Dessert Pizza Failure

[rcbaughn]

Well, I decided to try a cannoli pizza tonight with some dough I have fermenting in the fridge, so I tore off a bit and let it proof up for a couple of hours at room temp. I did the usual and formed my crust and it turned out amazing. The first perfectly round pie I've made with a few throws in the air. It was great fun....... But then it went wrong.

I thought, what the hey, I'll rub on some margarine and sprinkle some sugar on the crust before I bake it since the ricotta and chocolate will be going on after the pie cools a bit! Well, let me tell you, when you get REALLY good oven spring out of the cornicione, the butter that WAS on the edge will pool up in the center, take the sugar with it, and cause the center of the pie to turn into one big smoking black crunchy destroyed mess of yeast dough under the broiler. I was so sad that I didn't even take a picture. The outside was the best browning, lift, and hole structure I have ever gotten in a pizza, then there was that black char the size of baseball in the center.

I made it all well though and broke the center out of the pie in one piece and just scooped the ricotta onto the edge of the pizza, kinda like pita and hummus. All's well that ends with sweetened ricotta, pistachios, and chocolate. Moral of the story here I think - DON'T SUGAR AND BUTTER AN UN-TOPPED THIN CRUST PIE! LOL.

[buceriasdon]

 That's how we learn.
don

[The Dough Doctor]

RC;
Been there, done that. What I now do is to use a regular pizza crust, if I am going to par-bake it I dock it well prior to baking. Melt some unsalted butter, then brush a light coating of the melted butter onto the dough skin, sprinkle on a coating of granulated sugar (experiment to see how sweet you want the base crust to be) followed by a sprinkling of fresh cinnamon, now you can either par-bake or add a mixture of 8-ounces of sour cream, 8-ounces of Ricotta cheese, 2-ounces of sugar, and 1-large whole egg. Blend until smooth and spread onto the unbaked dough skin about 1/8 to 3/16-inch thick, leaving a slight uncovered edge. Apply fresh fruit (apple slices, kiwi, orange, mango, strawberry, blue berry, grapes (sliced in half), or whatever strikes your fancy, and bake as you would your regular pizzas. When still warm, but not hot, apply a drizzle of powdered sugar icing (powdered sugar and water mixed to a thick, slightly creamy consistency), and serve. This dessert pizza can be served warm, cold, or ala mode. We make it at all of the pizza shows where we have a test kitchen to work from.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[rcbaughn]

That sounds like an absolutely amazing recipe for a dessert pizza Tom! I have some dough in the fridge that I am going to try that with tonight to go with my burgers. I tried to bake up a good pie last night with some canned smoked clams and homemade tomato sauce, and it was good but the dough turned out way to thin in the middle. That has been a real problem of mine with these last few pies, I have actually been able to see the wood grain through the middle of the pizza on my peel.

I always use Lahey's method shown on the Serious Eats video of his no-knead dough, but here lately my dough has been getting WAY to thin when I knuckle it. The dough seems almost too soft to work in the air. That may be because it's been cold-fermenting for about 4 days now, the first pie I made day one didn't have that problem at all and was perfect. I may have to go back to my starting method of bench stretching that way I can control the thickness a little better than having to rely on gravity to do the work. I use Kenji's recipe for a Neapolitan- style dough with AP flour and a bit of sugar added and no oil.

As always thank you for the great reply, it is so nice to have guys that are so willing to give advice and awesome recipe ideas.

-Cory