Thanks Phil, looks like next week is going to be a pizza week, and a good one at that!

Clark,

If you need a starter, let me know. It's really easy to mail and you can keep it alive indefinately.

quote:

Originally posted by Clark Deutscher: Bryan, I've never left dough age that long, I look forward to the result!
Clark

Clark, this past Friday I made up my N.Y. Style pie with a dough ball that was made on Aug 19th, 19 days old. The yeast were pretty much spent because they had long since eaten everything they could in the dough ball. It was very spongy stretching it out and porous in spots, had to do a fold over here and there but got it stretched out with minimal problems. I wasn't expecting much of anything but it was fantastic. Not much rise in the crust and I didn't get my usuall big rim because of the lack of yeast but the taste was fantastic. No pics, I just did it in the oven. Also made a greek style for lunch at work the next day. Do a 7 day cold ferment with it, and I'm sure you'll like the results.

Phil, Peter's book "American Pie" is a great read.

Bryan, I looked at that book at Borders a few months back and it looked awesome. Meant to buy it sometime, but have just never gotten around to it.

BTW...in another thread you linked to pizzamaking.com. I spent some time browsing around there and learned a ton. Lots of good info there. Thing is, I'm still in the dark about what definition my pizza would fall under. I'm trying to recreate the pizza at this place. Sure, sure, and the pies are all vegetarian and it's a collective. But man, those hippies make can some good pizza. I think Reinhart devotes some time to them in the book you referenced, and I think he also put them in the top 10 in the USA.

Reading this thread motivated me to try another grilled pizza. The last 2 attempts didn't work out so well...burnt, poor heat control, store bought dough, you name it. This time I reviewed this and other threads and went for a dough from scratch. Basically it was half and half all purpose and whole wheat. I also mixed in some dry oregano, basil, onion and garlic. Rolled it out very thin and grilled one side completely and the other a little less. I used 1 of the thin grilling sheets you can pick up from Lowes or HD. It has the round holes in it and works very well. Topped it off with pesto, grilled red peppers and onion, artichokes and a little parmesian and mozzarella. The pizza came out fantastic. 3rd times a charm !

I grilled my first Pizza last week and I LOVE IT! I put the dough on the grill. After 5 min, I filipped it and maybe let it cook for 1-2 min so it was not doughey. I then slid it off the grill, topped it and returned it to the grill for an additional 5 min. I tossed it on the oven with the broiler on high for 3 min and I had pjur perfection for dinner!

quote:

Originally posted by Phil R.:
Bryan, I looked at that book at Borders a few months back and it looked awesome. Meant to buy it sometime, but have just never gotten around to it.

BTW...in another thread you linked to pizzamaking.com. I spent some time browsing around there and learned a ton. Lots of good info there. Thing is, I'm still in the dark about what definition my pizza would fall under. I'm trying to recreate the pizza at this place. Sure, sure, and the pies are all vegetarian and it's a collective. But man, those hippies make can some good pizza. I think Reinhart devotes some time to them in the book you referenced, and I think he also put them in the top 10 in the USA.

Phil, It really is a great book, and very up to date. It has a Fantastic Focaccia recipe in it that I have made many times. He says about the cheese board pizza that it's not like most pizzas but he always walks out with a smile on his face.
The pizza forum is a really good place for info, recipes, techniques..... it reminds me very much of TVWBB. Great people and a wealth of information.

Bryan, I have Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" that has a *great* focaccia recipe. Wonder if it's the same one? It uses something like a cup of olive oil . But it's darn good.

On the pizza tip, if anyone is interested I saw a very cool peel thingy here. I use the parchment method to get the dough onto the stone, and it works well. But I wonder if I get the same mottled brown bottom as I would if the dough was directly on the stone. I'm thinking about buying the "super peel" thing...definately looks like it works well.

quote:

Originally posted by Phil R.:
Bryan, I have Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" that has a *great* focaccia recipe. Wonder if it's the same one? It uses something like a cup of olive oil . But it's darn good.

On the pizza tip, if anyone is interested I saw a very cool peel thingy here. I use the parchment method to get the dough onto the stone, and it works well. But I wonder if I get the same mottled brown bottom as I would if the dough was directly on the stone. I'm thinking about buying the "super peel" thing...definately looks like it works well.

Phil, The recipe in the "American Pie" book uses a bunch of Olive oil also and it's fantastic. We'll have to compare notes one day. I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

Somebody over on the Pizza forum posted about that peel, IIRC they said it worked pretty good. I'll see if I can find the thread for you.
EDIT: Super Peel Thread

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bryan S,

Phil, I just read your offer now on sending me the starter. I'm going to give it a try for the first time. If it doesn't work out I'll let you know and will definately take you up on your offer. Thanks!

