With my wood fired oven stowed for the winter, once again there is a void that needs filling.
Pizza Romana in teglia is a style I've wanted to try for quite some time, but have held back on -- probably a little intimidated by what looks like a rabbit hole I just might fall down into. After a few private exchanges with a couple of dear friends on this board, I got the nudge I needed to finally take the plunge and try to make a dough for this style of pizza.
(By the way, I realize "Focaccia Style" is probably the right section for this post, but since this is currently a digression and not an obsession, I'm tentatively posting my report here).
I got some very detailed instructions from Greg the Silly Icelandr (thank you!), and in the "Focaccia Style" section I found Antilife's magnificent sticky "Pizza alla Romana", which has been read and re-read. And of course, there is YouTube...
Distilled from this, my dough and process looked like this:
- 100% Caputo Nuvola Super
- 80% Water
- 2.5% Salt
- 2% EVO
- 1% CY
Fermented for 24 hours (19 hours in at 4 ºC, 5 hours at 21 ºC).
To keep this first attempt as low-key as possible, I opted for a white pie, i.e. just olive oil on top.
It was baked for about 10 minutes at 270 ºC.
When it came out, it was clear that I have a way to go to get a more uniform look. But the cross section looked about right.
Tasting the trimmings,
I was blown away! Very soft and light and with a very attractive crunch to it.
I proceeded to sliced it in half and fill it with cheese.
This went back into the oven for about 4 minutes at 250 ºC.
Then I opened it again and stuffed it with ham and basil.
Oh boy!
I also made some variants with friarielli and some with nduja.
However, I found that the more delicate flavors appealed the most to me in this crust.
Next time: Margherita!
Some photos below. Unfortunately none of the final product, but maybe next time.
