The Fresh Loaf

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Friday night P & P - Pizza and Pide

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Friday night P & P - Pizza and Pide

We took 100 g of our last bake:  The SD / YW Chacon Revisited – 90% Whole Grain, Multigrain Sprouts, Walnut and Sage Paste, and Pumpkin Seeds and used that as the starter for the pizza and pide dough.  It was weird having nuts, seeds and sprouts in the final dough but sure made forming the crusts fun and interesting with these add-ins tearing holes when ever they were encountered :-)

To this starter we added 100 g of whole soft white wheat we ground in the Krups grinder and 150 g of AP flour with 180 g of water.  The hydration ended up being around 75% since the starter was at 90% hydration.

We ground up some dried rosemary from the back yard and added this to the pizza dough after it was formed into a pie and the Mojo de Ajo brushed on the top.  The pies and pide were pre-baked a 500 F on a stone for 3 minutes before the rest of the toppings were added.  Instead of rosemary, the pide was sprinkled with dried Greek oregano after the  Mojo de Ajo was brushed on. 

 

My daughter said is was the best pizza to date even through she and my wife preferred our standard Focaccia Romana with garlic, fresh rosemary and sun dried tomatoes in the dough.  I'm not sure how this squares with being the best?

The pizzas had the usual toppings, home made Italian sausage, pepperoni, 5 peppers; red, green, poblano, Serrano and jalapeno peppers, caramelized onion and mushrooms,  3 cheeses; mozzarella, pecorino and Parmesan with fresh basil and garlic chives for garnish - after they came out of the oven.

Since this dough didn't have any olive oil in it, it baked up thin and very crisp and stayed that way even when wrapped up for the freezer an hour later.  It didn't bend even when loaded with all the toppings. A crunchy delight that wasn't too much because it was so thin. Very tasty too.

I liked the pide the best because of the toppings.  The oregano and Mojo de Ajo base, green olives stuffed with pimentos cut in half, sun dried tomato and garlic Feta, caramelized onion and mushrooms, the 5 peppers, thinly sliced Swiss chard with a hint of pecorino on top.  The little extra dough on the ends and side was also nice.  I'm sure the next bake will use the standard Focaccia Romana dough but the change this time was nice.  Next time, we have to bake it longer to get those dark, dark spots on the crust that makes Sylvia's look and taste so good.

Comments

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

What a delicious looking pizza and pide!  Gorgeous 'dabrownman specials'!  

The dough adding another dimension of flavor to your pizza and pide.  

You made the toppings on the pizza and pide eye candy.  The colors of the veggies, cheeses and meats all blending to make  them mouthwatering and beautiful.  I can just imagine the flavor.  

I can see were prebaking your crust for a few minutes had advantage for this type of pizza.

The Pide is a real beauty loaded with flavorful ingredients and delicious dough.  The crumb looks delicious and the little extra on the ends are enjoyable to eat.  Having used an olive oil in my pide dough.  I did get a very crisp crust on my pide and I think the one of the advantages to that was not having a liquid type sauce first applied as a filling.  The underside of your crust browned up beautifully.  

Sylvia 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

comments.  I forgot to take a picture of the pide crust but it was similar to the pizza.  Since we tend to go whole hog on the toppings with sauce, pre-baking is a must if you want to get to the 2nd piece without it folding in on itself :-)  I'm ready to make our own feta now too! Like you we prefer feta to goat's cheese - more Greek!.

The pepperoni was so thin that it baked up like a crisp potato chip - that doesn't happen often because it is always sliced too thick.

The olive oil in the dough just makes it brown nicely and the crust goes tender and chewy.  I think a little would hav helped this dough but I forgot to add it - getting older every day!

Nothing wrong some pide pride !

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

sounds delicious.  I hope someday just to try some homemade fresh mozza.  I don't care for the buffalo mozza..a little gamey for me..just haven't acquired the taste.  I'm not into cheese making though.  Took me several taste tests to finally find some good tasting pepperoni.  I've had my sausage overdone on my pizza's before and also my pepperoni.

Sylvia 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

a Greek Chef making Feta on TV the other day.  Looked pretty much like making mozzarella or queso fresco.  Seems every culture has a fresh kind of cheese.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Very nice looking Pizza!  That beats take out any day!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

kettle grill pizza extender for pizza in the summer.  My first Brinkman water smoker was a black one.  In the summer, I could put it out in the sun and it would hit 225 F all day - no fire required.  For folks who don't like smoke it was a free 8 hour slow cook.   Sadly, couldn't ever get the soaked chips to smoke though.   That would have been some great no fus of any kind  smoking.

The pizza was delicious.  Did you post your bread?

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Let me know what you think!

I had some of the new bake with a Feta Cheese (not home made :(  ) omlet and fruit this morning.

I do have to make some pizza myself this week especially after seeing your beauties.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

toasted 90% whole multigrain (fine bread for breakfast toast) with the last of the very nice home made pear butter.... but pears will be back in season soon.  Your last pizza will be pretty hard to top.  Will check out your post this morning.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Home made pear butter sounds pretty good.

One of these days when I retire( if I ever can) I will have to try making some of your home made condiments.  They all sound so good, but between my bread baking, gardening, golf (still have not played yet this season :() and my job it's hard to have any time left over to experiment.

Hopefully I can get some YW bread going this week.  I am supposed to be working at home right now, but I don't know if I can bring myself to do it, so maybe I will start that YW levain after dinner....

Thaichef's picture
Thaichef

Hello dabrownman:

Wow! I am very jealous. Your fantastic pizza made my mouth water and it is only 9.45 a.m.  Your family is so..................lucky to have you as a super Dad who cooks fantastic meals. Again, your pizza is outstanding (and I am sure great tasting too).  Sigh!

mantana 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

being a Thaichef you know how important is is to make food look good.  If it looks good, it will taste better every time and Thai food is one of the most beautiful.  Seems many oriental chefs place extra emphasis on making their preparations look as good as they can - many are just plain art that a home cook can't match easily.   This was tasty pizza with a differnt kind of crust and one of the few foods I completely lose all sense of portion control.  So we limit the dough made and make them small - one person size to try to  not over eat.  It's still a losing battle and more miles walking every time!  I have the same problem with hamburgers too.

My daughter has only been home 3 weeks from college and was already getting tired of my cooking - that is why we had pizza.  She requested Thai seafood green curry for tonight - my favorite.  What a nice, if demanding kid - always thinking about what her Dad would like :-)   So it's off to the Chinese and Vietnamese markets for the fresh fishy  part.   Thanks again.