New dough
Join Our Community Subscribe to Paul's PostsWithout question, the best pizza dough is naturally leavened. Sourdough. But, sourdough requires a mother (starter) to be fed and maintained daily. Nice if you have the patience, but I do not.
However, there is an alternative which I have developed and will now share with you. My new recipe is based on a derivation of an old Italian pre-ferment technique known as a Biga (or sponge). My version is closer to what the French call a poolish (a wetter version of the Biga). In any case, the Biga makes for a chewier pizza dough that is a lot closer to naturally leavened dough yet easier to make.
Ingredients:
4 cups soft all purpose flour
1 teaspoon yeast
2 cups filtered water
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoon olive oil
Place 1 cup of warm water in a small mixing bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon of the yeast. Stir it up. Add 1 cup of the AP flour and mix the mess up into a soupy-like mixture. Let it sit in the kitchen with a towel over it overnight. It should look bubbly. This is the Biga.
The next day, about 3 hours before you’re ready to make your pizza, add 1 cup warm water, another 3/4 teaspoon yeast, salt, olive oil then stir it up.
Add 3 cups AP flour and get it all mixed real nice. Let it sit and hydrate for 30 minutes covered with the towel. Then, kneed a little, pulling and stretching the dough until it gets stiff. Cover, and repeat the pull and stretch every 30 minutes or so.
When you’re ready, just roll it out as normal. Enjoy.
I thought Paul was on a healthy diet? The first two things to cut out are bread and pasta, and cheese for that matter. Can’t say I miss any of them. The fact my wife cannot go near gluten or lactose helps. I’m also convinced you have to be Napolitan to make pizza. Last one was about 2 years ago, a place called Quartieri in Kilburn, two brothers from Naples, it was not the bread, but the meatballs and tomato sauce on top that were memorable. It was delicious for 15 minutes and then I couldn’t move and felt like I wanted to die.
OMG. This makes pizza as complex as hi-fi.
An alternative approach.
Visit chosen supermarket.
Buy pizza.
Take home.
Heat.
Eat.
Relax and listen to music.
Sounds like an MP3 meal.
Definitely not bit perfect.
If it wasn’t for home deliveries and Deliveroo, most restaurants and pizzerias would now be out of business. Support your local restaurants!!!
“Visit chosen supermarket.
Buy pizza.
Take home.
Heat.
Eat.”
My take on this is:
Visit supermarket and buy cheapest no-frills pizza.
Overload with tomato puree, ham, olives, tomatoes, salami, mushrooms & grated cheese
Put the resultant hemispherical mound into oven and cook.
Eat,
Note: I have a deluxe version which uses further ingredients 🙂
Right Rich.
The frozen pizza I buy locally at the supermarket is actually made in Italy and is quite good.
No wasting time in a restaurant catching Covid.
Get right back to the music!
Merry Christmas,
I usually go to DOMINOS, order a Pepperoni pizza for AU$7 & once received I then PILE fresh chilies, garlic, thinly sliced vine ripened tomatoes, avocado, onions & mushrooms on top of it.
Then I walk up to the staff behind the counter, point at the illuminated picture of their pepperoni pizza above the counter & say, “That’s not a pizza”, show them my creation & say, “THAT’S a pizza!” 😉
As cheap as any to add ingredients to. Gym aerobics class teachers used to suggest to students to buy Dominos because they skimped on the ingredients, hence lower calorie. Don’t know if that’s changed, but having been judged the worst chain company pizza in the States in a consultant firm’s consumer survey about 10 years ago, they’ve tried “rebirth” change that rep. I was in Michigan where the HQ was in the 1980s under founder Tom Monaghan. He was known for running a right-wing anti-woman operation (religion involved but I better be careful here). Haven’t followed subsequent leaderships since he left, though they did move the HQ to Ann Arbor, a college town, so perhaps they’ve lightened up. But then maybe not, as I recall reading there was a free pizza for women named Karen not too long ago somewhere down around your end of the globe.
Thanks highstream; interesting.
I’m guessing that the American DOMINOS model for ingredients is closely followed down here.
I find that their basic pepperoni pizza is a great ‘hot base’ (spicy pepperoni) to add all of those fresh (uncooked) veggies on top of.
What is AP Flour?
All Purpose (I believe)
I assumed it was Audio Phile.
Silly me Richtea. 😀
The key is ensuring you have the proper state of the art sifter.
Traveling all over the US you learn that everyplace you go, the pizza is different.
Just like audio – everyone has their own preferences.
