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Submitted by JoeVa on November 21, 2009 - 1:56pm

Pizza Margherita (Naturally Leavened)


Pizza is bread, bread crust.

                  

I think a good pizza should have:

  • good dough: naturally leavened or proofed with indirect method like poolish or biga (that is: small amount of fresh yeast and a lot, a lot of time). I said "pizza is bread" because the actor in pizza is dough first, then the topping.
  • no more than 2 topping ingredients: mozzarella, pomodoro (tomato). I never eat and I do not agree with super topped pizza with "strange and exotic" topping. The biggest hazard I can do is mozzarella, pomodoro ciliegino and rucola (?garden rocket?) ... sorry I forgot olive oil and origano or basilico.
  • fast baking: the best pizza is baked in a wood fired oven at about 460°C in 00:01:30 / 00:02:00. In no more than 2 minutes the thin dough should cry, springing and browning.

There are a lot of pizza experts all over the world but the best pizza I ate was in Napoli. Is there a secret? I don't know! So my pizza is simple and good, not as good as true Pizza Napoletana, but I can't do better ...

Overall formula

Bread Flour 100%
Malted Flour 1.5%
Water* 65%
Salt 2.5%

*water should be adjusted with the absorption rate of **your** flour.

Preferment: 15%-20% of the total flour (bread flour) is prefermented at 100% hydration. Remember to subtract the flour and water from the final dough ingredients. I usually do a 1:2:2 feeding in the morning (08:00) so that my starter is ready after lunch (14:00) and I can mix the dough for pizza dinner.

Dough consistency: soft dough

Process

  • Mix all ingredients except salt (desired dough temperature 26/27°C)
  • Autolyse 00:30, then add salt on top
  • Mix at medium gluten development
  • [Puntata]Rest for about 01:00.
  • [Staglio] Divide and shape small ball (220-250g)
  • [Appretto] Proof 04:00 at 25°C
  • Bake on stone at the high temperature as fast as you can.
When pizza is removed from the oven I add a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt on top.
I use a small electric pizza oven with baking stone and 400°C temperature (G3 Ferrari) - this is my baking trick. With this oven I can bake in about 5 minutes! Not fast as a wood fired oven ...
                                               
Dough:
                

Pizza:

                

Cornicione:

                

Bottom (blistered crust and brown spots):

                

Giovanni

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Submitted by xaipete on November 21, 2009 - 4:53pm.

G3 Ferrari

Wow, what an interesting pizza oven! I don't know if those exist in the US. Your pizza and crust looks terrific.

--Pamela

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Submitted by JoeVa on November 21, 2009 - 11:43pm.

Distributors

I checked the distributors list but I cannot see US. I know this is cloned by other companies, maybe they export the product in US. Here in Italy it's very cheap, about €59 (I bought it at €49).

It's easy to use: 20 minutes to be ready, you can move it, easy to clean, small power absorption compared with a standard electric oven.

The things that could be improved are: a little bigger stone (just 2 cm in diameter), a more intensive top element (maybe a turbo grill function). I use a standard dough weight of 200-250g and I have to stop my stretch at 27-28 cm (the stone is 29 cm); with more space a could stretch a 29-30 cm thinner pizza. Using a wood fired oven, when pizza is ready to be remove, you can put it for a few seconds near the the oven dome so that it will have a optimal browned and caramelized crust: a "turbo grill" function could help with this.

Giovanni

 

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Submitted by xaipete on November 22, 2009 - 8:31am.

Thanks for the information,

Thanks for the information, Giovanni. I'll look around for a clone!

--Pamela

Submitted by Barbara Krauss on November 23, 2009 - 2:50pm.

Here is one. Reviews were mixed.

http://www.amazon.com/Deni-Stainless-Steel-Pizza-2300/dp/B000HUOU22/ref=pd_sbs_k_1

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Submitted by JoeVa on November 23, 2009 - 10:48pm.

