This was a good pizza
Hello everyone,
Thanks to David for his Pizza Bliss post and the delicious pizza crust formula and method he shared.
Pizza crust has always been a challenge for me and I was very happy to have made this pizza crust!
David's formula made a lot of dough and we ate pizza three nights running - my husband couldn't believe his luck :^)
This was one of the pizzas we enjoyed (Bacon, Potato, Rosemary):
http://m.foodnetwork.com/recipes/453473
With the olive oil and bacon, we didn't add the Fontina cheese called for - even so, this pizza was extremely tasty and I imagine even more so, with the cheese!
The arugula topping added a really nice fresh flavor, delicious and simply dressed with fresh lemon juice.
before baking - bacon, potato, rosemary and onion toppings 
baked, dressed and the crumb
...quite yummy!
Happy baking everyone!
:^) breadsong
Comments
Mmmm, that looks really good. Fontina or not, I'd happily stuff your pizza into my mouth. (Olive oil and bacon, two of my weaknesses.)
Have a happy baking,
Zita
Hi Zita,
'looks really good' is exactly what I thought, when I found this recipe online.
I was pretty sure these toppings, on David's crust, would make a delicious pizza!
Thank so much and my best to you for your baking as well,
:^) breadsong
Wow! what a great looking pizza breadsong! I love the crust and the toppings look terrific.
It's only 8:25 AM but I could go for one of these now :).
Ian
.,,count as breakfast food, don't they?
Thanks so much, Ian - I'm grateful for the good recipes that created this pizza.
:^) breadsong.
Pizza IS the Breakfast of Champions.
cheers,
gary
What an awesome-looking pizza, love the toppings and your crust is superb! Did you notice any difference between the day 1 dough and the day 3 dough?
Tonight is pizza night at our house, can't wait :) Favorite night of the week.
Hi FlourChild,
Thank you and I hope you have a delicious pizza night!
I think we'll be having pizza night more often, now :^)
I did notice a difference in the dough on the last day (day 3) - it had gained a lot of strength and was not nearly so extensible. The flavor had gained strength, also; but I liked that, as I thought the crust flavor stood up to the richness in the toppings on this pizza.
Happy pizza-making!
:^) breadsong
Your pizzas look wonderful, breadsong!
We like arugula on pizza (and in salads) a lot, but we've had trouble finding it regularly this year.
I'm glad FlourChild asked her question and find your answer interesting. Three nights running, eh? I can tell you that beats freezing this dough! I will share your solution to the excess pizza dough dilemma with my pizza-loving wife.
I usually don't make pizza that often, but with this and at least one other of Forkish's pizza dough recipes to try, and local San Marzanos being in season just a little longer, I think I have to make some more real soon.
David
I am about to mix up the pizza bliss :) How did you bake your pizzas ? At top of oven or mid oven, with/without broiler, temp..how long ? You must have had quite the feast ! Thanks for any info on baking such a pretty pizzas ! c
Hello, and thank you!
I hope you love this pizza crust:^)
To bake this, I set the oven to 550F and preheated for 50 minutes, with firebricks on the middle rack (I use these in place of a baking stone), and a thin baking stone on the upper rack (so the pizza would get heat from top and bottom).
After 50 minutes, I put a rimmed sheet pan on the bottom rack and let it heat for 10 minutes.
I loaded the pizza, poured 1 cup of boiling water into the sheet pan for steam, reduced the oven temp to 500F, and baked for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes I rotated the pizza for even color and baked for about 5 minutes longer - I kept an eye on the toppings and the crust color during the last part of the bake and took it out when I thought it was ready. (I placed a round of foil on top for the last minutes of the bake too, as I didn't want the rosemary and onion to burn).
It was wonderful pizza and I hope yours turns out just the way you like it, too!
:^) breadsong
Hi David,
Thank you so much, and it makes me very happy you liked how this pizza turned out!
I've always felt my pizza crust was lacklustre, hard to shape, not the flavor or texture that I wanted - until I tried this pizza crust, made this way.
I have Mr. Forkish's book but had never tried making his pizza dough, so am very grateful to you for posting and for prompting me to try this style of crust.
