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Pizza


 

Chris Lynch

TVWBB All-Star
Sorry folks, non Weber related cook here. But I have been struggling with crust for a long time and I finally stumbled upon a technique and the time to make it happen and I thought I'd like to share it with you. I used to use instant yeast and followed the directions on the yeast packet and did a warm rise at room temperature. I found the crust to be flavorless and flat. This time, I made a starter "sponge" the night before with dry active yeast, flower and water. Let it sit covered at room temperature overnight



The next morning the "sponge" smelled like beer :) Then I added more flower, salt, yeast and water and threw it on a dough hook. My sister in law let me "borrow" her kitchen aid as she doesn't use it. (I don't think I am giving back)

After you knead it it went into the fridge for a cool rise for 6 hours punching it down once halfway through. Here it is right before the punch down. Finally, the consistency I am looking for.





The sauce was a basic pizza sauce with the usual culprits. Whole canned tomatoes pureed, onions, garlic, fresh basil, dried oregano, sugar, paprika and salt. I used just a bag of shredded mozzarella, but next time I do this I think I am going to try for a margarita pizza with fresh mozz.



Someone wants to help Dad! That's right Sebastian. Pizza.



Set the stove to 500* and let the stone get really hot. But its still not hot enough. Pizza should cook in 2 minutes and this took around 7ish. I really want that kettle pizza dohickey.



The crust is bubbly and light but I wish it were a touch more bubbly and airy. I am going to keep playing around with it.



Thanks for looking! Next time I swear this will be on the kettle!
 
Looks d@mn good to me, I understand what you mean Chris about the bubbles and airiness. Thats what I loved about my year and a half in Italy. Ate very good pizza.
 
My advice would be to make a sourdough starter. You can use the sourdough starter for pizza, bread, pancakes and a variety of dishes.

Here's a good tutorial on how to start and maintain a sourdough starter: http://youtu.be/PKxffBAYs2s
Another good resource is a web site called Take Back the Bread.

My recipe for pizza dough:
1.5 cups Starter
4 cups Bread Flour (or 3.5 cups bread flour and 0.5 cups whole wheat flour)
1 cup warm Water
2 tsp Salt
3 tbsp Olive Oil

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Fold together. Knead 5-10 minutes. Dough is a little on the sticky side, add a little bench flour, but don't use too much. Add a little olive oil to bowl. Put kneaded dough into bowl making sure it is lightly covered in oil and let rise covered with a tea towel about 8 hours or until doubled in size. You can also throw it in the fridge at this stage and let it rise on the countertop the next day. Knock the dough down and separate into 4-6 portions. Sprinkle with flour and let rise again covered with a tea towel until doubled in size (about 1-2 hours). Get the oven cranked up (about 500 degrees) with a pizza stone on the lowest rack. Roll out dough and add toppings and ingredients. I like to cook the pizzas on the stone until nearly done, then switch the pizza to the second highest rack for the last 2 minutes or so of cooking time. Then cool for a few minutes on a cooling rack prior to slicing.
 
Here's a link to one of my Pizza Posts. It might help the original poster a bit:
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?37115-More-Pizza-Party-on-the-grill&highlight=Pizza+Party

Here is a picture of my particular set up on my Weber OTG. This raises the stone up into the lid which allows the pizza to cook evenly top and bottom. It takes about eight minutes but does a FINE job. I spread a chimney full of lit charcoal over the whole grill and pre-heat the grill for about thirty minutes. I can cook pizza continuously without issue, one after another, for several pizzas.

Some pizza dough can be quite sticky. Of course, I use corn meal to help make it easier to slide off the pizza peel. If your particular pizza dough is real sticky, think about using parchment paper on the peel, build the pizza on the paper, then slide paper and pizza off onto the stone and bake it with the paper under the pizza. You will find it helpful to trim the paper around the edge of the finished pizza to lessen the chances of the paper catching fire. Works like a charm and the pizza still browns nicely on both sides.



FWIW
Dale53:wsm:
 
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Nice job. I let my dough rise in the fridge, just takes longer, overnight, and might not rise as much, but has a touch better flavor. Yep, a starter sour dough is the key in my opinion, I need to start one again as I let mine go too long without feeding it. I was recently in Italy and had pizza quite a few times there, and it was a different crust on the Margherita at each place I went.......the best was in a pizza shop across the street from the Coliseum, which was nice and airy.................d
 

 

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