ness

BTW, I've been in touch with the VFW and American Legion down there trying to track down Everett Thompson to see if I can help. If anyone reading this has any connections or ideas, I'm all eyes.

I'll let Justin answer that specific question, but wild yeasts are all around us. You can start a yeast culture from lots of fruits and grains. Give them what they want -- water and sugar.

That's pretty cool, Justin. Like it would have been done a hundred years ago.

I don't wade with my DSLR camera anymore. Last time I did it, I kicked up a little splash of water into the barrel of my lens and fried it.

I'm just pokin' you, Wayne. It's right when it's the way you like it. I like a thin crust, with a nice puffy edge around it, which you lose most of when you roll it. To me, you should be able to fold it over -- like a NY style -- not crispy; with minimal toppings and a simple sauce. The Chicago-style recipe I've got has a pretty fair amount of semolina in it -- don't remember the percentage off the top of my head. So, I get that it goes into dough.

If you rolled it and used 50% semolina, it ain't pizza dough. It's crackers. Other that that we're on the same page, mostly. My recipe has evolved over time to a much wetter dough (75%) to get the crust I want. It's pretty hard to handle, and easy to screw up, so my plan for next time is to do a quick par bake to set it before adding the sauce and toppings. That also allows me to cook the toppings less, as we don't like browned cheese or overcooked toppings. I do 500 degrees on a Fibrament stone on the top rack and total cook time is around 8 minutes. Yeah -- I think the brick ovens are cool, but there isn't one in my future. I hear about the green eggs and other outdoor methods, just haven't pursued it and probably won't.

The only smart thing they've done

Cewl. The whole word burning oven thing is intriguing to me. There's a new pizza joint near where I work, started by two brothers from Providence, RI. They make a thin crust NY style, a thick crust Sicilian style, and a Neapolitan style. They have regular pizza ovens and a big honkin' copper-clad brick oven for the Neapolitan. They have a great flow of business selling whole pies and slices, but they've been stop-and-go on the Neapolitan -- waiting a long time before they rolled it out, then backing off and only offering them at night. The last couple times I've been in there for lunch, they don't even have it fired up -- I don't know if they start it later or what. I talked to them about it and they say it requires a full time guy just to handle that part of the business, and they don't want to do it if they don't do it right. I've ordered one Margurita and it was excellent. I watched the guy make it and asked him some questions They use a different dough (much wetter) and a different sauce -- I think it was just crushed tomatoes. He was handling the dough like it was a baby. It was one of the owners, and I got the sense he was the only guy who makes them. The whole time it cooked he was there with the peel turning it. Cook time was about 5-6 minutes, so they didn't have the oven up super-hot like like you hear about. They've got a great product and a lot of traffic. I'm always rooting for the little guy, so I hope they do well. We've got other folks in town that do wood-fired, and some that call their product Neapolitan when it's not, but these guys are the only ones in town I know that are the real deal.

Yeah -- this starter is only a couple weeks old. Directions said it would be ready to go in a week, but it was a full two. Glad I stuck with it. BTW -- I'm using King Arthur bread flour for all this. Yes -- that's what we've been told, peppeRonnie I like the sourdough pizza idea -- not for the sour, just the overall depth of flavor it adds. I've been doing a multi-day cold ferment pizza dough for years that I like a lot. I'm thinking of doing my regular dough, with yeast, and adding the sourdough for added flavor, not so much leavening.

One of the things that's a little tricky is the timing of it all. You can't really go by the clock -- you've got to go by how it looks, be ready to go when it's time and have a bit of luck too. By the time I got around to dividing the bulk dough into the two long loaves, it had risen to maybe 3 times the size. It was probably at its peak by then and would have been better to just cook it then. Instead, when I formed the loaves the dough deflated some and it didn't seem to have enough gas left to rise more and get the better texture. Lesson learned.

