Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

[mysty]

As promised J...here are the Francis pictures from pizza night. Firstly...the dough:

 

 

Next the pizza:

 

 

Next the slice:

 

 

It was delicious!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Tell Myster that that pizza looks absolutely pizzadalydelish.

 

That dough looks really good.

 

:)

 

 

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[mysty]

Myster says "Thank you Jeff!". He is well chuffed! :)

[UKCruiseJeff]

I bet he really enjoyed making it ..... and you enjoyed eating it!

 

 

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[mysty]

You're right on both counts J! :)

[UKCruiseJeff]

M, if you get him to bulk up to the weight of six or so dough balls, then you'll always have impulse pizza with most of the time consuming and wait consuming work done ..... and the dough will be better ... impulse pizza makes you feel so smug...

 

 

 

 

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[maybemaybenot]

Sorry to interrupt the conversation- lovely looking crust, I must say, Jeff and Myster.

People were so kind in my other thread, I thought I'd ask for opinions on a non-cruise related travel dilemma. I've read through a few other travel boards and can't make up my mind, so thought I'd see what the well-travelled people here would say. Going to an event in Finland. Original plan was to fly into and out of Helsinki, after event, go to England via ferry/train for touring in the UK for a couple of weeks after.

 

Now thinking of perhaps flying into Berlin and taking a roundabout ferry trip to in both directions from there, or flying via Reykjavik, and touring in Iceland instead. We will be doing Ireland in 2019, so it seems to make more sense to do the Uk thing then, and Icelandic Air has very good prices right about now. Anyone have a preference?

[UKCruiseJeff]

Welcome to the Cooler,

 

Is there a particular reason for you having Iceland on your list? If there is, then as long as you extend your Ireland trip to include a decent tour and visit to the UK it makes sense. However my question is simply "the amount to see and do" in Iceland compared with spending that time in the UK.

 

Jeff

[Camillus112]

Good morning all! Mysty, the pizza looks delicious and I detect the topping includes olives (a fav of mine). Also, artistically Dali-esh.

[UKCruiseJeff]

That's easy for you to say.

 

Must be forum post of the month ........:D

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! Another day of sunshine here and it may actually go a titch above freezing!

 

J..... the batch dough plan is definitely on the to-do list. Impulse pizza would be greatly appreciated!

 

Cam....Thanks! Myster is not usually artistically inclined for presentation so he will grin at the Dali-ish comment! :) And it definitely has olives! One of our favourites as well!

 

maybemaybenot....Welcome to the Cooler! And thanks for the pizza comment!

 

Have a great day/evening all!

[MissSophia]

Welcome to all our new coolers...😊

 

Love the pizza offering by Myster.....looks delish but l hate olives...sorry....😳 DD however loves them..and as of the memory/ hereditary topic....she didn't get this liking from me and l doubt our predecessors would have been offered them back in the day? Guinness and tripe maybe...but amuse bouche and all that.....it often occurs to me what they would have made of our current day take outs...curries and sushi etc.....can recall quite clearly my 108 year old grandma saying..." I don't like that muck" ....but times they do a change!

 

Interesting reading about various views with the current airline choices we have these days also......are there any particular favourites we have along with those we would avoid at all costs?

I still favour BA as a preferance but also quite happy to travel with the low cost carriers if it suits....

 

Happy Saturday.......

S☺️

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good day Soapy,

 

One of my favourite summer snacks are fresh plump olives, with those lovely marinaded white anchovies and some frozen Fino.

 

I think it is really important to know, not just what to expect with an airline but also to be realistic about what not to expect. It seems to me that lately some are clueless about what is actually on offer when much of it is in black and white and easily available and clear.

 

There are two reasons why BA are still airline of choice for us and that given the choice we still travel with them and simply grumble about stuff that doesn't work as well as it should. One caveat, with around 1.8m BA miles it tends to be Hobson's choice anyway.

 

The main thing is that I feel confident in BA's standards where it is important including maintenance and training. That confidence has been enhanced following a couple of visits when I took wifey to play for a couple of hours on the flight simulators at Cranebank before it recently moved. We watched senior pilots going through six-monthly stress testing on adjacent simulators and you could smell the fear etc. I just feel that they really focus on maintenance and training and whatever other corners they cut it isn't there.

 

I also like the older staff on World Fleet compared to the younger

less experienced Mix Fleet. I hope this isn't taken the wrong way but many of the male cabin crew are gay and I love the banter and flirting with them. My opening request is normally "would you mind warming my nuts" and it has yet to be received with anything other than roars of laughter. Generally speaking I love World Fleet crew but don't feel the same with Mixed Fleet which I have found to be inconsistent. Also if you are far away like our trips to Singapore, then you actually feel yo are in Blighty as soon as you board.

 

To be fair my scope for comparison has been limited over the last few years, but I certainly prefer BA to say Lufty or Austrian.

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

I have taken my balls out of the fridge for tonight's pizzas!

