Meet Bernie…

I acquired a sourdough starter, which I named Bernie, from a friend of a friend.  Have been nurturing Bernie for a few years now.  Bernie lives in my fridge and I just need to feed him a little flour and water from time to time to keep him happy.  Even though I have a tendency to neglect Bernie and, at times, completely forget about his existence in the corner of my fridge, he never lets me down and always “rises” to the occasion.  I’ve made some very tasty, crusty whole grain sourdough bread with Bernie, but recently got the idea to make a sourdough pizza crust.

The verdict: Am happy to report that it worked perfectly, maybe my best pizza dough to date.  I let the dough rise for 24 hours at room temperature in my proofing box (i.e., microwave oven).  The crust has that perfect combination of chewy and crispy texture, with just a hint of sourness (not overpowering).

By the way, there are several sources for sourdough starter floating around the web.  On the other hand, if you are feeling a bit adventurous, you can make your own sourdough starter.  While I’ve yet to try, there’s lots of information out there on making basic sourdough starters.  If you plan to or have tried, would love to hear about it.

A word on salt-cured anchovies…

After a bit of online research, which revealed several people singing the praises of salt-cured anchovies versus those packed in olive oil, I had to track some down.  Actually, they were not nearly as difficult to find as initially expected.  Almost every Italian market I contacted carried them, albeit only in 800 gram tins (~1 3/4 pound).  However, since they are preserved in salt, I suspect they’ll last a while in the fridge, despite my tendency to want to put eggs and anchovies on top of just about everything.  Of course, if anchovies are just not your thing, you can certainly omit.

So are salt-cured anchovies worth the hype?  They are most definitely a step up from olive oil-cured anchovies.  Salt preserves the anchovies while naturally maintaining their flavor.  Compared to olive oil-packed anchovies, salt-packed anchovies are discernibly softer, moister, and plumper.

Now only if I could find fresh anchovies close to home.  Would love to try my hand at curing anchovies. Just about all anchovies I’ve seen come from Spain or Italy, but there must be anchovies swimming around on our side of the Atlantic?

Signs of Spring: Asparagus and Green Garlic…

Spotted some asparagus at the farmers’ market this past weekend.  It was from South Carolina, so not exactly local, but decidedly better than the stuff shipped in from California.  Sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.  And I simply couldn’t hold out any longer; asparagus (along with local green garlic) seemed like the perfect topping for a spring-inspired pizza.

In general, I tend to favor the thinner, more spindly asparagus stalks, but thicker stalks are much better for shaving.  Added a generous handful of the shaved asparagus to the pizza before it went into the oven, and  another handful after it came out of the oven.  In the end, you get contrasting textures and tastes from the cooked and raw asparagus.

Young green garlic stalks let you know that spring has finally arrived.  If you can track some down, they add a delightful, delicate garlicky flavor to any spring dish.

This is the dough after a 24-hour rise; you can see that it rose nicely and nearly doubled in size.