Next Attempt for a Pizza Like Jim Lahey’s at Sullivan St. Bakery 12/21/2010

This was my next attempt at a pizza something like Jim Lahey makes at Sullivan St. Bakery, with a higher hydration and also a higher thickness factor.

This dough was mixed by hand, and put right beside my deck oven, to ferment.  The dough ball sure didn’t take long to rise.  The dough ball was reballed after it had reached the top of the plastic container.  It rose very fast again, and even popped the lid off of the plastic container 4 times.  There wasn’t any hole in the lid of the plastic container.  When trying to open the dough ball it seemed really hard to open, and wanted to tear.  I left it rest different times and try to open it more.  It was even left to proof in my steel deep-dish pan, with an inverted pizza pan and linen towels, for about an hour to see if it would proof better.  This dough sure didn’t feel like the hydration it was. It felt dry.  The dough ball was very gassy.

The pie was dressed with herb infused olive oil, a little tomato sauce, mozzarella and grated Parmesan cheese, sweet potatoes, that I had sliced thin and left in some salt water before draining, onions,  rehydrated green and red peppers.  The combination of the dressings were good, but if I use this combination of dressings another time, I would add something with a little more heat.

The finished pie did turn out good, with a crispy bottom. Even after the pie cooled down, there was a nice crispness in the crust.  The last picture was taken about an hour about this pizza was baked.

Another Santa came to visit us 12/21/2010. After I took a picture of him, he asked me to come so a picture could be taken of him and me.

Norma