Roman Style Thin Crust

[DKM]

Based on a recipe from American Pie

The crust

[DKM]

Topped

[DKM]

Cooked

450 on stone bottom rack 7 minutes

[Trinity]

I tried that ,,,

[abatardi]

The crust on the pie that DKM made looks very similar to a pizza place around here that I've been trying to figure out.  Does anyone have the recipe for this?  I ordered a copy of American Pie to get it but it's being shipped in "2-3 business days" and then through media mail so it will probably be June 1-2 until I get it with the holiday.  If anyone has it I'd appreciate it if you could post it or email it to me at ahastings@gmail.com

On another note with this dough... Is cornmeal used at any point in the process?  One weird thing I noticed when I ripped apart the crust of this place was that there were little yellow specs inside the crust (not on the bottom but inside the dough).. So made me think there was either cornmeal or something that looked like cornmeal in the dough, or that the dough was rolled out with cornmeal on the board instead of flour for some reason and it got embedded in the dough during the rolling.  Does this make sense to anyone?

- Aaron

[Bill/SFNM]

One weird thing I noticed when I ripped apart the crust of this place was that there were little yellow specs inside the crust (not on the bottom but inside the dough).. So made me think there was either cornmeal or something that looked like cornmeal in the dough, or that the dough was rolled out with cornmeal on the board instead of flour for some reason and it got embedded in the dough during the rolling.  Does this make sense to anyone?

There was a very popular pizzeria in Palo Alto, California (Vicolo) that baked pizzas with corn meal in the crust exactly as you describe (if it was so popular, why did it close?  ). I never considered it to be "pizza" but it was tasty.There is a recipe for a golden yellow cornmeal crust in Scicolone's book.

Bill/SFNM

[abatardi]

Interesting.  I mean there wasn't a lot of it.. it seemed to be just a regular crust but you'd see like 10-12 of these little specks in there if the tore the crust apart. 

The only other thing I could think of it being was like some grated romano cheese or something in the dough for flavoring but not sure if this would turn yellow inside a cooked crust or just melt away.  Oh well, who knows.

- Aaron

[DKM]

Some places use cornmeal on the paddle.

DKM

[scott r]

I could be totally wrong here, but could it be semolina (sp?) flour?  I know Pete-zza is familiar with a pizzeria in Massachusetts that uses this flour in the dough.

[abatardi]

I could be totally wrong here, but could it be semolina (sp?) flour?  I know Pete-zza is familiar with a pizzeria in Massachusetts that uses this flour in the dough.

Yeah I guess it could be, now that you mention it.  I'll look into that, thanks.

- Aaron

[Randy]

DKM, how did it taste?

Randy

[scott r]

I just had some pizza from a place here that uses semolina in the dough.  Peter, it is not the one you had told me about, but New York Pizza on Tremont st. in Boston.  I bought an uncooked dough ball from them.  They are using semolina mixed with a normal white flour, and lots of oil.  This dough REALLY tastes great. 

[Pete-zza]

scott,

I hope you ate the whole pizza. One of the (few) negatives of a semolina-based crust is that it turns tough a few hours out of the oven. If you had any leftover slices, I'd be interested if you observe that phenomenon. I did with the leftover slices I took home from the place in Stoneham, MA that makes its pizzas with a pretty hefty amount of semolina in the crust.

Peter

[abatardi]

How much would a good amount of semolina to add be?  1/4 c for a couple cups of white flour?  Does this really add a lot of flavor?

- Aaron

[Pete-zza]

Aaron,

From the recipes I have seen, the ratio of semolina to other flours starts at about 1:4 (25%) and goes up to about 40-50% (which is the amount used by the pizza maker at the place referenced in my earlier post). I have used smaller amounts just for a texture and flavor difference.

Peter

[abatardi]

Thanks Pete.  I'll try a bit smaller ratio first and maybe work up.  The crust that I was trying to reproduce seemed to have a pretty small amount of it.

- Aaron

[DKM]

DKM, how did it taste?

Randy

It was pretty good in my opinion.  It was crisp and good flavor.

DKM

[scott r]

I missed some of this thread, sorry Peter.  This place specializes in slices, and they are not always fresh from the oven.  I have not noticed any toughening after the pies sit.  Actually their dough always seems to stay nice and soft.  They use TONS of oil in the dough, though, probably to overcome the phenomenon you are referring to.  the dough ball I bought was put in a pizza box, and by the time I got home the box was soaked through with oil.

[Lydia]

It just dawned on me, that I have never had any left over pizza when I make my semolina crust (50/50 AP/semolina blend). Although I'm considering bring the AP a bit higher for workability. Next, I will be trying it with high-gluten flour.

I retarded the left-over dough overnight, it had some slightly darker yellow patches that disappeared when baked. I think the overnight rest in the fridge might have been too much because it was prone to tearing. But experienced no loss of baked textures.

The semolina recipe was awesome on the grill! I was intending to try just one, but after my first bite, I already had another-one assembled on the peel. Semolina dough seems to "want" to bake quickly, brown evenly, and be crispy with a good flavor to boot.

I almost forgot to mention, my experiences using semolina is that it dosen't leave yellow specs. When it bakes it looks just like an all-white bread. When I was trying out cornmeal doughs, yellow specs were present. I didn't like it much so stopped using it. Typically the crusts that have cornmeal also contain honey.