jim lahey's no-knead pizza dough with asparagus, stinging nettles, proscuitto, and homemade ricotta

Jim Lahey's yeast leavened no knead pizza dough with homemade ricotta, proscuitto, local roasted purple & green asparagus, and sorrel & basil pesto. Want to learn to make it? Come visit me tomorrow between 10-1 at the River Market at the Tennessee Aquarium and learn how. 

{You can find the full recipe below as well as my favorite ricotta recipe}

I'm sitting on my front porch sipping chocolate goat's milk & staring at my wild, spindly chives while Patrick sits across from me, smoking cigarettes & reading a small, old book entitled simply "Essays In Criticism" published, 1923. This is an airy, brief lull in a very busy week & even busier day. 

A colony of yeast leavened pizza dough has taken up residence on my kitchen counter of both the white and whole wheat variety. There are four large mixing bowls of dough to be exact, which, if all goes swimmingly, should yield enough dough for 18 10"-12" pizzas. I'm arming myself with dough for the cooking demo I'm doing at the River Market tomorrow. My thinking: when in doubt make a %$@! ton. I'll be making ricotta cheese and pizzas on which to put said ricotta cheese. In addition to that topping I will have a veritable cornucopia of local goodies: arugula, Sequatchie Cove "Cumberland" cheese, Bonnie Blue goat cheese, Link 41 peperone, farmer's market strawberries, canned summer tomatoes, and some steamed stinging nettles! 

Have I mentioned that I'm scared to death? No? I'm scared to death. I've never cooked in the middle of a market for passers by who may or may not be interested in what I'm doing or saying. I'm also worried that nerves will render me, somehow, unable to shape pizzas and put them beneath a broiler. But I know that it will be at the very least a wonderful learning experience, and at the most it will be a great way to meet people and share my love of cooking and fresh, local ingredients. 

The dough is destined, as I said, for the River Market for Food Revolution Day here in Chattanooga. As the title of my blog indicates, I love local food. I think it better serves our economic interests as a community. I think it's far more ethical for myriad reasons varying from political to animal rights. It's better for our health. It's better for our planet. But what excites me most about fresh produce is how alive it is. Sitting down for a meal is one of the most fundamental ways we can connect with our friends and our families. Fresh food grown by your neighbors is vital. It hums. It has color, texture, warmth. It's fun. 

When I think of local food I think of dirt and sun, mason jars full of creamy raw milk, my full bag on my arm. I think about easter egg radishes and nettles, speckled eggs, and baskets of bread. There is excitement as things come into season; food feels special again. Food and eating are a potentially vibrant thread that is woven through each day of our lives. It is time to be human, time for ourselves, time to break bread. We don't take enough time anymore, and it makes us more than unhappy, it makes us sick. 

It may take a little more planning and effort to do shopping at local markets and cooking at home, to eschew processed foods, and eat what's in season, but the pay off is more than worth it. You will rediscover food. After eating a fresh summer tomato you realize that whatever those spherical red fruits are at the super market in February are, they aren't tomatoes. You will taste food like you've never tasted it from the grocery store. And you will be getting it from farmers that are your neighbors and that will become, in time, your friends. So, if you're interested in learning more about local food and home cooking or are already a dyed in the wool locavore, join us tomorrow along with 500 others cities in 57 countries in standing up for local food. All the grim statistics in the world cannot bring about real change. But people people like you can. Let's. 

So. About this pizza. Around midnight last night I mixed the bowls. It took me less than half an hour to mix all that dough. It goes like this: mixing bowl on digital scale, dump 1000g of all purpose flour into said mixing bowl, add 1 tsp of dry active yeast and 4 tsp of kosher salt. Stir with a whisk to combine well. Slowly pour in three cups of water, stirring with a wooden spoon until well combined. This is the only part that takes a little elbow grease. Gather dough into a ball and transfer to a large, clean bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave to sit at room temperature for 18 hours. I have heard you can let it sit for as little as 6. But 18 is more better. And I've let it sit 19, 20 hours and had a lovely dough. I then set my thermostat for 72 degrees (which is what Jim Lahey says is the optimal room temperature for the dough. You don't have to do this.  I just like to.), and I was then free to spend the rest of my evening having a dysfunctional relationship with photoshop and watching documentaries until the wee hours of the morning. And that is how I make the best homemade pizza dough I've ever had. It's better than what you can get at 90% of pizza joints. Unless you live in NYC, of course. But around here... 

The next day, an hour and a half or so before I want to eat, I preheat my oven to 500 F. I turn the mass out onto a floured surface, chop it into 6 pieces with a bench scraper (or three for a half recipe as is pictures below), fold the corners in so they look like little dumplings, and then flip them over and let them rest one last hour under a damp kitchen towel. While they rest, I put my pizza stone in the oven. If you are using a baking sheet you can skip this step. The sheet doesn't need to be preheated. This hour can then be used for productive things like tidying up, watering plants. Or interneting. Which is what I inevitably use it for. 

