Sourdough Pizza

Little M likes pizza. Well, we all like pizza in our family, but Little M really, really likes pizza! So I make homemade pizza using sourdough crust, fresh veggies for toppings, and a pizza stone to make it crispy.

If you haven't read any info about sourdough, I will give you a short explanation:

The big deal about sourdough is that the "starter" is a colony of wild yeast and lactobacilli (good bacteria, as found in yogurt) and when you mix the starter with your flour and allow it to ferment, the bacteria eats (breaks down) the gluten, making the flour easier on the digestive system.

So, sourdough pizza is nice and easy on the belly. That's a good thing for kids, and for grown ups too.
Plus, freshly made pizza is yummy! We make 3 at a time, each of us customizing our toppings. And then we all have leftovers for lunches.

Okay, here's the recipe...

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1 1/2 C sourdough starter
1 1/2 C whole wheat or unbleached white flour
3/4 tsp sea salt
2 tbs melted coconut oil

Method

1) Mix ingredients in a bowl and when a ball begins to form, pick it up and kneed it for 5 mins.

2) Rub a bit of coconut oil in the bowl and on the dough ball to keep it from drying out and/or sticking to the bowl.

3) With the dough ball inside the bowl, cover with clean dish towel and leave in a warm place (in the oven with the oven light on for example) for 3-4 hours.

Note: Traditionally olive oil is used in pizza dough. I chose to use coconut oil because olive oil denatures at the high temperature needed to cook pizza while coconut oil remains stable.

Here is my dough ready to be divided in 3 equal pieces to make 3 pizzas.

Making Pizza

1) Preheat oven (and pizza stone if you have one) at 500 F.

Warning: Never put a cold pizza stone into a hot oven, it may crack.

2) Chop desired toppings, grate cheese, make or open a can of pizza sauce. 

3) Place dough ball on floured surface and using a large knife, cut into 3 equal pieces.

We find it fun that we each get to make our own pizza!

4) Taking one piece at a time, roll into a round ball, then lay on floured surface and using a rolling pin roll out to desired thickness. (I like a thin crust.)

Mr. J doesn't use a rolling pin. He likes to throw it in the air and catch it on his finger tips. He ends up ripping holes in it and it looks pretty bad when he's done... but I don't say anything since I don't have to eat it (lol).

5) Because I use a pizza stone, I use a peel (large paddle) to slide the pizza into the oven. I sprinkle corn meal on the peel to prevent sticking and then lay the rolled-out dough on it.

6) Top the dough with pizza sauce, toppings of choice, and cheese if using.

I like to use basil leaves, spinach, peppers, mushrooms, onions, and almost any other veggie I have on hand. I also like pineapple on top.

I usually only use a small amount of cheese. I prefer cheddar because it's more flavourful, I find a little goes a long way. It looks like a lot in the photo, but that is mostly yellow and orange peppers you are seeing on top!

(Little M and Mr. J like meat like hamburg and bacon with their veggie toppings.)

7) Slide the pizza off the peel and onto the hot stone. Bake for 8 mins. Then put the next pizza in until everyone's is cooked.

Yum! Dinner time....

This one is mine, hot out of the oven.

Brined Turkey

This year we bought a fresh local turkey at Christmas time and I was interested in learning to BRINE the turkey before cooking it. I went in search of recipes and info online and gathered up my ingredients... and here's how it went. (I mostly followed the brine ingredients from The Pioneer Woman's blog)

Brining results in tender and juicy meat because the salt water enters the cells via osmosis and causes them to plump up with water. You will never end up with dry turkey if you brine it first.

One word of caution... you can only brine a fresh turkey because the frozen turkeys already have a salt solution added and brining would cause over-salting.

So, we bought the turkey (unfrozen) on Saturday and put it in the fridge.

On Monday morning, I put it in my brine. I had planned to let it brine for 24 hours, but I phoned my brother in St. John that morning (who regularly brines his turkey) and he told me to allow time for it to "air dry" in the fridge before cooking so the skin will crisp up. Apparently taking it out of the brine and putting it straight into the oven will cause the skin to be soft and gummy. Well, I wasn't going to take that chance so I decided to brine for the day only and let it air dry in the fridge overnight.

The first thing to do is Make your Brine...
(recipe can accommodate a 20lb turkey)

In a large stock pot, heat up:

• 3 cups apple juice
• 1 1/2 cups kosher salt 
• 5 cloves minced garlic
• 2 cups brown sugar
• the peel of 2 large oranges
• 3 tbs peppercorns
• 5 bay leaves, whole
• 1 tbs whole cloves
• 1 tbs ground poultry spice
• 2 gallons (32 cups) of water

 Bring this to a boil and then let it cool completely.

Put your turkey and brine in a large brining bag and store in the fridge for 12-24 hours.
Or, if you have a large enough stock pot that your turkey fits into, just put the turkey and brine in it and store it in the fridge with the lid on.

(note: before putting your turkey in brine, remove giblets and put them in a sealed dish in the fridge to cook for gravy if you have them.)

Now, here's where we had a problem...
We couldn't find a brining bag! And, we had a really big turkey so it didn't fit into the stock pot.

We had to improvise. My husband ran out and bought a bag meant for cooking a turkey. Instead of having a ziplock top like the brining bag would have, it had to be closed with a plastic tie. Very awkward when full of liquid!!! But, we somehow made it work.

Next year, we will simply get a smaller turkey and put it in the stock pot to brine as we found the 20lb turkey to be too large to work with in general. For example lifting it out of the oven to baste it was quite difficult for me because of the weight, not to mention the whole thing is piping hot so you have to be very careful with it.

That night before bed, with my husband's help (seriously heavy!), I took the pot out of the fridge, drained the brine into the sink and submerged the turkey into the other side of the sink filled with fresh cold water for 20 minutes to get rid of the excess salt.

Then we put it in a clean roaster and let it air dry in the fridge for the night.

 Roasting the Turkey

On Tuesday morning (Christmas day) I gave the turkey one more rinse with fresh cold water. I made stuffing and stuffed the turkey.

At noon, I preheated the oven to 275 F. I added a cup of water to the roasting pan, covered the bird with foil and put it into the oven on the lowest rack for 3 1/2 hours.

After the 3 1/2 hours, I took the foil off the bird, basted it with the juices and turned the oven up to 375 F.

I continued to baste the turkey every 1/2 hour or so and cooked it for another 3 hours. This amount of time will vary from oven to oven and depending on the size of the bird. Check it every time you baste to see how its going.

We used a meat thermometre pushed into the hip area to tell us when it was done. Poultry should have an internal temperature of 185 degrees F.

(My mom says she never used a thermometre. She just lifted one of the legs and if it came apart from the body easily, then it was done... simple as that! She says it works every time.)

Once it is done, or close to done, brush the skin with melted butter and let it crisp for 20-30 minutes.

Then take out the turkey, remove it from the roaster and place it on a large plate, covering it with the foil you took off earlier to keep it hot while you make gravy in the roasting pan on the stove top.

 And that's it... one juicy, tender and crispy turkey!