Yesterday on PBS "America's Test Kitchen" there was a different way to do
pizza. We tried it last night and really like it. It yields a chewy mildly
crunchy crust, between the thing crust pizza and foccacia.

Ed

Pizza Bianca with Tomatoes, Sausage, and Fontina

Serve the pizza by itself as a snack or with soup or salad for a light meal.
Once the dough has been placed in the oiled bowl, it can be transferred to
the refrigerator and kept for up to 24 hours. Bring the dough to room
temperature, 2 to 2 1/2 hours, before proceeding with step 4. When kneading
the dough on high speed, the mixer tends to wobble and move on the counter.
Place a towel or shelf liner under the mixer and watch it at all times
during mixing. Handle the dough with slightly oiled hands. Resist flouring
your fingers or the dough might stick. This recipe was developed using an
18- by 13-inch baking sheet. Smaller baking sheets can be used, but because
the pizza will be thicker, baking times will be longer. If not using a pizza
stone, increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees and set the rack to the
lowest position; the cooking time might increase by 3 to 5 minutes and the
exterior won't be as crisp.

Serves 6 to 8

Toppings

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 cups shredded Fontina cheese (8 ounces)
3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage

Dough

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)
1 2/3 cups water (13 1/2 ounces), room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil


1. Remove sausage from casings. Cook sausage in large nonstick skillet over
medium heat, breaking into small pieces with wooden spoon, until no longer
pink, about 8 minutes. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate. Place 28-ounce
can of crushed tomatoes in fine-mesh strainer set over medium bowl. Let sit
30 minutes, stirring 3 times to allow juices to drain. Combine 3/4 cup
tomato solids, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 1/8 teaspoon table salt. (Save
remaining solids and juice for another use.)

2. Place towel or shelf liner beneath stand mixer to prevent wobbling. Mix
flour, water, and table salt in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook
on low speed until no patches of dry flour remain, 3 to 4 minutes,
occasionally scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Turn off mixer and let dough
rest 20 minutes.

3. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over dough. Knead on low speed until fully
combined, 1 to 2 minutes, occasionally scraping sides and bottom of bowl.
Increase mixer speed to high and knead until dough is glossy, smooth, and
pulls away from sides of bowl, 6 to 10 minutes. (Dough will only pull away
from sides while mixer is on. When mixer is off, dough will fall back to
sides.)

4. Using fingers, coat large bowl with 1 tablespoon oil, rubbing excess oil
from fingers onto blade of rubber spatula. Using oiled spatula, transfer
dough to bowl and pour 1 tablespoon oil over top. Flip dough over once so it
is well coated with oil; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at
room temperature until nearly tripled in volume and large bubbles have
formed, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

5. One hour before baking pizza, adjust oven rack to middle position, place
pizza stone on rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees.

6. Coat rimmed baking sheet with 2 tablespoons oil. Using rubber spatula,
turn dough out onto baking sheet along with any oil in bowl. Using
fingertips, press dough out toward edges of pan, taking care not to tear it.
(Dough will not fit snugly into corners. If dough resists stretching, let it
relax for 5 to 10 minutes before trying to stretch again.) Let dough rest in
pan until slightly bubbly, 5 to 10 minutes. Using dinner fork, poke surface
of dough 30 to 40 times and sprinkle with kosher salt.

7. Bake until spotty brown, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway
through baking. Using metal spatula, remove pizza from oven, spread tomato
mixture evenly over surface, and sprinkle with shredded fontina and sausage.
Return pizza to oven and continue to bake until cheese begins to brown in
spots, 5 to 10 minutes longer.

