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[schneich]

hi,

iam a professional cook, and i did a "pizzaiolo" showcooking job at a big home & garden fair
for a grill manufacturer who showed a cool new gas grill with with a huge ceramic tile as "pizzaoven"
here in cologne. on the first day i used my long time recipe (neo napolitan)  from peter reinharts book "american pie"
since i wasnt satified with the texture at all, it was far to dense, tough and bready, i found this site and decided
to give the tom lehmann recipe a try. the outcome was marvelous !!!! light fluffy, airy open textured like ciabatta
this will definatly be my new "standard" recipe! on the pmq site i read that tom lehmann advises not to mix the yeast
with salt and water, since it kind of kills the yeast.. is that right i also would like to know if the whey is added as powder
or in liquid form


cheers from cologne


torsten s.

[Pete-zza]

torsten s.,

Welcome to the forum. I hope you will keep us informed on your use of the Lehmann recipe (and any others as well) in Cologne.

You are correct about Tom Lehmann advising against placing the salt in direct physical contact with the yeast, at least for more than just a very brief period (I suspect he knows that today's hardy yeast strains can tolerate some physical contact). He also feels the same way about sugar. The main reason is that both salt and sugar are hygroscopic (they absorb water) and tend to extract fluids from the yeast through the cell walls by osmosis. This can degrade the performance of the yeast. In a professional setting, Tom suggests that the salt and water be dissolved in the water in the mixer bowl. This allows the salt and water to absorb water directly and not from the yeast. I think that Tom would also approve of combining the salt and sugar with the flour, even though they won't dissolve quite as well using that approach.

As to the whey, my use has been in dry form. I bought mine from a store that sells such items in bins. Professional pizza makers who use whey buy it from suppliers of baking ingredients. It is a baker's grade whey and may be somewhat different from the one I use.

I suspect that Peter Reinhart himself will tell you that his Neo-Neapolitan pizza will not be as good as one made using a good imported Italian 00 flour, even as adapted for use in his own recipe. His recipe is directed mainly to home pizza makers who do not have access to 00 flour or who do not choose to venture beyond using all-purpose flour, which is available everywhere. I don't know if the Caputo 00 flour is available to you in Cologne, but if it is, you may want to try it in your Neo-Neopolitan pizzas, especially if you can do it in a very high-temperature oven. I think you will see a noticeable improvement.

Peter

[schneich]

hi again,

i tried everything to get the caputo here in germany, early next month
we will have the biggest food fair in europe right here in cologne (ANUGA)
its 20 halls and really huge... many italian companies will attend, and i try to
get hold of some really good flour & ingredients. some friends who are active in slowfood tell
me all the time there is a lot of really good flour coming from sicily, i heard even the
most respected pizzerias in napoli use it;-) since i do research on especially the
italian stuff i will try to shoot some photos and post them here....

what i didnt mention is that iam thinking about opening an artisan pizza place here in cologne
toghether with a friend. you have to know that the pizza quality in germany is pretty bad,
and nobody has ever heard of artisan pizza... in germany they tend to use really bad toppings like
cheap gouda and the very cheapest pizza ham, even the upscale pizzerias do so
( and i dont even dare to talk about the crust here). the only good places are the ones which are made by italians
from the campania region but these are few. we want to concentrate especially on NY-pizza as well as chicago and neapolitan style.
Since everything american in germany is always "a la mode" we want to give ourself a NY look and feel... :-)


cheers


t.