SMBC #7 - Homemade Pizza

After the ridiculous excesses of our previous SMBC, M&M decided that it would be a fantastic idea if we all made him pizza all made pizza together from scratch. As our usual kitchen didn't have an oven, we packed our things and headed to the communal BA kitchen to bake up a storm.

Going on a recipe from PC's mum, the pizza dough was made by mixing:
- 600 g flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 sachet of dried yeast (or cube of fresh yeast if available)
- salt

Disclaimer: PC says this isn't the traditional Italian recipe for pizza dough - the real thing has a specific type of flour and no milk... apparently you can google it.

Once the dough has risen, it can be rolled out and shaped to your hearts desire.

We tried two different methods after this:
- either baking the bases first, then adding the toppings and rebaking, or
- adding the toppings to the raw bases and baking all at once
The first resulted in a crispier lighter base, but the second is easier, so I can't recommend one over the other.

Baking the pizzas bases first really makes them puff up, almost like lebanese pita bread.

The tomato sauce was simply a mix of tinned tomatoes, lots of garlic, rosemary, oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Our collection of toppings included traditional ingredients like mozarella, basil, olives, red onion and peppers capsicum, as well as some less typical ingredients such as tuna, feta cheese and (heaven forbid) sweet corn.

Baked until brown, then best eaten immediately! Few things are better than melted mozzarella straight from the oven...

Here are some mugshots from the pizza gallery:

The old favourite, the margerhita.

A few more toppings: olives, zucchini, capsicum, red onion, capers.

Tuna. Is that weird?

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We haven't had an SMBC post in ages - we actually did this quite a while ago, plus one other thing that I'm going to post up next in a back-to-back of SMBC posts! And this next one is going to be the last SMBC for the academic year 2010-2011, so don't miss it! (especially the awesome video in the next one, courtesy of M&M...)

Munchin' in München (Part 3)

"Why are most of your holiday photos just food?" - a complaint I commonly receive.

Leberkässemmel at the Viktualien markets - contains neither liver (leber) nor cheese (käse) - Germans really know how to make meat products taste good.

Roast pork from Hofbräuhaus - so tender with really crunchy crackling.

Sausages from Hofbräuhaus with sauerkraut and mustard.

Hofbräu Original Helles (left) and Weißbier (right).

The beautiful Schloss Nymphenburg where we ate...

...far too much cream in this mutant oversized profiterole thing.

Delicious pork knuckle at Bachmaier Hofbräu - a little overpriced. Beware the heaviness of potato dumplings. So good, yet so filling.

Goulash with buttered spätzle at Gasthaus zum Erdinger Weißbräu - hearty and full of flavour.

Watching Bayern Munich tear Villareal apart at Atzinger near Universität...

So they're just wedges, but with quark! Great substitute for sour cream.

Ratatouille! A welcome relief from the meat overload that is Bavaria.

Kaiserschmarrn with apple sauce - oh my goodness, this was heavenly, especially the ovened-top-bits.

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So ends the posts about Munich - we'll return to normal programming next time!

Munchin' in München (Part 2)

And so it begins.

Misleadingly starts in September...

Oktoberfest - the world's largest piss-up. Forget the Cambridge Beer Festival, the British have nothing on the Bavarians. At least that's the impression I had from the photos I'd seen of drunken masses and well-endowed ladies carrying an incomprehensible number of giant beer mugs full of liquid gold.

The statue of Bavaria looming large over the Theresienwiese.

After all the fun of our scientific Oktoberfest experience, The Flavour and I decided to head over to the Theresienwiese to see (and drink) for ourselves whether this was indeed just a giant drunken affair dominated by eager tourists, or whether there was something a little more than that.

Lowenbrau tent at 11 am.

We arrive at the Oktoberfest grounds at around 10:30 am on the first day, following a steady trickle of people wearing lederhosen and Bavarian dresses walking from the nearby underground stations. The grounds are less busy than expected, although inside the beer halls, the seats are almost completely filled already as the keenest have staked our their spots for the day. 

Too bad that no beer is served until the mayor taps the first barrel at noon. However, the kitchens are already in full gear preparing for the hungry masses.

Chickens. Lots of them.

Instead of joining the crowds in the halls, we decide to watch the opening parade and the arrival of the beer hall owners. Magnificently adorned horses parade down the main thoroughfare of the Theresienweise, drawing behind them carts of beer barrels, as well as entire families from the youngest children up to the grandmothers and fathers, all waving and cheering with the crowds.

