Author: Aynaria

Over the past several years, I’ve made numerous homemade pizzas. However, it wasn’t until recently, that I stumbled upon the perfect pizza for us. It has a thin and crispy crust. The crust is light, with bubbles at the edge of the crust, and it’s slightly charred in places. I’ve been using baking steel to bake my pizzas and, occasionally my home-baked fries, for several years, however increasing the oven temperature to 525 F and always adding yeast to my pizza dough, finally took my pizza to another level of yum. I haven’t hit pizza nirvana… yet. However, I strongly believe that will happen when I create my outdoor oven outside. The best pizzas are cooked at temperatures that home cookstoves simply cannot reach. I’ve read anything from 650 F to over 900 F. There’s a local pizza store in our area that cooks their pizzas in their brick oven at over 900 F. Those pizzas are ready in 90 seconds. The few times I’ve visited their restaurant it’s always been crowded, and rightfully so, they make excellent pizzas. Everything about their pizza screams fresh!

A few days ago I made the pizza that is shown above. This pizza has a sourdough crust and it’s loaded with portobello mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella. The day before I made this pizza, I created enough dough for two pizzas! Perhaps I’ll make that today. We’ll see!

 

Although my much loved Kitchen Aid Classic is a workhorse for the smaller food tasks, it’s not equipped to handle some of the dense bread doughs that I’ve religiously added into its bowl.
Because of this, I started searching for another mixer that I could use exclusively for pizza and bread doughs. Nope, I’m not calling it a replacement. Nu-uh, I’ll still be using my beloved Kitchen Aid mixer. It has served me well for over 14 years, and I hope it continues to do so. However, for mixing heavy doughs, it needs to take a back seat while another machine, better suited for such tasks, steps up. Otherwise, I will burn out the motor. I had planned to purchase a Kitchen Aid from its professional series. That changed after additional research and reading reviews from some other serious bread bakers who create large quantities of bread; I thought this might not be such a great idea.

Enter the Ankarsrum; immediately, I see that the design is different. Also, the base is where the motor’s located. Score! The bowl rotates, and while the attachments such as the dough hook or whisk are stationery. Sweden is the country that makes Ankarsrum mixers. Ankarsrum, Sweden, to be exact. These machines have been around since 1940. Over the years, they were known by different names; Verona, Magic Mill, Electrolux Assistent, DLX. I stumbled across an old Electrolux mixer on eBay from the 1940s! If I knew anything about motors, I’d have snapped that one up in a heartbeat since I could still maintain it if something happened.

Instead, I’ve decided to purchase the Ankarsrum 6230. What I found fascinating is that all the old attachments fit the Ankarsrum’s! How cool is that? It does cost a lot more than my Kitchen Aid Classic. The price is $699. I don’t mind paying more for an item if I know it’ll last a long time. This mixer will most likely outlast me. I’m impressed that the quality of this machine’s parts hasn’t changed over the years.

It makes me think of the following saying that is attributed to Benjamin Franklin…

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”

I can sit on my wants for several years, adding another mixer has been on that list for a while. With the level that I use my mixer, I simply kneaded (you see what I did there?), something that could handle what I’m doing more efficiently. The Ankarsrum will step into that role quite nicely.
What can the Ankarsrum 6230 do?

1. Grain Mill
2. Food Processor
3. Blender
4. Citrus Juicer
5. Food & Meat Grinder
6. Pasta cutter
7. Flaker

I placed its additional features in the order that’s important to myself. I’d planned on purchasing a GrainMaker grain mill this year, however, since this completes that function. I’ll hold off that purchase until next year. Of course, once I receive the Ankarsrum, I’ll update and perhaps even include a video. Several people own the Ankarsrum on The Fresh Loaf, breadmaking forum, where I’m a member, and the majority have positive reviews. The few negatives seemingly had to do with learning how this machine operates. It is much different than the mixers we see here in the USA.

