Author: jeff

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizzette

jeff 28 Comments

The concept for these little pizza/tarts came from a family recipe. My cousin, Riad Nasr, is a world class chef and quite often the source of inspiration in my kitchen. He practices his craft in New York City at a line-up of crazy-popular restaurants including Pastis, Minetta Tavern and Balthazar. Several years ago he wrote the Balthazar cookbook and included a savory tart with herby caramelized onions and goat cheese. I made it and fell in love. When Jeff and I decided to write our Pizza book I knew this flavor combo would be fantastic as a pizza. I’ve made it in several classes that we’ve taught to rave reviews, so I thought I would make it with you here.

The key to this pizza is caramelizing the onions. You can speed up the process by using a slightly higher heat and adding a touch of sugar, but for this recipe we’re going the old fashion route and doing it slow. I admit this may take a few more than 5 minutes, but I think it’s worth it. For those of you looking for a speedier version you can find one on page 108 of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Read More

My Co-Author the Celebrity!

jeff 4 Comments

(photos by Hubert Bonnet) Just this week Zoe appeared in Lavender Magazine here in the Twin Cities– in a terrific article on Minneapolis-St. Paul’s rising young pastry chefs.  Above, she’s showing off her signature desserts, created for Tilia in Minneapolis, now one of the hottest tables in town.  Zoe was showcased as “best-selling author, blogger, [and] rising celebrity chef…” (click to view the full article).

Fougasse, stuffed or plain: New how-to video

jeff 21 Comments

Thanks for being patient with my roasted red pepper obsession.  Above, dropping the scorched peppers into a bowl to steam (see last week’s post on roasting your own peppers).  But now the embarrassing part:  I shot the video on a different day from pepper-roasting time, so I stuffed the fougasse with with tomato and cheese.  So it’s really fougasse in the pizza margherita style.  But you get the picture, or at least, the video:

Pizza-tossing

How to Throw Pizza Dough: New Video

jeff 38 Comments

(photo by Mark Luinenburg) It has been suggested to me that the real reason I like to throw pizza dough into the air when I teach a class is not because throwing the dough improves the pizza, but because I am an incorrigible show-off.  I will neither confirm nor deny this beastly rumor.  But having now thrown a lot of dough, I truly can say how beautifully it thins the dough and relaxes the gluten.  There’s more on this in Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day, but here are some photos a video that show how it’s done. Read More

Doughnuts

Savory Doughnuts

jeff 38 Comments

This week is Chanukah and it is all about frying our food, which brings me great joy. I am constantly trying to come up with something new to add to our menu of latkes, jelly doughnuts and all the other traditional fare. These savory doughnuts were inspired by the fried pizzas I had in Naples. We ate them as snacks during the day, to tide us over to the next pizza. Most of the pizzarias sold them outside their front doors to people waiting in long lines or folks on the run. Pizza dough stuffed with ricotta and deep friend; simple, but perfect. My boys love them stuffed with a variety of fillings, so use your imagination and create your own savory doughnuts. Read More