297 - that experimental feeling 🍕🧑🍳
yeah, it's pizza again 🍕🍕🍕
Hey there, !
I'm still on that pizza feeling, and it's now been just over 6 weeks since I've bought the oven and I've made 42 pizzas (I'm counting them!) so that's an average of 7 a week LOL
I have so many things that I'm still learning as we go! Just like I talked about last time, every single step has SO MUCH that you can learn technique from.
Let's take a look at some:
Dough technique
The main process I follow for dough is to mix all the ingredients, wait a while for a bulk fermentation, and then wait a bit more for a second fermentation after that.
A bulk fermentation is when you let ALL the dough rise together, and the second fermentation occurs when you've balled them up in to doughballs. Typically, you wait until the bulk fermentation has doubled in size, ball them up, and then do the second fermentation and wait 'til they have doubled in size again.
- 💡Tip from Shifu Dru: get a little sauce plastic container to take a sample of the dough that you're fermenting, and use that as your visual indicator for doubling. It's SO useful and makes me feel much more confident that my dough is ready!
Another thing I use religiously is the PizzApp which tells you how much flour and yeast and salt and water you need, depending on how long you want your rises to be - it handily does the calculations for me so I don't have to go and code my own more inferior version on an excel spreadsheet or something.
In terms of experimenting, I recently tried something called a poolish which is where you basically 'wake up' the yeast 24 hrs before you mix all the dough up together - it's called a 'pre-ferment'. This is supposed to help the fermentation and thus the yumminess and airiness of the dough when it gets baked later on. And though I screwed up the poolish a bit (because I put it in the fridge rather than leave it at room temp), can confirm the outcome of the dough was surprisingly good! Next one to experiment here is to use a sourdough starter :D
I've also noticed that leaving my doughballs for a day or two after I've balled them up helps make a better outcome as well (more flavour, more puffy crust). The longer the better, and I haven't had a problem with overproofing yet. Chuck it in the fridge or freezer and it just keeps!
Launching and cooking
This is where I think I've stabilised the technique of getting it into the oven and then watching it as it cooks so it doesn't burn. I've had a lot less burnage in the oven now, and much more 'leopard spots' (like, charred edges) than before. Still working on getting it evenly cooked, but at least it's not carbonised and need a scrape-y scrape each time.
Toppings
The current standings for popularity in terms of the pizzas I make:
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Salami with stracciatella and hot honey
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Prosciutto and rocket, with cherry tomatoes, baby bocconcini, shaved parm and pepper
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Margherita - just, basic tomato and cheese and basil pizza :D
I've been experimenting with other toppings, to varying degrees of enjoyment:
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Pear, gorgonzola, walnut, honey, pepper - this one is one of my personal favourites in terms of presentation but is polarizing because of the blue cheese. I find it delicious especially as I added these other elements to give it different textural and spice hits, but it doesn't appeal to everyone
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Mushroom - it was good when I first started making them, and then I think I tried doing too much with it, and it became a bit too earthy and muddy. I tried using truffle, I tried olives and anchovies, and though they all have really good flavours, I think one of the best received was just a basic mushroom, with a bit of rocket on top afterwards. Didn't need to be too much! But still looking for the perfect pairing of it.
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Garlic prawn - I tried making this once and it was just okay - the bite of prawn was really good, but I might have added too much cheese or something and it was a bit overpowering - there wasn't enough acid to cut through the richness. Next time will try capers or lemon zest or something to balance it all out.
The toppings have gone through so many iterations. The salami pizza used to be just salami, then had cherry tomatoes, then had bocconcini, then had different types of salami (I've found a REALLY good gourmet wine-infused salami) and then I tried using different cheeses to finish (ricotta, parm, etc.) but settled on stracciatella because it just hits so good. The prosciutto pizza has gone through iterations to land on something that isn't too watery, isn't too overpowering, and is nicely balanced. The pear pizza I have absolutely LOVED experimenting with because the ingredients are things I don't use very often but go so well together! The mushroom pizza is...still in progress.
The interesting thing for me, I think, is that every single thing you see above has been mostly iterated through experiment. I know that seems obvious, but it's something that I noticed I love about every time I make pizzas - I always want to do something different, and with pizza there's just so much I can change.
