Northfield Notebook: Saturday, June 25, 2011
One of Northfield's worst-kept secrets is Pizza Night at Red Barn Farm. The Winter Family farm on the south edge of Northfield is an idyllic place, made even more special with the addition of a wood-fired pizza oven. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons in the summer months, Tammy and Patrick Winter and their two children fire up the oven and set about the herculean task of making pizzas for the crowds of people picnicking on the lawn. Depending on when you arrive and order your pizza, it can take a while: we waited almost two hours for our pizza the first time we visited. But the relaxed and convivial atmosphere make it a pleasant wait. Adults sit on blankets sipping glasses of wine (bring your own), children run around happily, and often a band plays up beyond the bonfire of used pizza boxes. It feels like a weekly Fourth of July celebration or a family reunion. And the pizza, when it finally comes, is amazing. After Griff Wigley went for the first time on Wednesday, June 8, he reported on LocallyGrown that 130 pizzas were made. His post includes a good set of photos from that evening.
For our family, Friday is the traditional pizza night. I make my own pizza dough, and usually cook the pizza in the oven on a special pizza stone. Last night, since the weather finally cooperated, I decided to fire up the Weber grill and try making my own backyard wood-fired pizza.
Down at The Measuring Cup on Division Street, you can buy a special Emile Henry pizza stone that can be placed directly on the grill. I also got a tip from another local cook that The Measuring Cup has a helpful email list that sends out recipes and news of specials at the store. One of the emails included instructions on pizza grilling. You can subscribe to the list in the right sidebar of their website, or sign up at the store.
For my pizza, I got a good fire going in the grill using a combination of charcoal and small sticks of firewood (for good measure, I also threw on a couple of handfuls of hickory chips I bought at EconoFoods). When I had a bed of hot coals, I put the pizza stone on the grill and let it get good and hot. Then I slid the pizza onto the hot stone (using a pizza paddle), covered the grill, and let the pizza cook.
The resulting pizza was a huge success. You can see it in the photograph above, with great toppings from Just Food: olive oil and garlic, sliced Roma tomatoes, sliced kalamata olives, feta cheese, part skim mozzarella from Burnett Dairy Coop (in Grantsburg, Wisconsin), and a sprinkling of oregano.
The dough is easy. For one large pizza, proof a teaspoon of yeast (available in bulk at Just Food) in half a cup of warm water. Add a tablespoon of good olive oil and a teaspoon of salt. Stir in a cup of flour, adding more flour until the dough is no longer sticky and can be kneaded. I use a Kitchen Aid mixer for all of this. (If you don't have a Kitchen Aid, there's a good selection available at The Measuring Cup.) Knead the dough until smooth and silky, then let rise in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with a dish cloth, until doubled in bulk (about an hour). Now you're ready to roll.
Red Barn Farm also has a booth at the Riverwalk Market Fair in downtown Northfield on Saturday mornings. They currently have a delicious selection of hot pepper jellies and homemade barbecue sauce, and should have farm-fresh produce later in the season.
