Politon's Sicilian Style Pie

[politon]

After seeing the L&B thread, I thought I would give a Sicilian style pie a shot. This pie was made with Pendleton Power Flour, 48hr. biga and a ~2 hour dough. We pre-heated the stone at 550F, then baked the pie for 7 minutes, rotated it and baked it for another 7 at 450F. The stone was ~519F when we originally put the pie in the oven. At the end of the bake the stone was down to ~386F. Next time we probably won't reduce the thermostat to 450F.

We were pleased with the tight crumb.

Gratzi,

--Paul

[JimmyG]

Paul,
Despite the temp loss in your stone, your pie looks like it turned out pretty darn good.

[politon]

Paul,
Despite the temp loss in your stone, your pie looks like it turned out pretty darn good.

Thanks Jim! It was delicious, next time I'll use a higher temp and hopefully get better browning.

[dmcavanagh]

politon

I have been very busy lately making Sicilian style pizzas. I have a couple of questions concerning you dough and bake. You mention a stone and also show a pan in the picture. Are you putting the dough in a pan and then baking the pan on top of your stone, or are you baking the dough on top of the stone with no pan? Also, regarding your dough, I'm not too familair with Pendleton power flour but it appears to be a very high gluten flour. I have made Sicilian pies with all types of flour and have finally settled on All purpose flour as my favorite for this style. High gluten makes the final pizza too tough and chewy, I prefer the softer feel you get from ap flour. Have you experimented with different flours, or are you a high gluten fan? I like to let my doughs cold ferment for about three days when making almost any pizza including my Sicilians. The long fermentation gives the yeast time to break down the stratches into simple sugars which in turn aid in the browning of the final pizza. I never have any issue with browning when using my long fermented doughs. My typical bake would be to start the pizza (in a pan) at 500 degrees, and then reduce the heat to 475 halfway through the bake. Never need any higher temps then these to get good browning on my finished pie. Let me know your thoughts on these subjects.

[politon]

politon

I have been very busy lately making Sicilian style pizzas. I have a couple of questions concerning you dough and bake. You mention a stone and also show a pan in the picture. Are you putting the dough in a pan and then baking the pan on top of your stone, or are you baking the dough on top of the stone with no pan? Also, regarding your dough, I'm not too familair with Pendleton power flour but it appears to be a very high gluten flour. I have made Sicilian pies with all types of flour and have finally settled on All purpose flour as my favorite for this style. High gluten makes the final pizza too tough and chewy, I prefer the softer feel you get from ap flour. Have you experimented with different flours, or are you a high gluten fan? I like to let my doughs cold ferment for about three days when making almost any pizza including my Sicilians. The long fermentation gives the yeast time to break down the stratches into simple sugars which in turn aid in the browning of the final pizza. I never have any issue with browning when using my long fermented doughs. My typical bake would be to start the pizza (in a pan) at 500 degrees, and then reduce the heat to 475 halfway through the bake. Never need any higher temps then these to get good browning on my finished pie. Let me know your thoughts on these subjects.

Hi Dave,

I put the dough in the pan and placed it on the stone during the bake. Gas oven, center rack position.

This is only the second time that I've tried the high gluten Pendleton Power Flour, I normally use KABF. That being said, I don't recall the pie being chewy or tough per se. I gathered from the L&B thread that a tight crumb was desirable for this style of pie and I knew I could achieve it with the PPF.

I'll prepare another batch of dough tonight, let it cold ferment for ~72 hours in the fridge and bake another Sicilian pie Friday night. Hopefully that will fix the coloration, I'll post pics.

Gratzi,

--Paul

[dmcavanagh]

Paul
Thanks for the update, one idea I have for you in regard to the browning of your crust concerns your pan. Those shiny aluminum pans that you picture are not great for browning. If you can get a pan made of darker material your pie should brown better. Some on this site are sold on "blue steel", I have great luck with Chicago Metallics non-stick jelly roll/cookie sheet pans. These are darker and very heavy and do a great job on Sicilian pies. BedBath&Beyond sells a 3 pan set for $20, three different sizes are included.

[politon]

Paul
Thanks for the update, one idea I have for you in regard to the browning of your crust concerns your pan. Those shiny aluminum pans that you picture are not great for browning. If you can get a pan made of darker material your pie should brown better. Some on this site are sold on "blue steel", I have great luck with Chicago Metallics non-stick jelly roll/cookie sheet pans. These are darker and very heavy and do a great job on Sicilian pies. BedBath&Beyond sells a 3 pan set for $20, three different sizes are included.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the tip on the Chicago Metallics, I'll have to check them out.

For dinner tonight, I have a PPF ball that has cold fermented for ~72hrs.

I have a ~375g KABF dough ball that cold fermented for ~84 hours that I plan to bake for lunch. I hand stretched this one instead of sheeting the dough and cutting it. It's currently proofing in the pan. 

[politon]

Lunch....11 minute bake@550F, rotated at the 7 minute mark. The KABF was very light and tender, yet the exterior of the crust was crispy and made a crunch when the pie was cut.  

[politon]

Gratzi

[nbarnstable]

Looks fantastic!  Any chance you can share your formula?

[atom]

Yup, that looks awesome. Please share your formula