Pizza in a Domestic Oven

You always see Jamie Oliver on Tv or other chefs telling you that you can make your own pizza at home very easily.  Well you can't.  The simple fact of the matter is, that unless you have a professional oven you do not get sufficient temperature.  However, there is a way around it.  You need some basic equipment to help boost the temperature.  A pizza stone is a flat, smooth stone which you need to heat in your oven for at least an hour beforehand.  I have tried every way possible to see which works best and even with a stone you still do not get a good bake if you put the pizza in without cooking the base first.  If you heat the stone on a lower shelf at the top temperature you can get on your oven and then place the base on the stone and par-bake it for 7 minutes or until it is easily lifted off the stone and is not browned. 

Then remove the par-baked base and place on a wire cooling rack for a few minutes.  When it has cooled slightly then top and slide back onto your pizza stone but this time on a higher shelf for about 10 minutes.

To make the perfect base is easy if you have a Kitchen Aid or similar with a dough hook.  I just put my flour, yeast, salt and a dash of olive oil into the bowl and then dripple in water until you have a wet paste.  Different flours absorb different quantities of water so there is no point following a recipe slavishly.  Then I leave the mixer running on 2 for about 15 minutes.  After this increase the speed and watch until the paste seems to have formed a more cohesive ball and has cleaned the sides of the bowl.  If it is still gloopy just sprinkle some flour onto it to ease handling.  Place in a bowl, covered with a tea towel in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough is doubled in size.

Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead to knock out the air bubbles and then roll out into your required size.

Baking the base first means that you have a properly baked base that is not doughy and indigestible.

Basic Pizza Dough Recipe (to make two individual thin crust pizzas or one large)

250g strong flour
Half a 7g sachet of dried yeast
Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp. salt
160ml (approximately) of water. *all flours absorb differing quantities of water so add water gradually*



Tags: Pizza  Pizza in a Domestic Oven  Pizza Dough  Food  Pizza Stone

Dogs Benefit from Good Diet too.

I inherited an in-bred dog.  Anyone who knows anything about dogs, pure bred or otherwise will agree that in-breeding causes huge problems to the health and well-being of the animal.  In fact, now there is a drive away from breeding pure lines and other breeds are being introduced to Pugs and King Charles spaniels among others.  The dog I inherited is an English Bull Terrier. He is the dog that was in the original Oliver movie.  He looks terrifying and is always mistaken for a Pit Bull.  Actually a Pit Bull is not half as challenged in the beauty stakes.  He was bought as a pup with all his papers for €1000.  If the person buying the dog had done any research or even looked at his "pedigree" he would have realised he was buying " a pig in a poke".  His grandmother on his maternal side is his great-grandmother on his paternal side for starters.

He is the most gentle, loving dog and in fact goes out of his way to avoid confrontation.  He is a terrific guard dog in that he has a big deep bark.  The fact that he can't be bothered to get out of his bed while barking, lying on his side, is a deterrent?  Well, it is when he eventually gets out of his bed and appears at the garage door.

He started suffering with skin problems early on and then he started developing sore pads with bleeding ulcers between his toes.  His pads were cracked and infected and he had difficulty walking.  He is a clumsy dog and tends to head butt everything out of his way and I put down all the unhealed sores on his head to this.  However, as it went on, I got weary going to the vet and trying to treat all his problems myself with saline and sudocreme.  I started to trawl the internet to try and find out what was wrong with him.  There was lots of information but nothing really concrete until I stumbled upon a paper written by a Glasgow university vet.  In it he described my dogs symptoms and indeed recommended a treatment.  The condition was named as Lethal Acrodermatitis caused by an inability of the dog to metabolise zinc and thus his immune system is continually compromised. This is due to generations of in-breeding and is usually lethal.  Pups affected fail to thrive and usually die before 6 months.  The treatment was long term use of an antibiotic and a steroid.

The drug treatment was going to be really costly so I contacted a friend who lives in Greece and regularly rescues animals and has a good relationship with her vet.  She now posts me the steroid in a large quantity for peanuts in comparison to what it would cost here.  Even there the antibiotic is an outrageous price so I don't use it.  I decided to try and improve his diet first.

I did a lot of research and read on the internet that commercially produced dog food is full of preservatives, colouring and stabilisers.  So off I set to make his food myself.  I used rice, pasta, lentils, meat, fish and vegetables (everything excluding anything from the onion family as they are apparently toxic for dogs).  I used brown rice, wholemeal pasta and added different meats and fish and raw egg.  Dogs can also be given fruit!  I fed him like this for weeks and his skin started to improve dramatically and his sores started to heal.  When he has an outbreak now and is slow to heal I use the steroids for a week or two.  The change in his energy level was phenomenal and instead of his picking his way along beside me with sore feet, he now bombs off in front.  His whole gait has changed and is now chirpy and happy.  I then changed to a dried dog food called Burns which has no additives and I add some meat and veg to it.  So far he is still great and he has been on this diet now for over a year.  The Burns food is very expensive - it works out at in or around €60 for 15kg but it has saved me a fortune in vet bills. 

If ever there was a doubt that "you are what you eat" or in this case a dog is what he eats then this surely proves it.

Dog's Diet   English Bull Terrier  Lethal Acrodermatitis  Dog Food Recipes  Inbreeding in Dogs

Candied Peel

organic oranges and lemons

The stuff you buy in the shops is a travesty and how they manage to make something so bland from something so zingy and tasty is beyond me.  It is really easy to make your own and I have been doing it for years.  Last year I made loads and put it in pretty jars and gave to family and friends as an early Christmas present.  I squeeze oranges every morning for breakfast and to build up a supply of peel I save the orange shell and put in a plastic bag in the fridge.  I also make lemon and lime peel and just freeze the juice for later baking.



Recipe

Candied Peel
Orange, lemon and lime peel
Sugar syrup made of 2:1 ratio sugar to water. (600g sugar : 300ml water)

When you have a decent quantity of peel, usually 7 oranges and 4 lemons and limes. Remove the skin of the orange or fruit removing most of pith (the soft white spongy stuff).  Put in a saucepan with a teaspoon of bread soda and water to just cover.  Bring to boil and simmer until the peel is tender.   Be careful as they will soften at different times. Just whip out the ones cooked first with a tongs.  Drain and cool.  Make up your sugar syrup by dissolving the sugar in the water and bringing to the boil.  Place the peel pieces in and lower heat to simmer until almost all of the sugar syrup has been absorbed.  Lift out your pieces of peel and place on a wire rack on top of a flat metal tray covered with foil or baking paper.  Place in a warm, dry place overnight until dry.  I put mine on top of stove and am waiting to see if it has a smoky taste but don't think it has.  Do not throw out the rest of your sugar syrup.  Next day re-heat syrup and dip peel into it and place back on rack for more drying.  When completely dry, store in jars in a warm,
dry place such as a hot press.

When you want to use it, just cut to size and add to mincemeat, puddings and fruit cakes.  The taste is spectacular and really noticeable in a Christmas cake in particular.