First Sicilian!

[hotsawce]

So I made my first Sicilian. It came out pretty good, but there are some things I would have liked to change.

I used pizza bloggers method. bake on stone no toppings, on stone with toppings, then under broiler. The bottom came out pretty crispy, though I would have liked it to be slightly crispier. The inside was very airy and not dense at all.

The rim, or top, right under the toppings is what I was most disappointed in. It was not crispy at all.....very soft. Perhaps after the first bake I'll pop it under the broiler for a couple of minutes to firm it up, then stick the toppings on? Any help regarding this would be great.

[pizzablogger]

Hi hotsauce. Looks like a good first effort!

Sounds like you need more time under the broiler in your oven to help crisp it up....although it also looks from the photograph that you layered your sauce and toppings right to the edge of the pie. If so, that would impact the crisping of the outer rim of the pie.

[Jose L. Piedra]

Whatever area of the top of a Sicilian that has toppings applied to it isn't going to be crispy no matter how much you parbake it, since liquids discharged from those toppings will soften whatever dough they are applied to.

That having been said, you could reduce the massive gum-line on your pie by either parbaking it a few minutes longer and/or reducing the amount of sauce you're using, which seems to be tremendous.

Great looking crumb structure on your pie BTW.

-JLP

[RoadPizza]

Whatever area of the top of a Sicilian that has toppings applied to it isn't going to be crispy no matter how much you parbake it, since liquids discharged from those toppings will soften whatever dough they are applied to.

That having been said, you could reduce the massive gum-line on your pie by either parbaking it a few minutes longer and/or reducing the amount of sauce you're using, which seems to be tremendous.

Great looking crumb structure on your pie BTW.

-JLP

You could also do what L & B Spumoni Gardens (as well as a few other pizzerias) do with their Sicilians - laying sliced mozzarella on top of the dough before liberally adding pizza sauce, romano cheese and olive oil on top.  This way, the melted mozzarella works as a sealant, keeping the dough dry by acting as a barrier to the wet ingredients.

[hotsawce]

I definitely plan on parbaking it slightly longer, but what you see is not gumline. That's Grana Padano oozing out 

Went Grana, Mozz Slices, then sauce, then some more mozz. I got a chunk of pecorino, though, and I'm dying to play with that on the sicilian, and I'm looking to do it on a neapolitan style pie with just tomato, pecorino, and olive oil.

Whatever area of the top of a Sicilian that has toppings applied to it isn't going to be crispy no matter how much you parbake it, since liquids discharged from those toppings will soften whatever dough they are applied to.

That having been said, you could reduce the massive gum-line on your pie by either parbaking it a few minutes longer and/or reducing the amount of sauce you're using, which seems to be tremendous.

Great looking crumb structure on your pie BTW.

-JLP

[c0mpl3x]

i par bake my sicilians in a well bun not too much oiled steamtray insert (halfpan) until they start to get the color or slightly more golden of fresh pine lumber you find at a hardware superstore (lowes/HD), with the sauce on it.  then i take it out and cheese it, and turn the oven down 100ºf to 425.  seems to work awesome for me

attached is a pic of my latest sic

[hotsawce]

Just an update: I'm at a place where I'm getting much happier with my Sicilian style. I did the three stage bake again (parbake no toppings, parbake toppings, broiler with some more mozz,) but I changed the baking times. I did, about, 5 in the first stage as opposed to my first 4 minutes, about 4 to 4:30 in the second stage as opposed to my first three minutes, and about 3 minutes under the broiler (but a lot of turning) as opposed to one minute.

So, about 9 to 9:30 this time as opposed to 7 minutes last time for the total bake, plus some work under the broiler. The bottom was a gorgeous golden brown and I was very happy with it. Only thing was I used KA bread flour this time so it was slightly chewier, and I lowered the hydration by 5% to 65% so I think next time I'll use All Purpose and 70% hydration and it will be perfect!

[aks801]

I also bake mine with the cheese directly atop the stretched dough.  Taking it all the way to the edge of the pan also helps in giving the outside edge a crunch, as some of that cheese cooks over the sides and really fries up against that oiled pan.

For sauce, I put dollops of sauce on top last, basically one dollop for each slice.

Your's is a fine pursuit.  I've found that a decent Sicilian is real easy to make, but a really good one is quite elusive.  Keep it up!