That’s it…

The internet is largely populated by assholes who are mostly interested in using their internet presence either as an ego boost or a way to sell something. My recent dealings with a certain website: ‘Slice’ and its managing editor Adam Kuban have left me wondering why I bother. No one cares about earnest effort or passion anymore, it seems.

The truth is, I do this for free. I do this because I enjoy it. I do it because hopefully by sharing with others, some good can come from all of this beyond just my meagre efforts. When that spirit is lost, when it stops being enjoyable – I stop.

I’ll leave the recipes up for reference but I don’t expect to be making additions any time soon. My love for this has hit rock bottom recently.

FP

Pizza a Casa Mia – Part 2: Neapolitan Style Pizza

I need to start off this post by making an admission. I’ve not been fortunate enough to sample ‘the real deal’ that is authentic, officially classified and approved, neapolitan pizza. I’ve certainly read about it with great enthusiasm and have some idea of ‘the ideal’ but I suspect until I visit Naples, my efforts will be at best an homage to the great tradition that is ‘pizza napoletana’<italic>.

Neapolitan pizza is a very special food that represents the rich culture and heritage of its birthplace. The techniques and tools used in making this style of pizza are inseparable from the ingredients specific to the region. One could pore over the minutiae of such traditional techniques, but it boils down to this: the strict guidelines as laid out by organisations such as ‘Verace Pizza Napoletana’<http://www.pizzanapoletana.org/> place ‘authentic’ DOC <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denominazione_di_origine_controllata> Pizza Napoletana largely out of reach for the (non-italian-resident) home baker. If you wish, as some have, to obsessively pursue authenticity then you’re probably going to end up tracking down expensive flour, San Marzano DOP tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, build a wood fired oven etc. It’s not for the fainthearted!

All of which sounds like a rather pessimistic start to a post. However, not to worry! My starting point for the recipe below was an attempt to get as close as possible to making a neapolitan style pizza in an unmodified domestic electric oven with readily available supermarket ingredients. After much experimentation, a LOT of reading and some burnt fingers(!) I have come to the conclusion: while it may not be feasible to make a facsimile pizza, I believe by using simple ingredients, and building a method around them to bring out the best flavour possible, you can get extremely satisfying results. The spirit, if not the pizza law of Naples can still inspire and inform the home baker to make great pizza.

Makes: 4 pizzas (11″- 12″ diameter)

This recipe takes about 21 hours from start to finish. It may seem a little complicated but actually involves very little work. I’ve drawn up an example schedule to clarify the order of events:

0:00 Convert storage starter to biga naturale; Mix 50% hydration autolyse.

4:00 First biga feeding; Mix 75% hydration autolyse.

8:00 Second biga feeding.

12:00 Third and final biga feeding.

16:00 Mix final dough.

16:20 Stretch and fold dough in bowl.

16:40 Stretch and fold dough in bowl.

17:00 Stretch and fold dough and form into a ball to ferment for a further hour; Prepare oven.

18:00 Turn on oven; Divide and shape dough into balls and proof (optional refrigeration of dough at this point); Prepare Toppings.

20:00 Turn on broiler (and leave on).

20:15 Start stretching and shaping pizzas. Bake for 2 to 3 minutes and, if possible, leave 10 minutes between each pizza.

Total dough ingredients:

615g flour (50/50 mix of King Arthur unbleached bread flour and Hodgson Mill all purpose)

397g water

15g sea salt

12g storage starter (100% hydration)

Over the years I’ve tried many different flours and combinations including 00, all purpose, bread and even pastry flour. The blend I’ve used in this recipe is a 50/50 mix of King Arthur unbleached bread flour (higher protein, malted hard wheat) and Hodgson Mill all purpose flour (lower protein, unmalted soft wheat). My choice was partly based on the selection of flour readily available to me in my local supermarket (US).

Toppings:

Margherita – tomato, sea salt (apply sparingly!), fior di latte (fresh cow’s milk mozzarella) or mozzarella di bufala, fresh basil, olive oil.

Marinara – tomato, sea salt, oregano, sliced garlic, fresh basil, olive oil.

‘Filetti’ – sliced cherry tomatoes, fior di latte or mozzarella di bufala, garlic, sea salt, fresh basil, olive oil (inspired by the pizza of the same name at ‘Una Pizza Napoletana’<http://www.unapizza.com>)

A note on preparing the tomato sauce:

Use good quality canned, whole tomatoes (purists will use San Marzano DOP, but there are plenty of other excellent products out there). Squeeze excess moisture and seeds from the tomatoes before crushing or blending until smooth. Pass the sauce through a sieve to remove any additional seeds and there you have it! Simple!