I think it's because the way to experiment is manageable, and not too overwhelming, that I love going through it systematically. I used to get anxious about making decisions in general because of the incredible complexity of consequences and choices I needed to analyse; it's not always easy to just select what you want, or what's right, or what will give the best answer in life because you just don't know. There's not always a control experiment that you can compare to.
Whereas in pizza, I've found an avenue that's easy for me to just...pick something to change and do it. And you get the results pretty quick!
The other thing I love is that this iteration is how social it is as well. I can't eat all this pizza myself, so for a lot of these changes, I need people to come eat! And from that, I've been able to iterate experiments with people - getting suggestions on how to improve topping flavours, different topping types, balancing flavours, tips and tricks - it's a really fun exercise in continuous learning with other people, learning from their experiences and what they like and dislike as well.
So thank you, my pizza guinea pigs - here's to continuous experimentation!
Chat soon :)
(P.S. If you've got any feedback for the newsletter, just hit the reply button!)
📋Today's Story
Results: Jump out of the hatch and see if you can take them on
Welp!
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Adrenaline pumping in your ears, and knowing you'll be found out at any minute, you grab the handle to open the hatch and ready yourself to jump out.
Deep breaths, you got this, you say to yourself.
The conversation and the footsteps approach closer...
...and closer...
...clang clang...
...clang...
pause
A pause, a note of silence, straining to hear any clue of what's happening outside with the backdrop of cooling metal sounds of the ship's hull. Slowly creeping your head to try and look through a corner of a window, you watch as they start to inspect the other escape shuttle.
It looks like they're...struggling with the hatch?
A perfect opportunity.
You yank on the handle, and as you slip out, gun in hand and pointing in the direction of the figures who have their back turned, you realise that you've overestimated the ground underneath you. Instinctively, you put your hands behind you to break your fall, but in doing so, fire off a shot wildly above the figures heads.
They turn and instantly...
SHOCKKKKKKKKKK your body convulses as a neon blue, burning projectile shot at you explodes every nerve in your body with white-hot pain. It sears your skin with a burning heat, oozing underneath like hot magma under the tectonic plates of your skin.
You see the three figures approach as you slowly lose consciousness, despite the unbearable pain. One of them smiles and waves bye-bye.
The world fades to black.
The...end?
--
Honestly, I'm not sure - but I do think I'm going to finish the story here for now. You're captured, you don't know what's happened to Sayla and Jimmy, but this space opera action type genre was not at all how I thought the story would go, and though I had planned out the first part I should have gone a bit further into how this would turn into an actual heist.
I actually really liked using this format of survey to guide the story, but I think my DND type brain kicked in (to try and keep the plot going) rather than a choose your own adventure (where there's actual endings).
I might try this again another time, but it didn't really go the way I wanted, even though I had literally all the control HAHA. I think it was just a bit too much in terms of writing two pieces every week when I was sometimes struggling to find the time to write even just one!
Thank you for reading anyway - any feedback please let me know <3
✔️Real Life Recommendations
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Bandak Chicken - I went to go try it and it's freakin' good. I put it at the same level as Buza Chicken in terms of Korean Fried Chicken places - it has one of the tastiest Soy/Garlic/Honey sauces I've ever had, but its Smoky Hot flavour was not as nice...it had like a Szechuan pepper or something added to the sauce that was fine, but not super delish. Regardless, the boneless chicken and waffle fries we got was rockin' - definitely recommended!
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West of Broadway - by Rachael & Vilray, a new duo that somehow appeared on my Spotify daylist or playlists or whatever. It has this really nice old-timey feel that's really cozy.
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Playing Viking Chess with Whale Bones - chess is kind of like that concept of carcinaisation - where a lot of evolutionary trees pretty much lead to a crab-like body. Wherever there are people, there are games, and wherever there are games, there is some kind of chess.
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‘World Models,’ an Old Idea in AI, Mount a Comeback - I think I've always thought that unless you can give AI the right simulation of the physical world, and also a way to sense that world, and also give them a way to interact with that world, we ain't got anything to worry about. World models would give them one of those three pillars, I reckon.
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The Evidence That AI Is Destroying Jobs For Young People Just Got Stronger - it's just an observational analysis of employment levels for particular jobs, but...woof it does not look good.