Hey mic -- the discard is simply to manage the total amount you have. You keep feeding it flour and water it will build up. The feeding process keeps the culture growing and multiplying in a fixed volume of starter. As bfishn pointed out, you can use the discard. It does kinda feel wasteful, I'll admit. I did this several years back, and brought back a starter that had been in the fridge for several months. It took a while...may be worth a try. Yeah -- I know the steam trick. I put a container of water in the oven -- never thought of ice cubes.

Yeah -- I was reading about that. Instead of pitching the discard, make pancakes with it. I'm gonna give it a try soon. It sounds outstanding. Also toying with the idea of incorporating it into my pizza dough recipe.

I bought a dried sourdough culture a few weeks back. It's supposed to be from Camadoli, Italy and passed down for generations. It comes in an envelope about the size of a yeast packet and in it is a little bit of flour containing the dormant cultures. I set up a proofing box to get it started in (a large pot with a light bulb inside on a dimmer switch). The instructions said to maintain the temperature at 90 degrees for a day, then 70 afterwards. The process is to feed the culture with flour and water to get it activated. The proportions are 1 cup flour to 1/2 cup water, which is like a thick pancake batter. Twice a day you discard all but 1/4 cup, and feed it with another cup flour and 1/2 cup water. You discard just to keep the amount manageable while things get going. Sourdough cultures consist of wild yeast and lactobacillus (same stuff in yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, etc.) living in a symbiotic relationship. The acid produced by the lactobacillus protects the culture from infection other stuff, but the yeast thrive in the acidic environment. The cultures can be maintained for ... well, forever. Before commercial yeast was available, that's how bread was leavened -- keep a little piece of the dough from the last batch to use as a starter for the next. It was supposed to take about a week to get the starter going good enough to leaven bread, but mine took about 2. It's ready when there are lots of bubbles and the volume doubles within a couple hours of feeding. Looks like this: Once it reaches that stage, you incorporate it into the bread recipe and let it rise. It's a considerably slower rise than commercial yeast -- I let it go about 12 hours. I made a round loaf Saturday and it was outstanding. Great flavor, nice big holes, excellent crust. Slightly sour -- just right for my tastes. No pics. Started over Saturday night, Sunday morning I divided into two long loaves: ...and after rising for about 3 hours: ...and after cooking: So -- here's one of the long loaves cut in half, with the remnants of the round loaf from the day before in front. The crust and texture were much better on the first loaf. I didn't get the big holes on the long loaf and it's kinda dense. Flavor is good, and it was cooked to the same internal temperature -- just didn't get as dark. I probably should have formed the long loaves sooner, and let it rise longer than the three hours. Probably should have cranked the heat at the end too. There's a little bit of art to all this -- I've got a ways to go. We're good on bread for a while, so I put the starter to bed in the fridge. It takes a few days to wake it up after that, but I'd rather do that than twice-a-day feedings until I've got time to do it. They keep for a long time in the fridge. Anyhoo -- just thought I'd share.

Wow -- 150 to 600 is quite a range. I hope you'll share some of your results

Spend some time looking at things around you rather than looking for scenery.

Lorenzo Cain is a stud. Love the great D!

Bought some Bulleit a couple weeks ago. That's my bourbon of choice now. As for ceegars, they're usually too much for me--I like the first few inches or so, but after that it's usually a struggle.

Still have a bunch of black raspberries and gooseberries in the freezer. I'll do freezer jam with those. I like the simplicity and the flavor -- the downside is the space it takes up in the freezer.

Who'da thunk? Great D, speed and smart ball make ness happy.

What's flocked? I saw that description attached to more expensive dekes. Save me a Google please.

Done, and good luck.

Mrs. ness always says I've got too much stuff. Then I mention her shoes and clothing, which sorta changes the conversation. Got a dozen dekes ordered, should have them in a few days. If you guys think the MO seasons/zones are a mess, take a look at Kansas'. Not only are they screwy shapes, they give the ducks a couple week vacation in the middle of the season.

Paranoia, or is it hoarding instinct?

There's a website called 'fungus perfecti', or something close, that has a lot of info and products for growing all kinds of mushrooms. I've been thinking about doing it, but just haven't gotten off my duff.

Whoa there wrench -- new wife??