flour or cornmeal

[tommy5]

i am trying to be truly authentic with my pizza, does anybody know if they use flour or cornmeal in italy on the peel?

[james]

Re: flour or cornmeal

Flour!!!!

Professional pizza chefs also say you should pull your pizza toward the peel, rather than pushing the peel under the pizza so you don't pick up too much flour. I think that's pretty difficult to do, but the pro's can do it.
James

[Xabia Jim]

Re: flour or cornmeal

Hate to argue with the boss but we liked the cornmeal better.

Maybe we had too much flour? It was a bit pasty.

We also found a rice meal, like cornmeal that I'm going to try.

I think it's worth trying different things to see what you like. They both performed about the same.

I wonder what types of things Canuck Jim has used under his breads??

Jim

[sssmasi]

Re: flour or cornmeal

omg don't cornmeal... i know i don't post much... but for god's sake DO NOT USE CORNMEAL!


i swear if i ever walked into someones house where they served me pizza with cornmeal on the bottom of it i would slap them and leave in a fit of absolute rage

[redbricknick]

Re: flour or cornmeal

What if you walked into their house after being lost in the desert for weeks, and hadn't eaten anything but the leather from your shoes, and your hiking partner? What then sssmasi?

[CanuckJim]

Re: flour or cornmeal

XJim,

I've tried lots of things to make my peels work better. All I'm after is slip, not taste or addition, with the exception of bagels and some rolls. After a lot of experimentation, I've settled on stone ground brown rice flour for my breads. It's a bit coarser than finely milled flour and does not burn as easily. Gives plenty of slip, even for high hydration breads like Pain a l'Ancienne (Peter Reinhart). I find that what's left on the bottoms of the breads is easily brushed off after baking.

As an aside, I baked a bunch of those baguette yesterday. The hearth was hot (610), but my schedule demanded I get moving. Took 8 minutes to reach an internal temp of 205 F. No scorching or burning, well caramelized, great spring.

Jim

[Versachi]

Re: flour or cornmeal

I don't know if it's my place to say something but I think sssmasi's last post was the kind of post that is not needed on this forum. When I look at the posts each day on the forum I hope that I find some cooking posts with pics to match so I can see the variety of different styles of cooking in a brick oven. I think I can speak for most that we are jealous yet impressed by the amount and variety of cooking Xabia Jim in the past month. If he wants to cook tofu in his oven, I want to see and hear about it! My worry is that negative posts will make those that do cook and post about, Leary to do so. Imo the thing that hooks people into building one of these things is seeing the pictures of what can be cooked in one and how good it tastes. We need to encourage each others oven building/baking and offer help and direction if needed.

Cheers, Versachi

[maver]

Re: flour or cornmeal

Where to draw the line? I'll take smashey's post in jest - tough to get the intent from text, especially in one of the first few posts - not a lot of history. I agree with the versachi though that one of the appeals of this forum is the overall openness and evenhanded approach - it's a forum for ideas rather than opinions.

[sssmasi]

Re: flour or cornmeal

What if you walked into their house after being lost in the desert for weeks, and hadn't eaten anything but the leather from your shoes, and your hiking partner? What then sssmasi?

I would ask for my nonna's forgiveness and shamefully eat the pizza.

[sssmasi]

Re: flour or cornmeal

Where to draw the line? I'll take smashey's post in jest - tough to get the intent from text, especially in one of the first few posts - not a lot of history. I agree with the versachi though that one of the appeals of this forum is the overall openness and evenhanded approach - it's a forum for ideas rather than opinions.

Yes of course it was in jest. My lord! Basically it was James' "Flour!!!" response hyperbolized!

[Versachi]

Re: flour or cornmeal

My apologies sssmasi. I'm not trying to stir the pot and make trouble. In jest is was.

Cheers, Versachi

[dlachez]

Re: flour or cornmeal

I'm surprised no one has mentioned semolina. It's been a preference of many of the chefs I've worked with.

[redbricknick]

Re: flour or cornmeal

We use polenta at home in Tas. It's like little ball bearings. Polenta and cornmeal are the same essentially right?

[james]

Re: flour or cornmeal

I think that cornmeal can taste and feel a little gritty in your mouth. There's one vote. You also can't use cornmeal with Vera Pizza Napoletana. There's a second vote.

For me, there seems to be a fine line between having the right amount of flour to make sure everything slides off the peel, without having a bunch of flour on the bottom of your pizza -- which doesn't taste good and can even burn.

Have you seen our cool "waffle pattern" pizza peel that has holes to let excess flour drop down?

http://www.fornobravo.com/pizza_peel...l-anatomy.html

I also like the "dock" that you see in pizzerias in Naples. It is a notch cut into the marble work surface where the peel rests. The pizzaiolo literally pulls that pizza onto the peel. Fun to watch, hard to do.

James

[sssmasi]

Re: flour or cornmeal

We use polenta at home in Tas. It's like little ball bearings. Polenta and cornmeal are the same essentially right?

Well in my family when we say polenta we are talking about cooked cornmeal. Basically the way we do that is boil water, add salt, then slowly poor cornmeal into the boiling water until it is the right consistency. Turn to low heat and stir it every 10mins for an hour. Its pretty simple to make and tastes great. You can serve it like mashed potatoes with a bit of sauce on top, cut it into squares after it has cooled, put in a dish flat and bake it in the oven with sauce and cheese on it ect... there are lots of possibilities.

so basically... polenta is a dish and cornmeal is a raw product.