The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Marinated Vegetables, Pecorino Romano Cheese Sourdough Pizza

Benito's picture
Benito

Marinated Vegetables, Pecorino Romano Cheese Sourdough Pizza

I realized that I hadn’t made any pizza in quite sometime.  My working on baguettes over the past several months got in the way ?. So 2 days ago I put together my go to sourdough pizza recipe from the pizza Community Bake.  I haven’t really many any changes to that recipe except that I now give the dough after cold retard 2 hours of RT final proof.  This has helped with a more open cornicione.  I’m still making 9” personal sized pizzas in my cast iron skillet.  A couple of adjustments to my methods for baking are that after I have stretched the dough I take the cast iron sklliet out of the oven (550ºF) and place it on my stovetop on a heated element so that the skillet stays as hot as possible.  This helps get that bottom crust crispy.  Finally for the final three minutes of baking, I turn on convection broil.

The vegetables are three types of Italian olives, roasted peppers, peperoncini, artichoke hearts, onions, basil and sundried tomatoes marinated in red wine vinegar and olive oil with dried oregano.  When using such wet toppings I use the strategy of first topping the dough with the cheese, in this case a pecorino Romano.  This really prevents a soggy crust even with such wet heavy toppings I used today.  You can see in my photos, the browned dry bottom crust and the photo of the slice that is holding the weight of the toppings without flopping

Comments

Benito's picture
Benito

Almost forgot to post my video of stretching and baking my pizza for those interested.

Please like if you like ?

BXMurphy's picture
BXMurphy

Benny, I like your videos. If you have a YouTube channel, where can I subscribe? 

Murph

Benito's picture
Benito

Hey Murph, yes those videos are posted from YouTube.  If you click on the video above, you will along the bottom edge towards the right where it says YouTube.  If you click on the word YouTube, it will launch my video in YouTube and there you can subscribe.  Thanks for watching.

Benny

mwilson's picture
mwilson

That looks incredible Benny. I am thinking about all those flavours...

Ah! sooo good! Some Nocellara olives in there? Certainly looks so and pecorino cheese.. Wow#

This is so my cup 'o tea!

Incredible!

 

Benito's picture
Benito

Thanks Michael, the pizza did taste great.  I have to admit that I’m not sure what specific types of olives those are, they were a blend of three Italian olives I got from Eataly and looked perfect for this pizza and certainly tasted great.

Benny

GlennM's picture
GlennM

Great looking pie Benny. What time is lunch?

i really enjoyed the video, the process is quite different from mine but produces a great result!

I make quite a few pizzas. I make a sourdough with no sugar and let it ferment for a few days in the fridge. I have been shaping mine cold. I think I will try the RT rest next time.  I have a blackstone pizza oven but I bet the cast iron would work great as well

Here is one from a couple of days ago.

 

Benito's picture
Benito

Wow that looks delicious Glenn.  I have always done a long 2-4 days cold retard and then given the dough 1 hour of RT final proofing, but decided I'd try to double the RT proof and I'm quite happy with the results.  Tonight I have another two to make and thus they will have had 3d of cold retard and I'll give them the 2 hour RT final proof.  That way I'll be able to see if there are any significant differences between the two.

Benny

GlennM's picture
GlennM

Sometimes I have left it in the fridge for more than a week and it still turned out great. A bit of whole wheat flour in the dough is sometimes a nice touch.  When I make my dough I give it a spin in the mixer, ball it up and right into the fridge for a long ferment

I think I will try a buffalo wing pizza today, blue cheese dressing for the sauce, black olives, red onion and the precooked chicken tossed in some buffalo sauce.  I will try the 2 hrs RT and see what difference it makes  

Benito's picture
Benito

I do something very similar to you, I use some spelt for extensibility and some whole red fife for flavour.  I use the mixer to build some gluten to about medium strength then shape and into fridge.  It has very little bench time other than the fermentolyse.

I look forward to seeing your pizza today, I'm making the same pizzas tonight as last night.

GlennM's picture
GlennM

Have you ever tried a similar process for bread?  Mix it in the KA, shape it, into the basket, refrigerate for a few days, slash and bake. Don’t see why it wouldn’t work?  

Benito's picture
Benito

Bread is a bit different from Pizza dough from what I understand.  You can certainly do all or most of the gluten building upfront, so long as you gave it enough time to ferment it would work.

Benny

GlennM's picture
GlennM

Buffalo Chicken with bacon , olives, onions, sun dried tomatoes 

GlennM's picture
GlennM

I found leaving the dough out for a bit made it a little easier to handle and I got a bit more spring as well.  Thanks for the suggestion Benny!

 

Benito's picture
Benito

That looks amazing, the extra RT proof seems to do wonders for the oven spring of the cornicione, good job Glenn.

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

wow, a very nice pizza! My mouth is watering! 

Benito's picture
Benito

Thanks Will I’m still using your pizza dough recipe you shared during the CB!  It is a keeper.  I’m just letting it ferment a bit longer and extended the final RT proof.  Made two more tonight since we liked it so much.

GlennM's picture
GlennM

would you mind posting the dough recipie?

Benito's picture
Benito

Of course Glenn.

For 4 9” pizzas NY style thin crust 200 g each

Levain Build 100% hydration 35 g needed

 

433 g bread flour

43 g Whole grain flour (50:50 whole spelt:whole wheat)

4.76 g Diastatic malt 

252 g water and

41 g water hold out

2.34 g salt

8 g sugar

4.8 g olive oil

 

(1) In your mixer bowl(or by hand) dissolve the Starter or yeast in all of the Final Dough Water except the HOLD OUT Water. 

(2) Mix in the flours until well hydrated 

(3) Allow to fermentolyse for 1hr 

(4) Mix in the remaining HOLD OUT Water, salt, sugar, and malt (if using), mix until well-incorporated. 

(5) Slowly drizzle in the oil until well combined. 

(6) Beat or knead by hand until dough is moderately developed. The dough will be sticky and elastic. If kneading by hand, use slightly wet hands and avoid adding more flour. 

(7) Oil your hands and a suitable container. 

(8) Shape into a tight ball.  I divide the ball into four smaller ones each for one 9” pizza at this point.  Each goes into a small oiled bowl and allowed to cold ferment.

(9) Cold ferment in the refrigerator for 24hr-48hrs.  (I do 48-72 hours)  

(10) Remove to warm up to room temp 1hr or so before use, or you can ferment at room temp. for 6hrs. I've now done 2 hours and found that it greatly improved the cornicione, may try to increase this next time.

(11) Stretch the balls into your desired size skins (see video below), top and bake at 500F-550F (as high as your oven will go) Until the crust is browned and the cheese has melted. Spin the pie at least once to avoid burning due to oven hot spots.