July 20, 2009 - 1:14am
great fresh pizza but
but crust seemed to dry out in a few hours. would ooil help. usually the pizza doesnt last too long so its not a major problem . Patrick from Modesto
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but crust seemed to dry out in a few hours. would ooil help. usually the pizza doesnt last too long so its not a major problem . Patrick from Modesto
About twenty years ago, I asked a friend who owned a small pizzaria in Montreal what he he put in his dough. I wanted to know what he used to make his dough have so much flavour.
He said that he just made it with simple ingredients (Five Rose all-purpose flour, water, yeast, salt, (I can't remember if he used oil)) mix it in the machine and let the dough sit in the refrigerator overnight.
I tried doing that on my own, but for whatever reason, my one attempt back then failed, and I though it was beyond me. It turns out that retarding dough like that is the secret to most pizzaria's crust.
Letting the dough ferment slowly is a way to make the final product stay fresh longer as well as have more flavour. Make your regular pizza dough and let it sit on the counter for about an hour, then put it in the fridge and let it rise overnight before you use it. You can get away with using a lot less yeast that way - which will improve as well.
Yes! I've been making pizza for almost as many years as I've had kids (was the cheapest, fun meal we could have - and restaurant anything was too expensive for us back then)... and my oldest is almost 30.
I may not put the dough in the refrigerator overnight (except in the normal days of summer, when we might actually have warm weather here in the Boston area [currently 64 degrees and raining here - again!), but use sort of the same version I use for no-knead bread.
I'm also very careful not to overwork the dough - letting it sit for nearly a day substitutes for kneading. Also, I don't use oil in my dough anymore - I like the flavor and texture better without it - just unbleached AP flour, yeast, salt and water - lots of water. :D
This has made my youngest so pizza-addicted that it's become her favorite meal. Whenever she visits, she asks me to make it - and she lives in New Haven, now - Pepe's is her second home, practically, lol.
Now I'm getting hungry...