Italian Spinach Pies Updated

In Providence RI, Italian bakeries sell spinach pies. Similar to a spinach calzone. Delicious try this recipe:

Here is a video of a another not as good recipe.

 

Dough

• 400 grams water
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon yeast (the longer you are willing let it rise the less yeast you can use. Less yeast and longer rise time yields better texture, bigger holes)
• 10 grams salt
• 620 cups bread flour

Here is a link to my older recipe with a different dough recipe.

Filling:

• 1 lb spinach fresh or frozen - NEVER EVER canned!
• 4 cloves garlic crushed
• 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/4 cup canned slice black olives
• Crushed red pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• garlic salt

Dough:

In a mixer add water then yeast then flour the salt. Mix with dough hook.

Allow to rest for a 15 minutes and stretch and fold refrigerate over night for best results or let rise until doubled.  Then stretch and fold again. form into about 4 balls and let then reach room temperature.

  

Filling:

If you are using frozen spinach thaw and drain well. If you are using fresh spinach just clean and dry and use it as is, alternatively you can sauté slightly to make it easier to work with. Put the spinach in a bowl and add the olives, mushrooms, garlic, salt, olive oil and crushed red pepper. Mix lightly with a spoon.

Stretch the dough like for pizza. Place filling in the center of each piece and roll the dough over like a calzone forming a pocket.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Bake pizza for 15 minutes at 425 F. Reduce heat to 375 F. and continue baking (for a total of 30 to 35 minutes) or until golden brown.

Cool and eat at room temperature.

Italian Bakery Pizza Recipe Updated

In Providence RI, Italian bakeries sell a crusty pizza with simple toppings (crushed tomatoes, herbs, olive oil) with no cheese or pepperoni. It has a great olive oil and garlic taste. 

In this video you can see what it should look like.Try it. 

Here is a recipe for that pizza.

Dough

• 440 grams water
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon yeast (the longer you are willing let it rise the less yeast you can use. Less yeast and longer rise time yields better texture, bigger holes)
• 15 grams salt
• 610 grams bread flour
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 10 grams

Here is a link to my older recipe. It produces a crisper less chewy crust.

Topping:

• 1 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes - drained
• 2/3 cup tomato puree
• crushed red pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh herbs (or dry)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

This will go in the pans

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 clove garlic - crushed

Dough:

In a mixer add water then yeast then flour the salt. Mix with dough hook.

Allow to rest for a 15 minutes and stretch and fold refrigerate over night for best results or let rise until doubled.  Then stretch and fold again. form into about 4 balls and let then reach room temperature.

Topping:

Drain tomatoes and place in a large bowl. Crush well with your hands add puree. Add pepper and salt (to taste), oil, herbs and garlic.
 

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Use 2 15-by-10 inch baking sheets. Coat pan generously with olive oil - about 1/8 cup each (this seems like a lot but trust me) and sprinkle each with 1/4 t salt. Press out dough to fit pan. If dough resists, let it rest for a few minutes, then gentle coax it to fit the pan. Drizzle olive oil lightly on top of dough. Let the dough rise in the pan for about 15 minutes sprinkle each with 1/4 t salt

Heat the tomato topping and spread on the dough and drizzle the top with a little olive oil.

Bake pizza for about 20 more minutes. 

Cool and eat at room temperature.

Comments on a Great Econtalk Episode (Poverty and Income)

Below are some comments about a great econtalk episode here about the change in skills demanded and the prospects for people without the skills now demanded.

What I find interesting in the regard is:
1. Kiryas Joel where the people are low income but not “poor”. They have the respect that you were talking about.
2. Mr Money Mustache shows what I see which is many middle and upper income people living on low income voluntarily.  Also look up tiny houses on youtube and you'll see these same class of people living in $10k homes.
3. My son when he graduated high school he took a job with a plumber doing the manual labor, he then due only to on the job learning became a plumber. He is doing great. His boss cannot get enough people, I presume because it's a dirty job. Same with auto mechanics (a little more intellectual job though).
4. It looks to me like we are so rich today in the Developed world that to many women singleness, which is clearly more expensive looks better than marrying the men available to them and BTW the college premium and the marriage premium are roughly equal.

Bottom line is, poverty may not be low income at all. Maybe schools should try to teach students more the stuff that will help them live better lives and less of what will help them succeed at the next level of education.