at Thu, 17 Jun 2004 00:02:08 GMT in <890b5b0a.0406161602.61186954
@posting.google.com>, (Shrubman) wrote :

>Yes, I am aware there are many threads devoted to pizza over the
>years. I have scanned most of them.
>
>I know home ovens lack the heat that commercial pizza ovens have.
>
>My question is: Where does this recipe go wrong.
>
>My crust was made with:
>
>approx. 3 cups of flour
>one packet dry yeast
>pinch of sugar
>one cup of water (luke warm)
>2 tablespoons olive oil
>
>I processed the dough in a food processor, then kneaded it for a
>couple of minutes. I allowed it to rise in a warm oven for 1-2 hours.
>
>In attempting to mimic the traditional neaopolitan pizza that has been
>in the news lately I splurged on buffalo mozzarella, and completed the
>topping with only plum tomatoes put through a food mill and fresh
>basil leaves.
>
>Well, many of you won't be surprised to hear what I ended up with.
>After cooking on a very-thoroughly-preheated pizza stone in a 525
>degree oven I ended up with a bland tasting pizza on a doughy cracker!
>

On the crust, you let it rise too fast. You're using a huge amount of
yeast, a warm oven, added sugar, and no salt. All of these factors
accelerate the rising. Good flavour in the crust is the result of SLOW
rising. As in 6 hours or more to rise the first time, then a second rise of
2 hours or so, then a third(!) rise for about an hour. (The third rise is
optional). Not having any salt (which also helps to retard rising) will
result in a very bland flavour as well. I find it's best to lean on the
high side - 1 tbsp of salt for 6 cups of flour. Rise the dough in a cool
place (somewhere around 50-60 F is ideal) and use a tiny amount of yeast. I
use about 1/8 of a cake, and if 1 cake = 1 packet dry, that means 1/8 of a
packet of dry yeast. I use only enough warm water to dissolve the yeast,
and use cold water for the rest. If you want large bubbles, your dough
should be quite wet - 1 cup water to 3 cups flour is pretty dry. It should
be just barely possible to shape it if you want it to be bubbly - very
sticky and almost runny. The drier your dough, the more even-textured and
small the bubbles will be.

Using a food processor is a strange way to start your dough. Usually people
mix and knead either by hand or with a stand mixer. Other methods may lead
to uneven results. Kneading for a couple of minutes probably wasn't enough.
You need to knead long enough for the dough to become very smooth, for it
to fall in big, rounded folds rather than thin wrinkles, and for it to have
a silken feel in the hand. That a process that takes whatever time it
takes. Don't time it - simply knead until it reaches that state. If you
want the wet dough I described, the best way is to make a relatively dry
dough to knead with, then *gently* knead extra water in at the end, once
the dough reaches the point I described. (This makes the process of
kneading much less of an exercise in frustration and soggy dough squidging
everywhere)

On the toppings, as has been pointed out, the mistake was probably the
tomatoes. They need to be absolutely ripe, picked when red. Virtually no
supermarket tomatoes these days qualify. If you can't grow them at home,
your best bet would be a local farmer's market or farm stand. If you live
in a region where tomatoes don't really grow well (most northern-tier
states) you're better off buying canned. As with the crust, adding some
salt will improve the flavour enormously. You won't need much in this case
- as little as 1/4 tsp per pound of tomatoes will make a big difference.
Also, even though you did pass them through a food mill, be sure to peel
them and remove any seeds. By blanching them you can peel them instantly
and easily, and then by cutting them in half, you can seed them as well.
This way you can also remove the bitter, pithy core which otherwise
typically passes through a food mill.

--
Alex Rast

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