The Great Indoors

If an indoor oven could do what a brick oven can do I wouldn’t have built one in my backyard. I’ve become partial to a pizza with a flame blistered crust, a smoky charred taste, a juicy sauce and cheese, and a flash cooking time. In a conventional oven there is no flame or smoke, there is dry heat, and not even the best pizza stone can replicate the effects of a brick deck. However, this doesn’t mean I’m not a player in the kitchen. It’s a whole different ballgame once you enter the indoor arena. The toppings, size of the pizza, timing, and flour all has to change. Which is why I introduced all purpose flour to my dough recipe.

I Panuzzi

The flour I use in the backyard, Caputo 00, is not meant for a conventional oven. It becomes hard and yellow because it’s meant to be baked at extreme temperatures. For example, 750+ degrees which is easily attainable by a brick oven. That said, the dough recipe I used is at the bottom of the page.

I don’t have a very good pizza stone, but I had some firebricks in the garage that worked perfectly. They bent the hell out of my oven rack but produced a nicely charred and crispy crust.

The Indoor Oven Booty Shot

The pizzas looked and tasted great and I was very happy with the results.  However, there’s always room for improvement and experimentation and seeing that this was my first real indoor encounter, I doubt I got it right on the first try no matter how good it was.

Blah blah blah just show us the pictures of the pizzas.  Ok, I incorporated four of the infused oils I made a couple weeks prior into the night’s menu which looked like this:

 

#1 – Sausage, Fresh Mushroom, Fresh Mozzarella, Aged Mozzarella, Fennel Seed Infused Oil.

#2 – Fresh Mozzarella, Cracked Pepper, Cherry Tomatoes, Arugula Lightly Mixed with Lemon Infused Oil, Shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.

#3 – Brussels Sprouts, Pancetta, Fresh Mozzarella, Shredded Pecorino Romano, and Garlic Infused Oil.

#

4 – Margherita with Mushrooms, Grated Pecorino Romano, and Basil Infused Oil.

#5 – Brussels Sprouts, Pancetta, Cherry Tomatoes, Fresh Mushrooms, Parmigiano, Pecorino Romano, Fresh Mozzarella, Aged Mozzarella, and Garlic Infused Oil…In other words, “this is the last pizza and I got a bunch of leftovers”.

The pizzas were a great treat and almost just as good the next day, but I already know I can do better. Here are some tips/lessons learned to leave you with:

• Preheat your oven for at least an hour at 500 degrees or as high as it will go.
• Before sliding into the oven, use the least amount of flour necessary so the pizza doesn’t stick to the peel. Excess flour doesn’t burn away as easy in a regular oven so you might have some left under the pizza when it’s time to eat...not very tasty.
• Cheeses like shredded Pecorino and Romano sound fancy but they dry up and turn yellow when cooked.
• It’s very difficult, but try not to check on the pizza every thirty seconds. It took a lot of time to capture that temperature, don’t let it escape! You’ll taste the difference.
• Let the pizza sit a little while before cutting. It will be too hot to eat anyways and you’ll give the ingredients time to develop before you cut through them allowing the crust to get soggy while you wait for it to cool down.
• Lastly…enjoy it! Don’t get caught up in the critiques, analysis, pros, and cons until after. Pizza is meant to be eaten not dissected. Don’t make pizza night into a research project; make it a party night.

Here is a link to some of the pizzas I made this offseason.

Forza Pizza,

Alberto

Indoor Oven Hand-Mixed Dough Recipe

Yields About Five 14” Pizzas

Ingredients:

About 1.85 lbs of “00” Flour

About 1.85 lbs of All Purpose Flour

1.2 Liters of Warm Water

4 Small Tablespoons of Fine Sea Salt

2 Tablespoons of Sugar

Less Than 1 Tablespoon of Dry Active Yeast

Cook Time: 5-7 Minutes

1. Equally divide the warm water into two bowls and dissolve the salt in one and the yeast in the other. Let these bowls sit for about 15 minutes while you move on to the next step.
2. Evenly mix both types of flour and the sugar to a large mixing bowl.
3. Add both bowls of water to the dry ingredients.
4. Put your left hand on the rim of the bowl and your right hand against the inside about 3" below the water line.  Slowly turn the bowl clockwise with your left hand and at a little quicker pace move your right hand counter-clockwise through the mixture.  Occasionaly, fold your right hand into the middle and get a good mix.
5. When it seems like the water is getting through to the dough, include your left hand and begin to mix and knead.  When the dough no longer sticks to the sides pull it out and place it on a flour dusted countertop or cutting board.
6. Keep Kneading.  The more and more you knead the smoother the dough gets, but kneading too much can make a pizza crust chewy.
7. When the dough is evenly mixed, place it on a flour-dusted pan, dust the top with flour, cover it with plastic, and refrigerate.
8. Now it all comes down to your schedule and when you'll be around to make dough balls.  I made the dough at night and about 6 hours later I pulled it out and let it rest at room temperature for another 2 hours or so.
9. Then I cut the dough into 20 oz panuzzi, flour-dusted my dough pan, and let them sit at room temperature for another 11 hours.
10. Now you have 5 individually sized panuzzi ready to be stretched, topped, baked, and eaten.

I'm trying to get my recipes on video which would make this a lot easier.  Check out this recipe for a little more description.  It's for the outdoor oven but it should still help.  Until then, I hope this recipe works well for you.  Please let me know how it goes.  Good luck!