[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Peter Gibbons

The air entrainment in your crust is amazing. What is your secret? The dough recipe itself? High heat cooking? Something else?

Its a combination of things actually.

First the dough is made up of 50% poolish which is basically a liquid pre-fermentation process which helps with aeration and stretching.

I also make my dough at 70% hydration which helps with aeration. Most pizzas are 60-65% hydration. The more hydration the stickier the dough and harder it becomes to work with but its worth it.

Then I cook at 800-900F with 850F being the sweet spot. My pizza oven is pellet fed so its extremely hard to maintain that temp but fortunately the pizza cooks in around a 1-1.5 minutes.

Here's a pic of my poolish after 18 hours. Also a pic of the bottom crust which is the true test of pizza.





I just wrote this recipe out so its easy for me to copy/paste. Its for 2 12" Neapolitan-style pizzas:

Spoiler!

50% Poolish, 70% Hydration

1 Pizza:
150g 00 Flour
105g Water
2g instant yeast (stays the same for 2 pizzas)
5g honey (stays the same for 2 pizzas)
4.5g salt

2 Pizzas Total Ingredients:
300g 00 Flour
210g Water
2g instant yeast
5g honey
9g salt

50% Poolish:
105g 00 Flour
105g Water
2g instant yeast
5g honey


75F Water

Day 1:
Mix water, yeast and honey into your bowl
Add in 00 flour and mix with spoon or whisk
Let sit for 1 hour at room temp
Put in fridge for 16-18 hours

Day 2:
195g 00 Flour
105g Water
9g salt

*If using a stand mixer use cold water

Add salt to bowl of flour
Mix poolish into mixing bowl of flour
Add water
Mix for 5-10 minutes


Let rest 10 minutes in mixing bowl

Hand knead on work surface and let rest another 10 minutes (repeat) 3x

Fold into ball and let rest 1 hour

Ball into 250g balls

Let prove for 2 hours at room temp

Form your pizzas