 

 

 

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[maybemaybenot]

Thanks Jeff- We have several friends who enthusiastically recommend Iceland, also there's no real monetary downside to breaking the trip in Iceland on this particular fare, so why not, is my thinking. The UK thing is yes, to see some things, but mainly to visit various UK friends we don't often see. When we originally planned this trip, we didn't realize that we'd be definitely going to Dublin in 2019 so just looking at some other options. The truth is I loathe Heathrow, and we would not be spending time in London this particular trip, so I'm just thinking it makes more sense to skip the UK this year.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

[UKCruiseJeff]

maybemaybenot,

 

I'm a great believer in following one's own instincts and giving low weighting to opinions from strangers who don't know you, and to be honest I think from what you have said your heart is prodding you to the Iceland option and therefore that is the one I think you should do. Follow your heart rather than trying to rationalise.

 

Your friends know you better than anyone here and if knowing you they recommend Iceland then it seems an option you can add with cost mutual downsides although Iceland itself is pretty expensive to eat and drink and stay well.

 

The only thing I'd add caution to is don't let your judgement of any part of where you go in the UK be clouded by Heathrow. Each time you go through it varies from horrific to really fine .... and there's a fair amount of that you can influence ...well to a degree.

 

Do come back and join in and let us know how your trip pans out and goes. Thanks for stopping by, we're a lonely bunch and can do with some new people to chat to.

 

 

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Tonight we used the slowly fermenting sourdough and it was perfect. Piccies below in reverse order which highlights before,and after cheese, The Edge, with leoparding both on top and under. It was a long cook tonight of around 90 seconds .......

 

 

 

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Those balls got big!

 

 

 

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[Camillus112]

The evolution of a masterly prepared pizza... almost had to bite the computer screen for the finished product. Have to say the raw dough and sauce looks almost like a raspberry dessert! Enjoy!

[mysty]

J....your pizza is amazing! I showed Myster your pics and his eyes got real big! :) He wants me to ask how long the pizza dough can safely stay in the fridge. Please and thank you!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks Camels .... extremely much appreciated. It is lovely when people like your doings! :)

 

M, the fact is it is a sourdough lite base. So if you think back to it's origins sourdough bakers are using starters that are sometimes decades or if you believe some of the claims in Naples then some of their mother mixes are over a century old. So what is growing the dough is pretty ancient. The answer is in practice you are never going to leave it long enough to find out, and the longer you leave it in the fridge the better it matures and tastes. I think the oldest I have used was around four weeks in the fridge. Five day dough is miles better than one day dough and in Naples the locals all know that the best pizza in the best places is always lunch time because the know the dough was balled and left out yesterday.

 

It really is a life changer to bulk make the dough balls because it changes pizza from something you have to pre-plan to something you can have on impulse presuming you have everything else. The other life-changer is that if you really get into Neapolitan pizza, which is what I really am obsessed with, then the dough is the key ingredient rather than in many of the more Amercianised styles where it is all about the toppings. With Naples pizza your going for a hand stretched highly hydrated sourdough thin base.

 

You might remember some time back I really emphasised to Myster that the biga was the key stage in dough making. It really pays dividends and is so easy to get into the biga habit. Stick to -around 67% end hydration and if you can 00 flour if you can find it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[mysty]

Thank you J! I tried to get Myster to take my Cooler bar stool but I think he is shy! He wants me to ask you what you mean by 67% end hydration. My question is what was on your pizza? Was it chicken pieces? Please and thank you!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hi M,

 

Slight admission and owning up ..... I had a few pieces of BBQ chicken wings in the fridge whch I stripped the meat off, but wifey made me promise I wouldn't add chicken in future and stck more strictly to Neapolitan tradition. To be honest I like it that some have said the pizza looks good but to be honest I'm finding it difficult to take piccies in the kitchen light with an ipad and it tastes and looks a lot fresher and lighter and thinner than the pictures show.

 

Re hydration. Basically what this is is the percentate of all liquids are of flour. So if you deicde on water and oil it is that percentage of flour that equals say around 67% give or take.

 

So in numbers;

 

Your making say 6 300 grms balls and starting with a biga/poolish. A simple spreadsheet would be:

 

 

End Game:

Each pizza 300gms

Batch 6

Batch total target weight 1800gms

 

 

Night Before:

Biga/Poolish Flour 300

Water 300

Instant yeast say 6 gms

Total Poolish 600

Leave in a cool place overnight to ferment

 

Add Biga on day two to:

Remainder total (ie 1800 gms target minus 600 biga/poolish) 1200

Flour 850

Water 400

Oil 54

a few grammes of salt and 6 gms of instant yeast

 

Total Flour 1150

Total Liquid 754

Hydration 65.57%

 

(actual this batch 1904 ie each ball actual around 320gms)

 

 

Does this make any sense?

Edited March 18, 2017 by UKCruiseJeff

[mysty]

That makes sense to Myster! He says "Thanks so much Jeff" and I add my "thanks" to his! We really appreciate your generous time expenditure and advice! And the pics work very well J! All your creations shine regardless of the lighting! So much so that the flavours jump out at you from the screen!

[UKCruiseJeff]

M,

 

really delighted that help.

 

A shocking thing that will be a bit of a surprise.

 

If you do exactly the same approach and quantities but substitute Canadian hard bread flour, leave out the oil, you have an authentic and traditional baguette mix. Once risen slowly the final folding is envelope and stretch folds for a perfect baguette. If he wants to follow up I'll explain how to add steam to make an authentic French bread oven to your home oven. It is very simple after years of experimenting.

 

 

 

 

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