I hope your wife likes the three-day solution :^)
I hope too, you like the other pizza dough formulas in Mr, Forkish's book as much as you liked this one -
glad you will have the San Marzanos for awhile longer, too.
:^) breadsong
Brilliant that you use fire bricks ! Why no one else ever posts that they use them is beyond me :) Unglazed quarry tiles are not to be had but I can get the firebricks for $20 and delivered to my Ace Hardware. Great directions and I shall endeavor to get as awesome a pizza as you did. c
Hi,
If you get your firebricks I hope you like them as much as I do for baking breads.
I use six - they are about 9"x4" in size; the bricks I bought were called 'splits'.
Thanks again - and best wishes for your pizza!
:^) breadsong
long as I have been looking for a bun recipe. I had it on the list to try David's Bliss recipe next and now there is no question about it. Having two stones really is a blessing when it comes to pizza. I par bake my crusts for 3 minutes because we have a tendency to really load them up and I don't want the crust to not be as crispy as possible or the girls won't eat it - can;pt blame them.
Love the bacon, potato and rosemary.pizza bit I know my apprentice would have sneaked some kind of cheese on there too and fontina would be a great choice.
Beautiful pizzas breadsong and
Happy Baking
Hi dabrownman,
Parbaking sounds like a really good idea, to help keep that crust crispy.
We 'pargrill' the crust when grilling pizza, before adding the toppings;
but haven't tried parbaking when using the oven.
Thanks so much for this idea and your compliments - I hope you enjoy this crust!
:^) breadsong
Now isn't that something : ) What a beautifully delicious combo on your pizza. It looks so delicious, I love arugula piled on a pizza.
Guess what, last night we had bacon pizza too...not near as fancy as yours. I did have some lovely maple wood smoked bacon I had splurged on. No photo though, it was just a simple supper...I was in the kitchen,heating things up, making fig jam. I have been having figs galore lately. For some reason the birds haven't bothered this late summer bunch of figs, like they devoured the first early summer ones...different batch of birds!
Anyway, back to this wonderful tasting pizza dough referenced and baked by David - levain pizza dough from KF FWSY book. I made 8 pizza dough balls and froze 6 of them. I took 2 out the other day and baked them for sides with a pasta dinner. Then later in the week, I took 2 more out of the freezer. Only cooked one for another side with dinner. The one I cooked with bacon was made yesterday and the dough sat had sat in frig for another day...freezer to frig for 2 days and baked. Now, not wanting to heat up the kitchen, all the dough that came from the freezer. Well, those pizza's were all made in my Brevilled Toaster Oven and they were just fantastic tasting. I may not heat up my indoor elec. oven again for pizza's..sure saves stress at 550F on my oven and the long heat up time and the quality is very, very, close to the elec. oven.
I do have a picture of the first pizza made with dough from the freezer. The dough is always different when it has been frozen. The convenience is well worth that little change in the dough. To be able to pull a dough from the freezer and have pizza fresh that evening. I often do it, when out and rushed to come in and make a dinner before Mike has to leave for work.
Thawed pizza dough in less than 20 minutes from oven heat up to finish in my Breville toaster oven..on pizza setting!
Just another plain Margharita pizza... Jiffy Style : )
No more pizza for a while....maybe : ) a wood fired one next time. What ever way it's baked or fired. It's a lovely pizza dough all around.
Sylvia
Hi Sylvia,
Thanks for those pictures - you make the yummiest-looking pizza!
It's encouraging to read you are having success freezing this dough, as it is very convenient to thaw in the fridge and then be ready to go...20 minutes start to finish sure sounds good for those busy evenings when there isn't a lot of time to spend in the kitchen.
When it comes time to replace the toaster oven I have, I'll be looking for a Breville! :^)
It's funny you've been making bacon pizza and fig jam - the same things I've been doing!!!
I've fallen in love with fig jam - this is Mission fig, orange and walnut - added a bit of chocolate balsamic, too.
(Christine Ferber recipe)
Thank you so much for your time-saving tips, working with this dough!
