Quick Rustic Ciabatta Pizza - Recipe, Full Howto with Pics

Submitted by LilDice on July 5, 2007 - 4:36pm

Quick Rustic Ciabatta Pizza - Recipe, Full Howto with Pics

I started making this pizza after I had left over dough from my quick ciabatta recipe, (which you can make by following the same instructions but doubling the ingredients). Anyway, I like this better than the traditional olive oil enriched overnight proofed pizza doughs. It takes only about 2 hours start to finish to make, so you can make it after work.

A kitchen aid style stand mixer is required, unless you're comfortable working with high hydration doughs and hand mixing. People have assured me it's possible, but it's much easier with a mixer. You could also use a food processor to mix the dough, but the time will be much shorter. Probably less than a minute.

The resulting pizza is light, delicious, and full of huge holes in the crust. If you grow tomatoes and basil in your garden, this pizza is just the ticket.

Also I created a page on google for this whole article that's more linkable if you'd like to share this with other - http://hollosyt.googlepages.com/quickrusticciabattapizza

Ingredients

Crust

250 g Bread Flour (All Purpose will also work in a pinch)
1 cup water
1 tsp yeast
7 g salt

Toppings

2 Tomatoes
Handful of fresh basil
Olive Oil
Mozzarella Cheese

Step 1, make the dough

Mix the flour,yeast,salt & water in your stand mixer with the paddle on high speed, it won't look like it is doing anything for a while. Then after about 10 minutes or so it will start to come together

Initial Ingredients

Initial mixing, notice the dough is sticking to the sides

Dough is done as soon as it stop sticking to the sides and is just coming off the bottom. It has the consistency of rubber but is very sticky.

Step 2, proof until triples.

I like to proof this dough in a narrow plastic container that has markings on it, it's important that the dough triples so it's easier to observe that then just throwing it in a bowl. Spray the container you use with spray oil, you'll thank me later.

Be quick moving the dough from the mixer to the proofing container. You'll probobly still end up with a little dough stuck to your hands, because it's very wet.

Here's my dough, now it will be very easy to see when it triples.

Step 3, heat oven and shape pizza.

Place your pizza stone into the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.

Now on a heavily floured counter, pour out your dough into a nice blob.

Now turn a baking sheet upside down and cover it with parchment paper. Not wax paper! Parchment paper is silicone treated and won't melt or light on fire in your hot oven. It will make getting this thing in the oven much easier.

I like to get the dough into a rough pizza shape while on the counter by grabbing it from underneath and stretching. Since the dough is floured on the bottom, you won't stick too much. You don't want it paper thin, but fairly thin in the center

The next step is tricky, we need to get our pizza to the parchment paper on the baking sheet. If you have corn meal handy, you might dust the parchment with that for re-shaping once we get the unruly dough on.

So pick up this thing and quickly move it to the parchment, if you need to do some reshaping once it's on the parchment move fast. It will eventually stick to the parchment. Then your only choice is to dump it out and try again with fresh parchment.

Phew! That was a close one, but I got in on the parchment. And it resembles a pizza dough!

Now it's time to top the pizza, I really just want some light olive oil, garlic powder, fresh tomatoes, basil and cheese. If you want sauce, you're on your own. You can really do whatever you want from this point.

One thing I've noticed with my oven though is that if I put the cheese on from the start, it'll burn and I'll have a raw pizza with burnt cheese. So I usually add cheese 2/3 of the way through baking.

Step 4, Baking

Time to bake! I always trim the parchment so it fits the pizza since loose parchment will brown a bit and might even catch on fire in the oven. So you can see in the photo above I've trimmed it up.

Once your oven has hit 500 degrees, slide your cheese-less pizza on to the pizza stone using the baking sheet. If you don't have a stone, just leave it on the sheet.

After 5 minutes my pizza looked like this, nice oven spring!

Once the crust has just started to brown (after about 8 minutes for me). I add the cheese.

Now I just let the cheese get to the point that I like and the crust to be nice and brown and I'm done. The all together baking time for this pie was 14 minutes.

Finished!

