Reinhart's whole wheat focaccia dough used for pizza
I have Peter Reinhart's book Whole Grains Bread and have made bread from several of the recipes. Recently, I tried using the focaccia dough for pizza. The focaccia recipe says the dough can be used for pizza and to follow the pizza instructions on page 270. It seems some information is missing--that there is a gap between the focaccia recipe from when the dough is put in the refrigerator and the instructions for shaping and topping the pizza. So my basic questions:
1. Should I take the focaccia dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for awhile before shaping it?
2. If yes, then how long?
3. Any other tips? For instance, would par baking the shaped-dough for a minute or two be helpful?
My first attempt at making pizza with the dough produced quite good results, but I am looking for excellent results. Thanks.
PS. Can the dough be successfully frozen to use later? If yes, any suggestions for freezing or thawing it?
Burnett, I have that book, and have read a number of the other Reinhart books, while they are pretty helpful for bread, I am not a fan of his pizza. I suggest you go to http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php it is a little overwhelming at first, but it is a great resource for pizza. If you want to stay with whole grains, there is a separate boards for specialty grains, though it doesn't see much action, and there are also separate boards on different styles of pizza, such as NY, Neapolitan, cracker, etc. The first step will be to determine what style of pizza you want, then go to the board and do some reading, you will find some great recipes. For 100% whole wheat, many like the Villa Roma recipe if you use yeast. For sourdough, I have been using a recipe using San Francisco sourdough starter and White Whole Wheat flour that I like quite a bit. If you want details, let me know.
Thanks Barry. What I have liked about Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread Book is that I have been able to use his recipes to make wonderful bread, using wheat berries grown here in Iowa and milling them to make bread. My quest several years ago was to learn to use local (at least Iowa-grown) grains to make bread, and I have been able to do that. I may go to the other forum to study more, but essentially, I have learned Reinhart's method and recipes and want to continue with them rather than trying to teach an older dog (me) new tricks. Especially since I am quite an amateur when it comes to culinary activities. Thanks again.
trying to shape it in to pizza. It just won't work. You have to let the dough rest so it isn't so elastic and becomes more extensible. Once the dough is room temperature it is ready to shape - so the time depends . About 2 hours minimum I would think but it could be 3 or 4 too. If it gets too elastic just let it rest for 5 minutes and then try shaping again. it is better to be patient than rough.
If you are not adept at making thin crusts then par baking for 2 minutes can help get the dough done when the top is done. I do thsi for pizzas that I really load up with toppings no matter how thin the dough is.
Many thanks. The key information I needed was regarding how long to let the dough sit once out of the refrigerator, and you have given me a good sense of what to do.