Pizza is a simple food— it is essentially bread, with a few ingredients baked into the top. However, like most simple food preparations, all of the ingredients need to be at their peak of freshness and flavor if you want to transform the simple into the sublime.
When we make pizza, we most often make a dough that is fermented for a minimum of 18 hours. Our particular favorite uses a blend of semolina and white flour, but it is also wonderful to use a blend of white flour and whole wheat.
One of the major differences between a bread recipe and a pizza dough recipe is the addition of olive oil. Olive oil (ideally EVOO) lends a golden hue to the dough, a richer flavor, and it actually somewhat reduces the amount of rise that you get in the dough.
We made two kinds of dough for the event at Granor Farm to compliment the awesome autumn harvest that would soon grace our our pizzas. One was our basic white pizza dough, the other was a whole wheat variant. The variety of toppings was just delectable — incredibly ripe and flavorful tomatoes and peppers, sweet onions, roasted squash, beets, potatoes sauteed in garlic, basil, sage, micro greens ... these were no ordinary pizzas!
Pizza Dough
500g Unbleached White Bread Flour -or-
350g Unbleached White Bread Flour + 150g Semolina Flour -or-
400g Unbleached White Bread Flour + 100g Whole Wheat Flour
225g Water
50g Extra Virgin Olive Oil
10g Sea Salt
4g Yeast
| MIX | Mix all dry ingredients thoroughly. Add water and EVOO to dry mixture and mix until all of the flour is saturated. Knead by hand for about 5 minutes. Form into a ball and place in a bowl. |
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| RISE |
Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise for 12-18 hours, depending on weather and temperature. |
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| FORM | Turn dough out onto floured work surface. Divide dough into six or portions, knead each portion, then form each portion into a ball. Allow to rise covered for at least an hour. After dough has come close to doubling in size, form into a pizza by hand or by using a rolling pin. Roll it out so that it fits the Fourneau peel. Place formed pizza onto the peel dusted with bran and top with desired ingredients. |
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| BAKE | Slide pizza off peel into the Fourneau and close hatch. Cook with hatch closed for 10-15 minutes. Remove hatch and cook with hatch off for an additional 5-10 minutes. Baking times will vary! |