Love BGE pizza

jimreed777 · December 2012

550 for 8-10 minutes - we love it

Budgeezer · December 2012

Nicely done!

cazzy · December 2012

Looks great! BGE pizza is great!

MO_Eggin · December 2012

Nice looking pie. If your dough is home-made, would you mind sharing the recipe?

PSHome · December 2012

+1 on the dough/crust, looks like an excellent nystyle crust.

RAC · December 2012

I like them to. Nice looking pie!

jlsm · December 2012

What dough recipe did you use? Overnight fermentation? Looks great.

KingRover · December 2012

That looks perfect. I too am interested in the dough details.

ttexxan · December 2012

I to am interested in crust recipe.

jimreed777 · December 2012

I wrote some instructions up for a friend of mine...

NOT MY RECIPE. However, the source of the recipe is looooooooooooong winded. A must read if you are serious about pizza on the Egg (imho).

I will try to post it here.

Online reference: http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm

Note: There is a LOT of great info on this posting. If you decide not to plow through the whole thing, you should at least refer to the site for the pictures the first time you make this dough. The images of what the dough should look like at various stages are a great resource.

jimreed777 · December 2012

Pizza Dough Recipe – basic instructions

Ingredients in grams	1 Pie	2 Pies	3 Pies	4 Pies	5 Pies	6 Pies
Bread Flour*	168	336	504	672	840	1008
Filtered Water	110	220	330	440	550	660
Kosher or Sea Salt	6	12	18	24	30	36
Sourdough Starter	15	30	45	60	75	90
Instant Dry yeast	0.5	1	1.5	2	2.5	3

jimreed777 · December 2012

Procedure:

The Kneading technique is the key to making this recipe successful.

1) Pour all the ingredients into the mixer, except just use 75% of the flour for now. So all of the water, salt, Sourdough Starter, Instant dry Yeast and 75% of the flour are put into the mixer. Everything should be room temperature or a bit cooler.

Here is a handy chart for reference:

Ingredients in grams	1 Pie	2 Pies	3 Pies	4 Pies	5 Pies	6 Pies
Bread Flour (75% of total)	126.0	252.0	378.0	504.0	630.0	756.0
Bread Flour (25% of total)	42.0	84.0	126.0	168.0	210.0	252.0

jimreed777 · December 2012

1) Mix on lowest speed for 1-2 minutes or until completely blended.

2) Cover top of mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.

3) Begin mixing on lowest speed for 5 minutes

4) For the next three minutes, add the remaining flour while gradually increasing the speed to no more than halfway.

5) At some point during this process the dough should be getting much firmer and should form more of a ball. Mix another minute or so at this stage.

6) Let the dough rest covered by plastic wrap again for 20 more minutes.

7) Divide the dough into lightly oiled containers. Roughly 310 grams for a 13” pie.

8) Put the containers in the fridge for anywhere from 24 hours or up to 6 days to rise. The dough will grow about 50% in size.

9) About 90 minutes before you are ready to make your pizza, pull your dough and it will rise a bit more. I look at my dough a few hours before bake time and I make an assessment. If the dough has not risen much in the fridge I will take it out earlier than 90 minutes. If it's risen too much, I leave it in the fridge till a few minutes before bake. Once you have made this recipe a few times, you will have a good eye for what to do.

10) Sprinkle a little flour on your granite counter and build a little rim on the dough with your fingers. You can spread the dough a bit at a time. Do it half way, then wait 10-15 seconds, then spread a little more, then a little more. Be gentle with it.

11) Don’t put the sauce and cheese and toppings on the pie until right before you put it in the oven.

12) Read the online reference for additional hints and tips for making great at home pizza.

jimreed777 · December 2012

I have some more detailed instructions that I wrote up...here goes:

jimreed777 · December 2012

Pizza Dough Recipe – detailed instructions

Online reference: http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm

Note: There is a LOT of great info on this posting. If you decide not to plow through the whole thing, you should at least refer to the site for the pictures the first time you make this dough. The images of what the dough should look like at various stages are a great resource.

This pizza dough is intended to be cooked at 600-800 degrees. Because of this, the dough is roughly 65% water. If you are cooking at lower temperatures, you may want to experiment with a lower % of hydration. For your first time, though, use the measurements provided below.

Tools needed:

Kitchen Aid mixer with dough hook

Food scale to weigh ingredients in grams

Ingredients:

Ingredients in grams	1 Pie	2 Pies	3 Pies	4 Pies	5 Pies	6 Pies
Bread Flour*	168	336	504	672	840	1008
Filtered Water	110	220	330	440	550	660
Kosher or Sea Salt	6	12	18	24	30	36
Sourdough Starter	15	30	45	60	75	90
Instant Dry yeast	0.5	1	1.5	2	2.5	3

* A bread flour with ~ 12% protein is required for this recipe. King Arthur Bread Flour and Gold Medal Better for Bread flour are both available at Harris Teeter. I use the Gold Medal, since it is nearly half as much as the King Arthur.

jimreed777 · December 2012

Procedure:

Important:

An hour before you are ready to make the dough, pull your sourdough starter from the fridge, stir it with a fork for 30 seconds or so, and measure out the amount needed for the number of pies you are making. You can then transfer the starter in the Kitchen Aid mixing bowl you will be using to mix your dough. You should feed the remainder of your starter with a half cup filtered water and a cup of bread flour, mix together with a fork for a couple minutes or until blended, cover and leave out from 4-12 hours or until you see that the starter has bubbled back up. Then place the starter back in the fridge.

The Kneading technique is the key to making this recipe successful.

1) Pour all the ingredients into the mixer, except just use 75% of the flour for now. So all of the water, salt, Sourdough Starter, Instant dry Yeast and 75% of the flour are put into the mixer. Everything should be room temperature or a bit cooler.