The crust may be the foundation to build everything on, and that gets personal, but in my opinion the sauce and the toppings are what make it. (Provided the crust is not too thin or too thick) 🙂
Never risked pizza in America. Usually having total recall of restaurants, I’ve mostly blanked out the USA. I do remember the Thunderbird Restaurant at Mt Carmel for pancakes and apple pie. Those were the healthy options. Checking on google it’s in Utah. Lo and behold, I’ve been to Utah, thinking when buying speakers from Utah last week that I didn’t know where it was (somewhere between Mexico and Canada would have been my best guess).
I’m very surprised Paul uses All Purpose flour. Surely there’s some specialist flour supplier in Arizona …
Having lived in AZ I’m sure you can find specialized flour.
Not so sure about Colorado though.
As far as good food in the US, I look at it like I do Europe or many places in the world. Good food, good atmosphere, & good times. The longer I stay somewhere the more likely I am to develop a favorite.
As far a geography goes I won’t pass judgement…. 😉
Steve my friend, you should try “MARCO’S PIZZA” here in the states!!! I’ve put everyone else aside!!
Paul,
We will trying your recipe. Have you ever used higher gluten flour which has more protein ? I know when I make know knead bread I use much higher protein flour.
Sounds delicious and will try this recipe.
Is AP Flour a brand name or a specific type of flour? I’m in Canada and can’t say I’ve ever seen AP flour.
Sorry. All Purpose flour
This site begins to look more and more like a Gordon Ramsay site. 🙁
A man suffering from the “Disease of conceit”, as Dylan would say.
And again, a few nice “Stevenisms” today.
Bread unhealthy..? The joke of the century. Very popular myth among people who eat almost nothing because in their sick minds “everything is unhealthy”, with the exception of some walnuts and other nuts. I know someone like that and he looks very unhealthy.
Bread makes you fat ? No, it’s not the bread, it’s the sweet spreads a lot of people eat.
Pasta unhealthy ? Then that must be the reason why Italy is one of the top countries (in a good way !) in Europe when it comes to life expectancy.
And the fact that a small part of the population is lactose/gluten intolerant does not mean it is unhealthy for the rest of the population. As some of the aforementioned sick minds try to make us believe.
So be very careful with generalizations, in food even more than in audio.
BTW, since I’m not a kitchen prince I buy my pizza at the pizzeria, 800 meters from my house.
This (Italian) man does a much better job that I do.
Moderation in all things, esp. food, audio, and internet boards. Gluten-free is needed here due to my wife’s celiac. She really misses great bread products. The best pizza I’ve found is a place in Iowa called Pagliai’s. Here in our part of AZ, we have a pizza desert. Some sell what appears to be pizza, but it’s not.
Let’s see, JB, the world record for 800m is 1:40.91, so it takes you two minutes each way? 😎
SoundMinded what is your considered opinion?
Audiodom needs you to weigh in with one of your famous (and appreciated) white papers to set us all straight on this serious AP matter 🙂
[Seriously SoundMinded, I want to tell you how much I appreciate the time you put into explaining things through your white papers. I almost always read them twice. And, rarely is a word misspelled or a punctuation mark misplaced. I always look forward to your thoughts. Thank you. – Jeffrey in Philadelphia]
I don’t generally make pizza at home because I love wood-fired, sourdough Neapolitan, and there’s no way I can do that at home. My oven doesn’t get hot enough and I don’t have the patience to make a sourdough crust. The thing is, in New Jersey where I live (and the greater NYC area) there are wonderful pizzerias all over. One of the best is a 5-minute walk from my house (homemade sourdough crust, super-hot wood-burning oven, fresh ingredients locally sourced). Why spend hours making something that isn’t as good as the one I can buy down the street? But this recipe, Paul, looks interesting. I might try it when visiting my mother in Florida; her town doesn’t know from pizza.
I’m a pizza aficionado but not a snob about it. I like many different styles (although Chicago deep dish isn’t pizza). Must to avoid: Ohio style. The St. Louis pizza gets a bad rap, but I love it. Here’s a nice roundup of the regional variations: https://firstwefeast.com/features/pizza-style-taxonomy-ext/
Nice! As many know, I have a wood-fired oven on the back deck and yes, that’s the only way to cook them. They do make a small electric pizza oven that gets almost as hot and does a nice job.
The trick is the pizza must cook within 90 seconds and to do that, you need 900 degrees.
Also, here’s a small wood fired oven you can slap on the deck or patio that’s cheap. https://www.amazon.com/Deco-Chef-Functionality-Stainless-Construction/dp/B08GGP7KN6/
Very cool. Added to my wishlist. I bought a new pair of Magnepan speakers a couple months ago, so I’ve used up my discretionary income — and my wife’s discretionary good will. The pizza oven will have to wait!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0foHjPVbP4
eatapc
I miss NJ and NY for the food more than anything else! Born and raised in Scotch Plains NJ. We rarely went to a grocery store. Every town has a butcher, a produce market, a seafood market, a bakery. The Italian restaurants were amazing and run by – you guessed it Italians – go figure!
