Author: SRSSE

Makes 750 grams (3 cups)

Ingredients
1 can (800g/28 ounce) whole peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
8g fine sea salt

Blender Method
Pour entire contents of the tomato can into the blender. Add the Salt. Pulse at lowest speed setting very very briefly, just until tomatoes are blended. Do not over blend.

Food Mill Method

Pour half the can of tomatoes into the food mill on top of a mixing bowl and crank until they are ground up. Empty the mash into the mixing bowl. Repeat with rest of the can. Throw nothing away. Add the salt and mix with a large spoon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marzano_tomato

Use the ooni app or an online calculator to get the correct amounts of flour, water and yeast depending on how many dough balls you want and for how long for cold and room temp proofing.

Sample Schedule: Mix the dough at 19:00, knead for 5 minutes, rest for 20 minutes, knead again for 5 minutes, first rise for 2 hours, at 21:30 divide and shape into dough balls and refrigerate, make pizza in the next two days. Remove the dough balls from the fridge 60-90 minutes before making pizza.

Dough Balls: 12
Weight: 180g
Yeast: Instant
Water Hydration: 60%
Salt: 2.8%
Fermentation (Rise/Proof): Bulk: 2 hours, Second: 24-48 hours refrigerated at 4°C, Out of Fridge 90 minutes before baking

Ingredients

Flour, preferably 00: 1325g
Water (60%): 795g
Salt (3%): 40g
Yeast (from ooni app): 2.2g

Measure and Combine Ingredients

Add 32°C – 35°C water and salt to the bowl and mix until dissolved.
Add yeast to the water and let it hydrate for one minute then mix it until it is dissolved
Slowing add flour and mix all ingredients until fully incorporated.

Knead and Bulk Rise

Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.
Let dough rest in bowl for 20 minutes at room temperature.
Mix on medium speed for up to 5 minutes until the skin of the dough is very smooth.
Hold the dough for 2 hours covered, at room temperature, for the Bulk Rise

Shape and Second Cold Rise in the Refridgerator

Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and divide into 180g chunks.
Gently stretch and roll into smooth even balls being careful not to tear the dough.
Place dough balls into proofing trays and lightly flour the tops.

Place immediately in the refrigerator. Refrigerate until ready to make pizza, either the next evening or up to the day after (usually 24-48 hours).

Make Pizza

Remove from the fridge 60-90 minutes before making pizza.

Use the ooni app or an online calculator to get the correct amounts of flour, water and yeast depending on how many dough balls you want and for how long for cold and room temp proofing.

Sample Schedule: Mix the dough at 09:00, knead for 5 minutes, rest for 15 minutes, knead again for 5 minutes, first rise for 2 hours, at 11:25 divide and shape into dough balls, make pizza at any time between 17:00 and 21:00.

For next day pizza, refrigerate the dough balls 4 hours after they are made up. Remove from the fridge one hour before making pizza.

Dough Balls: 12
Weight: 180g
Yeast: Instant
Water Hydration: 60%
Salt: 2.8%
Fermentation (Rise/Proof): Bulk: 20 minutes, Second: 10-12 hours depending on temperature

Ingredients

Flour, preferably 00: 1327g
Water (60%): 796g
Salt (2.8%) : 37g
Yeast (.1%-.2%): 1.3-2.65g – depending on room temperature (18°C: 2.6g, 21°C: 1.3g)

Measure and Combine Ingredients

Add 32°C – 35°C water and salt to the bowl and mix until dissolved.
Add yeast to the water and let it hydrate for one minute then mix it until it is dissolved
Slowing add flour and mix all ingredients until fully incorporated.

Knead and Rise

Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.
Let dough rest in bowl for 15 minutes at room temperature.
Mix on medium speed for up to 5 minutes until the skin of the dough is very smooth.

Kneading the dough is one of the most important steps, but often a step that’s overlooked. Many people do the mistake of not kneading their dough enough leading to problems down the road, when you’re going to start rising the dough.

When you knead the pizza dough, the gluten in the flour will develop, and create a network of small walls. These walls will trap the CO2 created by the fermentation process, where yeast is eating the sugars in the flour. It’s therefore important to develop gluten properly, to create strong enough walls to hold the CO2. This is done by kneading the dough. The more you knead the dough, the stronger the gluten walls are going get. And the stronger the walls are, the more the dough will keep is structure and shape.

