This instantly reminded me of this article from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04...

It is from in '07, when violinist Joshua Bell played at a Metro stop in DC. The crux of the article touches on how much presentation and framing affect our perception of art. It has some interesting quotes and insights from Bell on what it feels like to go from playing halls getting paid "$1,000 a minute" to playing for a marginally less receptive crowd.

My notes after trying it-

* Dough needed extra flour ~ 2T to get consistency I wanted.

* Dough held up fine in fridge for up to 3 days (but were getting overblown by day 3 and would not push it much longer). I also froze 2 of the balls after the first night in the fridge to test how well they thawed. After thawing, they were a bit more blown than I would have liked but still workable. Needed a bit longer of time out at room temp to get proper elasticity and spring.

* True to style the conicione had a nice crumb and crust was bready in general. Worked well overall and would be a good dough for heavier toppings.

Stretching / Dressing the dough-

There are a lot of different ways to stretch out Americana dough like this. Its durable enough to take some relatively rough, inexperienced handling so it shouldn't be too bad.

The only key is DO NOT ROLL IT! I can't stress that enough. You'll ruin the crumb. Tossing is perfect for this dough, though.

Top it however you want! The one I pictured is a homemade tomato sauce, basil, tomato slices, and mozzarella (with a little bit of parm to bring out the flavor). A good trick is to mix some of the cheese down in with the sauce, really helps to get some carmelizing in the oven.

Cook @ 550F (highest most ovens will go) for 5 mins on a pan. Transfer to the rack and cook for ~3 more to crisp up the bottom.

The oven time and temp are incredibly crucial. People seem to be too afraid of turning it up and don't get a good enough oven spring out of the dough.

So I know it has been a bit but here is the recipe info for the Americana style dough I used above-

* 22.5 oz unbleached high-gluten flour/bread flour (I like King Arthur's Bread Flour)

* 3T sugar

* 2t table salt

* 2t IDY (Instant dry Yeast)

* 1/4c vegetable oil

* 1c milk

* 3/4c water @105F

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a metal spoon until all the flour is incorporated. (~ 4mins).

Let rest for ~ 5 mins. Then mix for another 2-3mins. Until soft, sticky and passes the "windowpane test" Add more water or flour to adjust the dryness/stickyness of dough.

Divide dough into 4 equal 10oz balls. Round the balls and lightly brush with oil. Place in freezer bags.

Let rest for ~ 15mins then place in fridge overnight.

Remove from fridge and let stand for ~ 1.5hrs to give the dough some better workability.

The dough should be easy to work without being too plastic / blown.

Now I'm not as technically gifted or fancy as a lot of you folks but I do have my passions. Mostly Pizza and Beer.

was one of a number of trials on some new Americana dough recipes.

Pretty standard for me -

Late breakfast - 2 eggs, cup of oatmeal, and protein shake

Lunch - Can of Campbell's tomato soup or package of chicken ramen or chicken breast

Afternoon snack - protein shake or greek yogurt

Sometimes leftovers or the lunch Fajita special if I'm feeling real crazy

If you want to brew with the least amount of equipment you would need at least the following on your first brew day:

* Sanitizer - Cleanliness is incredibly important to the process. I prefer Starsan. Works great and is no rinse.

* Brew Pot - Any standard stock pot will work. However, a bigger pot will make your beer turn out better. (Although you can get away with just using a standard 3 gallon one and topping off with bottled, distilled water.)

* Fermentor - You will need something to keep the wort in as it becomes beer. It will need to be oversized by ~1 gallon to provide room for the krausen (foam that forms as yeast do their thing). Buckets with lids are the standard here.

* Airlock and grommet - You need a way to let out CO2 without letting in air. An airlock does this perfectly and a grommet keeps it airtight.

What you need for bottling:

* Bottles - a standard homebrew batch is 5 gallons so you will need 48-52 bottles. Easiest way is to just save any poptop beer bottles and use those.

* Caps - something to close the bottles!

* Capper - to put the caps on

* Racking Cane and Hosing - to pull beer out of fermentor.

Like I said this is just your absolute minimum list. To make things easier I would recommend-

* Bottle Filler - A gravity/spring loaded rod that only dispenses beer when the bottom is pressed against the inside of a bottle.

* A separate bottling bucket - Allows a more even mix of priming sugar and prevents trub (beer gunk) from getting into bottles.

* Thermometer and Hydrometer - Pretty much consider these essentials. Allow you to control your brew more accurately.

* Secondary Fermentor - This is a pretty contested topic in the world of homebrew. Some people say that they are just an additional infection / oxidation risk. Others (like me) prefer to use them and feel they allow you to make clearer, better beer. A carboy is the standard option here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcqauC49Xmc

My late father's birthday would be coming up this weekend and this song always reminds me of him and fits my mood pretty well.