Since we got onto the subject of tipping it made me look into pizza crust recipes. Nothing to do with tipping per’se but just that I’m far enough out in the sticks that its probably just as cost effective to make our own pizza. I’ve made them before plenty of times but I’ve always used the pizza crust mixes sold in the stores and I really like making or doing as much on my own as I can. I wouldn’t say I do it to cut cost because not everything is less expensive to make or do at home, a lot depends on how well a person can do it… “quality” determines cost effectiveness, at least in my mind it does.
So… I’m looking for some pizza crust recipes and who better to turn to than fellow homebrewers, we by nature just seem to look for ways to “do it ourselves”. I guess one of my questions is do I really need yeast for pizza crust mix? I’d like to make enough up so that I could freeze it and roll it out etc. later also, not just making it for one night.
This next question might be out there a bit but… has anybody tried using spent grains in a pizza crust mix?
There’s that pizza fatta en casa thread - which boils down to homemade pizza. There’s two or three dough recipes there. And yes it’s absolutely cheaper and better than going out for pizza. I think maybe I’d decorate the crust with some spent grain but I dunno about the whole ball o dough. Done it in loaves of bread and it’s great though.
Here’s the recipe I use. Put it in a bread machine and comes out great.
Here’s the recipe.
1-pound loaf 1/ 1/2-pound loaf
Whole wheat flour 2 1/4 cups 2 2/3 cups
Gluten Flour 1/4 cup 1/3 cup
Date Sugar (or cane sugar) 1 tsp 1 1/2 tsp
Sea salt 1 tsp 1 1/2 tsp
Water 1 cup 1 1/4 cup
Olive oil 2 Tbs 3 Tbs
Actie dry yeast 1 package 4 tsp
Cornmeal 1 tsp 1 1/2 tsp
Directions:
Fit the kneading blade firmly on the shaft in the bread pan. Carefully measure the flours, salt and sugar, and transfer to the pan. Add the water, oil and yeast. Place the bread pan in side the machine and close the lid.
Program the breadmaker for the whole wheat dough mode. The unit will begin its operation.
At the end of the rising cycle, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
Lightly oil a 12-inch (or 15-inch) pizza pan and sprinkle with the cornmeal (can just use fat free oil spray (like PAM, etc)). With floured hands, gently stretch the dough into a 12-inch (or 15-inch) circle and place in the prepared pan. Continue stretching until the dough covers the entire surface of the pan. Push the dough against the rim of the pan to make an edge, then top the dough with your choice of pizza fillings.
Bake the pizza on he bottom rack of a preheated 400 F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until teh crust is golden and the filling is melted and bubbly. Serve hot.
Notes:
-I used 3 tsp of Active dry yeast (for the 1-pound loaf), as I did not have yeast “packages” (I had the big bottle of bread machine yeast).
-1 pound loaf makes ~ 12 inch pizza, the 1 1/2 pound loaf makes ~ 15 inch pizza.
From: The Bread Machine Gourmet, by Shea MacKenzie
Love pizza. Slurry will do just fine for the yeast.
I suggest making a poolish and then proof the pizza dough the next day for a traditional pizza crust. Not Chicago style. Slurry just rocks the house when making bread.
I’ve always favored a looser dough that spreads out easily but that’s another subject.
How many forums can one guy go to before just going crazy?
I just spent this last week on a BBQ forum leading to today’s lunch. (Brisket, round and sausage)
So, who streches how? I can toss but it’s more mess than it’s worth.
I hold it up off the counter and just keep pulling at it working my way around the crust, letting gravity help the stretch.
I can slap and toss but for a suburban kitchen that just gets flour or cornmeal everywhere. Dock the dough with my fingers and flatten it some. Then I go after it with a French-style rolling pin.
Pretty much the same as it’s been for awhile. I just really like this formulation. What about you?
For a 16" pizza:
12.7 oz King Arthur bread flour
9 g vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
8.5 oz cold water
.25 oz kosher salt
.25 oz olive oil
48 hour cold rise
2 hour warm up
550 degree oven (preheat stone for at least 1 hour)
Bake the pizza on a screen in the upper portion of the oven until the bottom is solid enough to slide off the screen
Rotate pizza 180 degrees and transfer from screen to stone
Bake on stone until the bottom has reached desired doneness
Turn on broiler, move the pizza back up to the upper rack for 30-60 seconds to finish the toppings
I tried this one last time and it worked out pretty well. I’m still not settled on a formulation yet.
On to the current formula I’m using. This one starts with the 61% hydration. However, that is the only variable that has been changed. All the other ones have been consistent. The mixing regimen and poolish is as follows:
3-hr Poolish (in order of ingredients added)
Total amount of water
Total amount of yeast
50% of the sugar
50% of total amount of flour (sifted in)
Dissolve sugar & yeast in 95 ° F water. Stir with a wire whisk. Sift in the flour and, using the paddle attachment, mix everything together. Let sit for 3 hours.
Final mix
Add the rest of the sugar, all the salt and sift in remaining flour. Using the dough hook, mix and knead everything together until no raw flour is visible any longer. Rest for 20 mins. This step is crucial to get the flour properly hydrated. After 20 mins, start kneading again and let the oil run down the sides of the bowl and knead into the dough. Knead on Speed 2 for about 10-12 mins. The dough came off the hook at around 82°F. A 2-minute hand kneading on the bench followed before it went into a slightly oiled bowl, got covered with plastic wrap and then was put into the fridge.
Formula 61%
Flour (100%): 902.53 g
Water (61%): 550.54 g
IDY (.7%): 6.32 g
Salt (2%): 18.05 g
Oil (1%): 9.03 g
Sugar (1.5%): 13.54 g
edit: Oh, and basically it’s a high-gluten flour that increases the protein content of the dough. Increasing the protein content is believed to increase the amount of crust browning and crispiness. In my experience, the vital wheat gluten does in fact make a difference in those respects.
That’s good to know because I’ve found even All-Purpose is as good as Bread flour. I quit using gluten a ways back. but I still have lot’s of it.
The trick with doing a poolish is making it a day or so before. Really it’s like making a starter but it’s much more than that. The poolish ferments out by the yeast eating most of the starch and leaving the gluten behind plus a bunch of really tasty by products such as alcohol. This then acts as the liquid basis for any batch of bread or pizza dough.
About 16 hours before baking I’ll stir just enough flour into the water that’s asked for in the recipe to make a thick liquid. Add yeast and stir.
Store overnight in plastic container with a snap on lid. Throw a kitchen towel over it. A warm place would be good. Really this should be easy for us brewers.
This poolish goes on top of the rest of the flour and is mixed in- usually at the three hour mark before baking.
I’ve been thinking of making a poolish for my Lehmann dough one of these days. Since you’ve been making them for your recent doughs, maybe you can answer a few basic questions.
What is a poolish?
What is the point of a poolish?
Do you notice an appreciable difference in the doughs made with a poolish as opposed to the 24-48 hour cold-rise Lehmann doughs?
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