Today there is a Pizza Party around the world that is being hosted by Zoë François and Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. , the authors of “Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day.”

For the last year or so, Rick and I have been working on a wood fired pizza oven in our back garden. So this was a fun event to unveil the (almost) completed oven and share this great book with you too. To family and friends who have been (patiently) waiting for a pizza party- it’s on its way- I promise.     We’ve just been working on the practical aspects of using the oven. The doughs in the book will be helpful because we can mix up different batches of dough without a lot of time or effort and have them on hand for when the time is right to fire up the oven.

I have a separate post planned for when the last bit is complete on the oven to show you how we made it  and the different stages of completion- so more on that later. Right now let’s party with some pizza!

First gather the book and a few ingredients. I used four litre buckets to mix each dough in,  instead of the 5 quarts recommended because it was either them or a 6 qt which takes up too much space in my fridge.  So here are the ingredients. I made the “00″ flour variation of the Ultimate Tender Neopolitan Crust from page 73- because I happen to have about 40 lbs of Caputo “00″ flour from Central Milling on hand. It’s in the 5 Gallon bucket with the red lid pictured. The blue crock is my salt cellar.

I also made the “Cornmeal Olive Oil dough” on page 86, although I substituted purple cornmeal for the yellow listed. I know- I’m a rebel. Plus I had some to use up.  :)

I like to use my King Arthur (thingamajig)  mixing tool that my sister, Tonya, gave to me a few years ago for mixing things up in the buckets. It works great! Funny note:It’s in a gift box on their site featured with Bread in 5′s book.

This is what the doughs look like after raising and being chilled overnight:

So fire up the oven…

Rick just finished the spire on top of the onion dome. There is more to do but it works and more on the pizza oven to come in a later post.

It makes a great fire.

Toppings:

San Marzano tomatoes that I bottled this Summer from our garden, whizzed in the blender with a little salt and then strained make a delicious sauce.

I make pesto during the summer and freeze it in flexible ice cube trays. Just thaw and use.

Cubed Turkey Breast, Goat cheese, Brie, Ricotta,  Fresh and shredded Mozzarella, BBQ sauce, San Marzanos, pesto, homemade Bechamel, Ambrosia Apple, artichoke hearts, cooked sweet Italian sausage and pepperoni, shallots, onions and red peppers.

Prepared Margherita, San Marzano tomato sauce and fresh Mozzarella on "00" dough

Margherita out of the oven and topped with fresh Basil from the windowsill

Prepared Apple, Bechamel and Brie on Cornmeal Olive Oil Crust

After the fire:Turkey Breast on BBQ Sauce Before and after:

An “Italian Flag” one third each Margherita, Pesto and Bechamel Ricotta Before and after firing:

This is an "Italian Flag" before cooking

I had another pizza and some wood fired Naan to show you but I’ve lost this post twice running out of room so I’ll save those for another day. Party on and check out the other parties over at the Artisan Bread in 5 site.

Enjoy!

It’s time for Blog Party again and that lovely hostess with the mostess- Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness is holding Blog Party#37  with a Retro-Party Redux theme to kick off a fabulous 4th year.  So I’ve decided to go a bit classic and swank with a cocktail named after legendary New York hot spot- The Stork Club.  This was the place to see and be seen for the ultimate in glamour and was in business from 1929 to 1965. There’s even a 1945 Hollywood light romantic comedy featuring it and starring comedienne  Betty Hutton, called (of course) The Stork Club.

As an exclusive club- it was not without its issues and Grace Kelly reputedly refused to ever go back after leaving as a protest for the shabby treatment  that Josephine Baker was receiving from the staff. That’s the Princess Grace I respect and love. I hope had the club had lasted into modern times it would have seen the light and changed its ways.

So here’s my cocktail:

The Stork Club cocktail

• 1-1/2 ounces Gin
• 1/2 ounce Triple Sec
• juice of 1/2 lime strained
• 1 ounce of orange juice
• dash of Angostura Bitters
• twist of lemon peel for garnish

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with crushed ice. Add the Gin, Triple Sec, juices and bitters. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist (My tip: use a church key tool to cut zest into a long piece and wrap in a spiral around a chopstick and chill to make a corkscrew twist if desired.)

For lots of ideas and a great read on vintage cocktails check out this great book:

“Cocktail Hour Authentic Recipes and Illustrations from 1920 to 1960″, by Susan Waggoner and Robert Markel.It’s delightful to read and see all the great vintage illustrations.

-And for my hors d’oeuvre I’m bringing a somewhat classic cheese puff canape. BTW this lends itself to all kinds of add-ins like tapenade, ham, sundried tomatoes, pesto etcetera- the sky’s the limit and you can change the cheese as well if you wish:

Hot Cheese Puffs

• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 3 minced green onions including green tops
• 3 dashes smoked chipotle Tabasco sauce
• enough Hellman’s/Best Foods mayonnaise to bind
• 10-12 slices fine textured white or even wheat or ten grain bread, crusts removed and cut into triangles, rounds or whatever shapes you like

Mix the cheese, green onions, Tabasco and mayo together. Under the broiler toast one side of the bread triangles until light brown. Flip them over and top evenly with the cheese mixture. Return to the broiler for about 3 minutes or until browned, puffed and bubbly. Don’t burn your tongue

This time I’m also wearing a special party frock (haven’t decided which one yet) just for the occasion- can’t be swank with out it-

Oh… and I’ve decided that my escort must wear tails:

So thanks for the swellegant party Stephanie -I’ve had a lovely time- see you next month!

Update: here’s a look at all the party fare and the lovely guests: Blog Party #37 roundup!