Humble Ovens, Not-So-Humble Pies:
Restaurant-Caliber Pizza from a Home Oven.
Kneading Conference, July 25, 2013, Skowhegan, Maine
Andrew Janjigian, Associate Editor, Cook’s Illustrated Magazine
[email protected]
Dough Formulas:
NY-Style Thin Crust
Yield: 2 – 390g dough balls, for 12-13″ pies.
460g high-gluten flour or bread flour (100%)
300g ice-cold water (65%)
9g sugar (2%)
1g instant yeast (0.25%)
2g diastatic malt powder (0.5%)
7g vegetable oil (1.5%)
10g salt (2.2%)
– Food processor with metal blade or stand mixer (works best if doubled or tripled)
– mix until uniform without salt
– 20m autolyse
– mix until smooth (1-2 min in FP; 8-10 min medium speed in mixer).
– transfer to well-oiled container, seal, and refrigerate for 3 to 5 days (3 is ideal).
– “24h” version – increase IDY to 0.5% (2.3g)
– “48h” version – increase IDY to 0.35% (1.6g)
– Shape into balls 6-8 hours before baking and return to fridge, or 2 hours before and leave at RT.
Just Great Pizza Dough
Yield: 2 – 390g dough balls, for 12-13″ pies.
460g AP flour or Caputo OO (100%)
330g ice-cold water (72%)
1g instant yeast (0.25%)
2g diastatic malt powder (0.5%)
7g olive oil (1.5%)
10g salt (2.2%)
– Food processor with metal blade or stand mixer (works best if doubled or tripled)
– mix until uniform without salt
– 20m autolyse
– mix until smooth (1-2 min in FP; 8-10 min medium speed in mixer).
– transfer to well-oiled container, seal, and refrigerate for 3 to 5 days (3 is ideal).
– “24h” version – increase IDY to 0.5% (2.3g)
– “48h” version – increase IDY to 0.35% (1.6g)
– Shape into balls 6-8 hours before baking and return to fridge, or 2 hours before and leave at RT.
Sicilian “Slab” Dough
Yield: 1 – 1200g half-sheet pie
500g bread flour (85%)
90g semolina flour (15%)
535g water (90%)
60g EVOO (10%)
30g honey (5%)
8g instant yeast (1.4%)
12g salt (2%)
– hand mix, large bowl
– 20m autolyse
– 3 sets of stretch and folds over 3 hours.
– Transfer to heavily floured counter, coat top with flour, stretch to 15″ x 10″ rectangle, transfer to lightly oiled pan, stretch to corners.
OR:
– Transfer directly onto heavily-oiled sheet pan and stretch to corners.
– Preheat stone on upper-middle rack at 450˚, bake for 35-40 minutes, rotating at halfway point
Uncooked Tomato Sauce
Yield: sauce for 4 12″ pies, or 2 18″ x 13″ sheet pan pies.
1 28-ounce can unsalted whole peeled plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons EVOO
1 small garlic clove
1 teaspoon dried oregano
pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar (or to taste)
Kosher salt
Sugar
Process all ingredients except for juice in blender or food processor until smooth. Season with salt and adjust acidity and sweetness with sugar and vinegar as desired.
Cooked New York-style Sauce
Yield: sauce for 4 12″ pies, or 2 18″ x 13″ sheet pan pies.
1 28-ounce can unsalted whole peeled plum tomatoes
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium garlic clove
1 teaspoon dried oregano
pinch red pepper flakes
1 oil-cured anchovy, rinsed and mashed with fork (optional)
2 teaspoons sugar
Kosher salt
1 medium onion, peeled and split in half
2 six-inch sprigs fresh basil with leaves attached
1. Place tomatoes and their juice in the bowl of a food processor, blender, or hand blender and pulse until coarse but uniform, 5-10 seconds. Set aside.
2. Combine butter and oil in medium saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until butter is melted. Add garlic, oregano, pepper flakes, anchovy paste (if using) and large pinch salt and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil sprigs, onion halves, and sugar. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to lowest setting, and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by 1/2, about 1 hour. Remove basil sprigs and onion halves. Season to taste with salt. Allow to cool and store in covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Resources
Websites:
Slice – Excellent online source for pizza-related information, restaurant reviews, recipes, and more. Part of Serious Eats, a collection of food blogs started by Ed Levine, author of Pizza: A Slice of Heaven.
PizzaMaking Forum – An online forum dedicated to obsessively sorting out the ins-and-outs of pizza making. Some of the most interesting independent research on pizza dough making anywhere. Has numerous threads about “reverse-engineering” various restaurants’ pizza doughs.
Books & Articles:
American Pie, Peter Reinhart
Pizza, A Slice of Heaven, Ed Levine
“Existential Pizza”, from Pot on a Fire, John Thorne
“Pizza in Naples”, Ed Behr, from The Art of Eating, Number 22 (Spring 1992)