Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on January 29, 2013, 12:44 PM
P.S. I have four scanned recipes for curry powders which I can't post for copyright reasons but which I can send you for personal research if you wish ?

** Phil.

Hi Phil,

I'd be really interested in these as our collection of Curry Powders over here is pretty limited ...

I had another shot at Pizza at the weekend and prepared some dough for yesterday. Previously I was using a dough to be consumed the same day. This time I used this german site as a guideline:
http://www.perfekte-pizza.de/perfekter-pizzateig/

The method (and recipe) on that site is loosely based on Jeff Varasano's (http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm). It uses about 62.5& hydration and all-purpose flour (apparently german All-Purpose flour is very similar to Tipo 00).

The pizza turned out lovely with a nice crust but still very airy. No yeast flavour whatsoever. In fact, the whole place smelled like a proper Pizzeria when I came back from a little walk

However, I still have some questions for the Pizza "veterans":

My final dough was pretty sticky after taking it out of the fridge after 24 hours of resting. It would stretch really easily, but it was REALLY delicate (pick it up on one edge and it would streeeetch but never leave the table at the other end). Is that normal ?

Did I just not put enough flour on my dough balls when I packed them up or what ?

JerryM: Your picture "Ready to Shape" -> did you dust the dough ball with flour prior to taking that shot ?

Apart from that I like the method outlined on that page (make a thin "pancake dough", let it rest, then knead, then add remaining flour, rest, portion & then refrigerate). The results are excellent.

Looks really excellent. Nice place you have, too I envy your weather on top of that !

Here, grab this quickly before some starts to complain

<removed> <- Message me if you need this

If you dig "The Takeaway Secret" I strongly recommend checking out some of Todd Wilbur's books:
http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/Todd-Wilbur-Top-Secret-Recipe-Books.html

I can post some recipes of clones to try, if you want. Just check the "recipes" link on that site and tell me which one you want, I have all of them.

Sheesh, are you guys bored or something?

One thing to keep in mind: Don't use pre-shredded cheese. Never. It's covered in starch so the bits don't stick to each other which ruins the cheese, IMHO. I also found that it's better to shred the cheese coarsely and not finely (like you would Parmesan for Pasta, for example) because that seems to make the cheese burn easier.

On the other hand, I have a very hot oven (400+

Regarding cheese: I've found a mix of 1/3 parmesan (coarsely grated) and 2/3 young Gouda cheese (also coarsely grated) makes for a fantastic (and cheesy) combo. Most italians here use a mix of Parmesan (or Pecorino) with Mozzarella and/or Gouda.

The Mozzarella makes it nice and gooey while the Gouda (and/or Parmesan) gives it a nice cheesy taste. I find most Mozzarella to be bland, even the expensive stuff.

Interesting Idea, JerryM ! Did you use citric acid dilluted in water or the pure powder/granulate ? Note that citric acid will only provide acidity, it has only a very faint taste of lemon/citrus if that's what you're after.

As I'm still perfecting making my own cola I can tell you how much citric acid there is in generic colas (if they don't use phosphoric acid) - there is approx. 1.4 ml of citric acid granulate in 1 L of cola to produce a noticeable "tang".

So, assuming you come up with round about 7 L base, I would suggest approx. 10 ml, exactly what you put in. If that didn't produce the result you wanted then more likely won't, either.

How about vinegar ?!

Be careful with this - a good friend (and professional cook) burnt his taste buds with Capsaicin extract. He cannot (presumably ever) taste salty nor hot anymore ... that in itself is a really big shame but as a cook it is a real problem!