Looks good to me, though maybe i put on too much olive oil since it kind of pooled in the center. Also I probably could have put the cheese on a minute or two earlier since it's not brown all over.

Yum, yum yum.

Crust is looking perfectly golden.

Once again, nice airy crust, not dense and sticky, but light and delightful. That's the pay off from our 100% hydration ultra lean sticky dough.

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Submitted by Trishinomaha on July 6, 2007 - 6:02am.

Oh my gosh...

This looks wonderful! I made your ciabatta from your first post and it turned out great. This looks like a good week-end dinner...

Thanks!

Trish

Submitted by ehanner on July 6, 2007 - 7:57am.

Got Pizza?

Great post and very well written directions. I like that I can get this done today and it looks delicious! Thank you!

I have been lurking on the ciabatta but this will get me in gear.

Eric

Submitted by leemid on July 6, 2007 - 8:27am.

Only one rise?

So you only rise the once, then bake it? Wow! I like my sourdough pizza dough but you have to plan way ahead... this is a great idea. Oh, you didn't say what kind of yeast...

Lee

Submitted by LilDice on July 6, 2007 - 12:02pm.

yeast

Oh sorry, regular ol' instant yeast.

Submitted by bluezebra on July 6, 2007 - 10:22am.

Can't Wait To Try This!

I made a pretty incredible ultra thin crust dough that was adapted from the Cook's Illustrated Pizza Dough for Grilling recipe last night. It was absolutely the best for a "cracker type" thin crust. So I think I can safely rest with that dough and move forward to getting the other perfect crusts in order.

I'm still searching for the pinnacle of doughs for both the Neopolitan style and also the pan style pizza. Hopefully your amazing looking pizza will be able to fill the bill on at least the one of the two! :D

Part of the fam is a cracker thin crust eater. I love Neopolitan and DH loves pan pizza. So I'm at the point of making 3 different doughs and keeping them in the freezer to use as needed since my try at using one dough to make 3 different styles of crust have fallen flat on their faces. (6 months of testing later!) Yeah life is tough, haha! ;)

Thanks LilDice!

Submitted by poindexter on July 11, 2007 - 1:06am.

Hi bluezebra, Could you

Hi bluezebra,

Could you please post your recipe for the cracker type pizza dough?

I have been experimenting for a few months now and didn't get what I was looking for. I'd love to try your version.

Thanks

Submitted by bluezebra on July 11, 2007 - 6:20am.

Pizza Crust on the Grill

Pizza Crust on the Grill
By Cook’s Illustrated

Dough
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup water (8 ounces), room temperature
2 cups bread flour (11 ounces), plus more for work surface
1 tablespoon whole wheat flour (optional)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast

1. FOR THE CRUST: Combine oil and water in liquid measuring cup. In food processor fitted with plastic dough blade or metal blade, process bread flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, and yeast until combined, about 5 seconds. With machine running, slowly add liquid through feed tube; continue to process until dough forms tacky, elastic ball that clears sides of workbowl, about 1 1/2 minutes. If dough ball does not form, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time and process until dough ball forms. Spray medium bowl lightly with nonstick cooking spray or rub lightly with oil. Transfer dough to bowl and press down to flatten surface; cover tightly with plastic wrap and set in draft-free spot until doubled in volume, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

2. When dough has doubled, press down gently to deflate; turn dough out onto work surface and divide into 4 equal-sized pieces. With cupped palm, form each piece into smooth, tight ball. Set dough balls on well-floured work surface. Press dough rounds with hand to flatten; cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Bluezebra's Modification: I wanted to see if I could modify this for a sourdough version...so here is what I changed.