If you don’t knead the dough enough, it’s not going to be able to hold on to the CO2. The reason is that the walls aren’t strong enough, and the CO2 will escape. You will then end up with a dense dough that’s not great to work with. You’ll also not get the light, fluffy consistency that we’re looking for in a pizza crust.

Bulk Rise

Hold the dough for 2 hours covered, at room temperature, for the Bulk Rise. The dough should almost double in size.

In this step, you let the dough rise in one, single mass. It’s during bulk fermentation most of the increase in volume will happen. The reason is that yeast works better in one single dough, rather than individual, smaller dough balls.

Shape and Second Rise (Final Proofing)

Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and divide into 180g chunks.
Gently stretch and roll into smooth even balls being careful not to tear the dough.
Place dough balls into proofing trays and lightly flour the tops. Let the dough balls rise for 10-12 hours depending on the temperature.

The ideal time for the final proof at room temperature is between 8-12 hours as this is the time it takes for the gluten to relax.

2 Easy tests to tell if your dough is proofed and ready

Dough Volume Increased
Most doughs usually double in volume when proofed, meaning that if your dough has not grown much in volume yet it probably needs to proof longer.

The Poke Test
Press the dough gently with our knuckle or finger to determine if it is properly proofed and ready. If the dough springs back right away, it needs more proofing. But if it springs back slowly and leaves a small indent, it’s ready!

Make Pizza

Dough balls should be fine for making pizza anytime during the next 3 or 4 hours after the second rise is complete.

1 Tablespoon oil, preferably canola or corn
½ cup minced onion
½ green or red bell pepper, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 ¼ pounds ground beef
¾ pound ground pork
1 ½ cups dry bread crumbs
3 Tablespoons sour cream
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
¼ cup stock, preferably beef
1 teaspoon Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce to taste

Prepare your smoker, bringing the temperature to 200 to 220°F.

In a heavy skillet, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, pepper, salt and cumin and sauté until the vegetables are softened. Spoon the vegetable mixture into a large bowl.

Add the remaining meat loaf ingredients and mix well with your hands. Mound the meat into a smoke-proof sheet pan.

Transfer the loaf to your smoker and smoke the meat until the internal temperature reaches 170°F (approximately 1 ½ – 2 hours). When about 30 minutes of cooking time remain, apply a barbecue sauce of your choice to the top of the meat loaf.

After removing the loaf from the grill, allow it to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before slicing and serve warm or refrigerate for later use in sandwiches

Source: Smoke & Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue by Cheryl

Boiled Peanuts

This is the first recipe that isn’t a recipe but rather some guidelines that dependably delivers boiled peanuts. That said, you can skip all of the below, throw some raw peanuts in a pot, cover with salt water and start boiling until they are done to your liking. Add spices as you want when you want….

Basic Rules

1. Use “Raw” peanuts in the shell.
2. Soak in saltwater.
3. Spice
4. Boil until the desired consistency is reached.
5. Spice
6. Soak the boiled peanuts until the desired flavor inside the shell is reached.
7. Drain and Freeze
8. Serve hot boiled peanuts by reheating the frozen peanuts in water with red pepper flakes and spice mix.

So let’s unpack this with more details.

Raw Peanuts – Raw peanuts refer to unroasted/uncooked nuts. At times, they also include to mean Green Peanuts, though rare. In most cases, Raw peanuts available are air dried/dehydrated to bring down their moisture content in order to make them less perishable thereby longer storage. In the UK they are often referred to as Monkey Nuts. The peanuts you select have the biggest impact on the boiling time and flavor of the peanuts. Old peanuts, like beans, take forever.

Saltwater – Shoot for 35g/l saltwater. Basically, the same ratio as ocean water. Makes it easy to remember. Measure the water being added to the Peanuts so you know how much salt to add. If adding a spice mix with salt, such as a Zatarains Crab Boil mix, to your water back off some of the pure salt to account for the additional salt in the spice mix.

Spice – Adding spices is the real challenge. Some benefit from being added pre-boil, some towards the end of the boil and others during the soak. I have no scientific knowledge why, but my feeling is that some spices don’t really retain their flavor during the long boiling process. Better to add after the fact. To be honest I think that the majority of the flavor is added during the reheat process when you add the final spices before serving. That said, adding a baseline of spices prior to boiling does add depth to the boiled peanuts. My preference is a couple of “capfuls” of the Zatarains Liquid Boil. Once the peanuts are boiled to your liking, add any spice you like along with Crushed Red Pepper Flakes. Cajun, Creole, Old Bay or your own special mix. Use fresh heads of garlic, onion and your favorite fresh pepper. Jalapeno, serrano, or habanero. Peel garlic but leave whole cloves. Cut onion into thick slices, and halve peppers I halve. Add into the pot 20-30 minutes before the peanuts are done to get them ready for the final soak.  

