people like none other, huzzah.

Because I am surrounded by lovely words and those who live in whirlwinds to both consume and create lovely words—these words shall be added to the bread feast. Anna Kamienska is the poet of the day whose credo to the world is as good and convincing as any belief—from “The Other World,” the line that has lingered in me today is: “I believe in bodies/stopped in a rush/ in mid-gesture in reaching out/ as if something long awaited/was just about to happen/ as if in a minute/ meaning was to raise up/ its index finger.”

Pizza Bianca with Garlic and Rosemary

Baking Illustrated

INGREDIENTS for the Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast

1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting (used all-purpose)

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

DIRECTIONS

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and stir to combine.
Sautee four cloves of garlic with one teaspoon each of rosemary, oregano, and thyme. Add to the dough mixture.
Add flour and salt to the liquid ingredients. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.

TO BAKE

Place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes
Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal.
Lightly brush dough round with plain olive oil. Prick dough all over with a toothpick so it won’t balloon in the oven.
Combine ¼ cup olive oil with 6 minced garlic cloves, and four teaspoons minced fresh rosemary.
Slide the dough onto the pizza stone.
Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 6 to 10 minutes, pull out and cover with one third of the herb oil, and put back in oven for 1-2 minutes until the garlic becomes fragrant. Top with parmesan cheese or whatever else you want!

KP and I made many, many pizzas before I left for Washington. Janelle came over to test and ended up trying to capture the magic on film. Too fast for flash! Also, I am aware these pizzas are not quite round–early technical difficulties with the dough sticking to the peel–cannot emphasize enough how you’ll need more cornmeal or semolina than you think. The later pizzas are more geometrically pleasing. This is the basic recipe for the dough that will be the first step in all of the other pizza recipes that follow. It is so easy, but the pizza stone is really the essential—it crisps the crust in just the right way. This particular pizza, with all of its oil and lack of toppings really needed that crisp. The taste of the garlic and the oil and the Parmesan held something like suspense, after the first bite was the lingering mid-gesture, a raised index finger, as if to say, I suspect that more good will come even if in the next bite, and the next.