Life. (Like, OMG, this is an LJ?)
Jul. 18th, 2006 12:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leticiaBecause I am at work, they have a tolerant internet policy (don't let it hamper
productivity, and keep it appropriate) and I am currently bored (this job is
periods of boredom puncuated by sheer terror, once I get the early routine done
every day), I am going to use this like a blog. Like, and talk about my life!
Yes, I know. Where, you ask, are the gamelogs? Where are the character sheets?
Since when has this been an actual like 'day of my life' journal? (Besides off
and on for the past howeverlong)
Well, those questions aside, here is a day in my life.
I spent today making pizza. It was good pizza, and it took all day to make.
What didn't belong to work, of course.
It was /good/ pizza. Well, at least MY half of the pizza was. Those other
people are all finicky eaters. Ham, onions, pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms.
Ideally, I'd have other things, but those are all reasonably inexpensive and
simple to store between pizzas, so.
There were also breadsticks, but there are usually breadsticks when I make pizza
because it's no more work to make a single batch of dough than a half batch.
(Interestingly, one large pizza crust takes just about as much dough as a loaf
of bread. One wonders if the standardization of that size involved that little
fact - but I doubt it.)
I'd post the recipe, but first I'd have to figure it out. Like most things I
fix, I start with a base and then build; the pizza sauce in particular I just
sort of slopped spices into a crushed tomato base until I liked the smell. I
still do that.
The crust is derived, loosely, from Better Homes and Garden's cookbook (a very
old copy I use as my base for a lot of things) perfect white bread. Increase
the shortening and sugar slightly, cut the salt a bit (not much - salt is
necessary for yeast breads), and add a generous sprinking of basil, marjoram,
oregano, and a touch of powdered garlic after mixing in the yeast. I
personally find that pizza is one place it's easy to overdo the garlic, so I go
carefully.
The sauce is straight crushed tomatoes with /lots/ of basil (my rule of thumb:
add basil until it stops smelling acidic and starts smelling sweet), a generous
couple pinches (/generous/) of marjoram, some oregano, and a tiny bit of
rosemary and thyme. Again, a /bit/ of garlic. If you plan on serving any
uncooked for dipping breadsticks, particularly, keep this light - the garlic
taste will be more mild after it cooks, so can be tasty on the pizza and
overpowering for the breadsticks.
The whole process takes a while. I start by pulling frozen crushed tomatoes
out. We buy them in gallon cans, and when we open the can, decant them into
quart jars which go into the freezer. If I remember in time, these can defrost
on the counter; more likely, I'll be sticking them in lukewarm water in the sink
during the crust making - heavy on the luke, light on the warm, to avoid
shattering the glass.
Then it's time for the crust. While the milk is scalding (in the microwave -
this is the digital age, thanks), I measure sugar, salt, and shortening into my
mixing bowl, and set yeast softening in warm water with a tiny pinch of sugar.
The milk melts the shortening and defrosts the sugar (supposedly - if it
doesn't, I stick the whole thing in the microwave to finish the process, but I
don't want it TOO warm either, so I don't have to wait forever for it to cool
enough to add the yeast.) I add flour to a nice thick soupy consistency, add
my herbs, and when it's cool enough to add the yeast, do so. Then it's time
for the flour and kneading, like any bread making. Really, the whole thing is.
It even goes into the (cold) oven with a bowl of hot water to rise at this
point, just like if I was making bread.
Before it's finished rising, I /like/ to be done grating and mixing my cheese,
prepping the sauce, and other prep work for building the pizza; ideally, as
soon as I have the crust shaped, I can slap everything on it and stick it back
in the oven to rise. Some days, like today, when I don't have the tomatoes
defrosted yet, this takes a little longer; I was still defrosting tomatoes
(though I had them out of the jar so they could go in the microwave) when I had
the crust shaped. This is probably the trickiest part of pizza making, as I've
done bread any thousands of times and it's all old hat. I'm starting with a
round ball, chopping it in half for breadsticks and crust (the crust actually
gets a slightly lion's share, but close enough), and then squashing it. I
don't do that tossing thing; I squash it between my hands and start spinning it
around one hand; it stretches out away from the hand, and I move it around.
When it starts getting too thin in places, it's time to slap it on my greased
tray and start squishing it out to the edges by hand. As it's bread dough,
this takes some doing - it's elastic, and keeps pulling back, so I have to
stretch it further than where I want the crust to go. It doesn't come out
perfectly round, but it's close enough and the vagaries will soften when it
rises.
