This post also appears in the OC Weekly.

Like my taste for big-haired blond women (thanks, Charlie’s Angels!), my pizza opinions were formed during childhood in the 1970′s. I grew up eating pizza in New York City, which indelibly marked me for my preference for a medium-thin, crisp crust with only a little breadiness. Why pay a lot for passable-but-not-great New York pizza in Orange County when you can make a better pizza yourself?

This week, I’ll share some tips and background techniques to make a great thin crust pizza.

One of the most important reminders is to weigh your ingredients. A kitchen scale is the best investment you can make in becoming a better baker. Measurements by volume can vary wildly–a scooped cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 4 ounces to 6 ounces, depending on who’s doing the scooping. And if you like thin-crust pizza like me, the dough should be wet. A “loose” or “wet” dough will stretch out thin without tearing. It also gives the yeast a moister environment to ferment and multiply. A drier dough will spring back into a ball like a tense, knotted muscle, and will not stretch thin without tearing.

Properly wet dough stretches thin enough to "windowpane"

The recipe below uses a tiny amount of yeast, and rises slowly overnight in the refrigerator. Cooler, longer fermentation creates better flavor. Slow fermentation of the dough adds complex flavor to the dough and brings out the wheaty character of the flour. The recipe needs a night in the fridge at least, but remains usable for up to three days without overproofing.

If you want a fast-rising recipe that’ll be ready in 45 minutes, use 3/4 teaspoon of yeast and let the dough rise, covered with an inverted bowl, at room temperature. You can also knead this dough for 2 minutes in a food processor or a stand mixer, but I do it by hand because I don’t own them, and I like to feel what the dough is doing.

Ingredients

Yield: 4 thin crust 8″ pizzas

20 oz. all purpose flour (1 cup = about 4.6 oz)
12 oz. water (70-90 degree F) water
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 Tablespoon (generous) olive oil or 1 oz by weight
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast* (find this at Smart & Final)
1 Tablespoon malt syrup (optional)

*Note about instant yeast: I prefer using instant yeast because it’s more potent than the more common active dry yeast. Instant’s smaller grains don’t need to be proofed in warm water prior to use. If you are using active dry yeast, use the same amount, but proof the yeast in the water first.

Preparation

1. Dissolve the optional malt syrup in the warm water. If using active dry yeast, add it now, and allow to proof for 5 minutes.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add olive oil into flour mixture, and combine with fingers until oil is absorbed evenly into the flour.
4. Add the water into the flour mixture all at once, and stir with a rubber spatula until the water is mostly absorbed. You may have spots of dry flour, that’s ok.
5. Leave the dough alone for 5 minutes, and allow the flour to absorb the water.
6. Knead the dough for 1-2 minutes, until it’s evenly textured. It should be on the wet side, somewhat tacky but not overly sticky. If it’s too wet, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until it’s manageable.
7. Divide the dough into 4 even pieces.
8. Roll the dough into a smooth ball, pulling the skin of the dough tightly and pinching the seam that forms during the forming process.
9. Place the dough into a lightly oiled container, such as plastic wares, or a zipper lock plastic bag.
10. Place in the fridge overnight to proof slowly. Allow it proof overnight, up to three days.

Next week, we move on to oven technique to yield a great, crisp-crusted pizza…

Tustin barista Brien Flanagan poses with latte art

This post also appears in the OC Weekly.

It’s not the silt-rich cup of mud that is real Turkish coffee, brought to a simmer several times in a traditional ibrik. Kéan Coffee’s twist on caffè latte is nonetheless my favorite OC coffee drink of the moment.

Real Turkish coffee is a thick, sedimented slurry sipped from small cups, much like the super-sugared Cuban cafecito. Both of those are the black tar heroin of the coffee world, and hard to find prepared by OC coffee shops. Kéan’s addictive interpretation of Turkish coffee is far more refined, and refers to the sweet aromatic spice cardamom, whose pods are brewed into coffee and black tea across the Middle East.

