Recently, I decided to try the 3-hour dough recipe posted by Richard (Rkos) in Reply 15 of this thread. For my particular purposes, I cut the recipe in half—to make a single 14” pizza—and I used the baker’s percent version that I established and posted in Reply 24 above. In making the dough, I followed the instructions posted by Richard to the letter except that I added the flour a half-cup at a time rather than a cup at a time (since I had halved the recipe) and I found that I could knead the dough in about half the time specified by Richard (again, since I had halved the recipe). For convenience, I have set forth below the formulation I used, together with the volume measurements and other particulars:
100%, Bread flour (King Arthur brand), 9.24 oz. (261.70 g.), 2 c. + 2 T. + 1 t. (stir, scoop and level method)
62%, Water (warm), 5.72 oz. (162.25 g.), a bit less than 3/4 c.
4.6%, Sugar, 0.42 oz. (12.04 g.), 1 T.
5.3%, Oil (extra virgin olive oil), 0.49 oz. (13.87 g.), 1 T.
1.6%, Salt, 0.15 oz. (4.19 g.), 3/4 t.
1.6%, Active dry yeast (ADY), 0.15 oz. (4.19 g.), 1 1/8 t.
Actual water temperature used = 112 degrees F
Finished dough weight = 16.15 oz. (458.23 g.)
Finished dough temperature = 84.7 degrees F
Thickness factor (TF) = 0.105
Pizza size = 14”
Note: All measurements are U.S./metric standard
I had no problems whatsoever in making the dough. I allowed the dough to rise in successive 1-hour periods, with a punchdown in between. In each 1-hour period, the dough better than doubled in volume—almost tripling, in fact. I concluded that it would have been easy to knock about an hour off of the total rise time. However, to eke out a bit more flavor in the finished crust, I settled on the two one-hour rise periods. The finished dough was very easy to shape and stretch out to its final 14” size.
Since I had elected to make the finished pizza along the lines of Randy’s American style, I used a pizza screen (14”) and the same quality of toppings I typically use when I make my versions of Randy’s American style. As noted previously, my observation of the recipe posted by Richard is that it bears many similarities to my “thin” versions of Randy’s style pizza when the recipe is converted to a same-day, few-hours format. I used Randy’s Penzeys sauce recipe for the sauce (basically 6-in-1s with Penzeys pizza seasoning, oil and fresh garlic), Dragone whole-milk, low-moisture mozzarella cheese (a Saputo product), Johnsonville sausage (removed from the casing and pre-cooked until pink), some added red pepper flakes for more heat, hand-sliced Margherita pepperoni, and fresh pineapple. Using the screen also served to reduce the anticipated baking time so that I wouldn’t overheat my kitchen. Outside it was almost 100 degrees F. I turned on the oven, to 470 degrees F, about 10 minutes before I started to assemble the pizza.
After I had assembled the pizza, I placed it in the 470-degree preheated oven on the lowest oven rack position where it baked for about 7-8 minutes. When I saw that the crust had started to turn brown at the rim and the cheese was lightly browning and bubbling, I move the pizza off of the screen and onto the middle oven rack position, where it remained for about another 1-2 minutes. I estimate that the total elapsed time, from the time I turned on the oven to the time I removed the finished pizza from the oven and turned the oven off, was less than 25 minutes. I am certain that the pizza would have baked well on a pre-heated pizza stone but the equivalent elapsed oven time would have been over 2 hours (including the stone cool-down time).
The photos below show the finished product. The pizza turned out quite well and pretty much as I had expected from the formulation used. The crust was nicely browned top and bottom, and the crust and crumb were soft and chewy and breadlike, with decent oven spring (although the crumb at the rim was fairly tight). The crust also had a noticeable sweetness but, as I have discovered before in making my versions of Randy’s American style, all of the flavors and sensations harmonize very nicely, with the heat and spice of the sausage, pepperoni and red pepper flakes offsetting the crust sweetness and the natural sweetness of the pineapple. I concluded that the recipe I used would make a pretty good same-day, few-hours version of Randy’s American style. It won’t be as good as a cold fermented version, especially after a couple of days or so of dough fermentation, but it will do well when there is a need or desire to make a few-hours version. I also discovered that the pizza reheated very well the next day and the reheated slices were very tasty. As a result of my experience with the recipe, I plan to add it to my collection.
Peter