To this recipe above I modified:

Reduced Instant Yeast from 1tsp to 1/2 tsp

Added 1/2 tsp. Diastatic Malt Powder

Added 1 oz of Sourdough Starter 1:4:4 hydration (hope I'm giving this correctly)

Added 2 tablespoons additional flour

...so here was the modified recipe:

Pizza Crust
By Cook’s Illustrated and modified by bluezebra

Preferment

1 oz Sourdough Starter

4 oz AP Flour

4 oz Chilled Filtered Water

Dough
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces Water - room temperature
7 ounces AP Flour, plus more for work surface + 2 tablespoons AP flour added to processor bowl to make it come together into the ball
1 tablespoon whole wheat flour (optional)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons table salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

1/2 teaspoon diastatic malt powder

.5 FOR THE PREFERMENT: I used 4oz of the water and 4oz of the flour from the recipe in making the preferment. I added the 1 oz of starter and let it sit until it had doubled in volume and was just peaking in heighth. Then mixed it in the food processor as directed below. Please note that I have already made the subtractions to the quantities in my recipe immediately above this note.

2. COLD RISING: The dough was almost overworked - I think because of the effect of the sourdough starter and the use of diastatic malt powder. It was almost cobwebby in texture and super tight and unworkable. So I put it in a lightly oiled large baggie and threw it in the fridge and forgot about it for a couple of days. I removed it from the fridge and allowed it to sit out in the baggie for about 2 hours to bring it closer to room temp. The texture was more extensible but you could tell the dough wasn't quite as tender as other doughs I've done.

3. SHAPING: Divide the dough into 4 balls and roll on the counter (sprayed with water so that dough does not stick) to form a tight ball. Set each ball on a portion of counter that is lightly floured. Cover with flour impregnated tea towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. Uncover one ball and place where you have room to roll it out using a rolling pin. I placed a piece of parchment paper down on the counter and dusted it with flour. I rolled the pizza dough as thin as I could (slightly less than 1/8").

4. COOKING DOUGH: I placed the dough directly onto the pizza stone, while still on the parchment. Cooked it in a preheated 450 degree oven for 5 minutes. The bottom side was browned and some of the brown was showing through on the top of the crust. I removed it and the parchment and flipped it upside down. Topped the pizza with garlic infused olive oil, mozzarella chunks, canned tomato chunks (drained and salted and allow to drain some more in a collander), fresh grated parmegiano, dried basil, dried oregano, a sprinkle of red bell pepper, a sprinkle of slivered purple onion, a few sparse sauted mushrooms and a few sliced green olives. (Sounds like alot of toppings but the toppings including the tomatoes were very sparce on it and you could see alot of crust around it). Return it to the pizza stone and allow it to finish baking to melt all the toppings.

The result was a crisp, tender crust with a great snap to it. Very thin dough. Very cracker like. Nice taste. Excellent for a cracker thin crust. Held it's crispness for 2 hours at room temp. Was still moderately crisp on outter 1/3 after overnight refrigeration.

When making again, I would:

1. Not work the dough as much in the processor. (The end temp was 85 degrees and I think that was way too much).

2. Maybe reduce the amount of sourdough starter from 1oz to 1/2 oz and 2 oz of flour and 2 oz of water to see if that improves the dough texture.

Hope this helps! I'm by no means an expert on anything having to do with baking! And have only made this recipe one time so don't know if my variation is repeatable.

Submitted by poindexter on July 12, 2007 - 12:59am.

Thanks for the recipe. I

Thanks for the recipe.

I would try it in the coming days (or weeks) and report.

Poindexter

Submitted by ehanner on July 6, 2007 - 4:49pm.

A note of interest on ciabatta pizza

For those who only half read the directions, take note of the mixer directions.

The instructions say mix on HI SPEED. I used level 2 on my KA as it's the highest speed I have ever used for dough. After 15 minutes nothing had happened that looked like gluten forming and the dough was still pancake batter in the bottom of the bowl. SOOO I went back and looked again and noticed HI SPEED and started again. Within a few minutes the rubbery dough I was looking for developed right in front of my eyes. Imagine that!:>) Just thought I would mention this for other men who don't RTFI.

Eric

Submitted by Rosalie on August 25, 2007 - 1:49pm.

KitchenAid Mixer Says Knead on 2

Eric, you probably never went higher than level 2 for dough because that's what the directions say. Above level 2 could burn the motor out. Unless you have one of the professional models - I'm not familiar with those directions, although I see a lot of recipes that tell you to knead with your KitchenAid at level 4.

Rosalie

Submitted by ehanner on July 6, 2007 - 8:41pm.

