Hey Mambo...Mambo Italiano...Hey Mambo!

I Love the Italianos!
How can it be possible that ever lab is my favorite? I don't know but it is and this one is not an exception. The only thing I can say is that I am so glad that olive oil is supposedly really healthy for you because I ate a ton of it with all of this yummy food.

A. Title: Basic Foccacia Bread
B. Reagents:
2 1/2 Cups Water
2 Tbsp Instant Yeast
1 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Salt
6-8 Cups Unbleached White Flour
For the Topping:
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp Dry Basil
1 Tbsp Dry Thyme
1 Tbsp Dry Oregano
1 Tbsp Dry Marjoram
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
C. Procedure Outline:
1. In a mixing bowl add water, yeast, olive oil and 3 cups flour. Mix for 5 minutes.

2. Let mixture sit for 30 minutes.
3. Add salt and enough of the remaining flour to pull the mass into a soft dough. Mix for 5 minutes.
4. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl and coat dough well to prevent the dough from drying out while rising.
5. Allow dough to double in size.
6. Once dough has doubled in size, remove from bowl and all to rest for 10 minutes.

7. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled (olive oil) baking sheet.
8. Using your fingers, gently press dough out to fill the baking sheet. Using your fingers once again, dimple the surface of the dough.
9. In a small bowl combine olive oil, dried herbs and salt. Mix to coat the dried herbs thoroughly.
10. pour olive oil mixture on top of dough and spread evenly. Be sure that all herbs are well coated with olive oil to prevent them from burning.
11. Bake in a 385 degree oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
12. Remove bread from baking sheet and place on a cooling rack. Allow bread to cool completely.

D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
At the start of the recipe I am glad that I knew and paid attention to the fact that the yeast needed to be set in warm water (not hot) in order to activate its chemical properties. I first discovered this about 5 years ago when I started making bread and I added cold water to the yeast. My bread was very flat. The yeast never had a chance to be activated. The next time I made it I used too hot of water and the same thing happened because it was too hot to do anything. Luckily I am now educated enough that today I used the perfect temperature of water and the yeast activated with the water, oil and flour. This mixture alone did not look too impressive and appeared to be a very plain bowl of brown water with some strange bubbles in it. However, after 30 minutes it was a frothy, foamy mixture that was ready to go somewhere. Flour and salt were added to create a very smooth dough. This was a much softer dough than I had handled before and had a very silky appearance. We covered it in oil (lots of oil) and let it sit for about 20 minutes until it had doubled in size. The fun part was adding it to the baking sheet which we had already drizzled with olive oil. Using our fingers we simply jabbed the dough out until it took the shape of the pan, added the seasonings (we simply used Italian seasoning today to prevent having to make the seasoning from scratch) and made sure that all of our seasonings were covered with oil so that they did not get burned in the oven. This recipe was quite simple to follow except for the fact that we failed to add enough olive oil to give the crispy top that you just can't help but sink your teeth into. Our neighbors added so much oil that we commented to ourselves of how greasy theirs would be and to be honest, it turned out perfect! I had foccacia jealousy. So we added more oil and seasoning to our dough making sure that all of the seasoning was covered with the oil to prevent it from burning. The dough was very soft and manageable unlike the texture of the pizza dough which was much more tough to work with. Adding the oil at the end didn't seem to have too much of an impact on the final product as it turned out just as good as our neighbors' did.

E. Discussion and Conclusion:
The chemistry behind this recipe was that of the yeast. As my procedures section discusses, the most crucial part of the recipe is ensuring that the yeast becomes active with addition of the warm water. Baker's yeast can ferment or respire depending upon environmental conditions. In the presence of oxygen respiration takes place, without oxygen present, fermentation occurs. The released carbon dioxide causes dough to rise and to hold it high. The produced alcohol contributes to the bread's flavor. The optimal temperature for yeast to ferment sugar is 32°C. In warmer temperature (45 °C) the yeast cells will die which is what caused my bread to die so many years ago.
Our recipe turned out so great this time simply because the dough was able to sit the full time that it needed to for the yeast to be able to complete its reaction with oxygen and the sugars which are found in the flour, which I think gave us a very chewy bread in the end. We also got a nice golden brown color which was caused by the sugar.


