Saturday, August 21, 2010

I am in Love!

I finally found 00 flour! The difference in my pizza crust was amazing! The first difference was how nice the dough pressed out. No rolling pin was needed! Karl had a little trouble sliding the pizza off the peel and into the oven even with a corn meal dusting. The next difference was how wonderful the dough baked and the last difference was the taste! Crispy and sweet! What a pleasure the dough was in preparation and taste.
Karl,Amanda and I had a feast and we felt sad for all the people in the world without a brick oven in their backyard! I am sharing the recipe and pictures of the best pizza to date in our backyard! The recipe again comes from Peter Reinhart and if you have a Round Boy Oven you need his books American Pie and The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

Pizza Dough Recipe with 00 Flour
 from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart

4 1/2 cups (20.25 ounces) unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 (.44 ounce) teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
1/4 cup (2 ounces) olive oil (optional)
1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) water, ice cold (40°F)
Semolina flour OR cornmeal for dusting

I mixed all ingredients in my Kitchen Aid Mixer. Mix until dough cleans side of bowl and sticks to the bottom of bowl. The dough should be tacky not sticky. I did need to add more flour as the dough was very wet. I divided into 3 equal balls coated in olive oil and put in zip lock bags. I let sit out for 15 minutes and the put in refrigerator over night.  I took the dough out of the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. The dough was perfect!
I know this sounds like a lot of work for pizza but it took 20 minutes of prep on Thursday night to make the dough and the hardest part on Friday after work was remembering to get the dough out 2 hours before we wanted to make pizza!  

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Creative Round Boy oven owners!

Round Boy Oven in Terra Cotta on stand
Grey Round Boy Oven with a Versa Lock base
Grey Round Boy Oven installed by home owner into outdoor kitchen
Round Boy Oven with a Cultured Stone exterior designed by Kemmerer Masonry
Field stone and brick with rope joints and a custom oven design. Designed by Kemmerer masonry