Start by mixing a 50% Hydration autolyse which I’ll call ‘Biga Food’ for reasons that will become obvious: Mix 234g flour with 117g water until you have a smooth dough. Leave this dough covered with lightly oiled plastic wrap at room temperature (70-75F). It will be used to feed the biga at 4 hour intervals.

Now prepare the biga naturale by mixing 12g mature 100% hydration storage starter, 12g flour and 3g water and ferment in a covered container for 4 hours in a warm place (80-85F).

After 4 hours take 24g of the biga and mix with 36g of the ‘biga food’. Continue to ferment in the same manner at 80-85F.

Meanwhile prepare the 75% Hydration Autolyse by mixing 369g flour and 277g water in a bowl until evenly combined. Leave this autolyse in a covered bowl at room temperature (70-75F) for 12 hours while continuing to build up the biga naturale.

Feed the biga again at 8 hours with 90g of the ‘biga food’. Continue to ferment at 80-85F.

Feed the biga one last time at 12 hours with 225g of ‘biga food’ (same fermentation temperature as before).

When the biga has matured (at 16 hours) you can mix the final dough:

369g biga naturale

All of the 75% hydration autolyse

15g salt

Fold/knead together the ingredients gently until evenly mixed and rest the dough for 20 minutes. Try to squeeze out any lumps with your fingers.

Knead the dough in the mixing bowl by taking the dough from the edge, stretching and folding it over the centre. Continue working around the edge of the dough (turning the bowl with your other hand) until you have stretched about 30 to 40 times.

Rest the dough for another 20 minutes.

Knead the dough as before, one more time.

Shape the dough into a rough ball and leave to ferment for a further hour.

Prepare a 12″ pizza stone by placing it in the centre of a 15″ pizza pan and arranging lava rocks (on the pan) around the stone.

Place the assembled stone and lava rocks on the highest shelf (closest to the broiler).

Divide and shape the dough into 4 balls (roughly 250g each). Avoid shaping the balls too tightly or you may find it difficult to stretch the final pizza.

Proof the dough balls for 2 hours at room temperature (70-75F) or alternatively refrigerate them for up to 2 days.

When using refrigerated dough, rest the dough balls for about 2 hours at room temperature before shaping.

Preheat the oven on the maximum setting (500-550F) for 2 hours.

10 minutes before shaping the pizza, turn on the broiler.

Shape your pizza base <video>, add sauce and toppings and transfer the pizza to a peel. Alternatively shape the pizza base, transfer to the peel and lastly add sauce and toppings.

Carefully slide the pizza off the peel on to the stone. Don’t worry if a few lava rocks get shifted slightly.

Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the edges are puffy and blistered and the sauce/cheese are bubbling.

Hint: Since the lava rocks can get in the way, I’d recommend using a small pair of tongs to aid in removing the cooked pizza from the stone.

Serve and eat immediately!

Due to the extreme heat involved in baking these pizzas, the pizza stone is  liable to crack. I would recommend getting a 12″ pizza stone expressly for the purpose of baking this style of pizza. The cracked stone can be re-used so long as it is supported by the larger aluminum pizza pan.

While the recipe was specifically developed for a standard domestic electric oven, I see no reason why the dough could not be used to make pizzas in a wood-fired oven. If you do happen to try this recipe in such an oven, please drop a comment and let me know how it fared. Of course, I’d love to hear from anyone who tries this recipe. Your feedback is always much appreciated.

Getting there…

Yes, I’ve been working on a recipe for the next pizza-related blog post and as usual it’s taken longer than I expected. It hasn’t helped that pizza-making days tend to coincide with tornado warnings – a worrying trend which hopefully won’t continue! I’ve been working my way through different flours, formulating and tweaking the recipe and I’m 90% there. It’s coming together…slowly.
FP

Pizza a Casa Mia – Part 1: Pan Pizza

Wow an actual update on my blog? Before you start scouring the interweb for confirmation that godot did in fact arrive and the latest news on the swine flu virus causing pigs to sprout winged appendages – yes, it’s been a while but I have excuses! The short story – I am currently away from the UK and staying in Tennessee. The long story involves plumbing, sewer lines, front yard excavations, tornado and storm damage, ant infestations, um laziness…hey I didn’t say they were all *good* excuses!  Which is not to say that my baking peel has lain idle…no sir. I’ve continued to make my usual floury, doughy mess in the kitchen and I’m happy to say that I’m currently maintaining two healthy starters (100% hydration white and 133% hydration whole rye) which seem to grow and mature at an alarming rate. This is the first time that I have made any serious attempt to bake bread this side of the pond, and getting to grips with the flours available in the US has been something of a learning curve. So far, the biggest difference seems to come from the malted barley which is added to most white flours (including two which are fast becoming my staples: King Arthur All Purpose and Bread). Fermentation is quicker and the breads seem to taste ever so slightly sweeter than their counterparts in my kitchen in the UK.  Of course, seeing as I’m in Tennessee, the warmer climate may be playing a part also!