Last evening I had fun making pasta. I love creating homemade pasta because I can control what goes into the pasta. My favorite way of making pasta is the same day that the dough is made, however, I can also dry the handcrafted pasta that I’ve created with amazing results.

Yesterday’s adventure involved dying pasta sheets that I made with natural ingredients. It’s the first time that I’ve used anything besides green to color my pasta and it was so much fun. Since I didn’t have any vivid produce to color my dough. I stuck with what was on hand. It didn’t make sense to me to go to the store just to purchase beets or carrots. Also, with the recent coronavirus concerns, I had no desire to be in grocery stores. I was content to stick with what I had at home. What I have at home is turmeric, spinach, and food-grade activated charcoal. Perfect!

The day before, I created enough pasta dough to create three dough balls.

I created one large dough ball, separated into three equal parts and added the dyes after that time. I know that they all were the same size because I weighed each one with my food scale.

I really loved the marbelized effect of the activated charcoal dough and it gives me an idea for the future if I want to keep that look in the finished product.

 

I used my rolling pin to flatten the dough enough to pass through my Marcato pasta machine. I ran through the various settings, laminating my pasta dough, and I stopped at setting number 7.

I then took two colors and cut them into fettuccine strips using the remaining dough as the background. I then ran my newly created pasta sheet through the pasta machine again. When I saw the pasta sheet I remembered that I’d sewed a quilt, with the same colors, when I was nine years old. That was an extremely warm quilt. I was thrilled with the results, but perhaps next time, I won’t dust with as much flour or if I feel that it needs a heavy dusting, I’ll lightly sweep off with a pasta brush.

The above fettuccine pasta is actually three different colors, however, it’s not a strong contrast since the green blends in with the mustard. That’s fine, I still like how it looks. However the next pass through my pasta machine, I only used two colors, mustard, and yellow.

The results were a bit more pronounced. However, one of these times, I’ll keep a white dough and add vivid colors.

Currently, all the fettuccine noodles are drying for 48 hours. Once complete I’ll place into jars. Some of the pasta will be sent to a friend. Since they love homemade pasta, I know they’ll appreciate this gift.

I must say that I was pleased with the results and am looking forward to experimenting more but I’ll step it up and use produce that’s a bit more vivid. Coloring items with natural ingredients isn’t new. I’ve used it in food preparations and I’ve also used it in soapmaking.

One of the inspirations for creating decorative pasta is the seeing some of Lisa Miller Nicholson’s pasta art videos on YouTube. Last week, I ordered her book, Pretty Pasta, Please. It should arrive to my home on Sunday. I’m looking forward to receiving the book.

 

Black pepper fettucini with lentil curry is what my daughter and I ate yesterday evening.

Yesterday, the fettucini was created by my daughter and me. Semolina flour was added to the pasta dough to make it more sturdy. In addition to the homemade pasta, I made lentil curry. I’m off of work today and so after our errands are complete, we’ll be making ravioli.

This past weekend was a time to create. Now that I think about it, it always is, however, this past weekend the creating was one in the kitchen. Saturday evening, I started making bread. I made the potato dough and let the dough proof overnight. Sunday, I let the dough proof two more times before placing it in the oven to bake.

Earlier this week, I made a garlic, herb, and cheese bread.

No, it’s not vegan. I mainly made it for my father, however, my daughter had a few slices of the bread. It received rave reviews from my parents and daughter.

I started making the bread shortly after I arrived home from work Monday evening.

I let it proof overnight and it rose a lot! I then laid it out on one of my silicone mats

and kneaded it into the desired shape.

I then placed it in one of my bread pans and placed it into the oven for about 45 minutes. This weekend my daughter wants to make hot cross buns and I’d like to make either an onion bread or potato bread. Since it’s been years since I’ve actively baked bread, I’ll be keeping the breadmaking simple, before I attempt to make more elaborate creations. I’m enjoying the journey, I’ve always enjoyed creating with dough.

Tuesday evening, my daughter and I made bigoli pasta. I’ll be posting those pictures late this week.