Birth of the Pie

Last night’s dinner at an early stage. Details after the jump.

Technorati Tags: cooking

We had pizza, and this is the beginning of the dough: water, milk, yeast, a sprinkling of brown sugar, a little salt, and olive oil. You combine the water and milk (a lukewarm mixture), the yeast and the sugar and give it five or ten minutes for the yeast to get going (many recipes say you can see the surface get creamy looking, and that’s about right). Then I add the salt and oil. The oil sits on the top of the mixture, and if the yeast is growing, you’ll see these bubbles expand into the oil. They’re filled with carbon dioxide, I think, one of the byproducts of the yeast bloom (alcohol is another). At this point I start adding flour, and the rest is soon history. (Last night’s topping: pesto, mozzarella, red onion, Italian sausage.)