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So as I mentioned in my oven build thread, our initial attempt at cooking was with our Thanksgiving turkey. Thanks to all the good advice from this thread, it was an outstanding success. We got one of those fancy-schmancy free range heirloom turkeys, and brined it with apple juice, salt water, juniper berries, bay leaves, and sage. Moist, tender, perfectly cooked and juicy. It was, quite frankly, the best turkey I've ever had.
Over the rest of the winter, though, the oven was dormant. Between the cold and the wet and being otherwise busy, we just never got around to lighting it up.
That changed a couple weeks ago. We have, since then, done three pizza parties. I am finally getting the hang of the dough handling and turning out pretty consistently good pies. We've done all kinds of different toppings, but so far the favorites have been the potato/gorgonzola/carmelized onion and the pesto/mushroom/prosciutto, but there have been so many variations on the theme I've started losing count. I am consistently surprised at how easy it is to turn out good pizzas.
This evening, after the last pies, we made our first tentative forays into other baking: one small loaf and a pineapple upside-down cake made from a modification of one of those Amish Friendship bread sourdough recipes. The cake was rich and moist, but just a little doughy... possibly due to the extra liquid from the pineapple together with egg custard ingredients. The bread was good for a first effort- decent oven spring, good crust texture. It could have sprung more, but I'm not gonna complain. I was still proud. Overall, we were pretty happy with the results.
Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the first efforts, and only a few of the more recent ones. Being the cook kinda precludes photography...
Of the pizzas pictured the first is purple potato, roasted pepper, pepperoni, mushroom, onion, basil, and mozzarella over pesto. The second is similar, subbing out more pepperoni for the potato and peppers and with red sauce instead of pesto. The salad is arugula and romaine with red onion, raisins and avocado with a mustard vinaigrette.
Over the rest of the winter, though, the oven was dormant. Between the cold and the wet and being otherwise busy, we just never got around to lighting it up.
That changed a couple weeks ago. We have, since then, done three pizza parties. I am finally getting the hang of the dough handling and turning out pretty consistently good pies. We've done all kinds of different toppings, but so far the favorites have been the potato/gorgonzola/carmelized onion and the pesto/mushroom/prosciutto, but there have been so many variations on the theme I've started losing count. I am consistently surprised at how easy it is to turn out good pizzas.
This evening, after the last pies, we made our first tentative forays into other baking: one small loaf and a pineapple upside-down cake made from a modification of one of those Amish Friendship bread sourdough recipes. The cake was rich and moist, but just a little doughy... possibly due to the extra liquid from the pineapple together with egg custard ingredients. The bread was good for a first effort- decent oven spring, good crust texture. It could have sprung more, but I'm not gonna complain. I was still proud. Overall, we were pretty happy with the results.
Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the first efforts, and only a few of the more recent ones. Being the cook kinda precludes photography...
Of the pizzas pictured the first is purple potato, roasted pepper, pepperoni, mushroom, onion, basil, and mozzarella over pesto. The second is similar, subbing out more pepperoni for the potato and peppers and with red sauce instead of pesto. The salad is arugula and romaine with red onion, raisins and avocado with a mustard vinaigrette.
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