Ken Forkish thin crust pizza.

[ckreef]

This is a recipe from Ken Forkish. My pizza experimenting days are over but this recipe got posted on the Guru. I trust the cooking ability of the person who posted it so I though I would give it a try. 

Nice thin and crispy crust. I cooked them in the Blackstone Pizza Oven at 500* dome thermometer for about 3 minutes. 

Pepperoni. 

Mushrooms and black olives. 

Sausage and green peppers. 

Fresh sliced tomatoes and jalapeños. 

 

 

[alimac23]

They look superb!

[MacKenzie]

ck, I have been dreaming of pizza recently and you have just made it worse with those tasty looking pizzas. 

[Paul]

Looks delicious

[tony b]

Yummy looking pies, for sure, Charles! 

[Pequod]

Looks good! Which of Forkish's dough recipes is this?

[ckreef]

@HalfSmoke

This is the one that John just did a video on. Has a 12 hour preferment. Next pizza cook I'm going to do the KA Artisan Pizza using a preferment like this recipe had. 

Was wondering how long I could stretch the preferment? Could I do a 48 or 72 hour preferment to build in a more sour dough flavor without actually using a sour dough starter?

I might not know what I'm talking about. 

 

[Pequod]

8 minutes ago, ckreef said:

@HalfSmoke

This is the one that John just did a video on. Has a 12 hour preferment. Next pizza cook I'm going to do the KA Artisan Pizza using a preferment like this recipe had. 

Was wondering how long I could stretch the preferment? Could I do a 48 or 72 hour preferment to build in a more sour dough flavor without actually using a sour dough starter?

I might not know what I'm talking about. 

 

Ah, okay. Using a biga. Haven't seen John's video, so wasn't sure whether it was using a biga or levain. Did you use 00 flour as well or something else?  Just curious -- I've had great results with sourdough and both 00 and high protein flours.

My 2 cents (easily worth half that!): I think pre-ferments are generally at their peak at around the 12 hour mark. Same is true with my sourdough starter --  at it's best within 12 hours after feeding. So, mixing the dough with the preferment after 12 hours is probably best, let it do a bulk rise for 2-3 hours, then you could shape it and let it slow proof in the fridge for 48-72 hours. 

[FotonDrv]

OK, here is a question that my wife posed.  Are you cooking the dough first and adding the toppings and then firing it again to melt the cheeses?  Now I had never thought about doing this but I can see her point in making a thin crust that is crispy.

What say y'all?

 

 

[Pequod]

10 minutes ago, FotonDrv said:

OK, here is a question that my wife posed.  Are you cooking the dough first and adding the toppings and then firing it again to melt the cheeses?  Now I had never thought about doing this but I can see her point in making a thin crust that is crispy.

What say y'all?

 

 

This is actually one of Forkish's tricks in his book. Most of his recipes have you start with just the sauce on the dough, fire it for 4-6 minutes, then add the rest of toppings and cheese, then return it to a broiler (yes, broiler) for 1-2 minutes. It's whacky, but it works. This pic is of an oven baked/broiled Forkish sourdough pizza using 00 flour. The prosciutto was added last AFTER it came out of the oven.

 

[tony b]

Par-baking pizza crust is fairly common, especially if you are placing them directly on the grate without a pizza stone/steel. Cook the one side, bring it in, flip it, put the sauce & toppings on the cooked side and then put back on the grill with the uncooked side down to finish. Especially helpful if you have toppings with lots of moisture content - prevents the crust from getting soggy as the toppings cook. 

[Aussie Ora]

Nice looking pizzas yum

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

[FotonDrv]

OK, that makes me feel better knowing that it is probably what my pizza crusts are lacking and it makes a whole lot of sense if you want a think somewhat crunchy crust, not doughy or bread like.

Thanks for all the input

 

[ckreef]

25 minutes ago, FotonDrv said:

OK, that makes me feel better knowing that it is probably what my pizza crusts are lacking and it makes a whole lot of sense if you want a think somewhat crunchy crust, not doughy or bread like.

Thanks for all the input

 

 

I'll be a dissenter here - NO 

Other than Cracker crust I've never par baked a pizza crust - seems almost cheating (although I might try it next time with a 20+ topping pan pizza).  If the dough is right, stretched properly and cooked at the right temperature you shouldn't need to par bake the crust.