My local NJ favorites from 1966 – 1985
Pizza – Alfonsos in Scotch Plains
Cheesesteak sandwiches – Italian Village in Plainfield
Butcher – Johns (John Losavio) in Scotch Plains
Sub Sandwiches – Dukes in Westfiled
Italian entrees – Ferraros in Westfield
Italian bakery – Bevellas in Westfield
Now I’m in Kentucky ugh. Great for Bourbon – terrible for food!
djB be sure and watch “Justified” It’s one of the best series ever.
I agree! I’ve watched it twice now. We actually have a friend here in Lexington that is a US Marshall. He was consulted during some of the production and filming. Me being a transplanted yankee from NJ, I stay out of the mountains and the hollers, lol.
djB My girlfriend’s daughter lives in NJ. Not to be insulting and I’m sure NJ has it’s strong points but it seems like a good place to be from to me. Especially now.
Cool about your friend.
another great series is Bad Blood with Kim Coates!
ok – I’m out before I get any further off topic!
Thanks djb. I’ll check it out.
djB-O-B,
If you drink enough Bourbon every day maybe you wont mind the food so much 😉
LOL – Im working on that!
Maybe I’ll pick up some Fosters Lager this weekend and toast you a Happy New Year while listening to AC/DC and grilling some shrimp on the barbie 🙂
djB-O-B,
Oh God no!!
‘Fosters Larger’ is prime horse-piss; anything but Fosters.
We sell that swill to the world, but we don’t drink it ourselves 😮
See if you can source an Aussie beer called ‘VB’ (Victoria Bitter)…now that’s a beer that you can drink with pride 😉
Cheers!
I piled up all the pizza boxes from our latest delivery and almost had a leaning tower 😉
Hi Paul
Just appreciating the yeast and flour aromas here. The cheesy bread dough, first attempt with new recipe, has risen perfectly. This will be perfect with smoked trout and a yellow top for breakfast tomorrow.
All the best to you and yours in isolation
David
I retired 20 years ago to work on my wife’s to do list. In between, I’ve studied baking and, in particular, the art of sourdough pizza. Nice recipe, Paul, except that adding yeast probably kills most if not all the bacteria responsible for the sourdough flavor. Making a starter is actually easy, and the starter can be used in much the same way as your Biga. I use a Roccbox oven which, together with the Ooni, are the best things to come out of the UK since Churchill. Although I really like your oven and wish I had the space for it.
Jim, make your own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi-hih-dNOc
Seems to have some basic shortcomings, but looks cool.
Here’s the better one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0foHjPVbP4
Paul that’s the gift that keeps giving the whole year!
We have the best tomato pies( pizza is a title given to run of the mill pies.) here in Mercer county NJ our pies are thin-crusted and crisp pieces of heaven.Delorenzo’s, Papas look’em up. They have been making these classics for 100 years.
Merry Christmas all. Thanks Paul for a worthwhile blog post site.
Thanks JAS. I think Paul once told me that I piss people off. I guess I was born to be a troll. It’s nice to know someone appreciates my ramblings. I troll for the fun of it. Nobody is safe and the more seriously people take themselves the easier and more fun it is to trigger them.
Before I get to a serious topic, pizza here are some of my thoughts and observations about food in general. I’ve learned a lot from the internet. As I see it what people like and don’t like in the way of food is strictly a matter of personal preference. It can change in life but what you grew up with has a lot to do with it. What’s delicious to some people is awful to others. But some of it can be probably genetic and some the result of experience including psychological factors. As a toddler I had an instant dislike for green beans and asparagus. As an infant I loved eggs so much my cartilage turned yellow. The doctor told my mother only one a day no matter how much he screams Then one day when I was four years old I woke up one morning and an egg was the most disgusting thing I could think of. I have never eaten once since. I loved mushrooms, especially my grandmother’s chicken mushroom soup. Then one day when I was about six or seven my father told me a story written I think by James Thurber and ever since the mere thought of mushrooms is enough to make me vomit. I loved lobster, crabs and shrimp until one day around 1993 I saw something on the Discovery channel that made me disgusted by them. I think a hypnotist could cure me of some of these food phobias.
Here’s are some interesting web sites that will show you why I came to my conclusion about preferences related to what people grow up to like based on what they are accustomed to.