Although the parade was well worth watching, the price we consequently paid was the inability to find a spot in any of the beer halls after it was over. After fighting our way through several full halls, we had to settle in the end at the Nymphenburg Sektzelt, which isn't strictly a beer hall as it sells wine and other drinks. Outrageous was the price of the drinks - more than 7 Euro for 500 mL of Paulaner is highway robbery!! Nonetheless, the atmosphere was fantastic thanks to the hyperactive live band wearing cow-patterned shorts...

Drinking on an empty stomach is never a good idea, so we decided to go outside to find some food. Instead of going for the multitude of exorbitantly priced large meaty dishes on offer, I opted to go for a flammkuchen instead (ok, so not Bavarian as far as I know, but beer makes me full...). Not as light and crispy as I've ones I've previously had, but everything tastes really good when you're starving.

Flammkuchen (€7). Interestingly I thought I'd been ripped off when I paid €10 and got no change. Actually there's a €3 deposit for the wooden board it's on, which is returned when you finish eating.

Again, we were unsuccessful trying to weave our way into the Augustiner beer hall...

Try speed stacking these...

GET OUT OF MY WAY

... finally finding a spot in the beer garden of the Hacker-Pschorr beer hall, rewarded with (slightly less than thanks to a massive head) 1L of thirst-quenching goodness. Success!

Beer! One litre is the smallest size (€9.10, but basically €10 when the waitress doesn't give you change)

Despite all it's inebriocentric (new word of the day) tendancies, the Oktoberfest is a lot more than just a plain lashfest. The atmosphere is definitely that of a big carnival, and surprisingly family friendly! Add a lot of funfare games, massive rollercoasters, food stalls and amazing costumes, and the Oktoberfest is definitely a great experience which goes beyond the fountains of beer and passed-out casualties.

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So you might be saying, "This is a food blog, where is the food?". Yes, the Bavarians really do amazing things with meat and potatoes, not to mention bread. And all in unashamedly large portions. 

Looks like I'll have to do a Part 3 to finish this one off...

Munchin' in München (Part 1)

So that's where the research funding goes! (I'm just being facetious, please keep funding us. Pretty please?)

The food. And this is only for one day. Insane. (click to enlarge)

So I mentioned last time that I was in Munich for a certain very well known festival. That's right, the Festival of Chemical Biology!!! (Who is Oktoberfest? Never heard of him...) As you might know, funding is pretty dismal in academic research, especially with the austerity cuts due to rather poor economic times. One country that appears to be bucking the trend and investing in science is Germany and it shows...

This was a seriously amazing conference! Not just some amazing speakers but hands down the best food I have ever had and possibly will ever have at a conference. I don't mention this lightly.

There was literally so much food that there were multiple trays of leftovers on offer after the final talks on each day. On a related note, we literally stuffed ourselves silly thanks to seriously addictive Laugenstange (straight pretzel-like bread) sandwich things. If there's one German thing I wish they had here in the UK, it would be their bread. So good!

Ok, time to roll the photos:

Sallow thorn curd - unusual, but the fruit itself is quite nice.

Rosted Donau-Waller filet on leek vegetables with fresh grated horseradish - a great match of condiments with the fish.

Tolzer smoked salmon trout and samlet filet on rucola tips with cranberries - this tasted AMAZING. Full of flavour from the smoked fish, working beautifulyl together with the cranberry sauce.

Vegetable terrine on fennel-carrot salad in shallot vinagrette - unusual one, not bad, slightly jelly like in texture. Salad was quite sour I have to say... well pickled I suppose.

Carpaccio from smoked lamb with shaped mountain cheese and tomato oil - quite salty, but the meat was quality stuff.

But wait, there's more! Here comes the hot food:

Professor Chris Chang doesn't realise the peril he is in...

Veal prime boiled topside with Sacher-chive sauce and root vegetables - rather innocuous looking, but wow my damn! This was the most tender meat ever - how do the Bavarians do it...

My stash. The wild mushrooms were so good...

And then for dessert:

Fruit cake galore!

Carrot cake with a little fondant carrot on top.

Bavarian cream with raspberry - deceptively light, not so deceptively delicious.

Caramelled Kaiserschmarrn with apples and cherry-picks - not bad, great vanilla custard, but we had better on the trip.

Well what can I say about the science and about the food? Best conference ever.

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Part 2 will continue tomorrow with a taste of the non-scientific Oktoberfest!

Here are more food photos courtesy of photographer Oliver Baron (www.oliverbaron.com) - hope he doesn't mind: