WSM Gourmet Pizza - Because I don't know what else to call it

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noboundaries

Epic Pitmaster
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Sep 7, 2013
10,240
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Roseville, CA, a suburb of Sacramento
I usually make pizza about once a month.  I have a pizza stone that I love using in the oven, but it was designed for the Weber Kettle.  Unfortunately, it had a reputation for cracking so I've never used it on the grill.  Today I decided to make pizzas in the WSM and try the stone there.  It worked nicely! 

Dough

I love fermented pizza dough.  Not quite sour dough, but not sweet dough either.  I copied a basic recipe off the Internet and adjusted it to my tastes and choices of flour.  It is SO easy to make, and the flavor is fantastic.  I actually use the weights, not the cups and tsp, except for the gluten and additional water.  Here's the recipe and some pictures.

4 Day Fermented Pizza Dough - Medium Crust

Ingredients
6.25 cups Gold Medal All Purpose Flour (750 grams)
3 tsp fine sea salt (24 grams)
3/4 tsp active dry yeast (3 grams)
2.25 cups room temp water (525 grams)
3.6 Tbs Gluten (adds protein)
4.2 Tbs additional water
Olive oil

Directions

1. Combine dry ingredients into a bowl and whisk until thoroughly mixed.

2. Slowly add water and mix thoroughly with a spoon until you get a ragged dough.

3. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap, place on the counter and let it bulk ferment for 24 hours at room temperature.

4. Lightly flour a work surface, remove dough and place on floured work surface.  Flour your hands then add additional flour to the wet dough so it is workable.  Work it as little as possible to form a big round ball.

5. Divide dough into four equal portions.  Next we're going to make dough balls.  Place one dough portion between your hands and fold two sides into center.  Rotate 90 degrees and fold into center and continue this process until a ball is formed. Add more flour to your hands if needed. Pinch the seam closed on the bottom of the ball.  You can be aggressive with the pinch.

6. Place dough into highly oiled plastic container.  Place in a cooler with an ice jug for 72 hours.  Replace the ice jug every 24 hours.  You can use the refrigerator but I found I like the taste best when the cooler temp is around 40-45°F.

7. After 72 hours, remove from the cooler at least 1 hour before use.  I like to let it sit on the counter for four hours.  Dough can be frozen too then counter thawed for later use.

Servings: 32

Source for inspiration: Baking Steel 72 hour pizza dough

Ragged dough


After 24 hour bulk fermentation


Wet dough poured out on floured surface.


Big dough ball ready to divide.


Four 13-15 ounce pizza portions.


Oiled and ready to ferment in the cooler or the fridge for 72 more hours.  You can go longer.  I've let the dough ferment for twice as long and it was still fantastic.  I love the flavor best at 72 hours when the dough has cold fermented between 40-45F.  . 


Here's what the dough looks like after the additional 72 hour cold fermentation.


Now, being raised in an Italian household, I believed pizza always included red sauce.  I've never made a pizza without red sauce ......... until today.  Red sauce gives my honey stomach problems.  So today, I decided to try something completely off the wall with pizza to see how it would taste.  On a Calzone, instead of red sauce, I used a commercial Pepper and Onion Relish with grated mozzarella cheese, caramelized onions, and smoked chicken thigh meat dusted with a sweet and smoky pork rub.  Now, you might be thinking I was planning on making a Calzone.  Nope.  When the pizza slid off the peel weird and I couldn't get it back on the stone, I turned it into a Calzone.  It was only the second Calzone I've ever made, and the first one was caused by EXACTLY the same mistake! 

Here's the Calzone on the WSM at 435F and when it was finished.  Oh my god it was fantastic. The hot pepper in the relish gave it a bit of a bite.  The sweet and salty balance with the cheese and chicken was perfect.  Honestly, my wife and I were both shocked how good it was. 



When I do pizza in a 500-550F oven, I get bigger "blisters," big bubbles in the dough.  That didn't happen in the 435F WSM, but the flavor of the dough was still delicious. 

The second pizza was in fact a pizza.  I used a commercial Spiced Pear Chutney instead of red sauce, caramelized onions, grated mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, and smoked chicken thigh meat with the pork rub.  It needed a little more of the chutney to balance the pizza, but man oh man it was good.  I didn't get a pic of it on the WSM, but here is the finished product.


On both the Calzone and the pizza, everything worked together beautifully.  You could taste the tang of the fermented crust, the sweetness of the relish, chutney, and caramelized onions, the neutrality of the cheese, and the smoky rubbed chicken.  My Italian grandmother is either very proud, or turning over in her grave because I didn't use a red sauce, but we'll be exploring additional options for no red sauce pizzas. 

Have a GREAT weekend everybody!

Ray 
 
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Absolutely fantastic looking pizza & calzone Ray.

Thank you for the recipe, we do pizza on the Weber all the time & I'm going to try it.

A point worthy cook for sure!

Congrats on making the carousel too!

Al
 
 
Absolutely fantastic looking pizza & calzone Ray.

Thank you for the recipe, we do pizza on the Weber all the time & I'm going to try it.

A point worthy cook for sure!

Congrats on making the carousel too!

Al
Thanks Al, for the compliments and the point! 

I've been hinting to my wife for a baking cast iron or pizza steel I can use in the Weber Kettle.  Nothing heavy has arrived yet.  If my special day in May comes and goes without one, I'll order it the next day.  I really like making pizza on the Weber Kettle using a paella pan, but prefer the crust of a pizza made on a hot stone or base heating to high temp over a fire. 
 
That looks really good!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks scarps23! 

I will confess, in the privacy of my own home, I used to criticize chefs on TV who had the gall to call their pies "pizza" if it didn't have a red sauce.  Then a few weeks ago we visited a daughter and she took us to one of her favorite gastro-pubs.  In addition to salads, there were sandwiches and five pizzas, and none of the pizzas had a red sauce.  The other four pizzas were vegetarian, but one had a béchamel sauce, caramelized onions, pulled pork, roasted garlic, and fresh mozzarella cheese.  It was amazing!  That pizza opened my mind to something more than red sauce on pizzas.   
 
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Definitely point worthy! Have you ever tried Caputo "00" flour? A little spendy but makes for a great texture.
Thanks for the point MyOwnIdaho! 

Yes, I have used Caputo "00" flour.  In fact, if you remove the gluten and additional water from the above recipe, you have exactly what you need if you use Caputo 00.  The Caputo gives a fantastic texture and elasticity that nothing else can touch.  I can buy it locally at Whole Foods bulk bins for $1.19/lb, about double the price of Gold Medal AP, but not enough to break the bank. 

I have experimented with the dough recipe using Caputo 00, full bread flour, a mix of Caputo/AP, a mix of Bread/AP, all AP, and the AP/Vital Wheat Gluten mix.  Flavor wise, my wife and I both found the AP/VWG mix gave us the flavor we liked the best.  Once fermented, the AP/VWG isn't near as silky a texture as the Caputo, but the elasticity is very close.

Caputo has a protein content of 12.5%.  Gold Medal AP only has a protein content of 10%. Without the additional VWG, AP flour alone makes LOUSY pizza crust due to poor elasticity.  The additional Vital Wheat Gluten in the above recipe brings the GM AP protein level to 12.8%, increasing the elasticity of the dough for working into a pizza crust.  The additional water is necessary to keep the recipe in balance. 

Bread flour gives a great taste too, but the protein content can range from 13.3% to 14% depending on the manufacturer.  It makes for a chewier, tougher biting crust in my opinion.  

With the recipe I showed above, the secret to a firm, yet tender crust, is to work the dough as little as possible.  The gluten develops during the cold fermentation.  If you work it too much after the 24 hour bulk fermentation before dividing the big ball, you'll over-stimulate the gluten and get a tough biting crust.  Just remember, less is better. 

Happy pizza making!
 
Nice,I'm to lazy to name my own crust. Bet it Tate's awesome! I like an Alfredo sauce with grilled chicken,broccoli,shrooms and cheese.
 
Nice,I'm to lazy to name my own crust. Bet it Tate's awesome! I like an Alfredo sauce with grilled chicken,broccoli,shrooms and cheese.

I like the idea of an Alfredo sauce! I froze two of the crusts I made. We're big on veggies. Will definitely have to try your comp b-one!

