Ben Benner’s Blog

I made pizza, from scratch, recently. It was quite good.

I made the pizza dough from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes cookbook, with the exception of swapping out 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

(Before)

(After)

The last time I made this dough I followed the recipe exactly that time and in the end felt that the dough could use a bit of whole wheat. The other thing I did this time around was to roll-out the dough much thinner to get a nice crispy thin-crust pizza.

The first time, I thought I had rolled it out enough for a thin-crust, not like cracker thin, but thin. Instead, I got a much more “original” crust style. It was good, but a little too doughy for my liking.

I followed Gina’s lead of putting the toppings under the cheese, with the exception of the tomatoes, which next time I will slice thinner and put under the cheese. My thoughts at the time was that the grape tomatoes on the top of the cheese would have a chance to release their water into the heat and keep the pizza from getting soggy at all.

More of my pizza pics.

Back to the grind.
Laterz

bdbenner food, pizza Cooking, homemade pizza, pizza

Actually, rather out of pickles.

I just finished off the small jar of ‘Hot Garlic DIll Pickles’ that I bought at the farmers market a few weeks back. I won’t be able to pick-up another jar this coming saturday, as I will be over in Hondo, TX. My mom has been on quite an adventure of her own for the last, well I think it has been almost two months. She flew into Mexico and spent time with her parents and has been hanging out in Eagle Pass for the last couple of weeks.

She will be with us for a few days, before heading back to Michigan on the 14th.

I must say that if you like garlic dill pickles you should definitely give the good folks at Hill Country Homestyle Canning a try. They are more expensive than pickles at your mega-mart, but they definitely make up for it in freshness and taste.

I am regretting not having bought the LARGE jar of pickles, so that I would not be out of pickles at the moment. Next time I am there, I am going to look for their pickled jalepenos and carrots. I saw those on the website and they look pretty good!

I did a bit of yardwork today, but my days as a desk jockey have taken their toll on me, in that the last three weekenda have involved a significant amount of physical work and I have apparently pulled something. I am going to finish up tomorrow after work.

I am on the computer right now to look up a recipe for dog treats.

Just found it.

Laterz

bdbenner farmers market, food dog treats, food, pickles

For those of you that haven’t heard about the wild and crazy weekends that the Benners [of Cedar Park] have had lately, then you are missing out on the fact that I have recently been stricken with a terrible affliction, such a rare and horrible malody that it doesn’t even have a name yet. So let’s make one up, how about…

Artisan Bread Craving Disorder, ABCD

or

Small Loaf of Expensive Bread-itis, SLEB

or maybe,

Farmers Market Bread Blues, FMBB

Whatever it is called, I have recently become addicted to artisan bread from a guy who’s name I believe is Neil. Below is a picture of the man I believe is named Neil, who I sometimes refer to as “The Bread Guy”.

[Note: I asked him if it was OK to take a picture before doing so. He said "Yes".]

Now, Neil’s bread is good, I mean honestly the few times I have had it, the bread has had a similar consistency each time. I have found myself running out of Neil’s bread before the next trip to the farmers market. This has led me to think more and mroe about baking my own bread. When I have mentioned this before in the past, Gina has told me that bread baking is TOO much work to do on a whim.

I completely agree with her. But due to the beautiful randomness of the Internets, I found a great book that makes bread making painless enough that you can do it every day.

So we hit a local restaurant supply company and bought some much needed essentials.

1 Large plastic tub (with lid), able to easily hold at least 5qts (this one does 6qts)

1 Pizza Peel

We had to hit up Williams Sonoma for the baking stone as the supply company did not have any.

So I mixed up my first batch of dough, in the hopes of being able to bake it for dinner that Saturday night, but as luck would have it, we ran out of time to bake it on Saturday night. (The dough is supposed to refrigerate for a minimum of three hours before use.)

Then the plan was to bake a loaf to have for breakfast, but then well I did something very boneheaded. I mean, I thought about never admitting what I did to ANYONE. But I am a firm believer that honesty is best, because well it will come out eventually.

The instruction for the recipe called for a broiler pan, to hold water that in turn will create steam while the bread bakes. They recommend putting the pan in the oven when you are preheating, then adding the water after 20 minutes of heating.

