Neopolitan Dough sans Caputo

[iamnotanumber]

Hi Everyone,
I have been making a dough for a few years that I like. It goes something like this...

Genes Classic Pizza Dough

Equipment:
  Large mixing bowl, wire whisk, spatula, blender.
Ingredients:
  10 oz peeled and diced Yukon gold potato
  3 cups water
  1 cup buttermilk
  1/2 cup grape/canola oil
  1/2 tsp active dry yeast
  3 tsp fine sea salt
  5 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour

Potato Puree
   Cover the potato with 2 cups of the water and cook medium/low heat 30 minutes.
    Let cool and blend the potato and cooking water together.
Combine
  1 cup potato puree
  1 cup water
  1 cup buttermilk
  1/2 tsp active dry yeast
  3 tsp fine sea salt

Add two cups of the flour. Beat that up into a paste with the whisk.
Drizzle oil while beating with the whisk until the oil emulsifies. The mixture will turn more white and thicken slightly. Sort of like mayonnaise.
Add 3 1/2 cups more flour. Use the spatula to work in the flour. Knead into a smooth dough. If the dough is too sticky to knead add flour 1/4 cup at a time until it becomes workable.
Let rise at @65 overnight. Punch down and knead lightly whenever the dough doubles.

Comments:
  Try not to let it rise past double but it is not a disaster if it does.
  If room temps are much warmer you should refrigerate the dough overnight or you are likely to find it all over the next morning. Yeast loves potato starch.
  If you don't have the patience for overnight rising. Double the amount of the yeast and give the dough three rises. About 4 hours. Not as good as overnight but still tasty.
  There will be extra potato puree. Make another batch of dough or freeze for later use.
  Do not be tempted to substitute olive oil. It has too much flavor to be used in this quantity. At most replace a couple of tablespoons of the oil with olive oil if you like.
  The potato makes this dough a little sticky. Light dustings of flour are enough to keep it workable.
  Do not be tempted to substitute potato flour.
  I like the yukon gold for its color and flavor but russets work well also. Red potatoes are too waxy.

Ragion d'essere:
  Most American flour has too much gluten to make a nice workable pizza dough. The potato starch, buttermilk, and emulsified oil soften the gluten just enough to make this dough easy to form. The starch from the potato gives the yeast extra boost to overcome the salt, buttermilk, and oil. It also aids browning and adds flavor. The buttermilk adds a barely discernible hint of acidity which rounds out the flavor. The oil also aids in browning and give the crust a smooth mouth feel. These characteristics make this a good crust for home bakers because it browns well at lower temperatures.

[Pete-zza]

iamnotanumber,

Thank you for posting your recipe. Your pizza looks quite good.

However, I am puzzled by the Neapolitan connection.

I have heard of using potato in a dough for deep-dish pizza (see, for example, http://www.eggheadforum.com/archives//2005/messages/181596.htm), and I have heard of using potato flour/flakes in pizza dough, and potato water in lieu of regular water, but never in the context of a Neapolitan pizza. Everything that I have ever read and heard about authentic Neapolitan dough says to use only flour (almost always a 00 flour), water, salt (usually sea salt) and yeast (usually fresh or a natural starter). So, I am curious where you found the connection between your recipe and a Neopolitan pizza dough. It may well be that your recipe simply belongs in another section of the forum. If so, as a Moderator, I can move the thread.

Peter

[iamnotanumber]

Perhaps American style then?

[Pete-zza]

Perhaps American style then?

iamnotanumber,

The American style tends to be high in both oil and sugar, although there are some American style doughs, like the old Pizza Hut pan pizza dough before they went to frozen doughs, that call for a dairy product of some kind (usually dry milk powder or whey but sometimes buttermilk). Because of the uniqueness of your recipe, I think Other Type may be the best home for your post/thread. I will move it there.

I like what you have done with your recipe and your explanation of its features and the "why" part of what you have done. It looks like something that I might want to try sometime. I think I would learn a lot from just making the dough. Can you tell me what brand of all-purpose flour you are using and how many pizzas the recipe makes and the size of the pizza(s)? Also, how do you bake the pizza(s) and at what oven rack position and temperature? Finally, can you tell me how you measure out the flour? For example, you might tell me which of the methods described in Reply 21 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6576.msg56397.html#msg56397 comes closest to the method you use.

Peter

[iamnotanumber]

Hi Pete,
I selected Neo because I thought the definition of the final product most closely matched my dough. Crisp on the outside, tender crumb, bubbly border.
Recipe makes 5-6 14" pies.
I mostly use Bob's Red Mill organic flour but any unbleached all purpose flour works well. I have even tried this method with Caputo 00 although I decreased the percentage of potato,buttermilk,oil because the Caputo has less gluten.
I measure with the 'Pour' method. I pour the flour into a 1 cup measure until the measure is almost full. The flour measures are intended as advisory anyway. Mostly I just pour in enough flour for the dough to come together and look right. I know this scandalizes the weigh and hydration people but I get consistent results without measuring. Experience? Probably. Lazy? Probably. 
I bake on a stone in a convection oven at 470. My stone sits at the bottom of the oven with a dedicated electric element under it. This setup may not translate well to other ovens. Several people have reported good success with preheated stones in electric ovens at 425.

[zalicious]

That is one good looking pie. With the potato & buttermilk the flavor must be incredible. Keep those pics coming .

[iamnotanumber]

Thanks Z,
No one leaves the crusts. Here is a close up of a day old slice. Breakfast pizza is the best!