Pizza Night- Thank you Peter Reinhart!
Tonight I tried two new pizza doughs out of Reinhart's American Pie. Let me say YUMMY!!! The crust on both were thin and very tasty. I have not made dough that had that much flavor ever. I made the Neo-Neapolitan dough as well as the Roman dough. The Roman was thin and had a nice cruch to it. My husband really likes thin crust and both of these delivered. For all of the doughs in American Pie you make the dough the night before and retard over night in the fridge. I made on mistake and used AP flour in the Neo dough instead of bread flour. I am wondering is that is why I didn't really get a bigger crust. But I am really anxious to try this dough out in my wood fire oven this weekend. We are still curing it. I cooked the pizzas in a 550 deg oven on tiles. I am very happy about pizza night tonight.
Sorry the picture is not better. I need to read the info on taking food pictures on this site. Will work on it!
I did Reinharts Neo-neapolitan from the Pizza Primer on this site but substituted 20% whole wheat and I am completely addicted (not to mention I am ruined for most pizza when eating out). I keep a bunch of it in ziplocks in my freezer so that I have pizza ready to go any time I am in the mood. I also did the sauce (well... a slightly modified version) that Floyd included in his write up which I believe is also from the book. It is very good and MUCH better than you will ever get out of a can.
My most recent pizza might have been my best ever and instead of a tomato based sauce I had tried to make some olive oil dipping sauce like they have at Carrabba's restaurants (olive oil, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, a little ground black pepper, salt, chopped garlic and I added some dried onion flakes). It was in-fricken'-credible. If you try it just be careful to get more of the spices and a minimum of the oil or you will be dripping it all over your oven *cough cough*. One of the best pizzas if not THE best pizza I have ever had.
Dave
How do you warm up the frozen dough? put it in the refrigerator the day before or leave it on the counter? microwave? I've never tried freezing dough before, and I was thinking about giving it a shot!
But what I will do is the night before put the dough in the fridge to thaw. The the next day pull it out maybe 2-3 hrs before baking instead of just 2. I don't think I would microwave the dough. It may get to hot and kill the yeast. But I don't know.
I put it in the fridge the night (or two nights) before I plan on using it too. Sometimes I take it out of the fridge and let it sit out to warm a bit quicker for a while. I love the flavor of it whether it has been frozen or not. I don't know if it is the main recipe or the whole wheat that I have always included (20 percent of the wheat) but you couldn't pay me to leave out the whole wheat now :-)
I haven't gotten to the point where I even considered putting it in the microwave but if you are really worried about it still being a little frozen when you get home then maybe taking it out of the fridge for a little while in the morning while you are getting ready for work might get it warming a bit more (just don't forget to put it back in the fridge for the day).
Dave
I'm not sure whether thawing in the fridge or the counter top is best, I have done both and cannot tell the difference.
I have also taken directly from the freezer to the microwave and micro'd for 15 seconds when in a hurry, just to give the thawing a kick start. I am careful not to allow the dough to get even slightly soft as this could easily kill the yeast. Then I leave it on the bench top on a wire rack so as to allow warm air to circulate underneath as it thaws.
Once at room temp, I flatten as per instructions to about 1/2 the intended pizza size and leave it covered for two hours minimum.
I have also left it much longer than two hours, and up to four, after final sizing using the throw and bounch method, the pizza base when baked, was truly awesome with several nice bubbles, a crisp crust and chewy inside.
Paul.
The one in the back has EVOO, bacon and cheddar. I sometimes use EVOO instead of the tomato sauce. But I had not thought of mixing it with spices and stuff first. Very good idea.
I too am just loving the recipe, its the cold retardation and the wet dough that doing it. I love being able to spin and size the bases right before baking so easily.
I've just bought a pizza stone ( terracotta clay tile) for 5 bucks and getting used to this also. Once I'm up to speed I can't wait to try these out in my own wood fired oven, but I want to perfect the technique first.
Paul.
Would you be able to share the recipe please>
I don't have the book yet, but would love to try a new dough recipe.
Thanks if you do take the time to!
If you are talking about the original recipe that we are talking about it is on the pizza primer page from the favorite recipes listed on the left-hand side of the page (I recommend that you try several of the recipes there since they all seem to be so good). The actual link is:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/pizza
I've never done the recipe exactly as it is written there. I have always used about 20% whole wheat and 80% white. I always keep a couple of dough balls frozen and when I get down to one in the freezer I make another batch. The sauce recipe listed on that page is very good too.
Dave
will definately give it a try. I like replacing WW flour too in my dough recipe.
The Roman dough is a little thinner. Since that recipe is not posted here I will add it for you. Try it and the Neo Neapolitan.
5 c flour (22 1/2)oz unbleached AP flour
1/2 c (1)oz semolina flour
1 3/4 t salt or 3 1/4 t kosher salt
1 t instant yeast
1 3/4 c plus 2 T water (15+oz)
Mix the dough. Let rest 5 min. Finished kneading. Adjust dough consistancy as needed. The dough should be tacky, soft and supple. Shape into a ball. Place in a bowl with a little olive oil. Cover and let rise 30 min. Then put the bowl in the fridge over night. 2 hrs before you plan to bake pull the dough out. Cut into 6 equal pieces ( should be about 6 oz each). Let rest for about 2 hrs. Then bake as you would any pizza. Or you can pu the balls you don't want to use then in ziplocks with oil and freeze.
This makes a thinner crust. Almost cracker like. Enjoy!