Here is a handy chart for reference:

Ingredients in grams	1 Pie	2 Pies	3 Pies	4 Pies	5 Pies	6 Pies
Bread Flour (75% of total)	126.0	252.0	378.0	504.0	630.0	756.0
Bread Flour (25% of total)	42.0	84.0	126.0	168.0	210.0	252.0

jimreed777 · December 2012

1) Mix on lowest speed for 1-2 minutes or until completely blended. At this stage you should have a mix that is drier than a batter, but wetter than dough. Closer to batter probably.

2) Cover top of mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.

3) Remove plastic from bowl and lower hook back into dough.

4) Begin mixing on lowest speed for 5 minutes

5) For the next three minutes, add the remaining flour while gradually increasing the speed to no more than halfway.

6) At some point during this process the dough should be getting much firmer and should form more of a ball. Mix another minute or so at this stage.

7) Let the dough rest covered by plastic wrap again for 20 more minutes.

8) Divide the dough into lightly oiled containers. Roughly 310 grams for a 13” pie.

9) Put the containers in the fridge for anywhere from 24 hours or up to 6 days to rise. The dough will grow about 50% in size.

10) About 90 minutes before you are ready to make your pizza, pull your dough and it will rise a bit more. I look at my dough a few hours before bake time and I make an assessment. If the dough has not risen much in the fridge I will take it out earlier than 90 minutes. If it's risen too much, I leave it in the fridge till a few minutes before bake. Once you have made this recipe a few times, you will have a good eye for what to do.

11) Sprinkle a little flour on your granite counter and build a little rim on the dough with your fingers. You can spread the dough a bit at a time. Do it half way, then wait 10-15 seconds, then spread a little more, then a little more. Be gentle with it.

12) Don’t put the sauce and cheese and toppings on the pie until right before you put it in the oven.

13) Read the online reference for additional hints and tips for making great at home pizza.

jimreed777 · December 2012

I use a digital scale to measure everything out

PSHome · December 2012

Thanks Jim. Really, quite the write up and much appreciated. Will need to digest this when I have a little more energy.

cazzy · December 2012

You were not lying about it when you said it was long winded. Wowzers.

jimreed777 · December 2012

I know, right? I wanted my friend to give it a go...but he took one look at that write-up and got overwhelmed.

I like to have a handful of go-to recipes that are predictable and reliable. Mastering pizza on the egg...or at least getting the dough down gives me the confidence to cook those for company.

We have been eating my wife's from scratch pizza once every couple weeks for years. It is delicious. This dough recipe works great for her pies as well and we still have her pizza every so often for a change of pace. Mostly this happens on nights when we don't want to wait an hour for the egg to get to temp :)

cazzy · December 2012

Try this dough recipe...incredibly easy and produces fabulous results.

We have been experimenting with this for some time, and I think we are ready to offer a standard "by weight" recipe for Pizza Napoletana dough. One thing that is remarkable is how simple it is -- if you start with the right ingredients and use a digital scale, it can be easy and fast. This is an olive oil-free recipe, but in order for it to work, you need to use real Italian Tipo 00 pizza flour.

How to Read an Italian Flour Label - Forno Bravo Forum: The Wood-Fired Oven Community

I have started working in grams, as the baker's percent is easy to calculate digitally. If you don't have a digital scale, think about getting one. They aren't expensive (you can on in the FB Store for $40), and a scale will definitely improve you baking. If you don't want to go digital, you can find our Pizza Napoletana recipe (in cups) here:

http://www.fornobravo.com/PDF/Using-caputo-tipo00.pdf

That said, I have enjoyed moving from volume (cups) to weight (grams). It is more accurate and it's fast. It can also be consistently replicated -- which unlike most home recipes, it very important.

Here goes:

500 grams Caputo Tipo 00 pizza flour
325 grams water (65% hydration)
10 grams salt
3 grams active dry yeast

First, mix the flour and water, and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Using a stand mixer set a low speed (use #2 for a minute or two, go to #4, then back to #2 with a KitchenAid mixer), blend the water and flour until you have reached a dough ball. It should take a couple of minutes. Once you have incorporated all of the flour, stop, and let everything rest for 20 minutes. This period will allow the flour to fully absorb the water.

Next, add the salt and yeast, and knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Then, make a large dough ball, and let the dough rest at room temperature for 90 minutes. It should have doubled.

Then, cut the dough into four balls (about 215g each). Shape the pizza balls, and set them on a floured surface to rest for at least 30 minutes. If you start in the morning or the night before, make your dough balls in advance and put them in the refrigerator.

If you use Caputo Tipo 00 flour and the moist (65% hydrated) recipe, and you handle your dough gently, you will reward you with a supple, silkly pizza base that is easy to shape, springs in the oven, and tastes great.
James

KingRover · December 2012

jimreed777 said:

Pizza Dough Recipe – detailed instructions

Online reference: http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm

When I'm not making pizza on the Egg at home, I eat at his restaurant (Varasano's) in Atlanta. Your pie looks spot on.

Newfman · December 2012

Cool! I'm making Pizza for the first time tonight. My dough is from Portland Pie Company (Portland Maine, not Oregon). I could make my own, but theirs is just so darn good, why mess with success?!?!? So, I am using their beer dough, made with Shipyard's hand crafted brew. Since I have trucked their pie doughs, I have been to their plant. Yup, ship yard kegs by the stacks!! My kind of place! So, not only is it a beer dough, it is hand crafted beer! Very cool! No $9.99/ case stuff.

Anyhow, I'm, going for it. Your post just gave me added confidence. Of course, it is 28 degrees outside, but hey, what a man won't do for great pizza!!!

Cheers!

Dennis

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