Clark

quote:

Originally posted by Clark Deutscher:
Phil, I just read your offer now on sending me the starter. I'm going to give it a try for the first time. If it doesn't work out I'll let you know and will definately take you up on your offer. Thanks!

Clark

Clark (or anyone else) if you want some just give me a holler! I originally got it from Acme Bakery, a really well known bakery in the bay area. They were really cool about it... apparently they'll give some to anybody who asks.

Did a sausage pie on the Gold D on Tuesday. Here's some pics of the grill and the pie before and after. Link to grilled pizza pics.

Bryan, that pie looks good enough to eat. Skimping on the sausage? Where's the pie?

Bryan that pie looks truly incredible! I had no idea you could get the bottom crust the way you did with a screen.

I noticed you used red sauce...got a recipe?

Bryan, good looking pizza. What temp or settings did you use? I'm still struggling with temp control. Usually too hot and not using a stone.

Phil, Paul, I use a screen for all my NY style pies, grill or oven. I do have a fibrament stone but just find the whole preheating for atleast a hr thing a waste of time energy and the heating up of the home in the summer was what promted me to go to the stone. I try for 550 on the grill as that's what i cook them at in the oven. I have the PCI grateds on the gasser and do a prheat with all 6 burners on high for 15-20 min. I light the grill and grab a container of dough, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni and go upstairs to make the pie. Stretch out the dough, put the sauce on grate the cheese right onto the pie and add the roni or sausage. Put everything away and that usually takes 10-12 min. I then try and wait another 5 min and open the lid and slide the pie in that's on a 16" screen, close it up and turn the 4 middle burners to low while keeping the 2 end ones on high. Set the timer for 5 min and when that goes off i spin the pie 1/4 turn to get the ends that were near the 2 outside burners that are on high away from them. Cook about another 3 min and it's pizza time.
Phil, The red sauce on that one was just some sauce from a can of crushed Red Packs in puree straigh from the can with a few grinds fron the sea salt mill and a good sprinkle from the jar of McCormick Italian seasoning ontop of the toms.

Bryan,

Just out of curiosity...how thin is your crust usually? I've been making a ton of pizza lately, and have started to wonder about my crust. I use 9 oz. dough balls and end up with a pizza about 13-14 inches in diameter. The crust is *thin*. After I stretch it out, it's basically so thin that you can see through it if held up to the light. After I bake, I can see individial pieces of herbs I put on as toppings if I look through the underside of a slice. I know the crust is supposed to be thin but I think this is a bit too much. It is not at all cracker like (the front of the slice will droop slightly if held by the back crust) but I don't think this is true NY style. How thick would you say your crust comes out to?

quote:

Originally posted by Phil R.:
Bryan,

Just out of curiosity...how thin is your crust usually? I've been making a ton of pizza lately, and have started to wonder about my crust. I use 9 oz. dough balls and end up with a pizza about 13-14 inches in diameter. The crust is *thin*. After I stretch it out, it's basically so thin that you can see through it if held up to the light. After I bake, I can see individial pieces of herbs I put on as toppings if I look through the underside of a slice. I know the crust is supposed to be thin but I think this is a bit too much. It is not at all cracker like (the front of the slice will droop slightly if held by the back crust) but I don't think this is true NY style. How thick would you say your crust comes out to?

Phil, For a 12" pie about 10-11 oz of dough is the norm, as posted over on the pizza making forum, so yes your's on the thin side. I use 20 oz for my 16" pies. They say over on the pizza forum that a 20 oz dough ball is good for one 16" pie or 2-12" pies. After my pies are cooked I'd say about a 1/8" is the thickness of the cooked dough, with a nice puffy rim. It's just about right for the NY style slice, I'm so used to eating here on the East Coast.
Phil, totally unrelated but I thought you might like this Ciabatta pizza crust recipe/technique

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan S:
Phil, totally unrelated but I thought you might like this Ciabatta pizza crust recipe/technique

Bryan, that recipe looks fantastic. Don't know if you've seen it, but it's a lot like Reinhart's recipe for pizza dough...extemely high hydration (70%+). I am going to try that out sometime...since I switched to parchment, high hydration pizza dough no longer intimidates me. One thing I learned the hard way is that high hydration and peels just don't mix...no matter how much flour/cornmeal one uses.

Per your info, I think I will start using about 12 ounces for my 13-15" pizzas now. The thing is my dough is so extensible after the long proof, it's been tough for me to *not* get it so thin. I think I may need to switch to higher protein flour...I've been using AP and the dough is just way too slack after the long fermentation.

Phil, That cibatta recipe does look fantastic. Many on the pizza forum use it for pizza and cibatta bread, they say it's a good recipe. I punched in some numbers over there using the Lehmann dough calculator and came up with 15 - 15.5 oz's for a 14" 62% hydration dough.
P.S. Come over and join us, Phil R. If you join under a different name let me know so I know it's you.