A Taste of Naples Pizza

26/01/2025

A cross-post from my beekeeping/honey/mead world. 😃

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18k5vmmZxC/?mibextid=wwXIfr

A small reason to celebrate for me. I entered two of my meads in a small mead judging contest and took 1st and 3rd place!😃

Full disclosure: there were only six entries. 😁😁

But the judge is highly thought of and he said my Rhubarb was a pretty good mead so I’m definitely happy about that.

21/01/2025

Hey folks - just wondering if any of my pizza followers might have a tortilla press they’d be willing to let me borrow?

My latest obsession is to make really good corn tortillas. I’ve had a major improvement going from rolled to pressed tortillas where I just pressed with the bottom of a skillet. I’m just not sure I’m ready to invest/build (and store) a tortilla press.

If you’re in the Papillion area I’d be happy to stop by and pick up.

Pic of one where I’m finally getting some puff while cooking.

07/01/2025

Good bread, good times and good jam last night for our bread making class!!

I always enjoy these classes and Elissa and her family were great students. I think they’ll be having lots of success in their sourdough journey!

28/12/2024

Happy Birthday to Taylor a couple days early! We had birthday pizza during halftime of the Husker bowl game.

We experimented with a much higher hydration dough. Definitely more of a challenge to work with but produced a super-light and airy crust. I’ll have to see if I can make it work for the pizza trailer.

Also tried a jazzed up pepperoni with some cream cheese dolloped on top of the pepperonis and topped with some honey-candied habaneros(the leftovers from making hot honey). It was pretty good but wasn’t quite where I wanted it. Still thinking on that one. 😃. For ease of serving I’m thinking of just mixing the candied habaneros with the cream cheese.

25/12/2024

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
🎄🎅🎄

We had a fun afternoon yesterday making Christmas cookies

And if you’re in my family, you’re probably going to get something homemade from me. The boys got hefty wooden mallets and each of their fiancés got a reindeer/tree/light combo.

Starting to look forward to next spring and pizza season. We already have a couple grad parties and a wedding booked so be sure to reach out soon if you have a special event/date in mind where you’d like to have our famous wood-fired pizza!

23/12/2024

Since every other sourdough baker on the internet has made one of these I thought I’d better give it a try!😄

20/12/2024

More sourdough bread experimentation today 😁

I made an attempt at ciabatta. These turned out well except I somewhat mangled the bottoms when transferring to oven. I have some ideas to fix that for the next batch.

For tonight, my goal is to copy Panera’s Chipotle Chicken Avo Melt!!

13/12/2024

You all can probably tell that when pizza season is over that all my “pizza energy” starts finding other pathways. 😁😁

I’ve had this charcuterie board and cutting board sitting half done for quite some time. We’re hosting a small gathering tonight so it gave me the motivation to finish them up.

The lighter stripes on the cutting board are maple cut from the cutting board top from my late Mom’s mobile dishwasher that was in use when I was a kid … just a few years ago. 😄😄

12/12/2024

I’m happy to report that version 2.0 of the baguettes turned out well!!😁

Renee was unable to come pick up today so Michelle Hooper, you can now claim two baguettes!! I sent you a fb message with details.

11/12/2024

Erin and Renee - could you please email me at [email protected]? FB is having all sorts of issues today and is erroring out on Messenger.

Congratulations to Erin Hefner and Renee Marie as the winners of today's bread giveaway!!

Today was a tale of two breads as the loaf turned out as good as anything I've ever baked!! However, my first try at baguettes was somewhat of a failure and not something I care to give away.

Erin - as the first place winner you get the loaf baked today.

Renee - if it works for you, I will be baking again tomorrow morning and you can have your choice of either the loaf or baguettes 2.0.

I'll message both of you. Please respond as soon as possible to schedule your pickups!

11/12/2024

Hey folks - that bread giveaway was so much fun let’s do another!! I saw Bobbie this week and he said his free loaf was pretty good 😃

Plus I’m experimenting with making baguettes for the first time. If they turn out we’ll have two giveaways - one loaf of bread and a bag of two baguettes.

They will be baked tomorrow morning (Wednesday 12/11) and I’ll add the pics to this post then. Previous pic below for attention.

Just comment “free bread” to this post by 12:00 noon tomorrow to enter.

If you win I will notify you via FB messenger and you will need to come pick up your prize tomorrow afternoon before 5:00.

Be ever in your favor may the odds!!

03/12/2024

Update: And the winners are Colleen Plasek and Bobbie Hayek!!
Just to show that I still have a bit of computer geek in me I entered the names into an Excel spreadsheet and used the RAND() function to generate a random number next to each person. Since you learn something new every day, I learned that you need to set the worksheet calculation to "Manual" otherwise when you sort the data the RAND() automatically recalculates. I added a pic of the final results below.

