I saw this in today's Times online .... looks interesting so I will probably try it next time I make pizza. putting it here will remind me to try it .... but if anyone else tries it before me let me know how it works out
Heres an extract from the article first
The secret to the best Italian pizzas, says Giuseppe Mascoli, is in the sourdough - and the quality of topping
If you want to learn how to make pizza, you might as well learn from the best. And make no mistake, Giuseppe Mascoli is without rival. The puffy, charcoal-flecked pizzas that emerge from the wood-fired ovens of his Franco Manca restaurants (just the two, both in London) are regularly voted the best in the country, and he numbers his fellow Italian chefs Giorgio Locatelli and Francesco Mazzei among his many fans.
The first and most important is to make a good dough. Mascoli uses a sourdough based on a centuries-old starter, which puffs up within seconds in the 400C heat of his ovens. “But if you are cooking in a domestic oven, you’ll need a completely different kind of dough,” he says. “It needs to be much wetter because it will be in the oven for longer.” For that reason it is best made in a mixer with a dough hook.
The second thing is not to overload your pizza, as this will make it soggy. “The key is to use quality over quantity,” he says. “When you have poor dough, you have to cover it with tomato and cheese to disguise it. But good dough needs less.”
francomanca.co.uk
Giuseppe Mascoli
How to make the perfect dough
In the restaurants we use a sourdough starter and then cook our pizzas at 400C in a wood-fired oven. That is not practical for the home cook, so here, instead, is a dough that will work in a conventional oven.
Base ingredients
500ml warm water
500g strong white flour
2g dried yeast
Following day
175g strong flour
7g dried yeast
35g salt
20ml olive oil
Method
1 Roughly mix the ingredients with a wooden or plastic spoon, just enough for them to amalgamate. Keep for 2 hours at room temperature (18-22C) and then put in the fridge in a sealed plastic container for 12 to 24 hours.
2 The next day add the extra flour and 1g of the yeast and mix for 2 minutes at high speed in a mixer, using the dough hook attachment. Rest for 20 minutes, then add the salt and 6g more yeast and mix for 3 minutes at high speed. Rest for 20 minutes and mix again for 3 minutes before adding 20ml olive oil. The dough will now be wet and elastic.
3 Allow to rest for 40 minutes, then wet your hands with olive oil and stretch as much as you can by hand (never with a rolling pin). Rest it for another 20 minutes (as it is so elastic it will have shrunk back). Stretch it once more so that it fills a large baking tray.
4 Bake at 250C/Gas 9 for 6 minutes and then turn down to 190C/Gas 5. Add your toppings and cook for a further25 minutes or until crisp.
If you don’t have a mixer Knead the dough by hand, adding 250g flour to the base instead of 175g. Knead for about 3-5 minutes the first time, rest for 30 minutes, then add all the remaining ingredients just before the second mix. Knead for about 2 minutes, then rest the dough for 50 minutes. Grease a large tray with oil, stretch the dough by hand and let it rest for 1 hour at room temperature, covering the tray with clingfilm or a damp cloth. Add the toppings and bake at 250C for 5 minutes, then lower to 190C and cook for a further 20 minutes or so.
Wood-fired ovens
If you have a beehive-style wood-fired oven in the garden, follow the hand-mixed process above, adding 350g flour instead of 250g. When the dough is ready, rest it for 1 hour and cut into 250g balls. The balls are ready in 1 hour and will be fine for another hour. When ready to make your pizzas, flatten the balls with your fingers and turn the disc of dough as if turning a steering wheel, until you have a round shape. If your oven is hot enough (about 400C) the pizzas will take about 2½ minutes to cook.
Toppings
Tomato and mozzarella
Sfincione or Sicilian pizza is made with a thin layer of tomato sauce and mozzarella. Moisture is the enemy of good pizza, so first dry the mozzarella (ideally leave it sliced and uncovered in a fridge overnight). To make the tomato sauce, mix chopped tomatoes (fresh in summer or tinned in winter) with salt to taste and allow to drain for 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and stir in a little olive oil. Tomatoes are best not cooked, and if you want to add a secret ingredient, half a teaspoon of beef dripping or lard will do the trick.
Olive oil and rosemary
This is the traditional focaccia. Simply brush the dough with olive oil, scatter with chopped rosemary and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Courgette and mint
This is perfect in the summer. Slice some courgettes thinly, sprinkle them with salt and allow to drain in a colander for 30 minutes. Fry in a pan with very little olive oil, adding some chopped fresh mint at the end. This can then be mixed with ricotta (if too thick, dilute it with milk), mozzarella and some optional grated cheese. Parmesan or pecorino are ideal, or, if you want something British, try Doddington, an unpasteurised cow’s-milk cheese between a Leicester and a Cheddar.
Capers, olive, anchovy and garlic
In summer you can do a pizza with no cheese by frying together capers (ideally the salted ones, soaked in water for 2 hours), olives and garlic, and then adding some deseeded tomatoes (ideally plump ones, quartered lengthwise) and anchovies at the end.
Calzone
Calzone is simply a stuffed, folded pizza. The courgette mix works well, or in winter try mushrooms, ham and pepper. If you like, you can add a touch of tomato sauce on top of the calzone before serving. They are also easy to eat at a party.
