So, like everyone, I love Pizza, never remember a time I did not. But, my attempts at making them have been half assed, as pizza is always good. Last year I decided to learn a bit more about pizza, and while silently lurking on all the pizza forums, I found a consistency in positive opinions on the book "The Pizza Bible" Sounds legit. and really what this crust has taught me, is if you like Pizza, buy this book. This guy may seem to have a monster ego, but, after reading it, he is a perfectionist, with like 13 world titles in pizza, So, what I have learned mostly started with him.
Here are the secrets that you would not think of.
all but the small amount of water to activate a starter, is ice water, slower maturation of the crust and flavor. I have found it to be good at 48 hours, but better in 72 hours. It is a start it 3 days ahead type of pizza
He prefers Pizza Steels, so I have two of them, I am running a regular electric house oven, but, you get a steel on each shelf, one is close to the bottom burner to heat up the bottom steel, the other is the upper rack, to get that steel by the broiler. You USE BOTH of them to cook. While this pizza is in there for roughly 6-10 minutes, it is not just sitting still. you work the broil and the bake, to adjust to what steel you are moving too. I start on top with broil, to get my crust moving the direction I want it, and I rotate it once in the first 3-4 minutes, then you move it to the bottom steel with the bake on, and then back to the top steel, to get the finish right.
Tricks, I have found:
I put the bare pizza dough on the top rack as a pre bake for a minute or so, so that I can get a stronger crust for the sauce and toppings. I find it much easier to off load a pizza from the peel of to the steel loaded, if it has a quick prebake. Plus the pre bake, strengthens the top crust, to keep the sauce on top of the crust, where it belongs, not saturating my crust. When it starts bubbling with the gas expanding, take it out, pop all the bubbles and push the top center crust back down.
Pizza Peel trick, definitely use semolina on the peel, it is like ball bearings, but, I also use flour, but more secretively, I add diastatic malt powder to my peel. It is not only one of the Hidden secrets in this book, and is a crust game changer, It is the perfect browning agent. so, adding a bit more as I work the dough on the peel, it adds that extra touch of browning agent for texture and visual appeal. I cant think of a time going forward where I would make pizza with out using it. It is a home oven home run when paired likely even with stones, but on steels, it is awesome for sure.
So, the things I have learned so far and I am really only proficient in this dough, 2 Steels, constant moving, the Pre bake for me, is super important, Diastatic Malt powder, allows you to get the browning of a high hydration dough cooked in a high heat pizza oven, but in a lower hydration crust so we can actually work with it, in a low heat home oven. Like I said, I ramble. ..





Here are the secrets that you would not think of.
all but the small amount of water to activate a starter, is ice water, slower maturation of the crust and flavor. I have found it to be good at 48 hours, but better in 72 hours. It is a start it 3 days ahead type of pizza
He prefers Pizza Steels, so I have two of them, I am running a regular electric house oven, but, you get a steel on each shelf, one is close to the bottom burner to heat up the bottom steel, the other is the upper rack, to get that steel by the broiler. You USE BOTH of them to cook. While this pizza is in there for roughly 6-10 minutes, it is not just sitting still. you work the broil and the bake, to adjust to what steel you are moving too. I start on top with broil, to get my crust moving the direction I want it, and I rotate it once in the first 3-4 minutes, then you move it to the bottom steel with the bake on, and then back to the top steel, to get the finish right.
Tricks, I have found:
I put the bare pizza dough on the top rack as a pre bake for a minute or so, so that I can get a stronger crust for the sauce and toppings. I find it much easier to off load a pizza from the peel of to the steel loaded, if it has a quick prebake. Plus the pre bake, strengthens the top crust, to keep the sauce on top of the crust, where it belongs, not saturating my crust. When it starts bubbling with the gas expanding, take it out, pop all the bubbles and push the top center crust back down.
Pizza Peel trick, definitely use semolina on the peel, it is like ball bearings, but, I also use flour, but more secretively, I add diastatic malt powder to my peel. It is not only one of the Hidden secrets in this book, and is a crust game changer, It is the perfect browning agent. so, adding a bit more as I work the dough on the peel, it adds that extra touch of browning agent for texture and visual appeal. I cant think of a time going forward where I would make pizza with out using it. It is a home oven home run when paired likely even with stones, but on steels, it is awesome for sure.
So, the things I have learned so far and I am really only proficient in this dough, 2 Steels, constant moving, the Pre bake for me, is super important, Diastatic Malt powder, allows you to get the browning of a high hydration dough cooked in a high heat pizza oven, but in a lower hydration crust so we can actually work with it, in a low heat home oven. Like I said, I ramble. ..
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