Existential Pizza
Based heavily on John Thorne's _Pot on the Fire_ (excellent book)
Makes one 14 inch pizza which serves two
Time: about 30 minutes weighing, kneading, and shaping; 6-7 hours rising

I've been working on pizza for the past couple years, using techniques
from Marcella Hazan, TheArtisan.net, Peter Reinhart, Roberto Donna and
others.  Sometimes I got stellar results but frequently got leathery
crusts. The technique below has reliably produced top-notch pizzas,
about as good as the best pizza joints I've eaten at in DC: Two Amys,
Pizza Paradiso, Il Radiccio.  I'm concerned about crust: great
toppings cannot make a good pie without one.

Thorne uses sea salt, pastry flour (7.6% protein), and bread flour (14.2%
protein), and SAF yeast.  His unusual method of drubbing the dough with a
rolling pin helps develop a silky texture that is easy to shape.

The combination of flours gives a good texture without the usual expedient
of adding fat to make it tender.  Giving the formed crust time to rise -- a
crucial change in my procedure -- gave it a shattery crisp top and bottom,
a tender center, and no sogginess; height ranged from 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

(I'm still working on retarding the dough to improve flavor: the longer the
rise, the more grain flavor is extracted from the flours.  I've been kneading
the dough and putting it immediately into the fridge overnight, like Peter
Reinhart's "Pain a l'Ancienne". Take it out about 6 hours before planning to
bake in order to let it warm up, then shape and rise. The change in taste is
noticeable but I haven't yet got the timing quite right, it hasn't had enough
rise after being formed.  I'm still experimenting with this.)

1	tsp	Fine Kosher Salt (more for coarse)
4	ounce	Cake Flour (Soft as Silk 6.6% protein, Swans Down 7.1%)
3	ounce	All-purpose Flour (King Arthur, 11.7%)
1	ounce	Durum Flour, very fine grind (13+% ?)
1/2	tsp	Yeast (Fleishman's Bread Machine or Rapid Rise instant dried)
4 1/2+	ounce	Water, tepid (approximate amount)

Add dry ingredients to mixer bowl in the order above, this keeps the salt
from contacting the yeast and inhibiting its growth.  With dough hook,
combine on low speed, dribbling in water until a ball forms.  Adjust the
water to get the right texture: I always have to add more; it should clean
the sides of the bowl and maybe have a small foot sticking to bottom like a
mollusk. Knead on medium (Kitchen Aid #4) for 8 minutes.

Place in lightly floured bowl large enough to accommodate a 3x growth,
cover tightly with cling film, and puncture one hole in the film.  Let rise
4-5 hours in a cool, draft-free place.  Deflate, let rise again for an
hour until doubled in bulk. If you rise in a warm location it will rise
faster but have less taste from the grain.

Put a pizza stone in the oven 1/3 from the top and preheat as high as
it will go; I do 555F with full convection.

Dump dough onto a lightly floured counter and beat with a rolling pin to
shape into a rough disk.  Form and thin by dimpling with finger tips until
you enlarge it to fit the pizza peel and stone. Flip it over a couple times
while doing this, flouring as needed, to prevent sticking to the counter.
Avoid beating or pressing the air bubbles out of the dough.

Spread a thin but not stingy amount of coarse corn meal over a wooden pizza
peel; this acts like ball bearings and allows the dough to slide off after
topping.  Carefully lay the dough on the peel.  Cover loosely with cling
film to prevent the crust from drying out.

Let rise 30-60 minutes, allowing it to puff up and become a little bubbly.
I found shortening this step made for a poorly risen crust which tended to
be leathery. 

While rising, prepare toppings, then apply to dough.  Brush a little olive
oil on the crust before the toppings, extending to the edges.  Thorne has a
number of interesting toppings including an excellent Broccoli Rabe and
Fresh Mozarella.  Blanched Asparagus and Blue Cheese, or Proscuitto and
thinly sliced Pear are also tasty, non-red-sauce toppings.

Shake the peel a couple times to ensure the dough isn't sticking to it,
then slide onto pre-heated stone. Cook 6-8 minutes until crust is golden
brown and cheese is melted.  Remove, cut, and serve immediately.

2006-02-20

Usually I make two very thin pizzi from this recipe, but this time I
made a single thicker one which turned out quite well.  For a change,
I did a double rise (2-day fridge retard in bucket, rise at room
temperature several hours, punch down, rise a couple hours more, punch
down and form on peel, let sit only as long as it took to prep the
toppings and heat the oven/stone).  I also used a cooked down tomato
sauce with some browned Italian sweet sausage, skinned and broken into
bits, and mozzarella.  Crust came out rather crisp but there was a
descent chew, the sauce had an intense concentrated flavor.

$Id: pizza_existential.txt,v 1.6 2006/02/21 19:37:47 chris Exp $