reinhart's (home) pizza napoletana
I received The Bread Baker's Apprentice as a gift this year, which I hadn't baked from yet. I also have a bag of Central Milling's Old World Bread Flour I got this Fall, which is my favorite bread flour I've tried so far, but due to my fondness for whole grain home milling, I haven't been using it. I put them together to make Reinhart's simple Pizza Napoletana recipe and to get some practice with instant yeast.
574 g flour
12.5 salt
3 g yeast
25 g olive oil
411 g water
Mix, develop gluten (I used a food processor), place in fridge for 24 hours or more.
All my previous pizza efforts used sourdough, which makes shaping pizza a fragile endeavor, so this plunge into instant yeasted dough made for strong and extensible dough that was a real pleasure to shape.
Our gas oven has resulted in pale lifeless crusts in the past, so I picked up a large stainless steel mixing bowl a while ago to complement the Fibrament baking stone, which works pretty well. I shape 255 g balls into 11-12 inch pies, and cook on the stone at above about 580 F (with enough patience the stone will reach close to 600 F), then hold it under the broiler flame by the floor on a baking tray for a minute or so to add a little more color.
This used cultured plant base cheese, mushrooms and olives.
Comments
Great job all around! Can you elaborate on how you are using the new stainless steel mixing bowl during the bake? Thanks.
Thanks. It is large enough to function as a baking enclosure that covers the pizza while it cooks on the stone. I know a number of people use this setup (or steam trays) for their hearth loaves, so I thought it was worth a try to address my pizza woes. These newer cultured plant cheeses work pretty well as a substitute for mozzarella, but wouldn't quite work for a classic cheese pie. There are some that melt better, but they tend to be heavily processed.
Delicious pizza David. Interesting that you’ve found that commercial yeast pizza dough is stronger than your sourdough pizza doughs. I haven’t tried making a commercial yeast pizza dough yet. I’ve found that baking high up in my oven with the roast setting one gets good results for me. Sounds like to have worked out something that works for your gas oven, it seems like baking bread and pizza is more challenging in a gas oven.
Benny
Thanks Benny. Yes, the pain l'ancienne yeasted dough seems much easier to shape to a large window pane after proofing (to a similar degree or volume) without breaking. I'll have to make a sourdough version again soon for comparison.
> I’ve found that baking high up in my oven with the roast setting one gets good results for me
That's similar in concept to what I'm doing with the down low broiler touch up.
Wow, your pizza looks beautiful and delicious!
A definite improvement from my first home oven pizzas. Thanks.
Lovely thin base with a nice open crumb crust with delicious toppings but not overdone.
I'd be very happy if I was served that in a restaurant.
Bon Appetit, David.
Thanks, that's quite a complement Abe. It will be round two tonight.