![]() ![]() Higher gluten flours are best for things like New York-style pizzas, which should have an underlying chewiness, while lower-protein flours give pizza crusts a more tender texture. Oil adds even more tenderness, since it lubricates the gluten networks, making them more flexible. ![]() Your choice of flour has a major effect on the texture of a pizza crust, but you can achieve a tender pie using a wide variety of different flours. Pizza doughs contain just a few ingredients: flour, water, salt, and (usually) oil, along with yeast and/or a sourdough culture. Start with a solid formulaīehind every great pizza is a great dough recipe. But there are ways to overcome the limitations of a home oven. This is where blazing hot professional pizza ovens have a distinct advantage over humble home ranges, which rarely top 550˚F. Getting a tender crust involves knowing how to treat the dough once it has been mixed, which is something that anyone with the proper skillset can pull off.Īnd achieving pizza crust contrast usually means baking it as quickly as possible, since the faster a pizza crust browns, the less chance of over-baking the interior crumb. Most of the secrets to making great pizza (at home or otherwise) revolve around attaining one or both of these goals. There also needs to be contrast between inside and outside: The crust should be crisp and well-baked, while the interior crumb should be moist and even a touch underbaked within. (Chewy and tough are related but not identical concepts: Chewiness in pizza generally relates to how much gluten a pizza dough contains, while toughness has more to do with how that gluten has been treated along the way.) (Obviously flavor is important too, but the shortcomings of a less-than-flavorful crust can be made up for with great toppings, while those of a less-than-perfect texture are insurmountable.) There are two key crust elements to zoom in on here: tenderness and contrast.īoth the crust and the crumb should be tender rather than tough this is true whether we're talking about a chewy, New York-style slice or a more tender "artisanal" pie. The most important hallmarks of a great thin-crust pizza are a crisp-tender, well-browned crust (both on the underside and the raised rim), and a moist-tender interior crumb. (Thicker pan pizzas such as Sicilian or Detroit-style are generally more forgiving than freeform pizzas for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that they aren’t usually baked at temperatures beyond what most home ovens can achieve.) For starters, we’ll be limiting this discussion to round, thin-crust styles baked directly on a surface like a baking stone. But none are impossible to overcome!įirst we need to define what we mean by "great" pizza. ![]() Some of the common pitfalls on the road to great pizza are the same whether you're baking in a blazing wood-fired oven or a home oven, while others are oven-specific. It’s possible to pull restaurant-caliber pies from a humble home oven, but you need to tailor your approach to the setting. ![]() Homemade pizza often disappoints compared to restaurant pizza, though that doesn’t have to be the case. You'll find tools, inspiration, and confidence to experiment and master what is perhaps the simplest, and the most complex, of baking genres: artisan bread. Our Artisan Bread series explores the world of professional-level bread baking and brings you more resources and guidance around how to hone your skills at true hand-crafted bread. ![]()
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