Sunday, April 23, 2006

Pizza at home














One of the withdrawals I experienced here in Switzerland was pizza at home. Having it delivered costs a fortune compared to the States and in many places delivered pizza isn't even an option. I began to work on different pizza recipes and had varying degrees of success. The trouble was not recreating the toppings (that was easy) it was getting a really good crust. All that changed recently when I met Alberto. Alberto is an Italian bio-scientist and has lived in Naples where pizza was invented. He gave me a fantastic recipe for dough which I will post below. The only trouble is the recipe takes 2-3days. I have altered the recipe slightly and created a "fast version" that only takes 9 hours so you can make it in the morning and eat great pizza at night.

Ed's "fast" pizza dough
350 + 150 gr pizza flour or a mixture of ¾ all-purpose flour and ¼ cake flour
325 gr. warm water
1/4 teaspoon ADY (active dry yeast)
3/4 teaspoon salt
Note: no oil in this recipe
In the Kitchen-aid with paddle attachment, mix water and yeast then add 350 grams of flour, one tablespoon at a time. Let the paddlework the mixture for 10 minutes, this gets the glutens working in the dough, then remove the paddle and install the dough hook. Add the rest of the flour one tablespoon at a time and then let it kneed for 25 minutes. Cover with plastic and let it sit on the counter for 9 hours. Will make 3 pizzas.
I bought a 40 X 40 X 5 cm slab of granite at the local hardware store for 7 Chf and it makes a perfect pizza stone. Be sure to preheat your oven for 1.5 hours on maximum heat before cooking the pizza. You will also need a flat cookie sheet or a peel.














Alberto's Neapolitan dough
1/8 teaspoon yeast
250 grams lukewarm water
250 grams pizza flour or bread flour
Mix together well and let sit at room temperature for two hours, then place in fridge over night. The next day add:
250 gr flour
3/4 teaspoon of salt
60-75 gr. water
1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil
Kneed with the Kitchenaid dough hook on lowest speed for 20 minutes. Let rise for 1- 1 ½ hours at room temperature and then place in the fridge for 12-24 hours. Punch down and divide into 250 gram balls.
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