In my second posting on bread fundamentals, I made a couple of 9″ pan pizzas. Although they were delicious, the individual pizzas were a little petite for my taste and my crusts were too thick. In this post, I want to remedy both of those problems. The solution isn’t rocket science: (1) use a bigger pan, & (2) make less dough.
First Consideration – Bigger Pan: Before I used two 9″ diameter cake pans that I had on-hand. Now, being a lover of pizza and not one to shy away from commitment, I purchased a 14″ diameter pan specifically designed for pan/deep-dish pizza. In for a penny, in for a pound, in for a REAL pizza pan!
Now that I have my new cooking toy, how does it compare size-wise to the twin pans I had used before? Let’s do the math.
Before: 2 pans – each has 9″ diameter, 4.5″ radius.
2 x Area = 2 x (π x r²) = 2 x (3.14 x (4.5″)²) = 127.2 in.²
After: 1 pan – 14″ diameter, 7″ radius.
Area = π x r² = 3.14 x (7″)² = 153.9 in.²
Conclusion – My new 14″ diameter pan actually holds more (bottom has more surface area) than both of my 9″ diameter pans combined – my new pan will make about 20% more pizza than I made using the two pans. You might not have guessed that by looking at them nestled one-inside-of-the-other.
Changing of the Pizza Guard
Second Consideration – Less Dough: In my original post on pan pizza, I stated that in keeping with the weights and measures from the loaf bread blog entry, I had decided to use 16 oz. of flour to make two 9″ pan pizzas – as it turns out, that was a little heavy-handed and I wound up with too much crust on the pizzas – my conclusion was that I probably should have started with 10-12 oz. of flour. Yeah, my new 14″ pan holds more than my two 9″ pans, but I had WAY too much dough in those 9″ pans. I still need to reduce what I make, but rather than going all the way down to 10 oz. of flour, I’ll reduce my starting point to 12 oz. of flour.
My pizza recipe expressed using Baker’s Percentages:
Total Flour – 100%
Total Liquid – 60% (of the total flour weight)
Yeast – .5% (of the total flour weight)
Salt – 2% (of the total flour weight)
Oil – 6% (of the total flour weight)
Procedure – start with a preferment, mix in the remaining ingredients, knead, rise, deflate and shape, rise, assemble toppings, and bake.
Total Flour – 12 oz. (10 oz. AP flour + 2 oz. semolina flour)
Total Liquid – 60% x 12 oz. = 7.2 oz. (milk – scaled)
Yeast – .5% x 12 oz. = .06 oz. (I went with 1/2 tsp.)
Salt – 2% x 12 oz. = .24 oz. (I went with 1 1/2 tsp.)
Oil – 6% x 12 oz. = .72 oz. (I went with .7 oz. – scaled)
Preferment was a poolish made using 6 oz. AP flour + 6 oz. (instant) milk + 1/2 tsp. yeast. I allowed this to sit for about 15 hours at room temperature. Everything else proceeds exactly as it did before: mix in the remaining ingredients, knead, rise, deflate and shape, rise, assemble toppings, and bake.
Results:
Dough – Rolled Out and Pressed to Sides of Pan
Dressed Pizza Ready for Baking
Baked at 400° F for 23 Minutes
Hot Out of the Oven Detail
Crust Detail
Ready to Slice
Conclusion: Nailed It!
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