Pizza article on NPR

NorthPilot06

Bet it tasted great!  Really interested to hear about your future experiences with the flour; at first glance, it’s hard to justify the premium. Then again, there’s only four ingredients in Neapolitan dough and it’s the primary one by weight

NDG

@mahenryak & @smokingal so sorry I missed your posts but your cloud pizza looks great - it really puffs !!  Have you tried it again since this post?  I did recently and it was very nice, but probably wont buy again right now.

Not entirely sure what "biga" or "direct method" means . . but I use my starter (ischia sour dough) for this kind of pizza.  Fired on blackstone at ~750F for 3 mins or so.  This dough was a 2 day rise at 62 F (frozen water bottle in cooler technique) that is my normal go-to.   

smokingal

NDG said:

@mahenryak & @smokingal so sorry I missed your posts but your cloud pizza looks great - it really puffs !!  Have you tried it again since this post?  I did recently and it was very nice, but probably wont buy again right now.

Not entirely sure what "biga" or "direct method" means . . but I use my starter (ischia sour dough) for this kind of pizza.  Fired on blackstone at ~750F for 3 mins or so.  This dough was a 2 day rise at 62 F (frozen water bottle in cooler technique) that is my normal go-to.   

I'm glad I tried it, but I prefer my usual no-knead, 2-3 day cold bulk style better - regular and sourdough.  Biga is just another term for preferment.  A portion of the recipe's flour, water and yeast is mixed together and left to ferment overnight.  The biga is then mixed into the remaining ingredients.  The direct method is just mixing all the the dough ingredients together from the start.  The yeast isn't pre-proofed.

What's the 'frozen water bottle in cooler' technique?

NDG

Ok got it - yes I used a Bigla !!! The technique I mentioned is a way to keep the dough at an approx temp (warmer tha fridge & colder than room temp) as it rises.  Read it on pizzamakingforum . . but basically you freeze a large 64 oz water bottle, put it in a large cooler, add allow your container with dough to "cold" rise in this environment.  Since I do 2 day rise normally, I have a spare water bottle frozen that I swap out as the original one starts to melt.  Works for me, and since I put dough in clear tubberware, I can just check to bottom to see bubble formation, and pull when it is ready (many small bubbles)  

NDG

@smokingal thought of you as I transfered my pizza dough from bulk to balls this AM, back into the cooler using the 'frozen water bottle in cooler' technique . . so simple!  Once again, idea is to keep dough cool (fridge too cold and room temp is too warm).  This cool environment creates slower rise, so flavors grow (bacteria in SD culture) and also dough rises. 

If you have a wine fridge thats large enough, that would work too.  This is easy, and I love how you can just pull the tubs at anytime and "peek" at the bottom to check on progress.  Want me to post a pic showing the tiny bubbles?  This means it is ready to bake!  If it is ready too early BUT I not ready to fire the pizza . . I just toss it in the fridge to REALLY slow it down.  If life gets in the way, I sometimes leave them in there for a full day or two.