Thanks for the point!
 
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Thanks scarps23! 

I will confess, in the privacy of my own home, I used to criticize chefs on TV who had the gall to call their pies "pizza" if it didn't have a red sauce.  Then a few weeks ago we visited a daughter and she took us to one of her favorite gastro-pubs.  In addition to salads, there were sandwiches and five pizzas, and none of the pizzas had a red sauce.  The other four pizzas were vegetarian, but one had a béchamel sauce, caramelized onions, pulled pork, roasted garlic, and fresh mozzarella cheese.  It was amazing!  That pizza opened my mind to something more than red sauce on pizzas.   
I can be somewhat of a heretic. Color me a victim of the California pizza scene! I often use pesto for a sauce and I have one pizza that has no sauce. A paper thin layer of yukon gold potatoes, raclette or gruyere cheese, carmelized onions, some sort of exotic mushroom, thin sliced asparagus, etc., and maybe a little finely diced pancetta.
 
 
I can be somewhat of a heretic. Color me a victim of the California pizza scene! I often use pesto for a sauce and I have one pizza that has no sauce. A paper thin layer of yukon gold potatoes, raclette or gruyere cheese, carmelized onions, some sort of exotic mushroom, thin sliced asparagus, etc., and maybe a little finely diced pancetta.
Well, after 62 years of resisting the change, I guess I've softened in my outlook.  What you wrote above now sounds delicious. 

BTW, the next time I use the WSM to make pizzas, I'm going to take the empty water pan out of the smoker.  The water pan definitely caused uneven heating of my stone.  When I used an infrared gun on the stone, there was a 100F difference between the flat side and the far side in the Calzone picture above.  Removing the water pan would probably heat the stone more evenly. 

If my wife gets me the 15" case iron pizza stone for my BD, that will help with even heating too.  I CC'd her on a link to this thread I sent to my daughter.  Yeah, I'll probably hear about this sentence later!
 
BTW, the next time I use the WSM to make pizzas, I'm going to take the empty water pan out of the smoker.  The water pan definitely caused uneven heating of my stone.  When I used an infrared gun on the stone, there was a 100F difference between the flat side and the far side in the Calzone picture above.  Removing the water pan would probably heat the stone more evenly.

That would make sense. The amount of time for the preheat could also be contributing. I use my lower oven for baking. It has the stone on one rack and a cast iron skillet below it that I pour water in when baking bread. I leave it in there when I'm doing pizza but because I'm not burning charcoal, I can let it preheat for an hour after it comes to temp. Pulling the bowl should help quite a bit.
 
Ray Pizza looks great!! We have been making pies almost every week.I am getting lazy and buying my dough.

Richie
 
 
Ray Pizza looks great!! We have been making pies almost every week.I am getting lazy and buying my dough.

Richie
Thanks Richie! 

The thing I like about this dough is how easy it is because all the work is broken up.  It only takes ten minutes total to weigh the ingredients, put them in a bowl, and stir them to make the ragged dough. 

A day later it only takes another ten minutes to dump the wet dough, make the big ball, divide it and put the dough balls in the containers. 

For the next three days, no time at all is involved if you use your refrigerator, 1 minute a day if you use an ice jug and cooler like I do. If you use a cooler, the hard part is keeping your nose out of the cooler.  The aroma of the fermenting dough is incredible!

We're already thinking about how to use the two dough balls I have in the freezer.  My homemade red sauce is spicy sweet, and that's why we tried the chutney and relish bases I described above.  In the cabinet we also have a commercial Middle Eastern Date, Currant, and Cumin chutney.  I think a homemade fig chutney with a little red pepper would work well too.  My wife is not a capsaicin fan like me, but she loved the slight bite of the pepper and onion relish.  I still can't believe I'm using the words pizza and chutney in the same sentence, but there you have it!   
 
I'm totaly stealing this! I bought this a couple months ago to make pizza dough. Now im glad i waited!
Point!
Thanks for the point Browneyesvictim!  By all means, steal away.  A pound is 454 grams, and it looks like that's a 1 kg package, so you've got enough to make a full recipe.  Use a scale and it will come out perfectly!

Happy stealing!

Ray
 
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