Pizza dough- Type"00" flour, etc...

Use bog standard bread flower as it has slightly more protein than type
00 for me. Make sure it's a reasonable wet mix that's very pliable.



Tried something at the weekend: Put a pizza on the top shelf of the oven
for ten minutes, at 220 Celsius (428 Fahrenheit), then slide the pizza
off the stone onto the top shelf of the oven for another 5-10 mins, the
experiment was to get  a good crispy bottom on the pizza, which I don't
get just by cooking on the stone, plus it's too big for the available
pizza tins with the perforated bottoms. Have to say it worked a treat;
moist topping well cooked pizza and crispy, well browned, underside.

It was quite a thick base so for a thinner pizza you could cut the above
times by half or so depending on how good your oven is.

Graham  

On Apr 10, 7:16 am, snipped-for-privacy@holyrood.ed.ac.uk (G Bell) wrote:


I've seen pictures where two baking stones are kept apart by a few
bricks inside an oven.  I wonder how well this method works for baking
pizza.  I'm getting a bit obsessive about making pizza again.  I'd
need another stone and a few bricks.  Hmmm.  Might this be just a
silly waste of money?

I've read that some people mess with their ovens in order to acheive
higher temperatures.  My oven goes to a maximum of 500 degrees F.  I
wonder how much more I could crank of of that thing before it
explodes.

Hello Raym,

I have good luck with King Arthur's bread flour, but I add about a
half ounce of pure gluten (which you can get in most grocery stores)
to the formula. Gluten is the protien that makes dough crispy. I hope
that helps.

On Apr 11, 11:11 am, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:



I've never heard of adding gluten to pizza dough.  I might find some
at Whole Foods Market.  The supermarkets around here don't have any.
This sounds like a tasty experiment.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news:1176304315.799153.107590
@n59g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:



Okay, I know this is old, but it makes it chewy, not crispy.

Actually, the gluten should make it both chewy and crispy. The gluten,
in my experience, helps make the dough more cohesive and easier to
stretch without breaking, and results in a more dense hole structure
when baking. A higher gluten dough will also burn faster though. So if
you're looking for a crisp bottom and a spongy outter crust, more
gluten is probably for you. I've recently started using KA Bread
Flour, which is about 13% protein.

Don't use a pizza pan, except to serve the pizza. Always use a stone at
least 1/2 inch thick, heated for
one hour to 550F.
I think you can more or less duplicate type 00 by using 2/3 all purpose
flour and 1/3 cake flour.
I've asked around the Italian markets in the SF Bay Area for type 00 flour
without any success.
I've come to the conclusion that in the pursuit of the ultimate home pizza
one should forget that.
I use all purpose flour, usually KA. Whatever you use, it should be
unbleached.
Always use a preferment, like biga, poolish, or just old dough. You can also
use
very little yeast/flour and let your dough rise very slowly overnight in the
frig.
Use a "wet" dough, as do Julia Child, Alice Waters, Peter Reinhardt and
Wolffie Puck do; three cups flour, 1.25 cups water, salt and yeast. I, as
most, add oil, usually 2TB to the previous mix. If I'm making pizza and
I know it that morning I make a poolish, with 1 cup flour, 1/4/-1/2 tsp
yeast, and 1 cup H2O, and let it
bubble all day. That gets added to 2 cups flour, salt, olive oil, .25 cups
water, and with or without
additional yeast, depending on the activity of your poolish, the
temperature, and when you want to make your pizza. Then, don't overknead. I
only rise once, being careful not to over-rise. Divide dough into 2-3 balls.
When you make your pizza, heat heavy stone to 550F for one hour. Carefully
stretch a dough ball to pizza size, don't use a rolling pin, place it on
your paddle, top and bake for 6-7 minutes at 550F. Spray H20 inside the oven
3 times during baking.

Ken

Guys... I use  "Sir Lancelot Flour  from :www.kingartherflour.com
I order it on the web. makes great pizza dough.
Jerry