Personal Best Pizza

[heliman]

My new recipe has now been fine tuned and the end result is really good and just how I like it.

I was also able to repeat the process which was very positive. I am using a biga starter and 67% hydration. Also adding some olive oil.

Stretching started in the normal way pressing down with fingers and working around, but preserving an edge section to allow for some puffing. Then I stretched the final pizza over the back of my hand and it produced a very uniform base, with no thin areas at all.

I prepared the biga starter and allowed it to ferment over night. Made the dough last night and allowed it to proof at room temp for about an hour then into the fridge over night, then made the pizzas 18 hours later.

Pictured - pizza bianco (rosemary, olive oil, rock salt and garlic), and anchovy, mushroom and capers with fresh chilli..

Dough overall had a very silky texture with a hint of sweetness. It rose a few mm to produce a nice finished product. Just baked in the electric oven this time, but keen to try it in the WFO too.

[robs]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Very nice looking pizzas, they are making me hungry. I might have to make one for lunch tomorrow. Dinner tonight is going to be take away Chinese and tomorrow will be somethhing chucked together in a hurry (or takeaway again) as i'll be tied up playing hockey from about 6pm till 9.

[BackyardPermaculture]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Rossco, they look great. I'm still using the Defiance baking flour with a bit of Tipo 00 mixed in - not a combo I'm too happy with. Which flour are you using for this - Allied Mills?

Also, do you leave it overnight in fridge in separate dough balls or as one large mass?

Cheers, Mick

[heliman]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Thanks Mick!

Using "Superb Baker's Flour" - well priced and locally available. It's a really good product and I have settled on it after trying a lot of others.

I cut my dough up after machine kneading it, followed by a few mins on the bench to get a slight bit more silkiness. Then, I pop them in separate containers and put in the fridge. Removed from fridge about 1.5 hrs before using.

[texassourdough]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Nice pie forming, Rossco! Well done...
Jay

[heliman]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Thanks for those kind words Doctor Jay!!

The shaping was one of the biggest rewards of the last batch. I have never had it as good as that in both forming the initial shape and retaining the shape once formed. I was tempted to throw the thing into the air and try a celebratory spin!

[texassourdough]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

I can see it now, Rossco! Spinning, soaring, rising into the sky....perfection....and a gust of wind or an errant step and splat (sorry splatgirl!) to the ground....

You did well!
J

[heliman]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

heheheheh - or stuck to the ceiling... where's my paint scraper????

[heliman]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Ok, round number 3 under way.

Increased the biga to cover 4 pizzas. Have left the biga on the bench for 1.5 hrs and now it's in the fridge for 24 hrs.

Update to follow...

[BackyardPermaculture]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Update to follow...

Oh, the suspense!

BTW, I'm going for round 2 today in the new WFO - but will have to settle for same-day dough prep.

[BrianShaw]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

That's a beautiful pie!

[heliman]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Doing a post-mortem on my process, one thing that I have realised is that to get a really smooth, silky dough that doesn't have thin spots, you have to use a starter. The IDY I think is just too powerful and large bubbles develop (and keep developing) in the dough which leads to problems.

For a batch of dough to make 4 pizzas I use about .1g IDY in the starter which is miniscule but nonetheless gives me a perfect base in terms of rise and texture. It is a bit more effort to start the day before but in my view well worth it. Like bread, it can't be hurried...

[texassourdough]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Hi Rossco!

There is nothing I can think of that is bad about extending the dough development process other than convenience and the need to plan further ahead (well, up to 2 or 3 days). Flavor is definitely better. And starting with reduced IDY will tend to give you an extended development period with more enzyme action (relative to yeast). I have to think there is more to this than you allude, however. With high IDY you may well have been overproofed and big bubbles are consistent with wet, overproofed dough. I suspect the lower IDY has you baking earlier in the proof cycle which is probably more important to thin spots than the biga. The silkiness tends to be associated with proper development and time so the retard can be expected to help with that.

And you are right... pizza and bread don't benefit from being rushed. But I would add, pizza IS bread! The better one understands bread, the easier pizza seems to get.

Bake on!
Jay

[heliman]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Hello Jay...

Interesting science!!

Definitely think I was overdoing it on the IDY in the early days which caused those light an puffy pizzas.

Well tonight I made the next batch of dough and again it turned out very well. It seemed a bit more fluid and softer and silkier than before - despite making it according to a Baker's percentage based recipe.

The dough almost looked like it could be used right away - but of course it was not properly fermented as the biga had only been added about 90 mins before and allowed to rest for 60 mins thereafter.

Tomorrow is the next bake off ....

[texassourdough]

Re: Personal Best Pizza

Hi Rossco...

For now, keep doing what you are doing... but pay attention to the change in the dough over time as you bake pizzas. With the low inoculation of IDY I think you could might benefit from more proofing time. Reading your message I think you are proofing for 2 1/2 hours after mixing the biga. That feels short given your low IDY in the biga. I would think your second or third pizza would be likely to be better than your first. (lighter, better texture). Especially if you can wait a half hour to hour between pizzas so you can really see the difference.

Bake On!
Jay