Comments on A Mingling of Tastes: Overnight Pizza Dough

I'll third the recommendation of Peter Reinhar...

2010-06-10T15:21:27.699-05:00

I'll third the recommendation of Peter Reinhart as pizza god and "American Pie" as my pizza bible - they made all the difference in my crust, thanks to the overnight rise. I vaguely remember Peter writing (or maybe saying in a class) something about a longer rise allowing the yeasts to break long chains of carbohydrates down into shorter chains of simple sugars - hence the exact same combination of ingredients tasting kind of like water crackers with a short rise, yet having more sweetness and complexity after a longer rise.

It really does make a difference. I discovered th...

2010-06-06T11:33:17.074-05:00

It really does make a difference. I discovered this because the recipe I make makes far too much for the two of us, so I always have leftovers and the second day crust is always better.
I use Peter Reinhart's recipe and have written about it on my blog-
http://culinarybliss.blogspot.com/2009/09/peek-into-my-pantry-and-best-pizza.html
I learned a lot about how long slow low temperature ferments by reading the book that recipe comes from, The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

A favorite subject! I missed the CL issue, but di...

2010-06-05T16:11:27.662-05:00

A favorite subject! I missed the CL issue, but did try the NYT recipe - it worked well for me, I pre-baked the crusts and let the family each "decorate" their own then re-baked just to warm sauce and melt cheese, and they came out crispy with a nice cornichon. You might like to check out "American Pie" by Peter Reinhart (MDPLS has it) on his quest for the perfect crust, with recipes. I usually use his recipe -- the NYT article is very similar -- unless in a hurry or neglected to plan. In that case, there's a very good 'Classic Pizza Margherita' recipe on the Splendid Table website, which works nicely with AP or Bread flour, also with the Italian-style flour that King Aurthur sells. We've had fun experimenting - I mean, even imperfect homemade pizza is way better than the chains' versions.