The baristas pull espresso shots using the Special House Blend beans, roasted fresh in the store. According to Newport Beach General Manager Paul Valdez, Kéan uses more espresso shots in their drinks than Starbucks, for roughly the same price. The 12-ounce latte gets two shots, the 16-ounce gets three shots, and the 20-ounce gets four shots.

Cardamom and some cane syrup are added to the espresso and steamed milk. The foamed milk floated on top always showcases the baristas’ signature latte art. The art skills vary from person to person, but they always take time to do it. When’s the last time anyone at Starbucks brightened your day with pretty foam?

Lastly, cardamom is dusted on top. You get a twofold hit of this spice reminiscent of holiday baking. The dusting on top is warmed by the coffee, and as its sweet aroma wafts up, it bolsters its more complex flavors brewed into your coffee. The cane syrup adds a restrained sweetness – sip before you reach for more sugar!

Kéan Coffee, 2043 Westcliff Dr., Ste. 100, Newport Beach, (949) 642-5326; also at 13681 Newport Ave., Ste. 14, Tustin; (714) 838-5326

Three mini pumpkins at Westminster HS

This story also appears on the OC Weekly food blog.

This time of year, commercial pumpkin “patches” sprout up overnight in asphalt parking lots, replete with enough incandescent lighbulbs to power a cut-rate riverboat casino. Which got me thinking – surely there must be farms in our paved-over county where pumpkins actually grow in the earth? Where can we take the kidlets to pick their own pumpkins off the vine? There’s not many, but here are some more interesting (and cheaper!) options than buying your jack o’ lantern pumpkins at the supermarket.

Westminster High School FFA
You’ve seen their pumpkin patch as you zip past on the 405 freeway. This working farm belongs to the school’s Future Farmers of America program, which sells their harvest of pumpkins and fruit every Wednesday afternoon at the farmer’s market at the Westminster Mall. But once every year, the farm is open to the public during it’s annual Fall Festival. This year, it’s Saturday October 30 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Newly hired faculty instructor Dave Bentz says, “we’ll have pumpkins for sale, face painting, dunk tank, pumpkin carving. The infamous ‘goldfish booth’ is coming back. I wasn’t here for that last year for that, so you’ll have to come to find out.”

Co-instructor Dave Eusantos notes they grow “six varieties of jack o’ lantern pumpkins, including Fairytales and White Ghost pumpkins. We have big ones and little ones for the young kids, ranging from $1 to $5 dollars”

Admission is $5 per person, which includes burgers, dogs, chips and soda. The FFA students man the games booths and the petting zoo (which are not just animals hired for the event, but the farm’s own livestock). All proceeds from the event support the FFA.

Bentz says during the rest of the year, “the public can still can support us by going to the Westminster Farmer’s Market and buying our product. When persimmons ripen, we’ll send those over, also avocados. I teach a floral class, so we’ll be sending our pumpkin-themed flower designs there. Any time someone makes a contribution to the FFA, we’re a tax free organization so it’s a tax benefit.”

Westminster High School 14325 Goldenwest St., Westminster (714) 893-1381
To get to the farm: enter from Goldenwest Street, turn onto Main Street into campus, and follow it past the football fields until you reach the farm.

Tanaka Farms in Irvine

Can’t wait that long to go pick pumpkins? Tanaka Farms in Irvine welcomes the public daily to pick pumpkins from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with no admission fee. The Tanaka family has been farming since 1941, and third generation farmer Kenny Tanaka says, “we’ve been doing the pumpkin patch for about 20 years now. It first started off with guided tours around the fields, then developed into wagon rides, petting zoo, corn maze and pick your own pumpkins”

“These days, we’ll drive you over to the field on the wagon, and then it’s self guided after that. We have a 30 acre farm, and you’ll see most of it on the wagon ride. We have baby goats, baby lambs, baby lambs, a couple of llamas in our petting zoo. On weekends, we have games like pumpkin basketball shoots. We’re giving ATV rides, and built a pedal-cart course out in the field.”

Cost for individuals are $3 for the petting zoo, $5 for the wagon ride, and U-pick pumpkins are sold by weight. Kids aged 2 and under are free. A 6-8 pound pumpkin runs $3.25, and there’s a sliding scale from there, up to a 30 pound pumpkin. School and youth groups can arrange for all-inclusive package rates.

The award wining BBQ team from The Rub Company out of Buena Park will be smoking Santa Maria style tri tip and pulled pork on Saturdays and Sundays. Tri-tip and pulled pork sandwiches are $6, hot dogs $3 and BBQ corn $2.50.

Tanaka Farms 5380 3/4 University Dr., Irvine (949) 653-2100 www.tanakafarms.com

South Countians can head over to South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano. They are one of the few local farmers growing organic pie pumpkins, which are sweeter and better suited to baking. They do not  grow jack o’ lantern pumpkins,  so you can’t take the kids for a pick-from-the-field experience.  They truck those in from elsewhere, and you choose from pumpkins set up in their farm stand parking lot. General manager Rebecca says on Saturdays and Sundays, they offer “more old-fashioned activities, like butter churning, and not the ‘carnival-ly’ activities” you’d see at an asphalt pumpkin patch.

South Coast Farms 32701 Alipaz St., San Juan Capistrano (949) 661-9381 www.southcoastfarms.com

Another one-weekend event, and a big one at that, is  Cal Poly Pomona’s annual Pumpkin Festival and Insect Fair on October 16 & 17. A pancake breakfast is offered only on Saturday from 8a.m. to 11 a.m. There will be thousands of pumpkins in the field. There will be games, a petting zoo, horse rides. Bug out over the College of Agriculture’s display of  500,000 or so insects.

Pumpkins cost $5 each (beach ball size) or 5 for $20 (Oct. 16 & 17 only)
Insect Fair: $6 adults; $4 students and children 3-12 years; 2 and under are free!
Pancake Breakfast (Saturday from 8am – 11am): $5 adults, $4 kids 12 and under
Prices for individual activities such as horse rides and the petting zoo vary.
Organized groups (schools, scouts, etc) can arrange for private U-pick trips the week prior to the festival.

Cal Poly Pomona Pumpkin Festival and Insect Fair October 16 – 17, 2010. 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Cal Poly Pomona Farm Store 4102 S. University Drive, Pomona (909) 869-4906
www.csupomona.edu

We’re lucky to have a great many ethnic groups and their native cuisines heavily represented in Orange County, but North African foods aren’t among them.  Sure, I’ve eaten at Moroccan restaurants a handful of times, but I know bupkes about the spices, ingredients and techniques used in North African cooking. So I’m looking forward to a little schooling next weekend in Pasadena.

Chef Farid Zadi runs the Ecole de Cuisine Pasadena and co-organizes the first annual Couscous Festival on October 16 & 17. A French chef born to Algerian Berber parents, he aims to educate restaurant pros and food lovers about the Algerian food culture. As a lamb-loving BBQ guy, I’m especially interested in Zadi’s whole roasted lamb mechoui and house made merguez.

Chef Zadi told me, “I am getting the lamb from small ranches in the Chino/Riverside/Temecula area. The whole lamb will be rubbed on the inside with a mixture of North African spices, herbs, aromatics and extra virgin olive oil. The skin will be rubbed with spices and extra virgin olive oil. The whole beast will be cooked in a smoker for several hours using orange and applewood. It will be served as ‘tacos.’ Basically I adapted all the components (side dishes and sauces) into something that can be eaten as street food.”

Experts in the cuisine will speak,  include clay pot cooking and Mediterranean and North African food expert Paula Wolfert, Clifford Wright, author of Little Foods of the Mediterranean and A Mediterranean Feast, food historian and former L.A. Times food editor Charles Perry, and Faye Levy, author of the International Jewish Cookbook. Check the event website for the seminar schedule.

Festival attendees may purchase their tickets in advance at couscousfestival.com. A $20 ticket includes $15 in food coupons for sampling multiple tagines, Algerian pastries and pizza, Spanish escabeches, Turkish coffee, and of course couscous in its myriad forms.  In addition, many unique regional spices, condiments, and hard to find preserved foods will be available for sale.

Couscous Festival, October 16 & 17 2010
Chefs Center 45 N San Gabriel Blvd, Pasadena. 818-641-6899 www.couscousfestival.com