Those rules for DO cook offs...

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Looks like I won't be doing the BLT pizza next weekend in the cook off...
After talking with the rules guru, My pizza dough recipe will not be allowed because I have to mix the dough the night before. All entries must be made at the comeptition. The only exception is the use of a sourdough starter, which is made beforehand.
I don't know diddly about sourdough, so maybe it's time I learned...
I've been told that a starter can be made for water and flower, nothing else... except relying on natural wild yeast, present in the air. Anyone ever hear that one???
If I buy a starter, will I have enough time to get it working to make a good sourdough pizza dough one week later???

[Nitetimes]

I don't know diddly about sourdough, so maybe it's time I learned...
I've been told that a starter can be made for water and flower, nothing else... except relying on natural wild yeast, present in the air. Anyone ever hear that one???
If I buy a starter, will I have enough time to get it working to make a good sourdough pizza dough one week later???

Don't know about that, just curious what kind of flowers you use in your pizza dough.

[Kevin A]

I don't know diddly about sourdough, so maybe it's time I learned...
I've been told that a starter can be made for water and flower, nothing else... except relying on natural wild yeast, present in the air. Anyone ever hear that one???
If I buy a starter, will I have enough time to get it working to make a good sourdough pizza dough one week later???

Don't know about that, just curious what kind of flowers you use in your pizza dough.

They gotta be wild flowers, must be where the wild yeast comes from....

[Nitetimes]

O I C, learn something new every day!!

[madjack]

I don't know diddly about sourdough, so maybe it's time I learned...
I've been told that a starter can be made for water and flower, nothing else... except relying on natural wild yeast, present in the air. Anyone ever hear that one???
If I buy a starter, will I have enough time to get it working to make a good sourdough pizza dough one week later???

Don't know about that, just curious what kind of flowers you use in your pizza dough.

...he's from Humboltd County...we might not want to know (publicly) what kinda "flower" he is using...
madjack

[sdtripper2]

Dean:

Think autO-uP Pizza DO dOugh~:eyebrows:

Link to Self-Rising Flour is your E-Ticket Dean~
As I stated before, my wife calls self-rising flour "cheating." This is because self-rising flour has a leavening agent mixed into it ... baking powder and salt. Self-rising flour is great for pastries such as scones, muffins, and biscuits. Thing about self-rising flour is that you have to be accurate when measuring it in your recipes AND you have to be careful how you use it. For instance, if you make a dough and then the recipe calls for you to dust a pastry board with flour, you shouldn't use self-rising to dust the board. Since it has leavening chemicals in it already, adding more of the self-rising could screw up the ratios and make the end product not exactly what you wanted.

One of the self rising flowers above and there are more types:
Look below in the links to find different brands of flower:


Self rising flour may be your E-ticket to your DO pizza recipe?



Pizza with Self-Rising Crust

1)Recipe http://tinyurl.com/h3suy

2) Recipe http://tinyurl.com/gwaf6
This link says NO SALT and after using the flower and the rest of the
ingreed's you let it rest 8 min before you roll out the dough.

3) There are many more recipe's in the links below

4) Google search of self rising flower pizza dough two links like stars in the sky::thumbsup:
http://tinyurl.com/jbo6j

http://tinyurl.com/jzqd3

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

I don't use any flowers or buds for that matter... High gluten flour with no sugar to jump start the yeast, relying on a cold fermentation process, which produces the sugar for the yeast to do its thing. This is the best pizza dough I have ever stumbled upon and not being allowed to use it in competition kinda frosts my noodle...

[Ma3tt]

What? Frosted noodles!! Hmmm wait that could be good.

[Miriam C.]

It's a shame you can't use a naturally occurance to make pizza dough. Isn't that along the same line as sour dough. You need sugar, flour, yeast to make a sour dough starter. You feed it for weeks. Give it flour and maybe sugar, can't remember. You may be able to get a starter from your local natural foods store.

