1st time making Sicilian-Questions-Should I use pie weights or dock dough?

[msgenie516]

Hi,

I'm a real newbie at this and have never even attempted to make a Sicilian style pie.  I found a recipe for the dough and I'm going to try it today!  From what I have read, I think it is probably best for me to prebake the crust (to help avoid sogginess) but I wanted to know if it is a good idea to line the dough with parchment paper and use pie weights to hold it down while baking, as I have done with regular pie crusts (for cream pies, etc.)?  Also, how long should I prebake the crust?

Also, would it help to dock the dough?

These are probably silly questions but I have never done this before and I would like to have at least a chance that it will turn out decent!

Thanks for any help!     Genie

[RoadPizza]

I don't think I've heard of anyone ever using pie weights in making Sicilian pizzas.  We dock our Sicilian-style pan pizzas here, but when I make a Sicilian for myself, I'll pre-bake it with the mozzarella on top before adding the sauce, olive oil and parmesan/romano cheese.

We parbake our pan pizzas and use the guideline "until you get a nice blonde color".

[Jack]

I let my dough rise all day, then just pop that tray into a preheated oven; no docking no weights.  I par-bake, just the dough, to a mild color change.  Once it's started to brown, I top it and fully cook.

Jack

[scott r]

Genie, I think the most standard sicilian style baking method is this:

Make the dough and 1/2 way stretch it out into an oiled pan.
let the dough rest for a few hours until it has started to rise and pull it out the rest of the way to cover the bottom of the pan fully
wait another hour or so (depending on yeast amount) and dress the pizza with a very light coating of sauce, maybe 1/2 what you intend to use on the final pizza (sicilian's can handle lots of sauce and toppings).
bake the pizza until it is getting close to looking done and coat with another light layer of sauce, and all the remaining toppings.
Finish the pizza off in the oven for a few more minutes.   


Good luck!   

[msgenie516]

Genie, I think the most standard sicilian style baking method is this:

Make the dough and 1/2 way stretch it out into an oiled pan.
let the dough rest for a few hours until it has started to rise and pull it out the rest of the way to cover the bottom of the pan fully
wait another hour or so (depending on yeast amount) and dress the pizza with a very light coating of sauce, maybe 1/2 what you intend to use on the final pizza (sicilian's can handle lots of sauce and toppings).
bake the pizza until it is getting close to looking done and coat with another light layer of sauce, and all the remaining toppings.
Finish the pizza off in the oven for a few more minutes.  Good luck!

   

Hi,

Thanks for your advice!  Yesterday, I was talking with a man in an Italian grocery/deli/meat store and, basically, he gave me the same directions as you did.  He did not mention only stretching the dough partially at first and then covering the pan completely later.  What is the advantage of this?

The other thing that was different was that he said the first layer of sauce should be diluted with water and be very skimpy.  I have no idea why.  Any thoughts on this?

It's kind of funny, he even offered to loan me one of his pans to make the Sicilian!

Thanks again!     Genie

[Jack]

The "skimpy" sauce, I suspect, is to keep from weighting down the dough; to keep it light, which is why I par-bake the dough before dressing it at all. 

Like most pizza, you have some flexibility in how you make it.  Try making a few, have fun and dial in what you are looking for.  I really like my sicilian pies with a very light crust and a deep brown crunchy bottom crust that "frys" in a little bit of excess olive oil.  I don't dress the crust until after I par-bake to keep it very light.

I also only partially stretch out the dough, it will fill in teh tray just fine on it's own.  I do cover the entire tray immediately and am also interested in finding out why some folks only partially cover it at first.

Jack

[norma427]

Genie,

If you are interested Matt and I made some Sicilian pizzas on this thread.  http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9946.msg86449.html#msg86449

If you scan though this thread and look at the pictures, there are different ways I prepared the dough and baked the Sicilian pies.  Those pies came out light and airy.  Some of them I added the toppings first and some later.

Norma

[tincann]

Excellent tips Jack & Scott. I used your tips & wound up with a thick & airy Sicilian Pie. YUM