Some of you might possibly see where this is going.

I asked Gina where our broiler pan was, as I couldn’t find it. I mean I am fairly certain we owned one, but maybe we didn’t. So, my thought was to use a pyrex pan.

Yup, Glass.

Glass heated to probably around 400 degrees, then doused with water that was no where near 400 degrees.

MORON!

It shattered, made a huge mess, which was fun to clean up. NOT.

The worst part was, I thought about the fact that pouring water into a hot glass pan was likely not a good idea, right before I poured it in there.

Luckily, I had not put the bread on the baking stone yet, so the dough was not filled with glass.

The destruction of the pyrex meant two things.

1. I owed Gina a new 13×9 pyrex dish.

2. I had to buy a broiler pan.

After a quick trip to Target, it was time to get back to bread baking.

I cleaned off the baking stone and started heating the oven again.

My first two loaves turned out, ok. Not fantastic though.

A couple of things might have been to blame. It could have been that the dough had been rising for too long, or it could have been that I didn’t adjust the baking time for me baking two loaves at once, or it could be that initially i used just a little bit more water than the recipe called for.

However, my second attempt was this evening before dinner. The recipe book had instructions for creating a baguette. The only real differences between the baguette instructions and the artisan recipe are:

1. It is elongated and cylindrical vs round and flat.

2. Instead of dusting the top with flour, you brush it with water.

Gina said that the baguette was GREAT!!!

She really, really loved it.

I can’t wait to try making some herb bread, but more importantly I need to get my hands on some Rye flour!

laterz

bdbenner baking, food baking, bread baking

Gina and I will be heading out to the farmers market here soon. I would really like to encourage everyone out there to visit their local farmers market at least once a month. I mean around here there are several different markets, thus far Gina and I have decided that the Sunset Valley Farmers Market is the best one in town.

We have visited a couple of others around town, the one that is in downtown austin, the historic one that is on Burnet, but the Sunset Valley is the one we visit, almost every Saturday. The market is 24 miles from our house, as per Google Maps. We usually grab a coffee on the way down and make a morning of the trip.

I have recently fallen in love with the bread that this one vendor makes. He has been there the last 3 or 4 weeks, though I don’t remember him being there last year. He makes fantastic artisan breads, I favor his Rye breads. He said that he has made pumpernickel on occasion, but that demand for it isn’t really high enough for him to bring it to the market.

From looking at his setup, he bakes probably about 50-60 loaves of bread. I might ask him today, to see if my judgment of how many loaves his setup holds is anywhere near correct. His bread ranges from $7 - $9 (I need to check and see if he has anything more expensive than $9).

Now, we are talking about a circle of small artisan bread. My last loaf of bread could not have had a diameter of more than 7 inches and was no taller than 2 inches. It cost me $7.

Seven dollars of mustard rye goodness. I have to say that while, it is the most expensive bread I have ever purchased (even surpassing the bread obtained at Central Market), the mustard rye is worth every penny.

Today, though I am going to go out of my comfort zone. I am going get something other than a rye from this vendor, I am also going to try and get a name, his or his businesses’, so I can quit referring him to as ‘vendor’.

I have a feeling we will also pick up another cauliflower. We are still good on cabbage, got 2/3 of a cabbage left that I need to turn into slaw. I might try to smoke some chicken and turkey tomorrow, those don’t take too long.

Gina might find some various organs from the meat vendors to feed the dogs. The time before last, she found a lady selling chicken hearts and gizzards. MMMMM, bleh.

But the dogs loved them.

I will have to ask her about the lamb hearts she bought, I don’t remember if she fed those already or not.

If you do plan to get meat from a farmers market, I would definitely advise going early. The meat vendors always seem to sell out. There is this one stand there that sells some sort of goat cheese, milk, and various cuts of pork (not sure if I have seen beef there too), but I know they sell pork.

More often than not, their stand has a line. It seems to be a mix of folks waiting for cheese and meat. But I know the meat sells out.