Finished! Delicious!

I'll have to try this again when I'm paying attention and don't beat the living daylight out of the dough. I had an awful time moving the dough onto the parchment. It wasn't pretty after I tried to pick it up. I did manage to spread it out and top it nicely and get it baked. The home made effect over powered the clumsiness aspect and everyone was happy!

Eric

Submitted by LilDice on July 7, 2007 - 5:11am.

yes it's tough shaping

Glad you liked it , and you're right. Shaping it is the toughest part, if anyone has any ideas for shaping it I'm all ears. I think it would probably be easier to just heavily semolina/corn meal the peal and shape the whole thing on there.

Submitted by ehanner on July 7, 2007 - 5:05pm.

Next time I'll try to shape

Next time I'll try to shape it on the parchment instead. I think I can hold down the paper with strong magnets in the corners so it won't slide around on a steel sheet.

Eric

Submitted by LilDice on July 7, 2007 - 5:35pm.

I don't know about shaping

I don't know about shaping on the parchment, it tends to stick to the parchment. I think the best bet would be to partially shape it on the counter into a very rough disc, then shape it in your hands and quickly readjust on parchment before it sticks.

It's tricky for sure, the one wrinkle in this otherwise very easy recipe.

Submitted by mse1152 on July 7, 2007 - 5:48pm.

Moving dough on parchment

LilDice,

Reinhart says in the BBA that if you think you'll have to reposition dough while it's on the parchment, spray the parchment with oil first. The nonstick property of the parchment doesn't kick in till a certain heat level is attained in the oven. Worth a try.

Also, about how long does it take your dough to triple? Is it at room temperature?

Thanks,

Sue

Submitted by LilDice on July 7, 2007 - 6:24pm.

Duh! Spray oil! It took

Duh! Spray oil!

It took about 2 hours to triple. That was when it was 86 degrees in the kitchen though :(

I use this formula (doubled) for a quick ciabatta and it can take up to 3 horus to double sometimes.

Submitted by zolablue on July 11, 2007 - 10:24am.

Great idea

Your pizza looks fabulous! I am gonna try it. I've finally taken the plunge a couple times to make my own pizza and I even impressed myself. (heehee) But, seriously, it was soooooo much fun and the results were to die for. My husband was just excited as heck and so proud of my efforts. Actually, he helped with the toppings and we had a blast. I'd love to try it again using your crust recipe just for something different. Thanks.

Submitted by bluezebra on July 12, 2007 - 6:36am.

LilDice Can You Tell Me, If I Want

to make 2 crusts, what would the dough formulation be?

Would I simply double everything...even the yeast and salt?

TIA! I'm thinking of making this tonight!!

Submitted by BROTKUNST on July 12, 2007 - 9:30am.

Double it ...

I am not Bluezebra but 'yes' ... the beauty of the baker's percentage is that you can simply multiply the ingredients by the same factor and adjust easily the quantity of the final dough you need.

BROTKUNST

Submitted by verminiusrex on July 12, 2007 - 2:40pm.

Wow, this worked out better

Wow, this worked out better than I thought. I was expecting the glutenous mess that you get from the no knead bread (so sue me, I don't like that bread) but this turned out real good. The pizza was tastey, and now I'm going to try the ciabatta dough when I've eaten all that other bread I've made recently. (It's a self imposed rule, I have to eat or find a home for the current bread before making any more.)

Submitted by LilDice on July 12, 2007 - 4:55pm.

Cool Yeah it's a good

Cool

Yeah it's a good little dough, when you double it for making for ciabatta the portions make it perfect for making 2 loaves and a pizza, so I usually kill 2 birds with one stone when I make it.

Submitted by bluezebra on July 16, 2007 - 7:24am.

Hi LilDice Hope you can help me!

I don't know what my major malfunction is...maybe it's lack of equipment but it could be an equal amount of inexperience!

I made the dough for this last night. I used your ciabatta bread recipe so that I could make 3 crusts with it. My major problem was that I don't have a stand mixer and didn't have time yesterday to develop this dough by hand. So I decided to test out the food processor.