"Theron" > wrote in message
...
> Yesterday on PBS "America's Test Kitchen" there was a different way to do
> pizza. We tried it last night and really like it. It yields a chewy mildly
> crunchy crust, between the thing crust pizza and foccacia.
>
> Ed
>
> Pizza Bianca with Tomatoes, Sausage, and Fontina
>
> Serve the pizza by itself as a snack or with soup or salad for a light
> meal. Once the dough has been placed in the oiled bowl, it can be
> transferred to the refrigerator and kept for up to 24 hours. Bring the
> dough to room temperature, 2 to 2 1/2 hours, before proceeding with step
> 4. When kneading the dough on high speed, the mixer tends to wobble and
> move on the counter. Place a towel or shelf liner under the mixer and
> watch it at all times during mixing. Handle the dough with slightly oiled
> hands. Resist flouring your fingers or the dough might stick. This recipe
> was developed using an 18- by 13-inch baking sheet. Smaller baking sheets
> can be used, but because the pizza will be thicker, baking times will be
> longer. If not using a pizza stone, increase the oven temperature to 500
> degrees and set the rack to the lowest position; the cooking time might
> increase by 3 to 5 minutes and the exterior won't be as crisp.
>
> Serves 6 to 8
>
> Toppings
>
> 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
> 1 tablespoon olive oil
> 1/8 teaspoon table salt
> 2 cups shredded Fontina cheese (8 ounces)
> 3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage
>
> Dough
>
> 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)
> 1 2/3 cups water (13 1/2 ounces), room temperature
> 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
> 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
> 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
> 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
>
>
> 1. Remove sausage from casings. Cook sausage in large nonstick skillet
> over medium heat, breaking into small pieces with wooden spoon, until no
> longer pink, about 8 minutes. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate. Place
> 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes in fine-mesh strainer set over medium
> bowl. Let sit 30 minutes, stirring 3 times to allow juices to drain.
> Combine 3/4 cup tomato solids, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 1/8 teaspoon
> table salt. (Save remaining solids and juice for another use.)
>
> 2. Place towel or shelf liner beneath stand mixer to prevent wobbling. Mix
> flour, water, and table salt in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook
> on low speed until no patches of dry flour remain, 3 to 4 minutes,
> occasionally scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Turn off mixer and let
> dough rest 20 minutes.
>
> 3. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over dough. Knead on low speed until fully
> combined, 1 to 2 minutes, occasionally scraping sides and bottom of bowl.
> Increase mixer speed to high and knead until dough is glossy, smooth, and
> pulls away from sides of bowl, 6 to 10 minutes. (Dough will only pull away
> from sides while mixer is on. When mixer is off, dough will fall back to
> sides.)
>
> 4. Using fingers, coat large bowl with 1 tablespoon oil, rubbing excess
> oil from fingers onto blade of rubber spatula. Using oiled spatula,
> transfer dough to bowl and pour 1 tablespoon oil over top. Flip dough over
> once so it is well coated with oil; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let
> dough rise at room temperature until nearly tripled in volume and large
> bubbles have formed, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
>
> 5. One hour before baking pizza, adjust oven rack to middle position,
> place pizza stone on rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees.
>
> 6. Coat rimmed baking sheet with 2 tablespoons oil. Using rubber spatula,
> turn dough out onto baking sheet along with any oil in bowl. Using
> fingertips, press dough out toward edges of pan, taking care not to tear
> it. (Dough will not fit snugly into corners. If dough resists stretching,
> let it relax for 5 to 10 minutes before trying to stretch again.) Let
> dough rest in pan until slightly bubbly, 5 to 10 minutes. Using dinner
> fork, poke surface of dough 30 to 40 times and sprinkle with kosher salt.
>
> 7. Bake until spotty brown, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating baking sheet
> halfway through baking. Using metal spatula, remove pizza from oven,
> spread tomato mixture evenly over surface, and sprinkle with shredded
> fontina and sausage. Return pizza to oven and continue to bake until
> cheese begins to brown in spots, 5 to 10 minutes longer.
>
>

That's a very wet dough, especially as it's using AP flour! In fact, it's
sloppier than the usual recipe for focaccia dough.
Graham

On Sun, 3 May 2009 16:27:47 -0600, "graham" > wrote:
>> Dough
>>
>> 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)
>> 1 2/3 cups water (13 1/2 ounces), room temperature
>> 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
>> 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
>> 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
>> 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

>That's a very wet dough, especially as it's using AP flour! In fact, it's
>sloppier than the usual recipe for focaccia dough.


You bet!! I would back the water to 1 1/2 cup.........3 tb olive
oil.

"Mr. Bill" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 3 May 2009 16:27:47 -0600, "graham" > wrote:
>>> Dough
>>>
>>> 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)
>>> 1 2/3 cups water (13 1/2 ounces), room temperature
>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
>>> 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
>>> 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
>
>>That's a very wet dough, especially as it's using AP flour! In fact, it's
>>sloppier than the usual recipe for focaccia dough.
>
>
> You bet!! I would back the water to 1 1/2 cup.........3 tb olive
> oil.
>
I've worked with wetter doughs than that (coccodrillo) where, for the above
quantities, there would have been just over 2 cups of water.

"Mr. Bill" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 3 May 2009 16:27:47 -0600, "graham" > wrote:
>>> Dough
>>>
>>> 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)
>>> 1 2/3 cups water (13 1/2 ounces), room temperature
>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
>>> 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
>>> 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
>
>>That's a very wet dough, especially as it's using AP flour! In fact, it's
>>sloppier than the usual recipe for focaccia dough.
>
>
> You bet!! I would back the water to 1 1/2 cup.........3 tb olive
> oil.
>
>
It sure is wet. If you can open this link:
http://americastestkitchen.com/print...recipeids=5160
and look at the pictures at the bottom you can see what you have to do to
make it work. It does, though,
and the result is a new kind of pizza. I'm making another this minute. The
wet dough, 90% water/flour fraction
is what makes it different.