There is this one stand that sells Basil (when it is in season) for a steal. Like $1 for a decent sized “bunch”. Even if they raised their prices to say $5, it would still be a steal over prices you pay at a regular grocery store for Basil.

Also, arugula is another great find you get at the farmers market. There are several vendors selling salad greens. Mixed spring style greens, arugula, spinach, and bibb lettuce.

I remember that when I was little my dad would take us to the farmers market in downtown Lansing. The experience of walking into a building with lots of hustle and bustle going on. I haven’t been in quite a long time, but I remember there being only one long row of vendors with little alleys at the various entrances on the sides of the long building.

It is kind of funny, all of the markets I have been to here in Texas are more like a traveling bazaar, whilst the Lansing market is in a big brick building. I mean, if the Lansing one wasn’t in a building it would only be able to be open at the end of spring through the beginning of fall.

Next time I am back in Lansing, I will need to swing through the city market and see if I can find myself an artisan rye.

I was poking around for artisan bread references while writing this and ran across the blog for the following book, “Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day…” I have to admit, that the man’s rye bread makes me want to bake. Not so much to avoid paying him that $7, but to hopefully be able to make something so tasty myself, at home anytime I want it, not just after a 30 minute drive on a saturday morning. I say this, because I am pretty sure my loaf of rye ran out on Wednesday. I mean, what am I supposed to do then?

Bake my own maybe.

I need to get ready to go to the market.

bdbenner food austin, farmers market, lansing, lansing city market, sunset valley, tx

It has been about an hour since Gina and I got home. I made the bed (Gina helped) and got Gina some juice. She is doing well, the doctor said that she can begin eating regular foods (not just jello), just have to keep them all low in fat over the next few weeks.

I am looking for a soup recipe that uses cabbage, as before this weekend’s adventure I bought a very nice looking cabbage.

The original plan was to turn it into my favorite kind of slaw and serve it along with some smoked pork and there was a request for ribs as well. Luckily, I had not purchased any of the meat for the weekend, else I might be wondering what to do with all that raw pork shoulder. (Nope, the dogs can’t eat that much pork, not good for them.)

I am going to finish finding a recipe and make sure I have all the needed stuff. Then, then I am going to take a nap. (or run to the store, get the missing items, then a nap)

Laterz

bdbenner Uncategorized, food home

We finished off most of the salad last night, it was a late dinner instead of a late lunch. I finished off the leftover salad for breakfast, about 50 seconds in the microwave (stirring once in the middle) and it was perfect.

We are going to be heading off to CostCo here shortly, so I gotta go get ready.

I uploaded some new pics to Flickr, check them out.

Laterz.

bdbenner food food, pics, spinach salad

I hope that everyone is having a Merry X-mas.

I helped the dogs, rabbits and bird make X-mas cards for Gina. The dogs got her a Starbucks gift card and the rabbits and bird got her an iTunes card. Lula wanted to get Gina a new car, but well Lula is a dog and in these tight economic times she just couldn’t get a loan. I mean, one of these days soon Lula’s modeling career will take off and she will be able to get herself the personal chef she has always been wanting.

Gina got me some clothes (which was cool, cuz I picked them out), she also got me CronoTrigger for the DS-Lite, and she got me a really swanky beard trimmer (my last one broke). Gina and I got t-shirts from my in-laws, Gina’s says that “Everyone loves an Italian girl.” Mine says “Italian, by marriage only.”

I also got a micro-copter (which is proving to be challenge to fly, but one I am sure I will master). Gina got a bracelet.

I got Gina an Apple AirportExpress, so that when she travels she will always be able to have wifi at the hotel. I also got her the latest book by the lady that writes the Harry Potter books, JK Rowling, I believe the title is “The Tales of the Beetle Bard”. It is a small book, I think she will likely finish it in a day (if she reads it straight through).

We were going to see “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” with Jeremy and Nichole. However, it would appear that the movie was TOO popular. For almost evey X-mas for the last 10-15 years I have seen a movie. But both Gina and myself cannot ever remember the theatre being as busy as the Cinemark on 1431 was this afternoon. Jeremy and Nichole got there earlier than us and managed to get tickets, whereas Gina and I didn’t get there in time. I called Jeremy when we got there, to see if they were already in the theatre or if they were in one of the various lines that were outside the theatre (one of which looked like it might have been coming from inside the building.