Rather than par baking go back to the drawing board on the dough and method. These slices were crispy enough to stand out on there own without drooping, no par baking required. 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2017 by ckreef

[ckreef]

6 hours ago, HalfSmoke said:

Ah, okay. Using a biga. Haven't seen John's video, so wasn't sure whether it was using a biga or levain. Did you use 00 flour as well or something else?  Just curious -- I've had great results with sourdough and both 00 and high protein flours.

My 2 cents (easily worth half that!): I think pre-ferments are generally at their peak at around the 12 hour mark. Same is true with my sourdough starter --  at it's best within 12 hours after feeding. So, mixing the dough with the preferment after 12 hours is probably best, let it do a bulk rise for 2-3 hours, then you could shape it and let it slow proof in the fridge for 48-72 hours. 

Just KA all purpose. For an extended preferment I was thinking about feeding it every 24 hours for 3 days before using. 

I generally don't like refrigerator rising. The flavor really comes out but unless you have the time to really come to room temp (4-6 hours) it doesn't stretch as nice. I really don't like using a rolling pin and hand stretching requires the dough at its peak. 

 

[FotonDrv]

24 minutes ago, ckreef said:

 

I'll be a dissenter here - NO 

Other than Cracker crust I've never par baked a pizza crust - seems almost cheating (although I might try it next time with a 20+ topping pan pizza).  If the dough is right, stretched properly and cooked at the right temperature you shouldn't need to par bake the crust.

Rather than par baking go back to the drawing board on the dough and method. These slices were crispy enough to stand out on there own without drooping. 

 

 

The drawing board is my problem, I am lefthanded and nothing ever turns out perfect   I would actually love to be able to make a good dough, as I would love to do Latte Art, but that too has eluded me.

 

[Steve M]

Good looking pizzas

[Pequod]

8 hours ago, ckreef said:

Just KA all purpose. For an extended preferment I was thinking about feeding it every 24 hours for 3 days before using. 

I generally don't like refrigerator rising. The flavor really comes out but unless you have the time to really come to room temp (4-6 hours) it doesn't stretch as nice. I really don't like using a rolling pin and hand stretching requires the dough at its peak. 

 

Seems like that should work. Basically a jump started sourdough. One question I'd have, and it could only be answered by trying it, is the process of transitioning from commercial yeast to natural. Sourdough starter goes through some interesting phases of bacterial growth and death before it stabilizes after a week or so. Mine smelled of heavily used sweat socks about three days in. Be interesting to see if your approach avoids that. 

[Pequod]

8 hours ago, FotonDrv said:

The drawing board is my problem, I am lefthanded and nothing ever turns out perfect   I would actually love to be able to make a good dough, as I would love to do Latte Art, but that too has eluded me.

 

Forkish does what he does not because his pizzas are improperly formulated and need par baking, but because he's trying to replicate a Neapolitan style pie in which the sauce is a bit baked into the crust and the cheese (Fior di latte or fior di buffula) is a modest amount and gently melted, not browned. He's also trying to replicate Neapolitan results in a home oven at 550 vs 900 in a wood fired oven. His approach works very well - the pie I posted above was very reminiscent of pizzas I had in Italy. That said, I prefer my sourdough pies with All Trumps flour and smoked mozzarella on the KK.

 

Actually was trying to reply to @ckreef on par baking. Can't seem to insert the right quote. Oh well. 

 

Edited April 25, 2017 by HalfSmoke

[ckreef]

2 hours ago, HalfSmoke said:

Forkish does what he does not because his pizzas are improperly formulated and need par baking, but because he's trying to replicate a Neapolitan style pie in which the sauce is a bit baked into the crust and the cheese (Fior di latte or fior di buffula) is a modest amount and gently melted, not browned. He's also trying to replicate Neapolitan results in a home oven at 550 vs 900 in a wood fired oven. His approach works very well - the pie I posted above was very reminiscent of pizzas I had in Italy. That said, I prefer my sourdough pies with All Trumps flour and smoked mozzarella on the KK.

 

Actually was trying to reply to @ckreef on par baking. Can't seem to insert the right quote. Oh well. 

 

That makes sense although I don't really get it. I suppose I'm not his intended audience and their are plenty of people doing pizzas in ovens that would like a Neapolitan pie. 

As for a jump started Sourdough starter - I plan on trying it this Wednesday. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday to grow the starter. Saturday to start the KA Artisan process. Worst case it's a fail and hits the circular file Sunday night. Won't be the first time. I'll make sure I have leftovers in the fridge - just in case - LOL