A. Title: Lemon Basil Pasta
B. Reagents:
2 Cups Flour
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Lemon Zest
2 tsp Dried Basil
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp Salt
C. Procedure Outline:
1. Place flour in a large pile on the counter and create a circular well in the center.
2. In a small mixing bowl combine eggs, lemon zest, basil, olive oil and salt. Mix together.
3. Add the egg mixture to the well in the flour.
4. Stir the egg and flour mixture together until combined. If mixture is too dry, simply add a little water until you reach the desired consistency.
5. Knead dough until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rest for about 10 minutes.

6. Roll dough out to desired thickness and cut into desired noodle shapes.

7. If using a pasta rolling machine, follow manufacturer's directions.


D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
I have never made pasta before so this was a strange and new experience. It was actually mush easier than I would have thought. I have no idea why I have never tried making it before. It was a strange idea using the counter as the mixing surface but fun. Making the well of flour was easy but adding the liquid ingredients was not so easy. We added it and the flour soon became a volcano with the egg mix running down all sides and causing our well to collapse. We ended up smashing it all together in the end. It didn't look as pretty and as organized as other's but in the end it seemed to work just fine. Our dough was a little dry which was remedied by adding a small amount of water (I would guess about 1-2 Tbsp). We had to be careful that we didn't add too much because we still wanted a dry enough dough that we could process the dough through the pasta cutter. We converted our large mass of dough into two small perfect balls and then covered them with plastic allowing them to rest for 15 minutes. Once it was our turn to put it through the pasta cutter we flattened it out first by using the rolling setting and slowing decreasing the size of the dough until it was as thick (for me) or thin (for Jen) as we wanted it. We had to pre-shape the dough as flat as we could get it with our hands so that it had enough room to go into the pasta cutter. I chose the fettuccine sized setting and Jen chose the spaghetti. This was the best part. It was really fun to see the dough take on the shapes that we are all so familiar with. I took my pasta home and cooked it for dinner with some olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Yummy.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
Since there is no yeast in noodles this is how they are separated from breads. They have no need to rise! If they did we would basically be eating mushy bread instead of the yummy chewy noodle that we all love. The eggs in pasta are mainly used for coloring and flavor. The flour that us typically used is Semolina as it contains very little free starch. Semolina has an interesting property in that is required less water to be used in dough as there are not any damaged starches to compete with the protein in absorbing it. This is most beneficial if the dough it going to be dried and cooked for eating at another time. Semolina is also preferred as its gluten matrix is very strong and is able to withstand the shaping process without falling apart.

A. Title: Ricotta Cheese
B. Reagents:
1 Gallon Whole Milk
1 1/2 tsp Citric Acid
1 tsp Salt
C. Procedure Outline:
1. Add the milk, citric acid and salt to a heavy bottomed pan (not aluminum or copper).

2. Heat mixture to 200 degrees. At this temperature the curd and whey will separate.

3. Turn heat off and allow to cool to 100 degrees.
4. Strain through a cheesecloth; then, tie the cheesecloth up and allow the ricotta cheese to drain for an additional 20 minutes.



