Apple Dumplings!

A beautiful Fall day a brick oven and apple dumplings! Enough said!

Apple Dumplings

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1tsp. salt
2/3 cup Crisco
1/2 cup milk
6 medium Cortland or Mutsu apples

Cut shortening into flour, salt and baking powder. Add milk. roll onto a floured counter into a rectangle. Cut into 6 squares.
Core and peel apples. Place apple onto a square of pastry. Pull opposite corners up to meet and fold pastry over apple, crimp edges. Place in a 9x13 baking dish.

Sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 TBS. butter
Bring to a boil. Pour sauce over dumplings. Bake at 375* for 35 to 40 minutes.

Oven prep. Fire oven until dome turns white. Take the fire out and put the door on and block chimney. Wait 1 hour for the heat to even out and cool down to 425*. We baked the dumplings uncovered in 13x 9 pan for 45 min. with the door and chimney closed.  The apples were still a little crisp.

Before baking

Mmmmm!

The leaves are starting to turn colors

Coney Island Catering in my backyard!

Today Karl and I had a nice treat when Coney Island Catering came by to check out our Round Boy Oven.  They were kind enough to bring all the ingredients and make us their wood fired pizza in our oven!  WOW!  These boys make a good pizza!  They gave me all the tricks to a great wood fired pizza the Coney Island way.  They have a wood fired pizza oven that they take on the road and cater events. What a great business they have.  I really enjoyed the afternoon with such hard working entrepreneurs who have the recipe for success! They even left me the ingredients to make pizza for K.C. tonight when he gets home from New Jersey. Coney Island Catering caters in New Jersey and New York and you can check them out at  http://www.coneyislandcatering.com/ and be sure and check out their face book page and the events they will be serving pizza at. I know Karl and I will be making a point to attend a event they cater the next time we are visiting K.C.
We have been having a lot of fun starting our new business Round Boy Outdoor Products. I am thrilled that our ovens are making their way around the country! I love meeting new people and exchanging recipes and ideas.
I like what Jed from Coney Island Catering said about pizza " There is no wrong way to make a pizza, everyone has their own way they like pizza!". I agree and it is really fun trying all the different styles of pizza. If only pizza was zero calorie!

I am in Love!

I finally found 00 flour! The difference in my pizza crust was amazing! The first difference was how nice the dough pressed out. No rolling pin was needed! Karl had a little trouble sliding the pizza off the peel and into the oven even with a corn meal dusting. The next difference was how wonderful the dough baked and the last difference was the taste! Crispy and sweet! What a pleasure the dough was in preparation and taste.
Karl,Amanda and I had a feast and we felt sad for all the people in the world without a brick oven in their backyard! I am sharing the recipe and pictures of the best pizza to date in our backyard! The recipe again comes from Peter Reinhart and if you have a Round Boy Oven you need his books American Pie and The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

Pizza Dough Recipe with 00 Flour
 from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart

4 1/2 cups (20.25 ounces) unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 (.44 ounce) teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
1/4 cup (2 ounces) olive oil (optional)
1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) water, ice cold (40°F)
Semolina flour OR cornmeal for dusting

I mixed all ingredients in my Kitchen Aid Mixer. Mix until dough cleans side of bowl and sticks to the bottom of bowl. The dough should be tacky not sticky. I did need to add more flour as the dough was very wet. I divided into 3 equal balls coated in olive oil and put in zip lock bags. I let sit out for 15 minutes and the put in refrigerator over night.  I took the dough out of the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. The dough was perfect!

I know this sounds like a lot of work for pizza but it took 20 minutes of prep on Thursday night to make the dough and the hardest part on Friday after work was remembering to get the dough out 2 hours before we wanted to make pizza!  

Creative Round Boy oven owners!

Round Boy Oven in Terra Cotta on stand

Grey Round Boy Oven with a Versa Lock base

Grey Round Boy Oven installed by home owner into outdoor kitchen

Round Boy Oven with a Cultured Stone exterior designed by Kemmerer Masonry

Field stone and brick with rope joints and a custom oven design. Designed by Kemmerer masonry