food processor pizza dough

[DoouBall]

I would like to know what is the best food processor pizza dough recipe for making something close to authentic Italian pizza. I just joined this forum and searched for the available topics but the results were kind of confusing. There were a few references to a method from "the best bread ever," by Van Over but that recipe uses 2 teaspoons of salt for only 3 1/2 cups of flour. That seems a little excessive. Another method that I found on this website calls for allowing the dough ball to make 45 revolutions around the processor bowl, multiple times. I wonder if the dough would overheat killing off the yeast? That particular post seems promising, but it does not specify the measurements or how to make the starter.

If you could be so kind, I would like someone to post the complete recipe that they believe is best including the method and the measurements of flour water etc. I would also like to know if it is better to use instant yeast or the active dry kind for making authentic Italian pizza. I would prefer not to have to take care of the fresh stuff just yet.

 I have a standard oven with convection that goes up to 550°F so I would also appreciate any advice on the best vessel to cook the pizza in. I would prefer not to use a pizza stone so I don't have to preheat forever or risk ruining the pizza while slipping it in.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Bill/SFNM]

DougBall,

I was the one who has posted about Van Over and the way I adapted it for pizza (e.g. 45 revolutions around the bowl). I use my standard measurements, but not sure they will be any good at such low temps. I can assure you that the dough barely heated up. It is a fairly wet dough, so the moisture may absorbing some energy produced by the friction. I use a natural yeast starter from sourdo.com. Anyway, here is my standard formula:

100% Caputo Pizzeria Flour
62% water (including that in the starter)
2.5% salt
5% starter (of total dough weight)

19 hour room temp bulk ferment
5 hour room temp proof
Bake ~950F for 45 secs.

Not sure this is going to be any help to your particular situation, but that is how I do it.

Bill/SFNM

[Pete-zza]

DougBall,

I assume the post you were referring to with respect to the 45 revolutions is this one: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6322.msg54238.html#msg54238. I didn't see a dough recipe at that post, but if the dough is to be fermented at room temperature, two teaspoons of salt for 3 1/2 cups of flour, or about 2.3% for a typical 00 flour, would be quite normal. In fact, in Naples, especially for 00 doughs to be made in the summer when it is warm and it is desirable to slow down the fermentation process, 2.3% salt would be a bit on the low side. I agree that in a cold fermented dough, it is perhaps not necessary to use such high amounts of salt.

As between using IDY and ADY, it is a matter of choice which to use. You should get acceptable results either way.

I wouldn't recommend baking a Neapolitan style dough, especially one based on using 00 flour, on anything but a stone surface. Even then, you are not going to get results that are anywhere near authentic. For that, you would need a much higher temperature, in excess of 800 degrees F.

For information on starting a culture, I suggest that you look at this board: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/board,37.0.html. Once you gain an understanding of the way that starters work and their compositions in terms of their hydration levels and amounts to use, you might find it helpful to use the preferment dough calculating tool at http://www.pizzamaking.com/preferment_calculator.html.

Good luck.

Peter

[DoouBall]

Maybe I posted my message in the wrong forum because I clearly don't have enough temperature in my oven to cook with 00 flour. I intended to make a simple but tasty pizza with a thin crust. what I'm trying to avoid is pizza that tastes like California style or Chicago style. However my intention was to use all-purpose flour, active dry or instant yeast and bake on some sort of perforated pizza crisper. I realize I will not be able to achieve perfection with the setup I have. I just want to do the best I can. I have a pizza crisper with a lot of big holes in it and I managed to get a very crispy thin crust. However some of the dough leaked down ever so slightly into the holes so the texture on the bottom of the pizza is kind of bumpy. It tastes great but doesn't look very authentic. Therefore I was wondering if there any other pizza pans that produce a better result. another problem is that the pizza pan is nonstick, so I cannot safely use it above 450°. Any advice on making dough with a food processor and choice of vessel would be appreciated.

[Pete-zza]

DoouBall,

You ruled out Neapolitan, Chicago and California styles, and you have effectively ruled out the American style because it is usually not a thin-crust pizza style. Is it a NY style or possibly a cracker style that you are after?

Besides a pizza stone, or tiles, there are all kinds of "vessels" to use to bake pizzas. They include pizza screens, pans (perforated and nonperforated), disks (perforated and nonperforated) and cutter pans (perforated or nonperforated). You can see many of them at the Lloyd Pans/pizzatools website at http://www.pizzatools.com/. The PSTK pans you will see there avoid the problem with nonstick coatings. Once you tell us what kind of pizza you would like to make, perhaps we can better advise you as to what might be the best pan or disk to use.

You might also take a look at this thread in relation to using a food processor to make a NY style dough: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2189.msg19289.html#msg19289. You will also find some dough recipes for a NY style (the Lehmann NY style) using a food processor at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1453.msg13193/topicseen.html#msg13193. Most of those recipes call for using either a high-gluten flour or a bread flour, and also IDY, but most dough recipes can be modified to use all-purpose flour and ADY. The results won't be the same, especially with respect to the flour, but the changes can be made.

Peter

[Jackitup]

I agree with Peter about the cracker crust. Go to those threads and do some reading there where many of us have done allot with that type of crust. Using one of those formulations along with a stone and or parbaking for 5 minutes or so should give that thin, crispy, bubbly texture you're looking for.
Jon