Choose one with baking stone!

Choose one with baking stone! The stone is the key for a fast and perfect baking. And check also the max temperature: 400°C is a good temperature.

Giovanni

Submitted by Rose and Thorn on November 23, 2009 - 11:20pm.

Great Pizza

That looks like a really good pizza - I would love to be able to make my pizza have those large air-pockets.

Submitted by mattie405 on November 25, 2009 - 2:25am.

Look to EBAY

I just got a delivery of one of the clones of this oven from EBAY..........cost all of $21 with shipping. Some of them were originally sold on QVC (the home shopping channel) under the name of Pizza Bella. The Deni one in the link above is one of the newer models that have a metal pan on the bottom, the crust doesn't come out as good with the metal instead of the stone bottom the older models had, I don't think you will see any of the new ones still being made with the stone bottom anymore. You can find them pretty regularly listed on EBAY if you do a search for "pizza oven". We have the Festivo pizza oven that was originally sold by Hammacher Schlemmer, it has 2 decks is counter top sized and goes up to 800 degrees and turns out pizza in under 3 minutes once it is fully heated. My sister loved mine so much she also bought one and is really happy with it. I do beleive that the manufacturer of it went out of business so again the only option to get one is to look on EBAY.

Mattie

www.inthekitchenwithmattie.com

Submitted by Jeremy on January 10, 2010 - 8:02am.

Joe, I often use 00 flour I

Joe,

I often use 00 flour I can get from my salumero here in NY, but it seems like my sourdough effects the dough in a strange way. Once I make the dough I retard it and it looks as if the dough has no life, it's airy but it's weak in structure almost to acid? Also should you allow it to proof a bit when it's shaped into a pizza?

 

Here is my Napoletana dough in levain version I use amongst other doughs

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376 g flour

201g Water

247g Levain

20g salt

Grazie!

Jeremy

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Submitted by JoeVa on January 10, 2010 - 10:39am.

Be patient

Be patient Jeremy, I hope to post a **new** version of my pizza dough. I'm working on a more traditional (I should say verace) pizza napoletana.

I will give you more informations, tips and answer to you questions. I will reply again to this post so that you will receive a feedback.

Giovanni

Submitted by ieat on May 11, 2010 - 9:22am.

How do you use your G3 Ferrari

Hi,

I own a G3 Ferrari. I am wondering how you use it?

I usually preheat it at 2.5 for 5 minutes, then bake for 5 mins at 2.5.  But mine does not look like your pizza.  May I know the settings you use please?

 

 

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Submitted by JoeVa on May 11, 2010 - 11:07am.

I preheat at 2.5 with the

I preheat at 2.5 with the stone for about 20 minutes. The stone must me very very hot. 5 minutes is not enough. Then bake for 4-5 minutes at 3.

I suggest to use no more than 200g dough with not too much topping.

Giovanni

Submitted by ieat on May 11, 2010 - 5:55pm.

Thanks very much.  Will give

Thanks very much.  Will give it a try later.

Submitted by kamient on May 13, 2010 - 2:52am.

What does 1:2:2 feeding mean?

Hi Giovanni,

Great write-up and a nice looking pizza you got here. 

Could you kindly explain what do you mean by "I usually do a 1:2:2 feeding in the morning (08:00) so that my starter is ready after lunch (14:00) and I can mix the dough for pizza dinner"

 

Thanks!

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Submitted by JoeVa on May 13, 2010 - 11:11am.

What I mean is you need to

What I mean is you need to plan ahead before baking with sourdough. Naturally leavened products need care, you feed the sourdough starter and you wait till it's ready. So you plan ahead respecting nature and life: that's sourdough.

... this is the romantic point of view.

I hope I give you the sense of my writing because this is far more important than a receipt.

Giovanni

Submitted by kamient on May 19, 2010 - 6:41am.

Thanks

Thanks Giovanni! :)

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