We tried Julie's Calzone recipe last night (http://treasuresandjuls.blogspot.com/2007/11/post-2-recipes.html) and it was delicious, probably a new family favorite as Michael is a huge cheese fan. I don't typically like ricotta, and used the Cottage Cheese substitution. It mixed in beautifully with the other, drier cheeses, and probably provided some needed moisture to help the melting (I'm speculating)--I'm trying to figure out how cooking works now, not simply what to do.
This recipe was the first time I have ever added herbs and actually recognized their effect on the flavor, a really big deal for me. I really could smell the Oregano this time (as separate from the dried garlic), and tasted the difference between before and after, even though I was still using the same aged spices that have been in my spice-cabinet for years.
The one problem I had was, having never used pizza dough before, refrigerated or homemade, I didn't handle it properly. I unrolled the dough from the container just as I would do with refrigerated crescent rolls, but the shape looked funny and I couldn't see how to make it into a large circle. Instead, and without consideration, I mushed the dough together, and that did not work very well. I wound up using my roller to try to flatten the dough out, but never really succeeded. The result was a crust that was much too thick, and not nearly large enough to contain the entire filling. My Calzone came out, not as a fritter like half-circle, but more like a lump of shapeless bread.
The taste is what really matters, I realize, but I'd like to improve my presentation for next time. How is refrigerator pizza dough supposed to be handled?
8 comments:
I don't know the answer to your question, but if you are trying to figure out "how cooking works" then you'd probably enjoy reading Alton Brown---he's a host of a Food Network show called "Good Eats." He likes to explain the science behind cooking. He has written a few books, such as I'm Just Here for the Food. Also, Julie recommended a cookbook to me called The Joy of Cooking. It does some of the same sort of thing, explaining the "why", in addition to the "how."
Just have fun with it and add things that you like. For example: with the calzones, you could add spinach and shrimp?
I added Pepperoni, because while Michael loves cheese, he loves meat more. Spinach would be delicious, and good for us too.
It may be that you didn't roll your dough out enough. I've always found pizza dough really difficult to roll out. You'll roll it out and it will pull itself back in. You just have to work with it for a long time to roll it out thin enough. If it looks too thin (with no holes) then it is probably just right. :0) I'm happy that you are getting excited about cooking. Cooking is one of my loves and I love to see others enjoy it, too.
After reading Tina's comment, I realized that I do have something to say in response to your question. "Rolling" out pizza dough isn't what Chris G. does when he makes pizza (and he makes **GREAT** pizza). He pushes it with his fingers. He starts with it in a lump in the middle of the pan, or pizza stone, and flattens it into a disc, and then steadily mashes it with his fingers, bit by bit, out toward the edges of the pan. Like Tina said, when you can almost see through it, it's ready.
I tried spreading the dough out with my fingers first, but it had too much (what's the word for the material property that means something retains it's own shape? I learned it in my Quality Control for Textiles class in college, but I don't remember the term). Maybe I didn't work with the dough long enough for it to soften. It might have helped had I left it at room temperature for a time before attempting to work with it.
Are you and Tina suggesting I would be better off making my own pizza dough? I have a recipe somewhere.
elasticity: ability of a deformed material body to return to its
original shape and size when the forces causing the deformation are
removed.
That's the word I was looking for earlier. This definition is from Encylopedia Brittanica online.
To deal with the elasticity problem, you probably do the same to the dough that you would to a tight rubber band ---stretch it out.
If you are going to make homemade bread, get Chris G.'s recipe. It's the best!
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