Finally back

After a year of dental work I finally got my full set of choppers back at the end of February, then the world went to crap.  Now we're in the midst of a stay-at-home order and are practicing social distancing, bars and restaurants are closed for dine-in but some are offering pick-up and delivery to try and keep afloat.  I fear many of the small mom-and-pop places won't be able to reopen once this pandemic has run its course, all we can do is try to support them and their staff by ordering pick-up when possible and donating to the various funds set up to support the front of house staff who are trying to find ways to wait this thing out.

Since the last post I've added a few new toys for my Camp Chef DLX pellet grill that I haven't really been able to play with, the first being the Sidekick side burner.  It came with a griddle and will fit a number of other accessories, I later picked up their Grill Box for searing and was later pleased to discover that my 2Stone Pizza Grill seems to fit on the Sidekick pretty well.  I'm still debating on whether to use that for pizza of get the Pizza Oven accessory made specifically for the Sidekick, I htink the Camp Chef Pizza Oven Box would fit a bit more securely to the Sidekick so I'm leaning that way.

The other thing I've been working on lately is my pizza dough formula, I'm currently using a recipe based on one from Pizzeria Beddia I found on-line.  Mine's a little bit different than the original recipe in that I use a preferment.  The recipe I'm using is:

Preferment:
200 grams  Water
200 grams  Bread flour
0.5 gram     IDY

Mix together until combined and let sit overnight or up to 24 hours.  Sometimes if I have a recently emptied bottle of bottle conditioned or unfiltered ale I'll swish the water around in it to pick up any remaining yeast cells for the preferment, but if you want to have the same product each time that adds too many variables.

Once the preferment has prefermented I add:

155 grams  Water
8.4 grams   Sugar
0.5 grams   IDY
14.3 grams Olive oil
310 grams  Bread flour

Knead until the dough comes together as a shaggy mass, then cover and let sit for 30 minutes.  This autolyse step gives time for the flour to fully hydrate and for enzymes to activate.  Once the autolyse is done start kneading on low for about 2-3 minutes or until the dough starts to get smooth, ten add:

15 grams   Fine sea salt

Continue kneading for another 2-3 minutes to incorporate the salt.

At this point I'll portion the dough (this makes 2 - 3 pizzas depending on the size you want), round the balls and place them in oiled bowls or bags to ferment.  For same day you can let it ferment at room temperature for about 2-3 hours or you can put the dough in the refrigerater to cold ferment for up to 3 days.  In my opinion cold fermentation results in better flavor development and a dough that is easier to stretch but the warm fermented one is still pretty good!  I'm not sure how this dough will work with the higher temps possible with the Sidekick and either my 2Stone Pizza Grill or the Camp Chef Pizza Oven accessory, I may need to cut down on the sugar to prevent over-browning but that experiment will have to wait until it gets a bit warmer out.

Stay healthy!