Miserable failure...have you ever tried to make it in a food processor and if so, how did you do it? I ended up having to add 3/4c of extra flour to it and it still didn't pull away from the sides although after about 15 minutes in the processor it did develop gluten strings.

However, I defied all laws of yeast and dough by doing that cuz even though I used a plastic blade by the time I took it out of the processor bowl, the dough was 111 degrees! :eek!!!! So I quickly used a spatula and stretched it to mix in some cooling air and worked with it to reduce the heat. The surface was already looking rather "ill" until I got the temp reduced.

It did go ahead and rise 3x (big surprise there). Cuz I figured I had killed all the yeasty beasties. Then I cut into 3 portions and shaped. I was careful when pulling into a pizza crust shape, not to deflate the dough but it wasn't very puffy when I was done. Then I let each one rise 45 minutes but it had not really risen any by then.

It puffed a little bit in the oven but not anything like your beautiful pictures...what did I do wrong here? Please count the ways! I am jonesin' for pizza that looks like yours Lil Dice and as God and (Scarlett) are my witnesses, I shall not rest nor save the crops till I succeed! :D

TIA!

Submitted by LilDice on July 23, 2007 - 9:19pm.

Hrm. I've never tried this

Hrm.

I've never tried this wet of a dough in a food processor before and don't have much experience with it. You CAN develop it by hand in a bowl though, check out the Jason's Quick Ciabata in the regular Artisans baking forum for some people talking about doing this dough by hand.

Submitted by bluezebra on July 23, 2007 - 10:47pm.

Hi LilDice, I was one of the people who

tried it by hand and it worked (on the other thread). It really wasn't too difficult or anything, I was just pressed for time that day when I tried it with the processor.

My final analysis of it, lol, is that it doesn't work too well cuz it's too liquid. Oh, you can get the gluten started without damaging the dough too much with the heat, but you should probably stop after about 2 minutes or so...instead of more like 15 minutes *blush* maybe longer, I lost my mind and all track of time for a bit. I almost felt I was in the Bermuda Triangle!!! :D ;)

I will try it again by hand but I still don't know if it will get that spectacular edge you're showing on yours and that I covet (sp?) so much! :D

Submitted by lmariaschneider on July 28, 2007 - 4:03pm.

this is so yummy!

Wow. I made this recipe, but just baked it as a small ciabatta. I oiled my hands and dimpled the surface with fresh chopped rosemary, gave it a sprinkle of celtic sea salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. 14 minute bake and ... heaven.
My husband and I devoured it with a dish of olive oil, black pepper, crushed red pepper and a little parmigiano.
Talk about (almost) instant gratification! Thanks!

Submitted by KipperCat on July 28, 2007 - 6:39pm.

I have a question about the

I have a question about the 7 grams of salt. My scale's markings are only every 10 grams. Can someone give me a teaspoon reference for 10 grams of salt? I have table salt and Morton's kosher salt.

Submitted by abatardi on August 1, 2007 - 9:31am.

On my scale I just got 6

On my scale I just got 6 grams for a teaspoon of morton's kosher using scoop-and-sweep method. It flickered from 6 to 5 grams once so that means it is probably just under 6. A slighly heaped teaspoon (just scoop and shake it a bit to take off some of the excess) was 7 grams.

On another note.. measuring cups vary between brands, so I would suggest using 8oz by weight of water (226 grams). So really this is 90% hydration, not 100%.

- aba

Submitted by KipperCat on August 1, 2007 - 11:55am.

Thanks aba! I'll keep a

Thanks aba! I'll keep a note of this.

I knew measuring spoons could vary a lot, but never thought about the cups. I'll take a minute to weigh the water from my measuring cups to verify their accuracy. I'm in the habit of weighing flour and measuring everything else. But it's probably easier to add water by weight than it is to be sure it's exactly on the appropriate line of a measuring cup or beaker.

Submitted by abatardi on August 4, 2007 - 10:47am.

I guess if it's really meant

I guess if it's really meant to be 100% hydration dough, it should be 250g of water.. but not sure what the author intended.

