Oh, did we learn pizza. The teacher, Gerri Sarnataro, really knows her stuff. She first talked about the ingredients for the base... double zero flour, yeast, honey, warm water, kosher salt. Then the timing ... you need to start 24 hours ahead of when you plan to make the pizza, it needs time to ferment and relax. Then, after taking the dough out of the fridge it needs two hours to do some more relaxing. The dough was surprisingly sticky and fussy. I went into the class thinking I was going to throw the dough around.
We made pizza dough with 1/10 ounce of cake yeast in 9 ounces of warm (baby bath temperature) water, 1/10 ounce of honey, 14-16 ounces of double zero flour, 1/4 ounce of salt and 1/4 ounce of olive oil. This gets rested.
The teacher, and assistants, had made the dough ahead, so we cut off (NO stretching!) 9 to 11 ounces of pre fermented and rested dough. Then technique came into play ... we had to make a round ball, with tightly stretched skin. This rested in a warm, draft free place for and hour ... as we prepped the toppings.
The placement of the pizza on the peel was important ... right up to the front edge. The forming of the pizza crust was important, the cutting of the ingredients was important ... all worth it.
I have put up the rest of the pictures from the pizza class
here
Chef Gerri has a cooking vacation spot in Umbria, Italy.
Check it out.