Soak – Fill a large pot a little more than half full with the raw peanuts. Cover the peanuts by several inches of water, be careful though as they will float at this point. If needed put a plate or smaller pot lid on the raw peanuts to keep them submerged. Bring to a boil and then add the salt / spices. Mix and then take off the boil. This allows the salt and spices to dissolve into the water and gets a head start on the soak. Cover the pot and soak at least overnight. After several hours you will notice that the water level reduces as the peanuts soak in the water. Add water as need to keep them covered. At some point the peanuts will submerge and you can remove the plate/lid holding down the peanuts. A big reason to soak is to really cut down on the cooking time and that saves energy and money.

Boil – Bring pot back up to a low boil/ fast simmer. Boil for anywhere from 2-3 hours to 24 hours. It all depends on the peanut. New peanuts go faster, older peanuts take forever. Keep watch on the water level and keep adding water throughout the boil.

Add more spices – once the peanuts are boiled to your taste add additional seasonings. Red paper flakes, spice mixes etc. Whatever floats your boat.

Soak – Take the peanuts off the boil and allow to soak for a couple of hours on low heat (140F+) in the oven or pressure cooker if it has a “hold” function. I find that the second soak with the newly added spices enhances the flavor. When your happy with the flavor, bring back to a boil one last time for a few minutes and then cool.

Freeze – Drain the cooked peanuts and freeze in ziplock bags. Can last a very long time.

Reheat and Serve – Put desired amount of peanuts in small pot and boil in liquid similar to what it was soaked in. It doesn’t have to be exact but add some red pepper flakes and preferred spice mix. Bring to boil. Serve hot.

Instant Pot Boiled Peanuts

I like to use the instant pot. It’s faster, easier and makes great boiled peanuts. The keep warm / hold feature is perfect for the soaks.

Ingredients

Raw Peanuts to fill half the pot.

Water to cover – measure the volume

35g/l water to salt ratio

2 cap fulls of Zatarains Liquid Crab Boil

2 tablespoon red pepper flakes

¼ Cup Cajun or Creole seasoning

Instructions

Place peanuts in the Instant Pot.

Add water, salt and Liquid Crab Boil. Peanuts must be covered.

Place a plate or pot lid on top of the peanuts to help weight them down.

Place lid on Instant Pot, check to see that the valve is in “sealing” position.

Set to “Pressure Cook” for 5 minutes and let it do a natural pressure release for 30 minutes.

Let the peanuts soak on “Keep Warm”. Check occasionally the water level and top up as needed. Remove the plate/lid once the peanuts stay submerged.

Set to “Pressure Cook” for 60 minutes and let it do a natural pressure release. Check for Doneness. Cook longer if needed.

Add red pepper flakes and Seasoning and let soak on Keep Warm until ready to serve or drain and freeze.

Faster Way to go about it….

Add all ingredients, pressure cook for 60-75 minutes test for doneness. Start Eating. Almost as good as the longer recipe and gets it done faster but the peanuts may be somewhat dry….

Ingredients
1 bottle red wine (robust red blends tend to work best)
1/4 cup sugar or to taste depending on wine
2 tablespoons orange zest (orange peel)
1 tablespoon cardamom pods crushed (could be less if they are fresh)
2 tablespoons ginger – optional (fresh root, cut in a few pieces)
1 stick cinnamon
8 cloves

1 1/2 cup of vodka – less vodka for less flame
Raisins

Almonds (blanched and chopped) for serving

1) Soak raisins in vodka for as long as possible.
2) Combine the wine, sugar, orange peel, cardamom pods, slices of ginger root, cinnamon stick, and cloves into a 2 to 3-quart pot. Heat to 175 F (77 C) and let simmer for 2 minutes.
3) Remove from heat and let stand for at least 1 hour. Low heat – long time, better Gløgg! You can place in barely warm oven if needed.
4) Taste to ensure spices are infused into the wine and right amount of sweetness reached.
5) Strain out spices.
6) Gently reheat to 175 F (77 C).
7) Add vodka and raisin mixture right before serving.
8) Immediately cover and prepare to serve.
9) Light lighter, remove cover and light evaporating alcohol.
10) Serve with raisons and almonds.