Soooooo…what has been occupying my bread-head recently? In a word, pizza!  This past week I’ve been making more pizza dough than I can reasonably toss (in the bin mostly…) and this post will hopefully be the first of several covering various styles of pizza. I could talk (ie bore you) silly about my past pizza-making attempts – some good, some truly awful, some potentially dangerous. Let’s just say, there’s definitely something wrong with the pizza when you find yourself reaching for ketchup in order to make it taste better!  Honestly, there are few food-related topics that inspire more debate (often heated and usually amongst men) than the love of pizza. Needless to say, like ‘mama’s spaghetti’ and barbeque rubs, everyone is right and the local pizza joint of one’s childhood will be the standard by which all other pizzas will forever be judged and ultimately fall short. BTW, I’d urge all pizza-lovers (not already in the know) to go and visit http://www.sliceny.com. It’s a fabulous site covering all things pizza-related. A word of caution though: don’t read it first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Doing so can incur a serious case of unbearable, unsatiated pizza munchies (as I’ve had on many occasions).

Anyway, back to the baking. While pizza may have been one of the first yeasted concoctions I ever attempted to er…concoct in the kitchen, in recent years my interests have moved more towards other types of leavened goodness. Having experimented with sourdough, trying new bread recipes, learning how to handle dough etc. I thought it might be a good time to once again turn my attention to this most popular of flatbreads. Over the next few posts, I’ll hopefully be putting my bread knowledge (admittedly as full of holes as a ciabatta, but present nonetheless) to good use while trying my hand at a pie or two.

Of note: the true pizza otaku will doubtless want to use such fine tools and ingredients as imported italian flour, fresh buffalo mozzarella, wood burning ovens etc. However, in the interests of home baking (and finances!) I’ve limited myself to the following:

* Using readily available ingredients (all the ingredients were sourced from supermarkets or local farmer’s markets).
* Using common kitchen utensils and bakeware (with the exception of a pizza stone and peel which I found as a combo package for  $30 from Wal Mart).
* No modifications to ovens or other potentially dangerous alterations to kitchen appliances. 
* In keeping with most of the recipes on my blog, I’ll be focusing mainly on recipes using ‘natural yeast’ or sourdough starter as the leaven. For a guide on how to make your own starter, check out the easy to follow guide at wildyeast.

I may tackle the whole issue of D.O.P certified tomatoes, VPN approval etc. another day in another post but for now here is my first pizza recipe. Pizza al taglio, grandma slice, ‘nonna’ slice, focaccia style, ‘traditional style’ or simply pan pizza, call it what you will, I hope you enjoy it for what it is – a great slice bearing most of the qualities that I love about pizza: crispy crust, oozy, melty cheese, airy, oily, salty, umami and generally pretty tasty*

Is it like the pizza of my youth? Not unless I parbake it, stick it a cardboard box and freeze it…

FP

*no modesty either…another ’self-imposed limitation’?

Makes: three 13″x9″ pizzas

Time: 2 days (longer if using refrigerated fermentation) although only about 2 minutes actual mixing time.

Biga Naturale

22g mature storage starter (100% hydration)

100g all purpose flour

50g water

Final Dough

396g bread flour

284g all purpose flour

532g water

170g biga naturale

16g salt

Sauce

2x canned peeled whole tomatoes

2 tsp sugar (to taste)

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

Separate out the peeled tomatoes from any liquid in the can.

Carefully open up each tomato and scoop or lightly rinse out the seeds.

Remove the tough part of the tomato (where the vine stem attached to the tomato).

Gently squeeze out any excess water and place in a bowl.

If the remaining liquid in the can is thick enough and ’sauce like’, pass it through a sieve (to remove seeds) and into the bowl of de-seeded tomatoes.

Crush the tomatoes by hand (or kitchen utensil of choice) until no large lumps remain.

Stir in the salt, sugar and oregano.

Allow the sauce to sit at room temperature for a minimum of 2 hours.

Toppings

6 cloves of thinly sliced garlic (strictly optional but so good)

200g partially dried mozzarella (shredded)

200g fresh mozzarella (cubed/torn into small pieces)

other toppings: pepperoni, onion, olives, sausage, mushrooms etc.

olive oil

fresh basil

grated parmigiano reggiano, grana padano or pecorino cheese (optional)

Desired dough temperature: 76F

Mix the flour, water, salt and starter until even and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Knead the dough in the mixing bowl by taking the dough from the edge, stretching and folding it over the centre. Continue working around the edge of the dough (turning the bowl with your other hand) until you have stretched about 20 times.

