Well I made my first Sicillian pie tonight and it turned out pretty good. I used some leftover dough from my experimental NY style recipe. This dough was about a 70% hydration, bulk risen for 3 hours, then cold fermented for 12 hours and proofed at room temps for 6 hours prior to baking. Before cold fermenting, the dough was rolled out and placed in a well oiled 10" ceramic pan. Prior to room temperature proofing, I stretched the dough a bit to meet the edge of the pan. After the room temp proof, the dough expanded and filled the pan. It was covered the whole time and felt quite wet and extensible. Cooked the bottom a wee bit long, but it was good.
2 differences I noted between this Sicillian and a NY pie I made from an almost identical recipe.
It was much wetter and more extensible than a 73% hydration doughball that was turned into a NY pie made from the same recipe. The only difference in the 2 was the hydration ratio, but yet they behaved quite different. The 73% doughball was was easy to open and handle. I was even able to toss it in the air a few times.
2) even though both recipes were nearly identical, the pan pizza had a very different crumb structure. The pan pizza had a very white bread like structure similar to a Pizza hut pan pizza. I suspect this is due to the extra thickness and weight of the dough and cheese giving the crust a more compact cell structure. The taste was quite different with the oily crunchy bottom and denser crust despite using a NY style recipe.
Ideas and comments please.