D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
This was an interesting thing to make. How on earth could it take a whole gallon of milk to make such a small amount of cheese? We added the ingredients together and just sat and watched, waiting for something to happen. We had the temp at Med-High and waited for about 15-20 minutes before we saw anything happening. Suddenly the separation of the solids and the liquids became visible though the change was slight. The curds gradually increased as the separation became more prevalent. We saw small bubbles form from a very small boil and then without warning I saw about 5 large bubbles and a bunch of steam escape from the milky broth. Our curds were much smaller in size compared to our neighbors' and upon investigation one would have assumed that something had gone asunder. However when our curds were pushed out of the way we were able to the whey was clear with a yellow tone proving that a distinct separation had occurred. We immediately removed the cheese from the heat and let it cool for a good 15 minutes. Having previously prepared our cheesecloth and colander, we poured our concoction (over the sink) and collected our reward. There was a healthy portion of cheese sitting in the colander which we tied up into a neat ball and let it sit until near the end of class. Much of the moisture was drained and after about 40 minutes we had a reasonably handsome ball of cheese which we added salt to and bagged up to take home (mine went home to the hubby as I am a cottage cheese girl and not at all a fan of the ricotta).
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
Upon my internet researching I learned the meaning of the word ricotta and technically ricotta is not a cheese at all because it is simply a cheese by-product. Its name, ricotta, means cooked again which is a great explanation as to how it is made...simply by cooking milk that has already been processed. Ricotta is typically made from the whey that has been drained from such cheeses as mozzarella, provolone, and other cheeses. Today in our experiment we made it the old fashioned way...from milk. A whole gallon of milk! Typically ricotta is made by letting the whey sit over night 12-15 hours but we used citric acid which served as a catalyst and allowed our reaction to occur in a fraction of the time. For those in the class who were unable to form the curds they were instructed to use more of the acid which allowed them to move forward. A catalyst serves as a means to make a reaction go faster without altering the reaction itself. So we were able to add the citric acid without having it effect our end product. The ricotta production relies on allowing the inoculated bacteria in whey to further ferment the liquid. The remaining sugars in the milk are converted to lactic acid which lowers the pH of the whey. The solubility of the protein in acidified whey is reduced and when we added heat to the acidified whey, the heat denatures the proteins causing it to come out as a fine curd. Salt is added for flavor and serves no other purpose in the creation process.

A. Title: Pizza Crust
B. Reagents:
1 1/2 Cups Water
1 Tbsp Yeast
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/3 Cup Canola Oil
3-4 Cups Flour
1 Tbsp Salt
C. Procedure Outline:
1. In a large bowl add the water and yeast. Gently stir to mix. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the flour and baking powder together.
3. Add the flour to the water and knead into a soft dough.
4. Allow dough mixture to rest for about 20 minutes.
5. Shape into desired pizza shape and par-bake in a 500 degree oven for about 5 minutes.

6. Top partially baked pizza dough with favorite toppings and continue to bake until cheese is bubbling and crust is golden brown (about 7 additional minutes).
D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
As a repeat of the foccacia bread above the yeast was added to warm water to allow the yeast to begin activation. Once it was allowed to sit and react to form a froth the flour and baking powder were added until a soft dough was formed. This recipe was textbook as it occurred exactly how it was written. We allowed the dough to rest for 25 minutes which allowed a great network of air to be formed and then panned the bread and pre-baked it creating an easy surface to form a delicious dish.We took it out of the oven when a slight browning began to occur and then took it home for a homemade pizza feast.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
In this recipe we not only had the yeast that acted as a leaven-er but also baking powder. Baking powders are used when a dough is a "weak dough" which just means that a dough is not elastic enough to contain carbon dioxide indefinitely. So a baking powder is added which allows the dough to have the light and fluffy result that is desired. Baking powder contains baking soda and an acid in the form of salt crystals that dissolve in water. Ground dry starch is also added to the powder which prevents premature reactions from occurring. Most powders are double-acting which just means that they produce an initial set of gas bubbles upon adding the powder to the batter which is needed as they form little gas spaces in the batter or dough and then again activate during the baking process which allows the little gas spaces to expand to a size needed for a light texture. When combined with the yeast, the baking powder offers a perfect density and lightness to a perfect pizza crust. The yeast is also great and necessary not only for its chemical properties but also for such a yummy flavor.

I have never been to Italy (it is definitely on my list) but I sure love their food and love to pretend sometimes that I am an Italiana Mambita!