Rest the dough for another 20 minutes

Knead the dough as before, one more time.

Bulk ferment the dough until doubled in volume (7 to 8 hours at room temperature, ~75F). During bulk fermentation, fold the dough <http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/07/fold/> two times (once after an hour of bulk fermentation and again at the 3 hour mark).

If you wish to refrigerate the dough, you can do so after 2 hours of bulk fermentation at room temperature. Ideally the refrigeration temperature should be between 40 and 50F where it can stay for 24 hours or so. Give the dough one fold during refrigeration. When you’re ready to take the dough out of the refrigerator to bake, allow it to come to room temperature before dividing, stretching etc.

Preheat the oven with a baking stone on mid-shelf to 550F (or as high as it will go) for 1 1/2 hours.

Divide the dough into 3 equal portions (roughly 460g each).

Grease each pizza trays/pans generously with olive oil. (I use disposable aluminium pans).

Stretch each portion over the greased baking tray/pan. If the dough will resists stretching, rest for a few minutes before continuing. It’s easier to stretch the dough if you use wet or oiled hands to push the dough towards the edges.

Cover each pan with cling film and allow the dough to proof for a further 30 to 45 minutes.

Cover each pizza with a third of the shredded mozzarella.

Divide the sliced garlic between the pizzas.

Spoon the pizza sauce over the surface in ‘blobs’.

Add any other desired toppings.

Arrange the fresh mozzarella over the pizzas.

Drizzle olive oil over each pizza.

Bake the pizzas on a baking stone for 12 to 15 minutes until the top is bubbling and the edges have turned crispy and brown.

Remove the pizzas from the oven and top with fresh basil and grated cheese (optional).

While preparing the next pizza for the oven, switch on the broiler to heat the pizza stone for a few minutes before switching back to ‘bake’.

Repeat steps x through x for the other 2 pizzas.

Enjoy!

As always, if you decide to try your hand at making it, I’d love to hear from you. Let me know how it went, if you loved or hated it, how it compared to Joe’s or John’s or Pat’s or wherever your first pizza love lies (it’s OK, I can take it!)

Colomba Di Pasquale (not successful)

I, along with many other blogging bakers have been participating in Cinzia’s (at Cindystar) ‘Happy Baking Easter‘. Unfortunately, I have to report that despite two attempts, my Colomba di Pasquale did not turn out so well.

Hot Cross Buns

With hot cross buns so readily available (all year round!) in UK supermarkets, I thought that a home-baked attempt warranted a more indulgent treatment of this classic easter treat. I opted to try a naturally leavened version (no baker’s yeast) and incorporate slightly more fat and sugar to hopefully produce a softer, moist, more satisfying hot cross bun.

Wild Garlic, Wild Yeast

This week, I took the opportunity to gather some of the newly sprouted wild garlic which grows near where I live. The vivid green leaves were put to good use in a focaccia, inspired by Pepsakoy’s marvellous sage and garlic focaccia featured on YeastSpotting last week.

Pain Aux Deux Levains

The name Pain Au Levain can be used somewhat vaguely to refer to a sourdough/naturally-leavened bread in the french tradition. However, under this umbrella term, one can find a wide range of breads ranging from plain white bread using a combination of natural levain and baker’s yeast, to more wholesome, rustic breads incorporating rye and whole grains.

New Beginnings

Those who have read other posts in my blog may know of some of the problems I had recently with my starters. In short, all of them went to the levain heaven in the sky (or is that the depths of spent starter hell? I’m not sure). They have since been replaced by 5 new starters which have only just developed to the point they can be put on a more regular feed schedule (I hope to post about this later).

Weak Dough

Well yet again I have not posted for several weeks. Sadly things are not doing well breadwise. An old problem has reared it’s head. One for which I’ve yet to find a satisfactory solution.

In short, all my recent efforts have suffered from a dramatic loss of dough strength. This loss of strength (apparent degradation of gluten) typically occurs during inital (bulk) fermentation. Having tried several different simple recipes as well as a brand new starter (in addition to using my usual starters) I have come to the conclusion that the problem is rooted in excessive protease activity. As I understand it, excessive protease can result from insufficient salt, long fermentation time and high (warm) fermentation temperature; none of which have changed in the last few weeks. How then, can I explain this sudden, seemingly random onset of the problem after months of relatively trouble-free dough mixing and fermentation?

The only other clue I have is the poor performance of my white starter recently. It has been barely doubling in volume whereas previously it would easily triple. My rye and whole wheat starters seem unaffected. 

At this point I’m unable to make even the most basic of breads until the problem is resolved. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated and much needed.

Thanks

FP