Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/09/10/my-old-lodge-chicken-roasting.html
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I really need to get one of these.
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Next time you make dough, can you weigh out what “2 cups” of flour in your recipe works out to for you?
I’ve been a fan ov “00” flour for dough ever since spending time at ZeroZero in SF and faling in love with their cooking method and blend. I’m interested to see how your recipe compares. 
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Had to go look at my pan. I got it at a thrift store when I moved in here some 10-15 years ago. It was a gunky mess, but fixable, even if I didn’t really quite know what I was doing although since I grew up with one I was taught the care and feeding of Mom’s pan. Needless to say, mine is a Lodge, and a big one too. 12" I’d guess. Could have gone with a smaller one (actually should have got them both) but this one seemed right for bacon. Which I microwave now, mainly because of cleanup.
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Good for pies too.
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No better pan to roast garlic, so say I.
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Lodge actually makes Dutch ovens. You can make a good loaf of bread in one, and they are also good for frying or roasting chicken. You may prefer the deep skillet, but you should at least compare it to the even deeper Dutch oven - I think it’s better for bread and chicken frying.
I have one of those and have used it to bake bread for sure - the no knead french round loaf style.
I’ve not fried chicken in it, though, but I assume it would work as well or better than my old cast iron frying pan.
its been years since we regularly made our own pizza dough, but our go to was semolina flour that we would get from a restaurant supply in large quantities (split it with my in-laws - also home pizza makers). I can’t say it was very fine - corse if I had to say. Made great crust.
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Cast iron pans offer the ultimate in versatility. I’ve been using my deep cast iron skillet to make pizza for years, using a yeast dough recipe that incorporates beer; I made haluski in that very pan last evening. And, there is no better way to make a blue steak than a well-seasoned cast iron skillet that’s been pre-heated under the broiler for 20 minutes…
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I will, but realize I always use sourdough to replace yeast and treat starter, correctly, as 1:1 flour and water.
So in this dough recipe I actually do 1.75 cups flour and .5 cup of water with .5 cup of starter representing .25 of each.
I let it rise longer. Usually I refrigerate it after a short warm rise.
This excels for Neapolitan cracker crust pizza with 00 and serves for deep dish with AP and Whole blended.
I also then add flour or water by hand till it is at the right consistency if it isn’t.
I very rarely use active dry yeast.
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We’ve made upside-down pineapple cake in our cast iron pan. An absolute cinch!
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Yes. They have so many uses:
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My fave, llama defense system.
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I definitely agree with this. The right amount of flour for a given amount of water will vary somewhat depending on the flour you’re using; as you say the consistency is the key, which usually means adjusting the amount of flour or water. You get the feel for it pretty quickly, and I never bothered to measure anything precisely beyond the first cup of water–it doesn’t really help.
I’ll add that (since I can no longer eat a real pizza) this is what makes gluten free baking more difficult for me. Because the cooking time and temperature are different, the dough needs to have a different consistency than regular wheat flour. It always seems too watery to me, and I’m tempted to add more gluten free flour. However, this makes the finished product too dry.
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It’s funny to me how crazy people in the States are about using 00 flour in pizzas. Yes, it’s used here in Italy and it’s superior to a dough made with ultra-high-gluten flour (known as “manitoba”), but it’s not really something people go crazy for. People here tend to get excited about pizza dough made with a semolina called Senatore Cappelli. Otherwise, pizza with lievito madre (sourdough) is pretty highly regarded, but for this, bakers use a variety of flours–00, 0 (somewhere between all-purpose and bread in terms of protein content), manitoba, or a mixture. Whatever the type, the point is slower fermentation and a flavor more complex than white flour.
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I am planning to blog my whole wheat deep dish crust later.
It isn’t hard, because I think all the bullshit about baking being complicated is bullshit, but I substitute about 1 cup of white flour for about 1 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour with this sourdough starter, because it is very liquid. I use AP for deep dish. the 00 is for the cracker like thin. Same recipe, but I use a rolling pin and flour with more protein. I’ll look for and try this manitoba flour.
Start with 1 cup and add more to feel, basically. Tastes wonderful.
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i need to learn to cook i ordered szechuan too much and now they smile and give me the big barrel of pepper oil
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@jlw I’m curious about the lid but can’t find any pics online. How big are the stalactites?
