Hey, did you know that Ankara is higher than Denver?
Back when I really thought that Ankara was higher than Denver I started considering the problems of high altitude cooking and baking.
It all started after a late-night Hamentaschen baking session with Michael. While the cookies did indeed taste good, they spread together and cooked incredibly fast.Added bonus in the face of disappointment: it made for a nice tessellation-like design.
There was also one cookie that had apricot jam in it and the apricot swelled up to make this huge mound. It was impressive.
Now, a few caveats. I've never baked with a Celsius degree oven and I haven't quite figured out the conversion yet. Additionally, it isn't like the oven is particularly well-tuned and most of the numbers have worn off. So, it's not like my oven is perfect to begin with. But, I was sure it was an altitude issue. Consequently, after the Hamentaschen event, I did all sorts of in-depth research and decided that I needed to decrease the baking powder and sugar while increasing the liquid and flour.
Long story short--it didn't make a difference...because I'm not at high altitude. It's just the damn oven.
sidenote: that being said, we are still 3,000 ft. above sea level, which means water boils at a lower temperature and you have to cook hardboiled eggs longer. admittedly, that has nothing to do with this. but, my point is, we still have elevation effects!
Since that debacle other baking endeavors have been considerably more successful. For instance, the strawberry bread I made earlier this week was perfecto. However, I do have to watch things carefully. Every 10-15 minutes I have to turn the pan one-quarter of a rotation to cook things evenly. I also have to cut my vegetables a lot thicker than usual if I want to roast them.I'm still working on the whole temperature thing. Interestingly, installed ovens aren't found in many houses here. Most people have what looks like an enlarged toaster oven that has settings 1-6, i.e. no temperatures. Mine has temperatures, but I think they are wrong, so now I'm just experimenting with turning the dial.
A few weeks ago I had a breakthrough and discovered that my oven is, in fact, good for something. PIZZA.
I've had some interesting experiences with homemade pizza in the past few years. One of the most memorable was with my friend Michael Z. For about 3 years he and I cooked together once a week, alternating who would come up with ideas. In that time we had a number of not exactly successful attempts at making pizza. This particular time was probably our best bad event:
It was Michael's turn to choose. Before I got downstairs, Michael had put a large glass microwave plate in a 400 degree oven to heat up like a ceramic pizza stone. As the "stone" heated, we made the pizza. It was simple but good--tomato, basil, prosciutto, and mozzarella. It was really a very beautiful creation. When the "stone" was ready, we slid the pizza on to it. We let it cook for a bit then took out the whole thing, "stone" and pizza. As Michael placed it on the countertop the glass plate shattered, sending shards of glass into our beautiful pizza, making it inedible. We starved that night. I'm tearing up at the memory of it...
And here is a more recent attempt, this time with the Paleobotanist:
This was just ridiculous. The dough was perfect, the topping looked great. However, in my ultimate stupidity, I put the pizza on wax paper instead of parchment paper. We proceeded to put the pizza in the oven and let it cook. Of course, the wax melted and the crust stuck to the paper. So, we just picked off the filling, which was pretty darned good. But, another attempt later in the week was much more successful overall, we actually had crust to eat.
Last week, things were different.
I had some leftover honey mustard chicken and I didn't just want to eat it plain. So, I thought, why not some honey mustard chicken pizza?!
I made some pizza dough, which I spiked with rosemary and hot pepper flakes. I let it do its rising thing then split it into quarters. I let the oven preheat at "200"C for an hour to get the baking sheet thoroughly heated. In the meantime, I opened my dough and topped it with shredded chicken and leftover sauce. When the oven was ready I baked it...on parchment paper...
Result: It.Was.Perfect. The sides of the crust unexpectedly rose up to give that famous poofy edge and the pepper flakes gave it a beautiful ruddy color. The honey flavor complemented the spice of the crust excellently. With a little salad...mmm scrumptious.
Tonight it's calzone with one of the pizza crust quarters I froze and some leftover chunky meat sauce I made for pasta last night.
Ahh, the sweet taste of baking success. I beat you, oven! I BEAT YOU. It's glorious.
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