I forgot to snap a pic of it, but I made perhaps the best tasting pizza dough ever. I tossed a spoon of sourdough starter into a blend of high gluten and unbleached flours with a little water, gave it six or so hours to do its thing taking a moment to do some folding of the dough about halfway through. Then I pulled it out, coated it well with fresh flour and gave it a good stretch to ridiculously thin. Gave it another hour to settle and then topped it and cooked it. Perfection. Crispy all the way from the edges to the center, very thin yet still exceptionally well risen. You could see little bubbles all through it, and yet it held up the toppings just fine.

After that I've decided I'm going to experiment with that some more and see if I can't whip up a big batch of them to keep frozen and then take them out one at a time in the morning to top that evening.

 

So I guess I'm on an agua fresca kick now. This week I did hibiscus iced tea and a passion fruit drink.

 

Sourdough crust pizzas:


This one is crust, butter, very little pepperoni, and cheese. The puppy special. Their once a week human treat.



The back one here is crust, sauce, seasonings (garlic powder, chili flakes, italian seasoning, pizza spices) pepperoni, sliced provolone and shredded mozzarella. The front one is similar, but add in sliced salami, more pepperoni, and no provolone.

This is probably the simplest sourdough recipe I've ever made, and it's all just loosely tossing things together and letting it take several hours to rise. It holds up even when rolled SUPER thin. I've got some really nice solid wood rolling pins of various sizes on the way so I can see if I can roll super thin pizzas all the way to the edge. These were just made by hand pressing.

We also need to try this recipe extra thick in a cast iron pan. We'll probably get to that this weekend or next.

 

I've been trying to reproduce Popeye's chicken tenders. This is my latest attempt. Chicken breasts cut up and marinated overnight in hot sauce w/ 2% salt brine. Dipped in a spiced egg/flour/milk batter and then tossed in a flour/salt mix and deep fried. Served w/ home made Mardi Gras Mustard. These are the closest I've come to recreating their texture. Also did a watermelon/lime agua fresca this weekend.

 

My first attempt at creating dragon bread. It's dragon fruit infused sourdough. As a first attempt, it wasn't bad. Maybe a touch overcooked, but some of my participants in my testing group prefer super crusty/chewy breads.


It pretty much tastes like sweetened sourdough with a hint of a berry overtone, and no sugar was used outside of what naturally occurs in the dragon fruit. I was hoping for even more dragon fruit flavor, but wanted to error on the side of caution the first time. I should have photo'ed the dough. It was so deeply red/pink. Next time.

 

I tried dragon fruit by itself once, and it didn't taste like much of anything.

 

Odd. Every time I've tried it I get a vague berry taste and a lot of sweetness. Not sugar sweet, but sweet.

 

Perhaps mine wasn't ripe then?

 

I’m with you - Have tried both the purple and white varieties a bunch of times, and nada. There’s a mild, pleasant smell, but the ones I’ve had were mostly flavorless. Maybe the flavors differ depending on where they’re grown or something.

 

That's as good a thought as any.

 

Hmm. I've only had fresh dragon fruit a couple times, but remember a pleasant berry flavor. Dried though, like I use in baking, the berry flavor is pretty over the top. I have to wonder if it's not a variety/type/time of season type thing?

 

That looks so refreshing.

 

I saw a Black Sausage in a boutique deli store. A bit too big for my liking. Anyone tried one? Any good?

Thanks in advance.

 

Hurricane coming through today, and after losing power for a week during the last one, figured cooking up some of the stuff in the fridge was probably wise.

Deviled eggs with ginger, turmeric, horseradish, and duck bacon. There’s another few dozen of them in the fridge. Added bonus - the gloomy storm daylight makes for pretty decent photos.

 

Assuming it’s blood sausage, it’s good stuff, but definitely an acquired taste. Since blood is a large component, you can get a very strong, metallic taste (kind of like beef liver). How strong it is comes down to all the other spices added to it. Good way to gauge how you feel about it is to fry up a slice of it, then crumble it over scrambled eggs or potato hash or something.

And now my Google search history includes “large black sausage,” so thanks for that.

 

I hope you'll be safe n sound

 

I had to look up duck bacon.

I decided to give it a try yesterday. Sliced, fried the black sausage & served with french toast. Not bad. So used up the rest in minestrone. A bit too strong in flavour & over powered the soup.

 

Well, thanks. All ended up working out just fine; nowhere near as bad as last year’s. Of course, now I have to eat like 46,000 deviled eggs this week, but that seems like a reasonable trade off for having electricity.

Duck bacon is ABSOLUTELY worth trying, if you can hunt some down - Basically a seasoned, smoked duck breast, sliced razor-thin. You fry it up the same way you would with pork bacon, and the shit’s amazing.

 

Well, I see another windstorm will be coming after all that egg consumption. Woe be to your nearest and dearest.  

 

Fun times ahead I say...