Once the stone is hot and the dough well rested, one at a time I dust each dough ball generously with flour and shape into a 10"-12" round on a well floured work surface. I use the word round loosely. I'm no expert pizza tosser. I do not stand in my kitchen, dough whirling about over my head forming a perfect circle. My method is the "flop/stretch/curse under your breath at the dough" method. It works well. 

Once a dough ball has been shaped into a somewhat pizza looking shape, I put it on a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal or flour (I like cornmeal), brush it lightly with olive oil and top with whatever I have from the market that week & whatever sounds good to me. You can really put anything on a pizza. Ricotta, proscuitto, and nettles was a coup. Note: Do not touch uncooked stinging nettles without gloves. They sting. To render them safe to eat, steam them for at least 5 minutes. I usually go for 5-10 depending on how many I have. They should be nicely wilted and thoroughly cooked. Make sure and save the water for honeyed peppermint & nettle tea! Incredibly nourishingTry grilled peaches & marscapone with honey. The two pizzas pictured are topped with local roasted purple and green asparagus, proscuitto, crumbled local goat cheese, and homemade ricotta mixed with sorrel & garlic scape pesto and nettles, proscuitto, pesto, and ricotta respectively.

Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough

from Bon Appétit 

Makes six 10"–12" pizzas, recipe can be halved and even quartered

active time: 90 minutes total time: 20 1/2 hours

Ingredients

• 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (1000 grams) plus more for shaping dough (you can substitute whole wheat flour, white whole wheat, and whole wheat pastry flour for all or a portion of this)
• 4 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 3 cups water

Preparation

• Whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a medium bowl. While stirring with a wooden spoon, gradually add 3 cups water; stir until well incorporated. Mix dough gently with your hands to bring it together and form into a rough ball. Transfer to a large clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature (about 72°) in a draft-free area until surface is covered with tiny bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, about 18 hours (time will vary depending on the temperature in the room).
• Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Gently shape into a rough rectangle. Divide into 6 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, gather 4 corners to center to create 4 folds. Turn seam side down and mold gently into a ball. Dust dough with flour; set aside on work surface or a floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining portions.
• Let dough rest, covered with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, until soft and pliable, about 1 hour. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Wrap each dough ball separately in plastic wrap and chill. Unwrap and let rest at room temperature on a lightly floured work surface, covered with plastic wrap, for 2–3 hours before shaping.
  
  
  
  

To Make the Pizzas

• During the last hour of dough's resting, prepare oven: If using a pizza stone, arrange a rack in upper third of oven and place stone on rack; preheat oven to its hottest setting, 500°–550°, for 1 hour. If using a baking sheet, arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to its hottest setting, 500°–550°. (You do not need to preheat the baking sheet.)
• Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough generously with flour and place on a floured work surface. Gently shape dough into a 10"–12" disk.
  
  
  
  

If Using Pizza Stone

• When ready to bake, increase oven heat to broil. Sprinkle a pizza peel or rimless (or inverted rimmed) baking sheet lightly with flour. Place dough disk on prepared peel and top with desired toppings.
• Using small, quick back-and-forth movements, slide pizza from peel onto hot pizza stone. Broil pizza, rotating halfway, until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, 5–7 minutes.
• Using peel, transfer to a work surface to slice. Repeat, allowing pizza stone to reheat under broiler for 5 minutes between pizzas.
  
  
  
  

If Using a Baking Sheet

• Arrange dough disk on baking sheet; top with desired toppings. Bake pizza until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a work surface to slice. Repeat with remaining pizzas.

You can find Jim Lahey's book "My Pizza" here. If you try this dough, you'll want the book. For my whole wheat pizza dough I substituted unbleached white whole wheat flour for 3/4ths of the all-purpose. You could make it even more whole wheaty by using whole wheat pastry dough in place of the all purpose flour or experiment with other whole grain flours.

Rich Homemade Ricotta

from Smitten Kitchen, and inspired by Salvatore Ricotta, via Tasting Table

This cheese can be made using all milk, 3 cups milk and 1 cup cream, or for a compromise, 3 1/2 cups milk and 1/2 cup cream. It can also be made using vinegar in place of the lemon juice. Apple cider vinegar is particularly good. 

Makes about 1 generous cup of ricotta

3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream (see above about using less)
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pour the milk, cream and salt into a 3-quart nonreactive saucepan. Attach a candy or deep-fry thermometer. Heat the milk to 190°F, stirring it occasionally to keep it from scorching on the bottom. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice, then stir it once or twice, gently and slowly. Let the pot sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.

Line a colander with about 4 layers layers of cheesecloth, you are going to want it pretty thick as the curds are very small, almost invisible. Don't worry, it's supposed to be this way. The less cream you use, the bigger the curds will be. Place it over a large bowl (to catch the whey). Pour the curds and whey into the colander and let the curds strain for at least an hour. At an hour, you’ll have a tender, spreadable ricotta. At two hours, it will be spreadable but a bit firmer, almost like cream cheese. (It will firm as it cools, so do not judge its final texture by what you have in your cheesecloth.) Discard the whey, or, if you’re one of those crafty people who use it for other things, of course, save it. Eat the ricotta right away or transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.