Heres an extract from the article first
The secret to the best Italian pizzas, says Giuseppe Mascoli, is in the sourdough - and the quality of topping
If you want to learn how to make pizza, you might as well learn from the best. And make no mistake, Giuseppe Mascoli is without rival. The puffy, charcoal-flecked pizzas that emerge from the wood-fired ovens of his Franco Manca restaurants (just the two, both in London) are regularly voted the best in the country, and he numbers his fellow Italian chefs Giorgio Locatelli and Francesco Mazzei among his many fans.
The first and most important is to make a good dough. Mascoli uses a sourdough based on a centuries-old starter, which puffs up within seconds in the 400C heat of his ovens. “But if you are cooking in a domestic oven, you’ll need a completely different kind of dough,” he says. “It needs to be much wetter because it will be in the oven for longer.” For that reason it is best made in a mixer with a dough hook.
The second thing is not to overload your pizza, as this will make it soggy. “The key is to use quality over quantity,” he says. “When you have poor dough, you have to cover it with tomato and cheese to disguise it. But good dough needs less.”
francomanca.co.uk
Giuseppe Mascoli
How to make the perfect dough
In the restaurants we use a sourdough starter and then cook our pizzas at 400C in a wood-fired oven. That is not practical for the home cook, so here, instead, is a dough that will work in a conventional oven.
Base ingredients
500ml warm water
500g strong white flour
2g dried yeast
Following day
175g strong flour
7g dried yeast
35g salt
20ml olive oil
Method
1 Roughly mix the ingredients with a wooden or plastic spoon, just enough for them to amalgamate. Keep for 2 hours at room temperature (18-22C) and then put in the fridge in a sealed plastic container for 12 to 24 hours.
2 The next day add the extra flour and 1g of the yeast and mix for 2 minutes at high speed in a mixer, using the dough hook attachment. Rest for 20 minutes, then add the salt and 6g more yeast and mix for 3 minutes at high speed. Rest for 20 minutes and mix again for 3 minutes before adding 20ml olive oil. The dough will now be wet and elastic.
3 Allow to rest for 40 minutes, then wet your hands with olive oil and stretch as much as you can by hand (never with a rolling pin). Rest it for another 20 minutes (as it is so elastic it will have shrunk back). Stretch it once more so that it fills a large baking tray.
4 Bake at 250C/Gas 9 for 6 minutes and then turn down to 190C/Gas 5. Add your toppings and cook for a further25 minutes or until crisp.
If you don’t have a mixer Knead the dough by hand, adding 250g flour to the base instead of 175g. Knead for about 3-5 minutes the first time, rest for 30 minutes, then add all the remaining ingredients just before the second mix. Knead for about 2 minutes, then rest the dough for 50 minutes. Grease a large tray with oil, stretch the dough by hand and let it rest for 1 hour at room temperature, covering the tray with clingfilm or a damp cloth. Add the toppings and bake at 250C for 5 minutes, then lower to 190C and cook for a further 20 minutes or so.
Wood-fired ovens
If you have a beehive-style wood-fired oven in the garden, follow the hand-mixed process above, adding 350g flour instead of 250g. When the dough is ready, rest it for 1 hour and cut into 250g balls. The balls are ready in 1 hour and will be fine for another hour. When ready to make your pizzas, flatten the balls with your fingers and turn the disc of dough as if turning a steering wheel, until you have a round shape. If your oven is hot enough (about 400C) the pizzas will take about 2½ minutes to cook.
Toppings
Tomato and mozzarella
Sfincione or Sicilian pizza is made with a thin layer of tomato sauce and mozzarella. Moisture is the enemy of good pizza, so first dry the mozzarella (ideally leave it sliced and uncovered in a fridge overnight). To make the tomato sauce, mix chopped tomatoes (fresh in summer or tinned in winter) with salt to taste and allow to drain for 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and stir in a little olive oil. Tomatoes are best not cooked, and if you want to add a secret ingredient, half a teaspoon of beef dripping or lard will do the trick.
Olive oil and rosemary
This is the traditional focaccia. Simply brush the dough with olive oil, scatter with chopped rosemary and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Courgette and mint
This is perfect in the summer. Slice some courgettes thinly, sprinkle them with salt and allow to drain in a colander for 30 minutes. Fry in a pan with very little olive oil, adding some chopped fresh mint at the end. This can then be mixed with ricotta (if too thick, dilute it with milk), mozzarella and some optional grated cheese. Parmesan or pecorino are ideal, or, if you want something British, try Doddington, an unpasteurised cow’s-milk cheese between a Leicester and a Cheddar.
Capers, olive, anchovy and garlic
In summer you can do a pizza with no cheese by frying together capers (ideally the salted ones, soaked in water for 2 hours), olives and garlic, and then adding some deseeded tomatoes (ideally plump ones, quartered lengthwise) and anchovies at the end.
Calzone
Calzone is simply a stuffed, folded pizza. The courgette mix works well, or in winter try mushrooms, ham and pepper. If you like, you can add a touch of tomato sauce on top of the calzone before serving. They are also easy to eat at a party.
Comments
ps I have a sourdough starter which I bought in Vermont about seven years ago and have kept going, it makes amazing bread but I think a pizza bottom would be too dense without the high temperature of a wood burning oven