Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Being Stephen Lanzalotta


I am not a baker.

But, you may be aware, I have this cool new wood-burning oven in the backyard, and I just had to give it a try.

Thing is, the idea was to evaluate the oven's bread-making abilities, not mine. And so rather than bumbling through a dough recipe I'd be unfamiliar with, I headed over to the most gifted bread/pizza maker in town and procured a blob of his dough.

Note to local readers: It's Lanzalotta's, from the bakery out back of Micucci, the same dough used for the Sicilian Slab and the Luna bread.

Note to everybody else: Save the indignation over copping out on the dough prep for somebody who cares. I already know I'm a spaz with the yeasty, floury stuff. Why torture myself?


Soon as I laid eyes on the blob I knew I was in good hands. It smelled swell enough to eat, and felt like a wet cloud of puffy, doughy goodness.


Did I mention the new pizza peels I bought? The wood one's for sliding stuff into The Inferno.


And the metal one's for taking stuff out.


I laughed. I cried.

Then I ate the whole freaking thing.

7 comments:

S. said...

I would walk miles over broken glass and the bodies of dead nuns to get a slab of his Luna bread. I cannot think of a better bit of bread that I've had in all of my life.
I would also do exactly what you did in getting the dough straight from him. :)

Claudia said...

So glad to hear I am not the only who cries over freshy baked bread. Now if I made bread in an inferno, I would positively wail before eating the whole freaking thing.

Jeannie said...

Looks like someone is enjoying his new toy very much...love the look of that ciabatta, lots of holes in it...I like:D WOnder what is he going to cook next with it?

Proud Italian Cook said...

OMG, look at that perfect specimin of bread, look at those holes!

Thomas Henry Strenk said...

Looks beautiful, Mr. M
I know that "everybody else" comment was directed at me.
And although it was probably a good idea to try out some good dough for your first try, I don't think you should stop there.
After all, you're a Pasta Master, and bread dough is not that different. Give it another try.
Or wait until I get up there to school you good!

Karen @ Mignardise said...

Stephen's luna is the paragon of all breads, pretty much worldwide. And it's so unassuming.
So using his dough in your awesome new oven is a great idea. But your own bread looks pretty good too!
I recently baked my very first bread using the Artisan Bread in 5 book. I amazed myself. It's a new world when you can bake your own. Keep up the good work!

M.Lanzalotta said...

I'm the luckiest of all. I would lay my naked body over a hot bed of nails with hot coals underneath them for him and all of his many gifts. I'm so fortunate to be able to eat all his breads, pastry's and culinary masterpieces. He is well known as a renaissance man and a baker but he is an extraordinary human being and a culinary genius. The Luna could be made by anyone but it cannot be replicated in the same way because he puts his beautiful soul in every single particle of that bread and that's what truly makes it incredible.