Friday, February 20, 2009

Homemade Pizza Oven 101


Part 1--Getting right to it, I made a pizza oven from an old Weber BBQ. You know which ones I am writing about, those round BBQs on a tripod of three legs--two legs with wheels and then a non-wheel leg. It is beer related, so I will put it on my blog because few things are as good as beer enjoyed with a great pizza.

While most of those old Webers may be rusting away in someone's backyard, why not rescue one and make a pizza oven. Here's what you do.

Stop! First things first though, you need the dough recipe. If you do not have the dough for the book (pun), then I can give you the gist of it. Just let me know.

Here's what you need so far:
  • Old Weber BBQ
  • Propane burner
Regarding the old Weber. It should be in reasonable condition. You might know someone who will just give it to you, but in this economy, they may try to get a few bucks for one. Heck, I paid $10 for mine. I like the red color.

Do that for now, then wait for my next blog. I will give you the design and resources then.

Until then... Cheer with a beer.

Monday, February 16, 2009

I Got Goosed!


If you happen to be following the blog, you would have noticed my subtle reference to it being my birthday. Well, my in laws wanted to show their appreciation of my birth by having a nice dinner last night for me and family.

After finishing my dinner and dessert, I was asked if I wanted to sample a gift from a fellow beer aficionado who was unable to attend, Kim. Kim has an acquired taste for barley wine. At a modest 13% alcohol content, barley wine is rarely served with anything and is meant to be enjoyed by itself--save for maybe raw oysters or something. Regardless, the timing was perfect.

Black as night, smokey and having a reminiscence of oak cured scotch Bourbon County Brand Stout is a 13% barley wine with huge character attached. It is a somewhat dry stout with charred oak, vanilla and caramel flavors that complement its moderate hop aromatics. Pour into a broad mouth glass and enjoy. I approve this barley wine.

Bourbon County Brand Stout is priced at $6.00 for 12 oz. bottle made by Goose Island Brewing Co. Chicago Ill. brewmaster Greg Hall.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Pizza and Beer, The Anticipation

Before I begin, I want to thank the one responsible for creating/duplicating the recipe for Napoletana Pizza dough, Peter Reinhart —He wrote the book on breads and doughs, literally. (See image). If you like bread, want to make it and make it well, you need this book.

For my entire life, as long as I can remember, I have listed pizza as one of my favorite foods whenever asked. At a very young age, I had drawn pizzas often, and I had made mini pizzas using muffins for the crust when I was old enough to help in the kitchen. Now that I am older (Happy Birthday by the way Jeff) I have set out to finally make great pizza starting with the crust.

To make a long story short, my pizza quest taught me that different crust recipes were used for different styles of pizzas. Chicago deep dish, the classic European crust are to name a few, but the one I like is that of the Napoletana crust. The former crusts mentioned are not inferior by any means. They are simply created differently in order to accommodate the unique style of the pizza sought after. And, for lack of a better description, the Napoletana is a crust of medium thickness with a thin, crisp, outer crust that envelopes the moist, moderate airy crumb inside. It bubbles a bit along the outer edges but the moisture stays inside.

My first pizza dough attempt was a disaster. It looked similar to an over sized, very thin, tough, chewy crumpet, if there is such a thing. Determined and driven by both my love for pizza and my tenacious nature, I pursued. I researched and discovered among many things the cold fermentation process of the dough. Hmmm... This sounds familiar to the fermentation of a lager beer. Intrigued, I delved into the very long and fastidious recipe of Reinhart's Napoletana pizza crust dough. In a relatively short amount of time, I got it.
Italic
In fact, in the next blog, I will show you my home made pizza oven and how it can be made for cheap.

So, for my birthday dinner, I will be sliding the pizzas in the pizza oven and enjoying them with my family. Can you guess what beverage I will be having with that? Right! Beer.

I work until beer o’clock.--Steven King

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Please Grow

Wandered down the beer isle lately? Me too. I am a firm believer that beer is the drink of the common man (and woman). I buy it often as well as brew it myself. However, when the prices shoot up by $2.00 or $3.00 a six pack, I am left feeling that there could be no end to the bleakness of the economy. And, that the drink is no longer for every man. Et tu brewte?

How did the stress on the economy get the to beer? It should be protected from all of this. Well, here's what happened. Whether it was a storm, fire or both--I have heard both stories, there was some serious damage to the barley crop as well as the hop crop. The major brewers are not as effected from soaring grain and hop prices The big guys have long term supply contracts signed with their providers. But woe to the craft brewers who do not have supply contracts with the grain growers.

There is light at the end of the tunnel however. Mother nature seems to have eased up a bit on the crops in 2008. Adding to this, both hops and barley grow rather fast if given the chance. Hops can grow up to a foot a day in fact. Thank you mother nature.

Now all we have to do is wait a bit, and watch the prices of beer go back down so that both the craft brewers and we, the common man, can enjoy a great beer at a common price.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Nailed It!


Our family went out to dinner to celebrate our 6 year old's accomplishment. He finished his phonics level 1. Because I'm the one roughing it out with him, I needed it too. My favorite book out of the 14 other literary wonders was Dog Bug, a short book about a bug in a cup that turns out to be, of all things, a dog bug. So, we went to a local restaurant to have a nice dinner last Friday.

Beer lover that I am, and after pondering on my one of my own recent limns. I wanted an IPA. I asked the server what they had, and I chose the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The server commented a bit about the character of the beer. The discussion then began. DON'T get me started. He then began to divulge, volunteering his knowledge about beer and brewing. "I've been brewing for years now. Got a whole brewing section at home."
"Wow, that's great!" I replied.
He went on gesturing with his hands as if carefully measuring something in the air.
"My friend is a chemist. He's really particular. We made a lager, ales, stouts, but we tried top make a wheat beer one time, you know, a "hefee" but, it turned out blah."
I waited for him to finish, then I commiserated, "Aw, I hate that. All that work."
It was at that time I could not resist a little stab. "I'm curious, did you do a triple decoction* mash on that hefee?"
That's when I got the confused dog look. I then quickly abated. I don't really enjoy joking around like that anyway. But the look was priceless. I then encouraged him and commended him on his past successes. It was all just a bit of good fun.

Instead of cooking all the time, the dinner out was a nice break, and the IPA went well with the wasabi, ahi tuna and spicy shrimp that I had ordered.

I'm really not a difficult person to dine with. Aside from poking my son once in a while to hear him chirp--wife hates that, I am easy going and very polite. And, I nailed it!

*For those of you who do not know the term "decoction mash" it is simply boiling the mash to:
  1. break down the proteins in the mash
  2. break down the starch as well (most important) in a wheat beer.
"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer."--Abraham Lincoln