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Hi all,
After years of so-so results in making pizzas I decide to try the recipe for crust on this site's home page (Authentic Vera Pizza Napoletana Dough Recipe). What I ended up with was a surprise:
Although traditionalists might scoff, I am used to dough recipes that called for a small amount of sugar (or honey) to boost the yeast. I figured that without it in the FB recipe, a long enough rise time should be sufficient for some nice bubbles in the crust. The amount of salt, however was alarming, to say the least. Salt is poison to yeast - I know this, but I went ahead with the proportions anyway.
After a 2.5 hr. initial rise, shaping of the dough balls, further 1.25 hr. proofing, I made one crust and refrigerated the other (I halved the recipe). Although I felt the dough was a bit too stiff and added some extra water to get a workable mass, I was able to get a very elastic one, that I could stretch out very thin and actually see through it. I stretched about a 12" pie crust. Keeping my toppings to a couple tablespoons of sauce, 3.5 oz. of cheese, a few Calamata olives and 1 jalape?o, both chopped, I assembled to pie. My oven has no self-cleaning so I just cranked the temp all the way up to an indicated 650F (whether or not it actually comes that close). My pizza stone is a cheapish 3/8" thick one, so I preheated for about 50 min. Popped the assembled pizza in and watched attentively, hoping for something decent.
To my surprise I saw a beautiful crust rise up on the edges, staying nice and thin in the middle. Of course my concern was that it would be fully cooked in the middle. As I watched it bake, the toppings - cheese and sauce - actually boiled on top of the crust! It took approximately 6 minutes at the temperature I could achieve, and came out with a nice char on the edges and bottom. After a couple minutes of cooling, I sliced the pie into 6 small slices, pulled the first out and looked at the middle of the crust. Not soggy, actually pretty decent.
Seconds after my first bite, however, I was greeted by a crust that was not only very salty, but beyond chewy - actually tough! I ate the entire pie, but it was so tough that my jaws were aching after the second slice!
I am going to modify this recipe to 1/4 the amount of salt and add just a 1/4 tsp. of honey to boost the yeast.
Anyone else have similar results from this recipe? Or am I alone in finding it way too salty? Is my assessment correct in that the excessive salt made it tough?
After years of so-so results in making pizzas I decide to try the recipe for crust on this site's home page (Authentic Vera Pizza Napoletana Dough Recipe). What I ended up with was a surprise:
Although traditionalists might scoff, I am used to dough recipes that called for a small amount of sugar (or honey) to boost the yeast. I figured that without it in the FB recipe, a long enough rise time should be sufficient for some nice bubbles in the crust. The amount of salt, however was alarming, to say the least. Salt is poison to yeast - I know this, but I went ahead with the proportions anyway.
After a 2.5 hr. initial rise, shaping of the dough balls, further 1.25 hr. proofing, I made one crust and refrigerated the other (I halved the recipe). Although I felt the dough was a bit too stiff and added some extra water to get a workable mass, I was able to get a very elastic one, that I could stretch out very thin and actually see through it. I stretched about a 12" pie crust. Keeping my toppings to a couple tablespoons of sauce, 3.5 oz. of cheese, a few Calamata olives and 1 jalape?o, both chopped, I assembled to pie. My oven has no self-cleaning so I just cranked the temp all the way up to an indicated 650F (whether or not it actually comes that close). My pizza stone is a cheapish 3/8" thick one, so I preheated for about 50 min. Popped the assembled pizza in and watched attentively, hoping for something decent.
To my surprise I saw a beautiful crust rise up on the edges, staying nice and thin in the middle. Of course my concern was that it would be fully cooked in the middle. As I watched it bake, the toppings - cheese and sauce - actually boiled on top of the crust! It took approximately 6 minutes at the temperature I could achieve, and came out with a nice char on the edges and bottom. After a couple minutes of cooling, I sliced the pie into 6 small slices, pulled the first out and looked at the middle of the crust. Not soggy, actually pretty decent.
Seconds after my first bite, however, I was greeted by a crust that was not only very salty, but beyond chewy - actually tough! I ate the entire pie, but it was so tough that my jaws were aching after the second slice!
I am going to modify this recipe to 1/4 the amount of salt and add just a 1/4 tsp. of honey to boost the yeast.
Anyone else have similar results from this recipe? Or am I alone in finding it way too salty? Is my assessment correct in that the excessive salt made it tough?
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