I would try the dough first. Sour dough may no react the same way your yeast does.

Good Luck.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Auntie M,
I really don't know much about sourdough starter, but I do know it has to be made ahead of time and you do have to feed it and replentish it when you take from it. I think also that once you've had it going for a while, dark liquid can form on the surface, which I believe is called "hooch"... I'm guessing that is when you know you've got a good one going, when you have to stir that dark liquid back into itself...
But anyway... Here's my take:
The cold fermentation proccess recipe I found is the same as sourdough goes as far as it needs to be started beforehand. I had reservations about trying this competitive cooking deal and I just don't know if it's for me.
Joanie and I talked about it this evening and depending on what we hear back from a second request to be allowed to use it... We will either forego the main dish competition or just do it for fun...
Personally, I think it is silly that the folks in charge would not allow it. It's not like I'm arriving with a premade pizza skin. It has to warm up for a couple of hours, then get punched down, rise, then get rolled (or tossed) into the desired thickness and size.
On another note... My boy and I made the apple pie ice cream this weekend and it turned out great!!! About all we can do to improve upon it, is maybe add a little cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg, perhaps. We also have a scratch recipe for the cobbler figured out, but didn't have time this weekend to do a test run on it... I do feel good about our chances in the desert competition. (Apple Cinnamon Vanilla Cream Cheese Cobbler Ala Mode)

[Chef]

But anyway... Here's my take:
The cold fermentation proccess recipe I found is the same as sourdough goes as far as it needs to be started beforehand. I had reservations about trying this competitive cooking deal and I just don't know if it's for me.
Joanie and I talked about it this evening and depending on what we hear back from a second request to be allowed to use it... We will either forego the main dish competition or just do it for fun...
Personally, I think it is silly that the folks in charge would not allow it. It's not like I'm arriving with a premade pizza skin. It has to warm up for a couple of hours, then get punched down, rise, then get rolled (or tossed) into the desired thickness and size.
On another note... My boy and I made the apple pie ice cream this weekend and it turned out great!!! About all we can do to improve upon it, is maybe add a little cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg, perhaps. We also have a scratch recipe for the cobbler figured out, but didn't have time this weekend to do a test run on it... I do feel good about our chances in the desert competition. (Apple Cinnamon Vanilla Cream Cheese Cobbler Ala Mode)

Actually from a rules perspective you would be arriving with a premade pizza dough; the fact that it needs to warm up doesn't mean much since it is mixed before the competition. On the other hand sour dough starter is viewed as an ingredient that takes the place of yeast. It is not a complete dough like yours. In order to use it properly in a any contest you still need to mix in the flour and other ingredients with the starter and then let it rise. The same process you use for bread with yeast.

If you want to enter you would need to consider a warm rise dough. Do a double rise with instant yeast and your flavour should be fine.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Chef,
I'm not changing a thing on my dough... Unless I stumble upon something better.
As for the aspect of competition cooking... Don't think I'll be doing that anymore, just wasn't my cup of tea.
We did finish in the money, took home second place.
We entered a scratch recipe for an apple-vanilla cream cheese cobbler ala mode. (With vanilla ice cream that my son made in a 12" Lodge)
The cobbler was way better than any other cobblers we've done using cake mixes and canned goods. We got beat by an apple dumpling entry.
What I really didn't care for, was the extended amount of time it took for the judges to do their part. By the time all the entries were returned to the contestants, to serve up to the paying public... the food was cold.
It was a very profitable venture for the local dutch oven society, but if I was calling the shots... I'd just eliminate the comeptition aspect to be able to serve up a better product to the crowd.
Next year, we are just going to take down about four 14"ers and make pizzas all day and skip the contest part...

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Steve,
I'm no expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

[Miriam C.]

Congratulations Dean and company. Second place is a real good start. Wish I could go.

Enjoy

[bledsoe3]

Congrats Dean. Remember you promised the recipe after the comp.

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