Of course, I got the crust all made and still had frozen tomatoes, so I had to
cover it until I was finished with the sauce. I rolled and cut the
breadsticks, then stuck them in the oven to rise, mixed up the sauce (smushing
the frozen core of tomatoes that remained and zapping it in the microwave for a
minute to help disintegrate the remaining chunks), built the pizza, stuck it in
the oven, and waited. Technically it's rising time; neither needs much,
though, since they're thin and can rise pretty effectively in a hot oven. In
fact, the pizza crust does most its rising in the oven everytime. The first
couple times, I figured I was coming out with flat pizza crust, but it puffed
up generously once it got in the oven, so, hey, this is how it works.
When Mom got home from errands (today being one of her days off), I pulled them
BACK out of the oven, (and the bowl with the hot water), preheated, and when it
was hot, baked. It's about 30 minutes, all told. I don't know why my pizza
takes so much longer to bake than, like, a Papa Murphy's take-and-bake, since I
don't think those are par-baked crusts, but maybe they are. They sure don't
rise like mine do.
Then I went downstairs and told the siblet not to go snacking, because dinner
would be ready in about a half an hour.
Served with standard parmesan cheese, fresh sliced tomatoes, and, for me, a nice
hot habanero sauce (it's a wonderful, delicious light sauce: it's in a carrot
juice base, not something heavy or greasy, and I add it to all sorts of
things.)
From start to finish, it takes about two-three hours, depending on how efficient
I am on rising times. It doesn't take quite that much of MY time, mind (since
bread dough rises on its own quite well without any cheering), but I can't get
too busy with other things, or I'm less efficient on rising times. :)
The most amusing thing: as it came out over pizza, my sister, my mother, and I,
were all planning to make dinner. Because we haven't had a lot of family
dinners since I got this job and I only see my mom like three days a week. And
Mom works 'til 7 most days and just wants to collapse when she gets home, and
stuff. None of us had discussed these plans, but apparently we all decided it
was about time.
Only I beat them all to it. :p So we had pizza. Which pleasantly surprised
everyone but me, because I've been plotting pizza for days. Because, you know,
I wanted pizza, but figured I'd get killed if I ate pizza without waiting for
everyone.
Mmm, pizza.
Oh, yes, and then there was Dad's suicide note phonecall to Mom as we finished
dinner, for that bright reminder of the fact no matter how hard I try, I can't
change the fact I come from Crazy.
So, how was everyone's day? (Asked after midnight PDT, when my entire audience
is in bed. Oh well.)
productivity, and keep it appropriate) and I am currently bored (this job is
periods of boredom puncuated by sheer terror, once I get the early routine done
every day), I am going to use this like a blog. Like, and talk about my life!
Yes, I know. Where, you ask, are the gamelogs? Where are the character sheets?
Since when has this been an actual like 'day of my life' journal? (Besides off
and on for the past howeverlong)
Well, those questions aside, here is a day in my life.
I spent today making pizza. It was good pizza, and it took all day to make.
What didn't belong to work, of course.
It was /good/ pizza. Well, at least MY half of the pizza was. Those other
people are all finicky eaters. Ham, onions, pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms.
Ideally, I'd have other things, but those are all reasonably inexpensive and
simple to store between pizzas, so.
There were also breadsticks, but there are usually breadsticks when I make pizza
because it's no more work to make a single batch of dough than a half batch.
(Interestingly, one large pizza crust takes just about as much dough as a loaf
of bread. One wonders if the standardization of that size involved that little
fact - but I doubt it.)
I'd post the recipe, but first I'd have to figure it out. Like most things I
fix, I start with a base and then build; the pizza sauce in particular I just
sort of slopped spices into a crushed tomato base until I liked the smell. I
still do that.
The crust is derived, loosely, from Better Homes and Garden's cookbook (a very
old copy I use as my base for a lot of things) perfect white bread. Increase
the shortening and sugar slightly, cut the salt a bit (not much - salt is
necessary for yeast breads), and add a generous sprinking of basil, marjoram,
oregano, and a touch of powdered garlic after mixing in the yeast. I
personally find that pizza is one place it's easy to overdo the garlic, so I go
carefully.
The sauce is straight crushed tomatoes with /lots/ of basil (my rule of thumb:
add basil until it stops smelling acidic and starts smelling sweet), a generous
couple pinches (/generous/) of marjoram, some oregano, and a tiny bit of
rosemary and thyme. Again, a /bit/ of garlic. If you plan on serving any
uncooked for dipping breadsticks, particularly, keep this light - the garlic
taste will be more mild after it cooks, so can be tasty on the pizza and
overpowering for the breadsticks.