They say there's no such thing as a free lunch ... but I can get you part of the way there with some free bread!! 😊

I'm testing out some new bread baking techniques and have a couple loaves just baked this morning to give away to two of my customers.

Here are the rules:

1. I prefer that you've been a previous customer of mine
2. Must be able to pick up near 66th and Cornhusker between 2-4 pm or 7-7:30 pm today.
3. To enter just comment "Free Bread!" on this post before 12:00 noon today.
4. I will make a random drawing at 12:05 to determine the two winners and will notify you via FB Messenger.

I will have your loaf sliced and bagged and ready for you to enjoy!!

31/10/2024

I’ll be speaking at this mead making workshop coming up soon.

$40 will get you a beautiful fall drive down to NE City, lunch, honey tasting, mead tasting and all the information you ever needed in the event you wanted to learn how to brew mead. Possibly some attempted humor from yours truly that you may or may not find funny. 😃 (pity laughter is always appreciated nonetheless)

Sorry … no pizza 😒

Dear Mead Enthusiasts,

Limited Spots Available! Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to delve into the fascinating world of mead making. Reserve* your spot today and start your journey to becoming a mead-making expert!

Register here: https://ssp.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7R061xxUG4Gm2mq

This course is offered on Saturday, November 16th, 2024 by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bee Lab through the Great Plains Master Beekeeping Program.

The cost for this class is $40 per person. Registration (this form) must be complete by 09 November 2024. The course will be located at Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard in Nebraska City.

If you have any questions please call 402-472-8378 email [email protected] or visit https://gpmb.unl.edu/mead-making-workshop-2024

👉🐝What to Expect:
Here's a sneak peek at some of the fantastic sessions and speakers you’ll encounter:

- Mead Making Process: In-Depth Lecture
Speaker: Price Days Of Our Hives Papillion
Gain valuable insights into fermentation, recipes, and flavor experimentation on a small scale.

- LIVE Mead Making Demo
Presenter: Deisher
Watch as we guide you through creating your own mead, managing fermentation, flavor experimentation, alcohol level testing and more!

- Honey Tasting
Explore a variety of honeys and learn how different types influence the flavor profiles of your mead.

- Mead Bottling Demo
Presenters: Bob Hendrickson& Pat England
Learn the art of bottling your mead for that perfect finish.

- Mead Tasting
Conclude the day by tasting a selection of meads, including a keg! Refine your tasting skills with various styles and flavors.

- Raffle Prizes
Exciting prizes await, including honey, mead-making kits, and Ken Schramm's books, and MORE!!!



Days Of Our Hives Papillion
Lincoln Lagers Homebrew Club




Bob Hendrickson
Pat England

28/10/2024

Today was a little trip down memory lane back to my college days. On Sunday nights the dormitories did not have food service so often we would go to the local A&W and get their special of two chili dogs and a half gallon of root beer for some ridiculously low price for poor college students. I don’t think I’ve had a chili dog since then. 😆😆

So today this reel popped up on my feed and here I am sitting with a spare pizza dough from the weekend, some frozen hotdogs in the freezer and some leftover chili also in the freezer.
(Link to reel in first comment below)

The choice seemed obvious to me!! 😁😁

Alice was heading off to book club so I baked them a little bit different keeping the chili separate so that we could have them for leftovers if we so desired.

27/10/2024

Very much enjoyed a family gathering and birthday celebration last night. Slightly different setup using my friend’s gas-fired oven to do the cooking. It sure is nice just to “set it and forget it” while cooking! 😄

And I might be one of the few people that really appreciates nice looking dough balls. 😁

22/10/2024

Good morning everyone!

With pizza season winding down I’ll again be offering my Sourdough Bread Class. Ten years of sourdough experience crammed into an enjoyable and hands-on three hour class. We’ll bake bread (and even some pizza - to eat of course!) and you’ll go home with your own sourdough starter and all of the knowledge needed to make sourdough bread like these loaves from this morning.

Just come up with 3-4 people for a class and I’ll schedule it whenever works for you. Class is three hours long and $85/person. Great Christmas gift idea!

Please message or email me with any questions.

19/10/2024

Beautiful day for a lunch gig at Omaha Wood Company, LLC. Omaha Wood Co. has a great supply of locally sourced hardwoods available for your woodworking needs and customer service is top notch!!!

I was told to just bring my choice of pizzas so we had:

The Favorite - Spicy Italian Sausage and Roasted Sweet Potatoes on Tomato Sauce

BaconDater - Bacon, Dates and Blue Cheese on Alfredo Sauce (pictured below)

California BBQ Chicken - Chicken, Yellow Bell Pepper, Red Onion and Blue Cheese on Alfredo Sauce

Pepperoni

18/10/2024

I was splitting some wood for a pizza gig tomorrow and I discovered that once your gloves are well broken in they work on the touch screen on your iPhone!! 😃😃

It’d be a darn shame to replace them with new gloves and take a step backwards.