:^) breadsong
What a lovely compote of fig. I love this jam too, especially served with cheese and wine. My tree is a Black Mission and really put out this year. It's getting very large and was pruned to stay fairly low...it's house to fence now. It gets pruned every year. I still have a lot of figs yet to ripen. I will have to make a batch with some oranges and nuts. Yours looks so devine and, how tasty with some cheese for a gathering of friends and family. I did put some basalmic glaze in one batch but, I didn't notice to much taste difference. I've also used cinnamon, ginger, spices are nice. Just plain lately has me hooked too, licking the pot. Good stuff fig jam. I plan on giving it for Holiday gifts...I'll surely have plenty. I picked a basket full again this morning just for fresh eating and gave a batch to a neighbor.
Sylvia
Wow, Sylvia, I wish I was your neighbor or on your gift list, with those lovely figs and jams you're sharing :^)
But I think I said that once before, when you said on one of your posts you were bring pizza over to your neighbor!
Figs will grow here - I just have to figure out how - should really get on that because every year when I see ripe (and expensive) figs at the market, I wish I had my own tree.
Thank you re: this jam - I'm so happy you like this flavor combination; the spiced one you mentioned sounds amazing!
:^) breadsong
Why did yours come out so wonderful? My delicious dough died in the freezer. What made the difference?
Or is it just magic?
David
Pizza dough does loose it's ummph in the freezer. This dough didn't stay in the freezer long at all. The less time it spends in the freezer the better. The sooner it goes into the freezer the better. I would rather freeze it, for a day a two rather than let it sit in the frig for 3 days. I've tortured the dough with long freezes, long frig days, frozen and thawed for several days..it all takes it toll. Fresh made, one or two days ferment in the frig makes for the best all around pizza IMHO.
Sylvia
You just summed up what would have taken me 6 months and many batches of dough to learn on my own. Everything you say is consistent with my hypotheses, but I still would have had to do the experiments. The only other tactic I would try would be to remove dough I know I am going to freeze before it is fully fermented, then let the remaining dough that I will be using within a couple days continue to full fermentation before dividing. What do you think?
I thank you, madame. (Please picture a gallant, sweeping bow.)
I have refreshed my starter and will mix a levain tonight.
David
I have froze it after about an hour of fermentation and I do think it helps somewhat..it's just I had left it in the freezer for a much longer time..pretty much the same results. I should take notes. One thing I would rather do is divide up my dough balls into bags, rather than bulk ferment my dough. It makes for a little nicer pizza's for me when there is less handling of the dough. If I do bulk ferment. It is usually a very large amount of dough and then the next morning it is divided into dough balls and they are then refrigerated until later that day..which means they are usually transported to another wfo..'daughters house'.
When the dough ball is very slack in the bag, after a long ferment or a freezer thawed dough ball. I take extra care in handling it very gently and as little as possible. I don't pull it out of the bag. I let it just fall gently out onto a well floured board, sprinkle flour over the top of it and cover my hands in flour, so there is no sticking. I give one lift to give it a round shape, poke dents into the dough, lift and shape gently, resting as needed. Fast quick shaping with as little handling as possible for a slack, flat dough that has been in the freezer.
I did note you used a couple of tablespoons of oil in a sandwich baggie. I use a spray O.Oil and try to use just enough to hit the sides of the bag...if that makes any difference..maybe a more oil keeps the dough from freezing faster.. or has something to do with the fermentation while the dough is cooling down in the freezer..just something I was thinking about : /
Have you tried the A.P Flour for your levain pizza. I think you will like it and maybe have better results with the freezing. Also browns up nicer in the elec. ovens.
Happy Pizza Eating... and hope you get some of that rain to cool things down. We have a 48 hour warning here of things to come, winds and rains, thunderstorms, flooding...looking forward to it.
Sylvia
double post
My daughter tells me "too much information, mom!" : )
Sylvia
Gosh Sylvia, you're sharing a wealth of information - thank you so much! - I'm taking notes.
:^) breadsong
Wow. A very good pizza indeed.
Thanks, Floyd! :^)
hi breadsong, wow.. everyone is contributing good pizza and jam :) thanks for sharing
happy baking..
evon
Hi evon,
Thanks so much - it's really great, the information that gets shared on this site!
:^) breadsong