The whole process takes a while. I start by pulling frozen crushed tomatoes
out. We buy them in gallon cans, and when we open the can, decant them into
quart jars which go into the freezer. If I remember in time, these can defrost
on the counter; more likely, I'll be sticking them in lukewarm water in the sink
during the crust making - heavy on the luke, light on the warm, to avoid
shattering the glass.
Then it's time for the crust. While the milk is scalding (in the microwave -
this is the digital age, thanks), I measure sugar, salt, and shortening into my
mixing bowl, and set yeast softening in warm water with a tiny pinch of sugar.
The milk melts the shortening and defrosts the sugar (supposedly - if it
doesn't, I stick the whole thing in the microwave to finish the process, but I
don't want it TOO warm either, so I don't have to wait forever for it to cool
enough to add the yeast.) I add flour to a nice thick soupy consistency, add
my herbs, and when it's cool enough to add the yeast, do so. Then it's time
for the flour and kneading, like any bread making. Really, the whole thing is.
It even goes into the (cold) oven with a bowl of hot water to rise at this
point, just like if I was making bread.
Before it's finished rising, I /like/ to be done grating and mixing my cheese,
prepping the sauce, and other prep work for building the pizza; ideally, as
soon as I have the crust shaped, I can slap everything on it and stick it back
in the oven to rise. Some days, like today, when I don't have the tomatoes
defrosted yet, this takes a little longer; I was still defrosting tomatoes
(though I had them out of the jar so they could go in the microwave) when I had
the crust shaped. This is probably the trickiest part of pizza making, as I've
done bread any thousands of times and it's all old hat. I'm starting with a
round ball, chopping it in half for breadsticks and crust (the crust actually
gets a slightly lion's share, but close enough), and then squashing it. I
don't do that tossing thing; I squash it between my hands and start spinning it
around one hand; it stretches out away from the hand, and I move it around.
When it starts getting too thin in places, it's time to slap it on my greased
tray and start squishing it out to the edges by hand. As it's bread dough,
this takes some doing - it's elastic, and keeps pulling back, so I have to
stretch it further than where I want the crust to go. It doesn't come out
perfectly round, but it's close enough and the vagaries will soften when it
rises.
Of course, I got the crust all made and still had frozen tomatoes, so I had to
cover it until I was finished with the sauce. I rolled and cut the
breadsticks, then stuck them in the oven to rise, mixed up the sauce (smushing
the frozen core of tomatoes that remained and zapping it in the microwave for a
minute to help disintegrate the remaining chunks), built the pizza, stuck it in
the oven, and waited. Technically it's rising time; neither needs much,
though, since they're thin and can rise pretty effectively in a hot oven. In
fact, the pizza crust does most its rising in the oven everytime. The first
couple times, I figured I was coming out with flat pizza crust, but it puffed
up generously once it got in the oven, so, hey, this is how it works.
When Mom got home from errands (today being one of her days off), I pulled them
BACK out of the oven, (and the bowl with the hot water), preheated, and when it
was hot, baked. It's about 30 minutes, all told. I don't know why my pizza
takes so much longer to bake than, like, a Papa Murphy's take-and-bake, since I
don't think those are par-baked crusts, but maybe they are. They sure don't
rise like mine do.
Then I went downstairs and told the siblet not to go snacking, because dinner
would be ready in about a half an hour.
Served with standard parmesan cheese, fresh sliced tomatoes, and, for me, a nice
hot habanero sauce (it's a wonderful, delicious light sauce: it's in a carrot
juice base, not something heavy or greasy, and I add it to all sorts of
things.)
From start to finish, it takes about two-three hours, depending on how efficient
I am on rising times. It doesn't take quite that much of MY time, mind (since
bread dough rises on its own quite well without any cheering), but I can't get
too busy with other things, or I'm less efficient on rising times. :)
The most amusing thing: as it came out over pizza, my sister, my mother, and I,
were all planning to make dinner. Because we haven't had a lot of family
dinners since I got this job and I only see my mom like three days a week. And
Mom works 'til 7 most days and just wants to collapse when she gets home, and
stuff. None of us had discussed these plans, but apparently we all decided it
was about time.
Only I beat them all to it. :p So we had pizza. Which pleasantly surprised
everyone but me, because I've been plotting pizza for days. Because, you know,
I wanted pizza, but figured I'd get killed if I ate pizza without waiting for
everyone.
Mmm, pizza.
Oh, yes, and then there was Dad's suicide note phonecall to Mom as we finished
dinner, for that bright reminder of the fact no matter how hard I try, I can't
change the fact I come from Crazy.
So, how was everyone's day? (Asked after midnight PDT, when my entire audience
is in bed. Oh well.)
