Ken Forkish--David Snyder Pizza--Pizza and Calzones
I've been wanting to try the Ken Forkish style pizza dough ever since David Snyder on TFL posted about his great love for this formula and procedure here. David changed some of the timing in the recipe to achieve the ultimate results. I followed his directions pretty closely with the only thing I changed being I used my mixer on low speed for the initial mix and used some fresh milled white hard wheat flour in place of the WW he used.
I must say this was a very easy dough to shape and was fun to use and tasted great. I will definitely use this one in the future.
I usually use my Pizza Kettle set-up on my Weber grill but since it's been way too cold and snowy outside to grill anything I baked them in my oven using this method http://www.breadcetera.com where he suggested to put your pizza stone on the highest shelf of your oven and set your oven to broil. The purpose of this is to get as much heat as possible to be retained by the stone. I have to say it worked perfectly so give it a try!
I made 2 pizzas the first day with one being a fresh tomato and mozzarella marinated in balsamic vinegar with caramelized onions. The second pizza was fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce and home made turkey meatballs.
The second day I made some calzones using ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella, caramelized onions, baked cheesy chicken and parmesan cheese. I must say the calzones dough ended up very sour compared to the pizza the nigh before, but tasted great.
Comments
Your pizza looks great.
I've tried it but oven seems to be too smart for that trick. My recollection is that the broiler turns itself off when the stone gets too hot. But... hmm... I ought to try it again, because that looks wonderful.
Thanks Floyd. It's worth a try again. It really helps singe the crust.
Regards,
Ian
Your pizza's and calzone have me anticipating tomorrow's dinner. I love your pizza with the delicious slices of tomato and fresh mozza. Oh and calzone too! Nice and cheesie. You have cold and snow..I'm sure these must have really been enjoyed.
I was watching Diner's, Drive Inn's and Dives tv show the other day. He made the most delicious looking calzone and I've been wanting one ever since. Now your post has pushed the button. I will have to at least make one or two calzone's. I have a lot of pizza dough prepared.
I have Ken Forkish's levain pizza dough balls in the fridge now and I made so much levain. I'm making another batch of pizza dough ball's and even some SD bread.
You picked a winner for pizza and calzone. But, then I don't have to tell you that you've already tasted it.
KF does mention in his book about using the broiler to super heat the stone and brown the pizza crust if your oven's temp doesn't go up into the 500+ zone. Nice to see you were happy with the results.
Sylvia
Thanks Sylvia. I look forward to hearing about your results. As you know this recipe does make some great pizza dough.
I love DDD and watch it all the time. What type of calzones did he make? Please share your results if you get a chance.
Regards,
Ian
The calzones where made in a local Pub 'The Four Kegs'. It's in a little strip mall up on the west end of town in Las Vegas. Family owned and run for over thirty years. Just a little sports bar type place with family dining in the back. They serve quite a variety of foods, hamburgers, sandwiches, ribs, calzone..everything has a special touch of deliciousness. It has always been a local's favorite. It was started in the 70's and I enjoyed many a casual delicious meal there. I was delighted to see in on DDD. He also used to go there when he was going to UNLV in the 70's. He made a calzone alongside the owner's calzone. I have to say the star of DDD calzone looked beautifully shaped...better than the owners. His dough was plain and same day, but non the less it was made fresh. Filled with provolone, salami, pastrami and ham. Sent me right to the deli, so I have all the goodies ready for a calzone, though I made a sandwich first...now I will have to try a calzone tomorrow.
Sylvia
Thanks for the info....I will have to see if I can catch that episode on reruns. I like the mix of meats from Guy's calzone...will have to try that one day.
Regards,
Ian
KF dough is all the rage it seems - and it should be! I love the calzones, so cheesy
I've got m old rye starter left overs sitting on the heating pad going through a 12 hour refresh some left over pizza sauce and some smoked hot Italian sausage I smoked yesterday. Sounds like we will give your calzones a go tomorrow. It is a shame it is too cold for your kettle pizza grill.....It makes such great pizza.
Great broiling and baking Ian! Say HI to the apprentices for Lucy.
Thanks DA....you should try this formula one day....it may not be as good as your creation but it's pretty darned good.
Look forward to seeing your Brownman special calzones....just make sure Lucy saves some for you and the family :)
My apprentice Cosmo chirped hello (he's a cat who sounds like a bird....) and the rest of the gang gave a paw shake to their cousin Lucy!
I'll post my bake from today as soon as I get it written up tonight or Sunday. Making some ricotta knots to go with my wife's lasagna and eggplant for tomorrow's belated holiday dinner. Also working on some Matzo Balls for my homemade soup.
Happy baking and cooking!
Ian
started the calzone wave and I am sitting here and enjoy the pictures of all those delicious calzones rolling through. Too bad a virus is making me eat soups and other boring stuff, else I would join you guys. Telling you to enjoy those delicious things would useless as I know that you do enjoy them...
Thanks...sorry you don't feel well. I hate those stomach viruses.
Feel better soon.
I know that the autolyse is described as "just combine" or "shaggy mass" but I always wind up with a bit more flour that won't incorporate and then wind up adding a bit of water so I can get it to do so. The end result is that the dough is no longer shaggy but is rather a bit smooth.
Do you see any problem with mixing by hand and using just enough extra water to smooth out that shaggy mass to something more akin to play-dough surface texture?
The whole idea of the autolyse is to let the flour absorb the water easier and it makes it easier to mix later. Don't add any extra water until you add the rest of the ingredients. When you add the levain after the autolyse it will help absorb the extra flour. If after adding all the ingredients you are still too dry, then you should add extra water until the dough is smooth. Let me know if this is clear or maybe I misunderstood you.
Ian
I just thought that if I autolysed and wound up with say, a teaspoon of dry flour that would not incorporate, it didn't make sense to leave it dry while the rest of it hydrated, only to get it to incorporate with the levain later. I never add much water, just keep wetting my hand to until all the dry stuff is moistened.... but by the time I do that it is a smoother dough.