Growing up I may have been the only child in country that did not like pizza.  I would only like my mom’s  “hot-dog” pizza which was dough from a can with canned pizza sauce and, you guess it: cut up hot dogs. I have no idea why this was acceptable to my palate whereas my reaction to any pizza delivery was simply crossed arms and a closed mouth (sidebar: my younger sister did not like chocolate or any soda except “orange pop” so my family was full of food preference quirks).

My disdain for pizza disappeared when a new restaurant, Roses, opened in my home town.  They featured wood fired pizza including a “#2″ which included, to the best of my memory, pesto, sundried tomatos, chicken, asparagus, and fresh mozzarella. I now love pizza, although I’ve never been a huge fan of the chain delivery straight-to- my- ass variety. In general, my favorites tend to stay away from any traditional red sauce pizza.

I’ve made pizza dough at home many times before, but the recipe we used in class resulted in an artisanal crunch I had not yet achieved. Maybe it was cooking them directly on the oven deck, although I suppose my pizza stone should have a similar effect.  We’ll have to see when I try this recipe again at home.

I opted for a simple white margarita pie with parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

(my breakfast the following day)

Biga (basic yeast starter)

15 oz bread flour

9 oz water

.03 oz (1 g) yeast, fresh

Mix with straight dough method (add flour water and yeast to mixing bowl w/dough hook and mix until smooth and developed). Ferment 12-14 hours at 80°F or 18 hours at 70°F

Final Dough Pizza

4.54 lb bread flour

3.18 lb (50.88 oz) water

.1 lb (1.6 oz) salt

.068 lb (1.088 oz) yeast

.29 lb (4.64 oz) oil

1.822 lbs Biga (see below)

Method

Modified Straight Dough

Add flour, water and salt to mixer on speed 1 for 3 minutes

Add Biga (starter) in chunks

Coat dough with oil while mixing at Speed 2 for 3 minutes

Remove from mixer and coat with more oil. Then rest 1 to 1 1/2 hours