Cookie Chick

I celebrated a birthday recently and must have been a very good girl last year because I was gifted two Le Creuset cast iron pans.

My generous husband gave me a deep covered sauté pan in a beautiful blue. Poor dear searched high and low for this pan. I admired it in a Williams Sonoma catalog, but he forgot where I saw it. It’s not available in many places yet.

Oh my, is that pan heavy. It’s “almost” too big for meals for the two of us. Luckily we’re big leftover fans. I’ve made a few “one pot” meals in it. I haven’t quite mastered the “one pot” method, but am working on it. Less clean up is always a plus. The pan works well and clean up is a breeze. It has an enameled interior like the dutch ovens. My only problem is finding someplace to store it. I think a rearrangement of the kitchen is needed.

My wonderful in-laws gave me a 2 3/4 qt oval dutch oven in Dune which is a beautiful cream color. They gave me my first Le Creuset dutch oven several years ago that started this trend in fine cookware. I had always admired Hope’s dutch oven and they surprised me with my first Le Creuset. Now I have this lovely piece to add to my weighty collection. It is the perfect size for two. I can’t wait to use it. They told me they want to keep me cooking. I will gladly oblige, gifts or not.

Now I just need to keep my sisters from coveting my pans. M has a dutch oven and loves it. A hinted that I never did get her a wedding gift. She’s about to celebrate her 20th anniversary. Maybe it’s time to give her that long awaited gift. I can afford a little nicer gift than I could have when I was 19.

But maybe it should be. We like pizza, as do most people. Our favorite is Angelo & Vinci’s in Fullerton, CA. A Z Pizza just opened up around the corner from our house. The Tuscan Mushroom is divine.

However, as I’ve been on my bread making marathon lately, it only made sense to try my hand at pizza. I’ve made it before and it’s fine, but nothing spectacular. I wanted to try baking on a cast iron pan. I read an article a month or so ago in the LA Times about this and thought it would be fun.

My best friend bought me a Le Creuset oval cast iron pan for my birthday last year. It’s a really pretty kiwi color, but I haven’t actually used it much. It’s kind of small for pizza, but I thought it was worth a try.

I made the dough recipe from the KitchenAid manual. It easy and quite tasty. After the dough had risen in my new dough bucket, I oiled the pan, spread some cornmeal and spread the dough onto the cold pan. It made quite a thick crust since the pan was small. I topped it with sauce, mozzarella cheese, veggie sausage and julienned sun-dried tomatoes.

Oh my was it good. I could have preheated the oven with the pan inside, but wasn’t sure how to get the pizza on without burning myself. It worked very well, even without preheating the pan.

With the success of the first experiment, I next tried a double crust pizza since the dough was almost too much for the small pan. Again, this was heaven. Even better, in my husband’s opinion. Now, however the gadget geek in me wanted a real 14″ cast iron pizza pan. The search was on. (To Be Continued..)

Pizza Dough Recipe
1 package instant yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of honey
2 1⁄2 – 3 1⁄2 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal

Mix 2 1/2 cups of flour with the yeast in a stand mixer fitted with dough hook for 20 seconds at Speed 2. Add salt and mix for 30 more seconds to combine. Combine water, honey and olive oil in a 2 cup measuring cup with spout. With mixer running at speed 2, add liquids slowly at edge of bowl. If more flour is needed, continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1⁄2 cup at a time, and mix about 1 1⁄2 minutes, or until dough starts to clean sides of bowl. You may not need extra flour.

Knead on Speed 2 for 2 – 3 minutes longer. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place (70 – 80 degrees), free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Gently punch dough down.

Brush a 14-inch pizza pan with oil. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Press dough across bottom of pan, forming a collar around edge to hold toppings.

Add toppings, as desired. Bake at 450°F for 15 to 20 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings (1⁄4 pizza per serving).

On the Cooks Illustrated Forums, I came across a lively thread about the No-Knead Bread phenomenon that has been sweeping the country. In November of 2006, the New York Times ran an article and video about an ingenious method to make hearth bread at home easily. You don’t need any special equipment or bread making skills. I was intrigued.

The only thing that might be considered special equipment is a covered vessel to bake the bread in. They used a cast iron dutch oven which I have. However they suggested a 6 -7 quart one and mine is only a 3 1/2 quart. Luckily as I read down the thread, this size actually works out better. The one problem is that the bread bakes in a hot oven, 450 – 500 degrees. The Le Creuset dutch oven that I have has a phenolic knob that is only oven safe to 350 degrees. Some people have covered the knob in foil or removed it before baking. I’ve experienced the catastrophe of baking plastic, so I wanted to avoid that mistake again.

There are a few options. You can remove the knob, cover it in foil and hope, or replace the knob with something that is oven safe. Luckily, or perhaps because of the new bread baking phenomenon, Le Creuset now makes a stainless steel knob that is safe at any oven temperature. It’s pretty too. I have one on order from Cutlery & More. In the interim, we went to the hardware store and bought a ceramic drawer knob. I’ve baked two loaves and this worked really well. It’s not as pretty as the Le Creuset, but it was only $1.69.

From what I understand, you can also bake the bread in Pyrex, stainless steel, basically any sturdy pot or lidded casserole that can withstand the heat.