Submitted by LilDice on August 4, 2007 - 11:42am.

Recipe is based off of -

Recipe is based off of - http://groups.google.com/group/alt.bread.recipes/browse_thread/thread/ad0e477790ef4f03/a644f520f4b3cd48?rnum=2#a644f520f4b3cd48

So it should be 237.5g of water , but whatever i just use 1 cup out of my OXO good grip type mesuring cup (the one with the slanted numbers on it).

Submitted by emilyc on August 22, 2007 - 11:04am.

Mixed with Hand Mixers

I made this dough yesterday and since I (sadly) don't have a stand mixer, I used a hand mixer/beater thingie- it turned out lovely! It took much longer than 10 minutes to develop the dough properly (maybe closer to 20?) but it rose really well and baked really nicely. My bf and I ate the entire loaf in about 15 minutes! I shaped my dough on the counter in a big load of flour, so it was really sticky but it baked with that really pretty flourey, golden brown texture with lots of holes. It was super duper- I'm making it again today (sans kitchenaid!!)

Submitted by Atropine on August 24, 2007 - 2:50pm.

I am so thankful for this

I am so thankful for this recipe!! I have never even seen ciabatta in person (seriously!) and never tasted it. I read this thread yesterday and, being a bit of a blythe optimist, I decided that I would make this for a meeting I had last night.

I could not find hte original thread for the ciabatta, so I just used this crust recipe, running from kitchen to computer while making it!

Thanks to the Lord and this recipe, it turned out PHENOMENALLY! Seriously, this is now my favorite thing to bake. The dough felt HEAVENLY in my hands while shaping--I kept wanting to play with it lolol. It baked well, was easygoing, though I do not have a scale, etc. I admit that I did use extra yeast, just a little bit.

This is one of my favorites and I want to try it for pizza next.

A question--would this work well as a loaf bread at all? Is there a way to get this wonderful crumb in a loaf bread?

Submitted by LilDice on August 25, 2007 - 1:32pm.

Glad you liked it

Glad you liked it Atropine, not sure what you mean about as a loaf bread - if you mean putting in a loaf plan, I honestly have no idea how it would work. It's called Ciabatta because it's supposed to be shapedlike a slipper.

There's really no need for extra yeast, have a little faith :)

Did you double this recipe when making just for bread? If I do that I can get 2 Ciabatta's and a pizza, it works perfectly.

Submitted by Atropine on August 27, 2007 - 9:53am.

Questions.... :) I find

Questions.... :)

I find that 10 minutes is WAY longer than necessary for mixing the dough until it cleans the sides and comes off the bottom. Why is that? Is it ok?

Also, I AM working on the trusting the yeast more (lolol) and backed down the yeast I was putting in, however, it still rises much more quickly--is that a problem as well?

Thanks!

Submitted by LilDice on August 27, 2007 - 5:16pm.

chillax!

The time it takes to come off the sides is different for everyone depending on your kitchen, your flour, etc.

As for the yeast, don't use more! 1 tsp is plenty, the longer it takes to rise the better the taste :)

Submitted by intisar on November 3, 2007 - 12:56pm.

conversion

Can anyone give me an approximation of how many cups of bread flour is 250 grams. I currently don't have a scale and would like to give the dough a try. Thanks

Submitted by smedly on November 3, 2007 - 2:24pm.

flour conversion

Check the side of the bag of a 5 pound bag of wheat flour. Most companies use 75 or 76 quarter cups per 5 pound bag as an appoximation. Do the math and and 4.21 or 4.27 per flour cup is the respective approximation. 4.25 oz per wheat flour cup is probably a good approximation. For each company the approximation is same for all wheat flour types, ie, whole wheat, unbleached,etc.

Submitted by smedly on November 3, 2007 - 2:40pm.

250 grams flour conversion

There are 28.35 grams in an ounce. 250 grams/ 28.35 grams per ounce equals approximately 8.8 ounces. using 4.24 ounces per flour cup a a guide, 8.8 / 4.25 equals approximately 2 cups of flour. ( 2.07 )

Submitted by sphealey on November 3, 2007 - 2:54pm.