I just watched this episode for the first time and I hope you laugh as much as I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms-_CwxrSKk
So for me there are two pizza capitals in the world, New York City and Chicago. I’ve never been to Italy so I might like that too. IMO except for people who come from Italy or whose lineage is Italian it’s impossible to duplicate New York City style pizza. You can get all of the other kinds like Domino’s and all of the frozen pizzas, other things people call pizza in NYC but only an Italian restaurant and an Italian pizzaria can make authentic NYC pizza. Here in New Jersey we have a lot of NYC expats who duplicate it exactly. I also like this type of pizza made in a wood burning brick oven that gives the crust a smoky flavor that works well.
Here’s a pizza challenge between two famous pizzarias in Brooklyn by three New York City pizza mavens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHxukzzRkps
So for me NYC is the pizza capital of the world. When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area I quickly realized that whatever Silicon Valley knew about high technology and other skills like winemaking California in general while producing some great crops of fruits and vegetables doesn’t know beans about cooking food. It was the first time I saw what they call pizza with up to 20 toppings at the same time. Ava was right you don’t put pineapple on pizza. In fact for me you don’t put anything on pizza although personally I like some salt, some garlic power, and some hot pepper flakes. Pepperoni is okay too but nothing else.
One day when I lived in California my boss at the time called and say you and your office mate need to drop everything and join me and my boss for pizza at a restaurant in San Jose. We went into a building that looked like a barn. It had picnic tables with red and white checkered plastic table cloths. I heard this guy was easily triggered so I decided to test him out. When the “pizza” came this guy looked at me and said isn’t this great? What do you think. I said this garbage may fly in California but it would go broke in NYC in under a week. Well he exploded and told me he takes his family there and it was the best pizza restaurant in Northern California. I just laughed.
How little do Californians know about food? They made Italian subs and put mayonaise and mustard on it instead of olive oil and vinegar. They ate grass called bean sprouts in what was a “vegetarian” restaurant and they liked that rabbit food. I ordered the only thing edible for humans on the menu, a ham and cheese sandwich. This was in Palo Alto. Also in Palo Alto was a restaurant that served what they thought was pastrami. So for me I had to learn to cook or starve.
I hope you do your own research on line. Lots of people with lots of opinions about food from lots of people all over the world tasting food from countries that are foreign to them and their reactions. I’d give you more links but Paul’s software limits me to only two per posting..
Sm,
You are a good rambler; I’ve told you that too.
Btw, from yesterday’s post, don’t assume that I’ve stopped beating my wife.
(She’s pretty good at beating me back) 😉
Lots of pontificating in your post.
I watch a lot of cooking shows on the internet and I was glad to discover that I am far from the only person who detests Gordon Ramsay and thinks he can’t cook edible food.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hate+gordon+ramsay
Sorry to have to say it to all of you Brits but it’s just my opinion that there is nothing more dangerous in this world than an Englishman in a kitchen or as seen here English women in a kitchen.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJS6gfE_0L-X6s7D11Fb5hOFuGw-YhJ0Z
Britain’s national dish is curry cooked by people from India. What does that tell you?
“Britain’s national dish is curry”
Only in some areas. It’s fish and chips if you’re on the coast or “at the seaside” as we say, don’t forget your bucket and spade. On Sunday it’s roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, well, it used to be, back in the day.
I’m going to try this. It looks really great. Unfortunately I can’t find any source of Maris Piper potatoes in the US. I’ll skip the mushy peas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHl1MoXPXz0
Hey by the way MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all good night. Keep listening
Merry Christmas hawk.
Thanks Much! A, must try!
Merry Christmas!
Paul took us from pudding yesterday to pizza today. Is that progress? When I was a kid my mother used to make Royal Chocolate and Butterscotch pudding. My sister and I used to fight over who would get to scrape what was stuck to the pot because that was the best part. So my mother had to make it in two pots. That was like over 60 years ago. I just remembered for the first time since. Damn what a lot of junk I carry around in my head.
It ties in nicely with all the Christmas eating that most of us do.
A very happy Christmas and a happy new year to all at PS Audio. As for the pizza dough recipe I will give it a try when I feel motivated enough. Who knows I may get addicted to it what with you being so into tasty dishes. Regards.
Thanks!
Now I just need a great pizza sauce recipe!
Here you go. Best you’ll ever have (and great for pasta too).
https://italianfoodonlinestore.com/products/whole-plum-italian-tomatoes-peeled-by-la-san-marzano-28-oz
Do not cook! Open the can, pour into a bowl, use a wooden spoon to match up the tomatoes to your liking, add salt to taste, fresh basil, and let it sit for an hour. Make a final flavor check, adding salt to taste, and that’s it. Honestly. You won’t find better.
Thanks a million!
Food…. Goooood.
Ok, it is my understanding that we can shorten the rise time. I have the Wolf Gourmet Countertop oven and it has the “Proof” setting that should shorten the rise time. Does anyone know how long bread should be on this setting to do its thing?