Good Pizza With Crappy Ovens

How to make great pizzas with the basic stuff in your kitchen at home.

An ignite talk for Contrast Security Kickoff 2019

Transcript

1. GOOD PIZZA WITH CRAPPY OVENS MAKING PIZZA AT HOME THAT DOESN'T SUCK AT ALL johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
2. GOOD THIN CRUST PIZZA REQUIRES A HOT OVEN Need temperatures in excess of 430C° (800F°) Home ovens max out at 260C° (500F°) johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
3. ASSOCIAZIONE VERACE PIZZA NAPOETANA WILL NOT LET YOU CALL IT PIZZA The cooking must be done exclusively in a wood-fired oven, which has reached a temperature between 430-480C°. With these temperatures, just insert the pizza for 60-90 seconds. The pizza will cook evenly across the entire circumference. — AVPN Cooking Regulations AUTHENTICITY IS OVERRATED, WE'RE GOING TO STUBBORNLY DO OUR BEST TO MAKE GOOD PIZZA AT HOME johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
4. GUIDELINES FOR STUBBORNLY MAKING THIN-CRUST PIZZA 1. Make and ferment your own dough 2. Hack your oven 3. Thin, not necessarily round 4. Limit moisture when applying toppings 5. Use parchment paper to get the pizza in and out of the oven Based largely on The Pizza Book (co-authored by fellow software developers and pizza lovers Aaron Quint and Michael Bernstein). johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
5. MAKE YOUR OWN DOUGH ONLY FRESH MADE DOUGH WILL HAVE THE ELASTICITY WE NEED TO GET THAT THIN CRUST ▸ water ▸ yeast ▸ all-purpose flour ▸ bread flour ▸ salt ▸ honey johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
6. ACTIVATE THE YEAST ▸ Warm water activates the yeast ▸ After about 7 minutes, you will notice them producing gases in the water ▸ The yeast will continue to ferment in the dough until we cook it. The pizza dough is alive! johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
7. BREAD FLOUR BRINGS THE GLUTEN ▸ Gluten is key for bringing elasticity to the dough ▸ Bread flour has more gluten than all-purpose flour ▸ Gluten traps the gases that yeast produces during fermentation johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
8. KNEADING FORMS PROTEIN CHAINS Kneading is all about creating protein chains with our gluten If using a stand-mixer with dough hook, careful not to over-knead: you will break the long protein chains we want johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
9. WINDOW PANE TEST johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
10. BENCH THE DOUGH ▸ 150g to 200g balls of dough will make about a 30cm to 36cm (12" to 14") pizza ▸ Dough will rise! Leave plenty of room for it to grow ▸ Light layer of olive oil on dough and its container so it doesn't stick johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
11. LET THE DOUGH COLD FERMENT FOR 2 - 5 DAYS ▸ Colder temperatures in your refrigerator slow down the yeast ▸ Enzymes have time to improve gluten structure ▸ Cold yeast produces more flavor compounds we want, and less sour compounds we do not want johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
12. HACK YOUR CRAPPY OVEN 1. Pizza stone as close to the hottest part of your oven as possible 2. Oven on max 3. Let the oven and stone heat up for an hour johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
13. MY OVEN IS GARBAGE Broiler doesn't work, Baking steel on the floor of the oven works best for me johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
14. PIZZA OVEN BY ANY NAME ▸ build a brick oven outside ▸ pizza stone on the grill ▸ mix oven and broiler johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
15. SHAPING DOUGH IS STRESSFUL ▸ More pliable at room temperature ▸ Use gravity ▸ Don't smash it back into a ball and start over ▸ Pinch tears to fix them johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
16. THIN, NOT NECESSARILY ROUND johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
17. CONTROL MOISTURE DON'T OVER-SAUCE ▸ Thin layer of red sauce ▸ As soon as the sauce hits the dough, it's a race to get it into the oven ▸ Mise en place johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
18. CHOOSE TOPPINGS CAREFULLY ▸ Consider starting with just cheese ▸ Vegetables can contain a lot of water ▸ Consider toppings you can pre-cook like mushrooms johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
19. DON'T DROP IT Best tools: parchment paper, a pizza peel, and long metal tongs johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
20. RECAP 1. Make and ferment your own dough 2. Hack your oven 3. Thin, not necessarily round 4. Limit moisture when applying toppings 5. Use parchment paper to get the pizza in and out of the oven johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27
21. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ▸ https://modernistcuisine.com/2018/04/gluten-how-does-it-work/ ▸ https://www.webstaurantstore.com/choice-18-x-26-x-3-dough-proofing-box/40714021.html ▸ https://slice.seriouseats.com/2010/09/the-pizza-lab-how-long-should-i-let-my-dough-cold-ferment.html ▸ https://www.flickr.com/photos/mnreyes/23468453981/in/photolist-BKPXJV-dY1CVP-8gRYp4-7vmMmu-96Vfb2-3pNWYZ-6maR8F-gHY9vH-gi1pkD-gHXro5-9aNzcY-4nGCHD-ahex9R-7fLty9-pusdZB-eHkAa-tBcGY-rc89gP-k2iCGu-EkUgU- bpJmLg-7ptt7c-ddg2mY-bmVt6e-4aP5bW-xoMYx-8Ty3cw-jvaeMC-aTsf8x-9mLGED-7U8K9t-nCX1AJ-nhvhtZ-cgKrdC-HkwfMM-idd2nw-dVG4M5-51WWwW-6RFLo3-9sE9Qu-eeXEbh-SMXrxP-ExTJcM-9mbJtF-qeWWUm-CLP7rJ- rjCwgk-3Kf2sr-9AtNpz-86ou7y ▸ Photo by LuAnn Hunt on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/tv8e9oQx-H4 ▸ http://www.pizzanapoletana.org/en/team ▸ Photo by Artur Rutkowski on Unsplash ▸ Photo by juan manuel Núñez Méndez on Unsplash ▸ Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash ▸ https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-open-kitchen-bench-scraper/? catalogId=60&sku=1597728&cmven=PLA&cmcat=Google&cmpla=Cooks%27%20Tools%20%3E%20Baking%20%26%20Pastry%20Tools&cmite=1597728&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2cKU27OO4AIVVBh9Ch3EUAoGEAQYBSABEgLRcfD_BwE ▸ https://shop.bakingsteel.com/collections/steels/products/baking-steel ▸ https://www.flickr.com/photos/sabine01/5948636661/in/photolist-a4Ejr4-98mGe6-9nFdTf-57EbHu-rsqLPt-8pYaXD-7XjYuv-gKVatQ-M6TSMR-edqxP3-cduDXq-LEPEw1-a1Ctt-7B5oCm-7zqHWN-xjw9UU-bsKoBz-QySTkH-6sBDeD- PLkp7Y-29VV8uT-7rGgYF-P3q7ZL-wLVQJN-PP6qmF-76wZAg-N2L9wS-CQ5LTt-yHHfcG-LMTzYR-oxWTqS-26NWNDK-X9B7CH-aSWYpa-4oUQcS-Vcp3vF-9sgHSt-23GHxxa-4QAvc-mAuJA-8TjsVF-875swC-KJMMsK-26Kvhqr-9Jsmmp-WyQMBb- GoZgqd-x5kJU6-utfA9b-82tUg2 ▸ Photo by Brenna Huff on Unsplash johnathan.gilday@contrastsecurity.com 2019-01-27