Ed

"Theron" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Mr. Bill" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On Sun, 3 May 2009 16:27:47 -0600, "graham" > wrote:
>>>> Dough
>>>>
>>>> 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)
>>>> 1 2/3 cups water (13 1/2 ounces), room temperature
>>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
>>>> 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
>>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
>>>> 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
>>
>>>That's a very wet dough, especially as it's using AP flour! In fact,
>>>it's
>>>sloppier than the usual recipe for focaccia dough.
>>
>>
>> You bet!! I would back the water to 1 1/2 cup.........3 tb olive
>> oil.
>>
>>
> It sure is wet. If you can open this link:
> http://americastestkitchen.com/print...recipeids=5160
> and look at the pictures at the bottom you can see what you have to do to
> make it work. It does, though,
> and the result is a new kind of pizza. I'm making another this minute.
> The wet dough, 90% water/flour fraction
> is what makes it different.
>
> Ed
>
Here's a bread I made with a hydration of 110% but it had to be mixed at
high speed for over 20 minutes.
http://i28.tinypic.com/kdqw5z.jpg

It was very difficult to handle but when my oven is fixed (by next w/e I
hope) I'll be making it again as I've just bought a Superpeel that should
make part of the handling a bit easier.

"graham" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Theron" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "Mr. Bill" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> On Sun, 3 May 2009 16:27:47 -0600, "graham" > wrote:
>>>>> Dough
>>>>>
>>>>> 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)
>>>>> 1 2/3 cups water (13 1/2 ounces), room temperature
>>>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
>>>>> 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
>>>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
>>>>> 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
>>>
>>>>That's a very wet dough, especially as it's using AP flour! In fact,
>>>>it's
>>>>sloppier than the usual recipe for focaccia dough.
>>>
>>>
>>> You bet!! I would back the water to 1 1/2 cup.........3 tb olive
>>> oil.
>>>
>>>
>> It sure is wet. If you can open this link:
>> http://americastestkitchen.com/print...recipeids=5160
>> and look at the pictures at the bottom you can see what you have to do to
>> make it work. It does, though,
>> and the result is a new kind of pizza. I'm making another this minute.
>> The wet dough, 90% water/flour fraction
>> is what makes it different.
>>
>> Ed
>>
> Here's a bread I made with a hydration of 110% but it had to be mixed at
> high speed for over 20 minutes.
> http://i28.tinypic.com/kdqw5z.jpg
>
> It was very difficult to handle but when my oven is fixed (by next w/e I
> hope) I'll be making it again as I've just bought a Superpeel that should
> make part of the handling a bit easier.
>
Wow! What were your baking times and temps? How did you ever get it onto a
stone?

"Theron" > wrote in message
...
>
> "graham" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "Theron" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>>
>>> "Mr. Bill" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> On Sun, 3 May 2009 16:27:47 -0600, "graham" > wrote:
>>>>>> Dough
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)
>>>>>> 1 2/3 cups water (13 1/2 ounces), room temperature
>>>>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
>>>>>> 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
>>>>>> 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
>>>>>> 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
>>>>
>>>>>That's a very wet dough, especially as it's using AP flour! In fact,
>>>>>it's
>>>>>sloppier than the usual recipe for focaccia dough.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> You bet!! I would back the water to 1 1/2 cup.........3 tb olive
>>>> oil.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> It sure is wet. If you can open this link:
>>> http://americastestkitchen.com/print...recipeids=5160
>>> and look at the pictures at the bottom you can see what you have to do
>>> to make it work. It does, though,
>>> and the result is a new kind of pizza. I'm making another this minute.
>>> The wet dough, 90% water/flour fraction
>>> is what makes it different.
>>>
>>> Ed
>>>
>> Here's a bread I made with a hydration of 110% but it had to be mixed at
>> high speed for over 20 minutes.
>> http://i28.tinypic.com/kdqw5z.jpg
>>
>> It was very difficult to handle but when my oven is fixed (by next w/e I
>> hope) I'll be making it again as I've just bought a Superpeel that should
>> make part of the handling a bit easier.
>>
> Wow! What were your baking times and temps? How did you ever get it onto a
> stone?
>
475F for about 30 minutes. The recipe I used is based on one in Carol
Field's "The Italian Baker", modified after problems with the ingredients
and US cup measure.
Handling the "dough" was difficult but the Superpeel should make it easier
next time.
Is your e-mail address valid? If so I'll e-mail you the instructions.
Graham