olive oil question about dough

[snowdy]

What kind of oil is best in the actual dough recipe itself?

When i first started i was using extra virgin olive oil, then someone told me this in a different post here a couple of years back

"I see you're using extra virgin olive oil.  Rookie mistake   Extra virgin isn't really best for pizza--it's too strong a taste, and should be used only for things like salads and such.    Use a regular or mild olive oil, or even some of that new zero trans fat Crisco, and I think you'll find the taste much improved   It's a valuable lesson I learned here from the wise veterans of this forum."

But now im really trying to try out some of the di fara techniques. I think i saw he doesnt use oil in the dough but he does use extra virgin oil sprinkled all over the pizza itself. Which kind of makes me wonder about the "too strong of tase" comment above.

I've had good luck using regular oil but i have this bottle of filippo berrio extra virgin that i'd like to try out.

Just making sure there isnt some huge benefit to using regular oil in the pie.

Thanks

[canadave]

Wow....this is one of those weird coincidences that makes me believe in things like Fate and such!

I think I'm the person you quoted in your post, snowdy; I seem to recall saying something like that two or three years ago--am I right?  And by incredible sheer coincidence, I was *just now* about to start a thread about my experiment YESTERDAY, where I drizzled olive oil on my pizza for the first time, SPECIFICALLY because I just remembered I'd seen Dom do it at DiFara's, as you mentioned just now!  Weird eh??

To answer your question--

Don't take my "don't use EVOO" advice as gospel, by any means.  Since you're curious, my advice would be to simply try it in a dough batch and see how you like it.  If you hate it, at least you're only out a few tablespoons of olive oil, some flour, salt, water, and yeast

For what it's worth, I have tried to use EVOO in dough (when I first started out), and found the taste effect to be poor.  I seem to recall that I asked about it on this forum, and I think the general opinion was that EVOO is not all that great when added into dough.  But YMMV of course

In my experiment yesterday, by the way, I used the regular (not EVOO) Filippo Berio in the dough, and then drizzled it over the finished pizza just before putting it into the oven to bake (I used a turkey baster thing to do the drizzling, since I lacked the proper toolage).  It turned out very well; it gave a little nice "zip" to the overall taste.  Indeed, it worked much better than my previous similar experiments with brushing the oil on the bare crust before adding the sauce and cheese.  I didn't overdo it; I tried to do it just like I saw Dom do it on one of the several YouTube videos of Dom doing his thing.  I'm not sure I'd want to try it with EVOO though.

--Dave

[Villa Roma]

If you're looking for for a way to drizzle oil on your pizza, look no further than your local department store. Sure, you could go out and buy some fancy oil can with a long spout but that's just another item that's going to hog up space on your countertop. Hey, countertop real estate is at a premium if you haven't noticed.

Luckily, there is an alternative. Just go pick up a bottle of Elmer's school glue, loose the glue and wash out the container really well. Then fill it with your oil of choice. You'll be squirting with the big dogs and grinning like a fat cat on a tuna boat as you apply the oil with laser guided precision. If you don't get all the glue out, your pizzas will really stick to your ribs! 

    Villa Roma

[snowdy]

Dave,

Yep that was you that sent me that reply, its hard to believe that was 2 1/2 years ago, damn time flies! hehe

So ya i think i'll test out using this extra virgin stuff in the dough just to see what i think. The main thing i wanted to be sure of was that there wasn't some benefit to using regular oil instead of extra virgin as far as the way the pizza will bake. If its just a taste issue then i guess i need to do a comparison anyways hehe

Its definitely is extra virgin that dom is pouring on his pies (see attached pic).... so ill give that a whirl too on my next attempt.

Also as far as drizzlers go i got a 5 pack of the nossles you can stick on top of the bottle itself at smart and final in the restaurant supply section. I love that place.

cheers!!

[petef]

If you want to experiment with different oils or cheese or sauce, get some small 4 oz glass bowls
and put in each one, 1 tsp sauce, topped with cheese and oil. Microwave it until the cheese
melts. Then mix it up and taste to see how each sample differers. This is a quick way to
determine how certain ingredients change the flavor without having to waste an entire
pizza. Use it as a rough test and then apply what you learn to the next pizza you make.

I recently found that Bertolli Classico used with Frigo and/or Sorrento Mozzarella is
pretty good for duplicating the typical New Jersey area pizzaria pizza. I sprinkly my
oil using recycled 5 oz oil bottles, originally purchased with other oils inside. It has a
plastic top with a small hole for precise control of the oil flow. You could also use a
recycled soy sauce bottle that has a similar plastic top with a small hole.


EDIT: Opps, sorry, I just realized this thread is about oil in the
dough, and not oil as a pizza topping.

---pete---

[canadave]

snowdy: sounds great, report back with your results.  I did have my first DiFara's pizza when I went back home to NYC this September, and from what I recall, the oil taste on the cheese was pretty tangy--not bad at all, but I didn't really care for the tanginess.  However, others may easily have a different opinion, and the pizza overall certainly was tasty.

Do we know for sure that Dom uses EVOO *inside* the pizza dough, or is the end drizzle the only time the EVOO makes its appearance?

to others:
interesting ideas all, about alternatives for oil drizzlers.  To me though, if you're going to do it, you might as well go whole hog and get the real deal "oil can" like Dom uses.  Yes, you could find an infinite number of cheaper and handier alternatives, but the visceral feeling of drizzling the oil "just like Dom" would be worth the hassle

Not to mention by the way that if I had guests over watching me prepare a pizza, and broke out my Elmers glue bottle, I'd probably get tackled before I had a chance to pour the oil! :0

[Pete-zza]

I have a couple of oil dispensers of the classic type and found that where I live in Texas the oil can go rancid during the long hot summers. So, I just use it out of the bottles, which I keep in my pantry where the temperature is cooler than in my kitchen cabinets near the stove.

Canadave, from what Domenic once told me he uses no oil in the dough.


Peter