Pizza

[Mercs Own]

I did an article for Beer and Brewer Spring edition - Four Pizza's Four beers - here is a preview of the pizzas if you want the recipe you will have to buy the mag.

 

[Banshee]

My pizza dough

4 cups of bakers flour
8 grams of yeast
400ml water
4 tbl spoon of brown sugar
3 tbl spoon olive oil

For a traditional cold italian pizza (my fav) cook base with tomato sauce on it, let cool, smear with mascaponi, sprinkle on cracked peper, feta, olives and baby rocket leaves. mmmmmmm

tomato sauce = tin of peeled tomatoes, salt, pepper, italian herbs of choice (maybe your fav hop even) and some water and simmer to thick paste.

 

[drsmurto]

I had to post the same day as Mercs Own is doing a magazine shoot :unsure:

They look magnificent Merc!

Anyway....

After spending the last few weeks reading Dough (and Crust which arrived last week) i finally decided that i had absorbed enough of the theory to have a shot.

I have tried so many different pizza dough recipes i thought i would start with that.

First go at the hand kneading and was still sceptical that it would magically go from a sticky mess to dough after several minutes of belting it against the table (well, there is slightly more to his method than that but that was how my partner described what i was doing when her mother asked what the noise was).

But, after 10 mins i had a dough that didn't stick to the table.

Left it to rest in the fridge for 24 hours and then another hour at room temp before dividing up into 3 balls (2 went into the freezer) and letting it prove for another 30 mins.

End result blew me away. Easily the best pizza i have made.

I didn't take pics but defrosted 1 of the remaining balls and made it again last night. A lot more bocconcini that i used the first time but the fresh cheese has such a short life span it seemed a shame not to use it. :icon_drool2:

Crust was gorgeous, it puffed up like i have never seen pizza dough before. Nice crispy base. The sauce is just semi-dried tomatoes processed to a paste with a little water added. Then ham, olives, artichoke hearts and bocconcini.

DrSmurto

Gaganis have an all metal version of the the pizza cutter. I haven't found a decent place for paddles in Adelaide yet.

Cheers
Pedro

Found a peel at Gaganis Bros the perfect size for a pizza on the standard sized pizza stone.

EDIT - spelling

 

[Mercs Own]

so you did the pizza dough out of the book????

I have never done a cold pizza dough recipe but have heard good things. Is that what you did? I will have to look up the book.

Looks good although a little hot on the outsides hey been there done that!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I also love using Pita/Lebanese bread for bases as well... :icon_drool2:

 

[drsmurto]

so you did the pizza dough out of the book????

I have never done a cold pizza dough recipe but have heard good things. Is that what you did? I will have to look up the book.

Looks good although a little hot on the outsides hey been there done that!

Yes, made the pizza dough recipe out of the book (Dough) and left it to prove for 24 hours in the fridge. Took it out to warm up to room temp and let it sit for another hour. Made into 3 balls and left them to prove for another 30 mins.

He suggests the slow rising time produces some acidity which goes well in a pizza.

Photo makes it look more burnt than it is (i bet we all say that about our food photos) but the outside are a tad crispy. The recipe says 10-12 mins at 250C and i pulled this out after 8 mins so my oven is clearly a touch hotter than the knob tells me.

The trick is not to walk away and forget you are cooking........ having the memory of a goldfish makes it that little bit more challenging.

 

[olde]

You wouldn't be the first to be led astray by a knob.
24 hrs is pretty close, I like to leave mine 36hrs, it just seems to develop more stretch without too much elasticity. Hard to describe, but elastic drives me nuts.

 

[Mercs Own]

You wouldn't be the first to be led astray by a knob.
24 hrs is pretty close, I like to leave mine 36hrs, it just seems to develop more stretch without too much elasticity. Hard to describe, but elastic drives me nuts.

Yeah drives me nuts too!

 

[brett mccluskey]

if you want to see some pizzas that will amaze and probably disgust you , check out FXcuisine.com and look for deep fried pizzas ,scottish, and traditional italian pizza frittata. the article on scottish deep fried is hilarious,and the photos make you wonder. :icon_vomit:

 

[brett mccluskey]

the deep fried cheese burger is even funnier :lol:

 

[komodo]

http://www.instructables.com/id/BBQ-Pizza-Dome/ ...

 

[Supra-Jim]

Interesting link Komodo. Seems like quite a bit of effort however.

I've had really good success in faking the 'wood fired experience' by using a pizza stone (and a good old paving stone for two pizzas at once) in the bbq. The secret is throwing in the smoker box with some wood chips. Get the bbq nice and hot (burners on full) and your pizza will cook in around 3-4mins. This is just long enough to for the smoke to give the impression it has been cooked near a flame.

Cheers SJ

 

[Duff]

I got some pizza stuff recently for my birthday. One of the things was a pre-mix of pizza base flour. I don't know if it has been mentioned in this thread, but the pre-mix flour had semolina incorporated into it. It was the best base I have ever tried, real crispy and great flavour. Anyone ever mixed semolina in theirs??

The maker of the flour mix was Home Bread in Virginia, Brisbane.

 

[Mercs Own]

The last time I made pizzas I put 10% semolina into the 'oo' flour mix ie 900g of 'oo' flour and 100g of semolina. I have heard some people put 20% into the mix.

I didnt like it as I felt it made the base a little chewy in a tough way. I normally can get a nice textured soft chewy base but the semolina seemed to add a cardboard type toughness to it - no I didnt overcook the pizza's! It didnt make me want to add the semolina in again however some pizza makers - pros and home cooks swear by it.

 

[Duff]

I guess that's what it was like Merc. It made the base tougher and when rolled out thin was very crispy and crunchy.

Sort of like K&K brewing for pizza base Just add yeast and water.....

Come north and do a fresh prawn pizza for your show. There are some great restaurants in Port Douglas which have just hosted the contestants from the English version of Masterchef.

 

[bonj]

I guess it depends on your personal preference. I like my bases without semolina (I do use coarse semolina on the paddle to help the base slide off), but I like a thicker breadier base. I get 2 pizzas out of 500g flour, whereas my sister makes 4 out of the same amount.

 

[NickB]

From a couple of nights ago, 2 x Cheesy Crust (with Gruyere)





Yum yum!

 

[Mercs Own]

I guess it depends on your personal preference. I like my bases without semolina (I do use coarse semolina on the paddle to help the base slide off), but I like a thicker breadier base. I get 2 pizzas out of 500g flour, whereas my sister makes 4 out of the same amount.

I get 6 pizza's out of 650g of flour. I also use quite a bit of yeast (4 teaspoons) which I finds makes the dough quite soft and makes the crust nice and softly chewy.

 

[earle]

Good looking pizza's in latest edition of Beer & Brewer Merc. I'm also a bit jealous of anyone with a pizza oven, even though the ones I do on sandstone in the BBQ come out great it doesn't create the same kind of atmosphere.

 

[brettprevans]

I get 6 pizza's out of 650g of flour. I also use quite a bit of yeast (4 teaspoons) which I finds makes the dough quite soft and makes the crust nice and softly chewy.

i use between 650 and 800g and get 6 or 7 pizza like you paul. lots of yeast and proofing and yummy thin crisp chewy bases. in fact i might make pizzas with the kids this weekend now that its on my mind. even if our oven is a ***** electric element one with no fan :angry:

gotta love semolina on the bottom of the pizzas. adds a little something extra i recon.