Saturday, March 28, 2009

Weekend stuff

We hiked with Irie and Strider today...NICE trip. Well behaved dogs, pleasant weather. We heard two Great Horned Owls calling, which was wonderful...a little odd/eerie at 2pm.

I was tempted just to post the photos with no explanation...what an odd grouping! :D


Photobucket
Friday morning fog

Photobucket
Friday evening sunset

Photobucket
Saturday's dinner. I think I've perfected my pizza crust recipe.

Photobucket
Day 8 of removing undercoat from Irie. Just Irie. She should be naked by now, but no..there is still fur coming out.

Photobucket

Frequent dinner guest.

5 comments:

LD said...

Sam after months of hovering over the link to your blog I finally took the visit here! I'm liking it lots. The photos are beautiful, I like the funny(have to have funny in my life) and the pups and kitties are a treat. I have fallen hard for the fuzz face under the Christmas tree. A good kitty fix for when missing Country Cat.

You have inspired me to E-blog...seems a little intimidating but I'll get over it.

Enjoy your Sunday with your hubby and your country home and four legs!

LD

Sam said...

Hey! Great to see you!
I'll do a photo post of the cats for you :)
I don't photograph them enough, simply because one can only stand so many photos where the cats have a "You dirty, rotten..." look on their faces. My ego is far too fragile :D

Sam said...

Oh, forgot to say...blogging is fantastic. I stopped worrying if I was boring, or trite, or...screw it!
I'm here for me, not to amuse. hehe

I just toss out whatever is rattling around in my head!

~B. said...

Thank goodness for the furminator, eh? So, will you ever share your pizza recipe? It. Looks. DIVINE.

Also...I finally picked up the smoked sea salt just a couple of weeks ago.

Sam said...

B-
2-1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 envelope FLEISCHMANN'S RapidRise Yeast*
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup very warm water (120o to 130oF)
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
Cornmeal

My Gram used Fleischmann's yeast. Only that. We don't argue the Grandma.

Combine 2 cups flour, undissolved yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Stir very warm water and olive oil into flour mixture. Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes. Cover; let rest on floured surface 10 minutes.

Lightly oil 1 (14-inch) or 2 (12-inch) round pizza pan(s). Sprinkle with cornmeal. Shape dough into smooth ball. Divide and roll dough to fit desired pan(s).

Let the dough rise for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on your preference for a thin, more dense crust or a thicker crust. Once the crust has risen to your liking, bake the crust in a preheated 400oF oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and add desired toppings (see suggestions below). Return pizza to oven to finish baking for another 10 to 20 minutes, or until done. Baking time depends on size and thickness of crust and selected toppings.
----
Ok, that being the *recipe*, here's where I Sam-inized things. I cannot leave a good recipe alone. I've got to mess with things.

To my crust, I replace regular olive oil with basil infused olive oil. I also toss in some parmesan.
To Michael's crust, I replace the olive oil with roasted red pepper infused olive oil, and add ground red pepper flakes.
I do NOT parbake anything. I let it rise to my liking, and crank that oven to "Eternal Hellfire" temp. This is important. You don't want a crappy "baked" dough flavor. You're going for the hellfire pizza oven taste. The oven is hot enough when you open the oven door and it feels like your mascara is melting :D
Bake about 10-15 mins, until it's browned and bubbled on top edge of crust and crisp/brown on the bottom.
Also, soft dough makes excellent crust. Don't go mucking around and make your dough tough. BLAH!
Soft, elastic dough = perfection.

I use a pizza stone for most of the baking, then slide it onto a thin/cheap/crappy baking sheet to finish and get super crisp. You can use whatever baking sheets you have (JUST NOT AIRBAKE!)...if it's a baking pan, flip it over and oil/cornmeal the back of the pan. No fancy pizza stone needed.