Ruhlman’s BLT Contest Entry

August 2, 2009 | by Ben 1

Michael Ruhlman has a contest this summer to make a BLT from scratch, and Sarah and I thought we’d enter it.

This is our one entry for all three categories (photograph, overall preparation and interpretation).

The bread is a sort of mock whole wheat sourdough, or “good yeast gone bad.” Here is the recipe:

2 cups white whole wheat flour 1 cup bread flour 2 t. course salt 2 t. instant yeast 2 T. good olive oil (1 T. in the dough, 1 T. to coat the dough while it rests) about 1 1/4 cups warm water

Knead everything except for 1 T. olive oil for about 10 minutes. I used a Kitchenaid stand mixer. Leave the dough out overnight in warm weather, coated in 1 T. oil, covered loosely, to develop sour flavors. If it’s cold, leave for up to a day or two. Refrigerate dough for up to a few days to further develop flavors. Remove dough from the fridge, shape and let rise for a couple hours (until 1 1/2 times larger), then bake at 375 … continue reading

Breakfast Pizza

April 22, 2009 | by Ben 2

Inspired by Michael Ruhlman’s post on breakfast pizza, I decided to give one a try. 

I used Mark Bittman’s recipe for half-whole wheat pizza dough, bacon from the freezer, 4 eggs (I’d use one more next time) and cheddar cheese. The biggest trick was figuring out how to make this with scrambled eggs without their spilling over the edge. I cooked them briefly on the stove until they gelled somewhat, then, after baking the dough at 500 degrees for five minutes, added them along with the cheese and precooked bacon. Reduce the heat to 375 when you add the eggs so they’ll turn out fluffy and not dry.

Sarah and I really enjoyed this, even more so than Whole Foods breakfast pizza. Ruhlman says that a pound of dough makes two servings, but we had this for two meals.

This is also surprisingly simple to make. I read Ruhlman’s post at 11pm Monday, made the pizza dough that night, and finished everything else in the … continue reading