He said that they were inside already and that it was pretty full. I stood in line to buy tickets and overheard someone say with amazement “It is sold out.” I didn’t catch what movie they were referring to, when I got up to the kiosk myself, I saw the “Sold Out” label on the picture of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

I feel  bad that we were not able to catch the flick with Jeremy and Nichole. Hopefully, it is a good one. Tomorrow night Jeremy and I are going to see “The Spirit”, I am going to see if John can go tomorrow night. I think I will make sure we are there extra early, which should be easy since Jeremy and I are both taking the day off.

On a side note, it actually turned out to be a good thing that Gina and I didn’t get into the movie. Our “Rival 20 Quart (Electric) Roaster Oven” is amazing, it cooked the turkey to our amazement in about 1.5 hours. I mean it seems impossible to believe, but we reviewed various different websites to verify the necessary cooking time and temperatures (and to see if we could figure out the best place to put the meat temp probe).

The movie lasts almost 3 hours. This would have ultimately have meant that the turkey would have been way overdone.

Gina’s dad had told her earlier today that the roaster would could the turkey quickly, but he didn’t say it was going to cook it that quickly. I mean we had put the probe in about 1 hour in and it was already registering at 161 degrees.

Well, Gina just started cutting the turkey, so it is time to go.

Laterz

bdbenner Dogs, Personal, Uncategorized, food Cooking, Dogs, gifts, movies, pets, turkey, xmas

I only sort of wish I had a kite. It would be interesting to try to fly a kite off the end of the dock. It certainly has been windy the last couple of days.

I think the temperature on the thermostat here never read over 69F yesterday, today It hasn’t broken 65F.

Gina made breakfast this morning. I have to do the dishes, right after I finish this post.

We are pretty sure that we are going to head down state later today instead of Wednesday. I think we will be heading back to Texas on Friday morning.

The sun is peaking out from behind the clouds here and there while I am posting this, but the temp is just not hot enough to sit out and get a tan. Bummer.

We saw Hancock on Friday, it was pretty good. I really liked the first half of the movie, it felt very original but just as the storyline was getting good they started wrapping it up, they managed to keep the movie to an hour and a half, but in doing so the whole ending felt rushed.

The little theatre in Bellaire is really great. It has two screens. They had just done a fresh batch of popcorn so I had to get some. I have gotten into the habit of buying the kid’s packs, that way you get a little bit of popcorn, a small drink and some candy. Normally the candy is something really small and not always that great. However, the Bellaire theatre offered you a selection of candy from the bottom row, which was cool. They had a good assortment to choose from. I got peanut M&Ms.

I found out that the family that owns the Bellaire theatre, also owns the theatres in Gaylord and Petoskey.

The BBQ on Friday turned out really well, everyone really enjoyed the pork, coleslaw and chicken. Mary Wight brought over her famous spaghetti salad, it was very, very good.

Well, I better get the dishes cleaned up.

Laterz

bdbenner bbq, food, travel, vacation bbq, movies, summer 2008, summer vacation, vacation, vacation 2008

I am waiting for my brine to cool down enough to put it with my pork shoulder (also known as a Boston Butt).

I made a nice spinach salad tonight, consisting of spinach, carrot, celery, green bell pepper, onion, and cherry tomatoes. The salad went nicely with the chicken thighs that I grilled. After dinner Father Anthony asked me to make some stove-top popcorn. I burned the first batch just a little, like prolly 15 seconds too long. The second batch was pretty much perfect.

I made the coleslaw for tomorrow right after eating dinner and before I made the popcorn. The coleslaw is from this Texas BBQ book Gina bought her dad a while back, the slaw is pretty much the same as the slaw you get at the Salt Lick. Only difference I think is that the Salt Lick uses more vinegar in theirs.

I am going to be smoking pulled pork, chicken and some sausage (which reminds me, we need to buy some sausage).

All for now.

Laterz

bdbenner bbq, food, vacation bbq, summer 2008, travel, vacation, vacation 2008