My First Good Pizzas

[mgraban]

I finally got the oven up over 900 and the floor over 700... the pizzas cooked very quickly and my wife and I were thrilled with the results.

We love our Artigiano!

Picasa Web Albums - Mark - Pizza Feb 11

[Xabia Jim]

Nice looking pizzas Mark, and I liked your island!

[james]

Congratulation Mark,
Molto buono.

Can you get us more details? Which flour are you using? Hydration? Dough handling? Are you swirling olive oil on your pizzas right before they go in the oven?

Most importantly, how do your pizzas compare with Pizzeria Bianco?

Inquiring minds want to know.
James

[mgraban]

I'm using the "neo-neopolitan" dough recipe from the "American Pie" book. I've experimented with different recipes and true neopolitan dough, but this recipe turns out best for workability, flavor, "snap", and the good rise and bubbles in the crust. It might be sacrilege to some, but the dough has honey and olive oil in it. I have some Caputo flour, but I'm saving that until I get the process down. I used King Arthur italian pizza flour, which supposedly bakes up like Tipo 00 flours.

As for hydration, I'd have to think about the real percentage. I've been making pizzas for a year (weber gas grill and pizza stone) with this recipe. I weigh out the flour and add water by volume, adjusting depending on the humidity and how the dough feels. I'm using a Kitchen Aid artisan mixer.

Tell me more about swirling the olive oil, or I'll do a search here on the site.

[BarbaraC]

Those look great - congratulations!

[james]

Hey Mark,

Humor me, and try a batch of pizza dough with just the Caputo flour and no olive oil or honey. I think you will like it, but either way, it's worth a try. This is a true story. A couple of weeks ago I walked into Rosso Pomodoro, a real Napoletana pizzeria in Florence, with their big bag of Caputo flour sitting there. I was with a friend, and we talked, and they offered us bread they make from the previous nights left over dough. They serve it on the tables and eat it themselves for lunch. We started eating our bread as we walked out, and I tried to convince my friend that the dough had no oil in it. He wouldn't believe me, so we walked back into the pizzeria, I said "no oil, right?" and they said "no oil." The bread was great and you can taste how wonderful the flour is -- without oil. That's my story.

On the swirl, a nice circular swirl of EVO is an essential part of Pizza Napoletana. There is even something in the instruction about the oil, tomatoes and cheese fusing into something nice. You can definitely taste the difference between a pizza with no oil, with so-so oil and with really good oil. All pizzaiolos have an oil can (oleria) that they use to pour the swirl.

I am attaching an oleria photo here.

Let us know how the next bake goes.
James

[CanuckJim]

James,

Nice oleria, functional and elegant. I know such things can be bought elsewhere, but it might be an idea for FB to make them available, maybe with a discreet FB logo somewhere.

Jim

[mgraban]

One swirl around is maybe, what, a tablespoon?

[james]

Try 1-2 tsp; less than a tbl. The written descriptions calls for 5gr, which is about 1tsp, but I tend to be pretty liberal with olive oil.

Let us know if this works for you.
James