Okay, so before I show you pictures, I wanted to talk about hydrangeas, since I've been wanting to find out the secret behind their enigmatic color shifting!! I've done some online research (prompted by a bush I saw yesterday (which was ONE, ONE bush I tell you!) and it had both pink and blue colors on it.
So this is what I've discovered:
a) apparently, it is easier to get a hydrangea to go from pink to blue than vice versa.
b) If you want blue hydrangeas, you add aluminum supplements to the soil
c) If you want pink hydrangeas, you add lime, which makes it more difficult for hydrangeas to soak up the aluminum.
Essentially low PH=blue hydrangea. High PH=pink.
From what I hear, to get a mixed effect-you have to really cobble up the PH of the dirt where your hydrangea is planted.
I hope that helps people out there! I know it was interesting and educational for me. And now I really want a hydrangea (or two. Or three.)
Working onwards, I made a veggie pizza last night, using my tweaked and perfected pizza dough recipe, and I got to pick my first basil leaves from my patio container last evening, and a large banana pepper from the pot next to it.
I also layered onions and tomato slices with mozzarella onto the pizza...hmmm...sadly, I was too busy eating it to remember to have taken a picture of the pizza when it was done.
But.
I will give you my crust recipe. Because it is very reliable, and quite tasty.
First off, you will need a pizza stone, cornmeal, and a pizza paddle. Sorry, those are my rules. Play experiments at your own risk!!
This will make two medium sized pizza crusts.
In a large mixing bowl combine:
1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil
almost 1/4 white granulated sugar
1 c. warm water
1 packet of quick rising yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/2 tsp salt
A generous shake of garlic powder
A generous shake of onion powder
3 c. all purpose flour
Stir with a spoon until dough is combined. Stir for another two minutes. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hr undisturbed. Place pizza stone in oven, preheat to 450 degrees fareinheit (yes indeedy I want it that hot!!).
When one hour is up, sprinkle a generous portion of cornmeal onto the pizza paddle. Scrape half of the dough out of the bowl onto the pizza paddle. Spread with your fingers (gently) until you've made it as large as the paddle will allow. Run your fingers around the edge to make sure it's not sticking to the paddle. If it is, no panicking. No. Really, you're not allowed to panic in my kitchen. Gently pull the edge of the crust up and stick some more cornmeal underneath it. Do this all around wherever you find that it sticks.
Open the oven door once it's preheated. Holding onto the pizza paddle handle, shimmy it quickly with a fast jerking/shaking action onto the stone, sort of working from the back of the stone towards yourself, since the inclination of the dough is to want to try to hang onto the paddle.
Once it's off, bake for 15 minutes, or until it's golden brown. A couple of brown spots is okay.
If you're planning on doing more than one pizza, pre bake all the crusts this way, stacking them as you finish them.
Once your crusts are all baked as a fore mentioned, spread one with sauce, cheese, and your favorite toppings. Put the cheese on last, and any meat you put on should already be already cooked.
Now, if you're only putting a few things on top of the pizza, you can just dress the crust up while it's on the paddle, and then finish baking it by sliding it back onto the stone. But if you're nervous about mess, especially because you have a lot of toppings, there is an alternative method. Leave the stone in the oven. Put the crust onto a baking sheet. Put sauce and toppings on as normal. Put baking sheet with pizza on it into the oven on top of the stone-the stone still does its job of wicking away excess moisture and making the pizza sturdy.
Either way; on stone of baking sheet-bake for 8 minutes. Turn oven onto broil and broil for two minutes. Pizza's done. Presto, and enjoy.
Next post is going to have more pictures, including one of two yellow squashes which have fused together, a scallion trying to make a flower, and a broccoli head (amongst other things). See you then. Have a good day!
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