[Sca-cooks] OOP Pizza Dough

[Christiane]

Message: 5
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 15:11:31 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] OOP Pizza Dough
As an experiment, I made some pizza dough last night using semolina flour, 
which the bag touts as being good for pasta, pizza and bread.  Right.  Pasta 
and semolina bread maybe.

I used about a 2:1 mix of semolina to AP flour and had to increase the 
liquid in the dough by about a half cup to get the dough to mix properly

Semolina (0 fine), while very high in protein, is too grainy to produce a 
nice texture to the dough and the flavor doesn't mesh well with the olive 
oil in the dough.  I might be able to alter the texture by using 00 fine or 
by using a 1:4 mix of semolina 0 to AP flour.  The taste is another matter. 
I'm wondering if butter or egg yolk might prove to be a better choice.

I'll revisit this experiment again, but for now, I think I'll stick to 
regular flour for my pizza dough.

Bear 

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Semolina flour is great for a deep-dish or Sicilian-style sfincione, but you're right, it's not so good for a thin crust Neapolitan or traditional pizza.

When I make pane riminciato, I use 5 cups of semolina flour and two and a half cups of white flour. After the first rise, I knead it with as much olive oil as the dough will absorb and lots of sea salt. If I am going to make bread with it, I shape the dough into loaves and let them rise before baking. If it's pizza dough, though, I will make my flat rectangles in a cookie sheet and bake them until they're slightly golden, and then put on my toppings and bake again. Or I will push ingredients into the dough for a more traditional sfincione, in that case I'll let the dough rise before baking.

Definitely a different texture, but good in its own way.

Gianotta