166/18 – Scamorza Pizzas:
I have been after some Scamorza cheese for a while now and haven’t seen any until this week! Scamorza is a stretched curd cheese with a stronger flavour than mozzarella. This one was smoked scamorza (scamorza affumicata) which appealed to me even more! Time for Scamorza Pizzas.
This is the Scamorza, the colour is from the smoking process. It pulls apart easily enough.
I am still working my way through the wonderful charcuterie I bought from East Coast Cured. A little bit of Nduja left and I planned to use the chorizo & bourbon too.
The Book:
The dough and sauce recipe is from The Pizza Bible Book:
The Pizza Bible: The World's Favorite Pizza Styles, from Neapolitan, Deep-Dish, Wood-Fired, Sicilian, Calzones and Focaccia to New York, New Haven, Detroit, and More
£22.50 £16.60
Ooni Blog:
My new Ooni Blog is now live on this site with all of my notes on there. It’s split out into categories so should be a lot easier to use now. Will be easier for me to update too:
THE INGREDIENTS:
Flour: Caputo Red Flour
Flour Caputo red "00" Pizza Chef kg 1 - Package 10 Pieces
Yeast: Saf-Levure Dry yeast
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Tomatoes: San Marzano Plum Tomatoes
Zia Rosa San Marzano Plum Tomatoes 400 g (Pack of 12)
THE KIT:
6 litre food grade container with lid: I use this to bulk ferment the dough once it’s mixed
Whitefurze Plastic Food Storage Canister with Handle 6.0L
Food grade pizza dough trays (x3): I use these to cold proof the dough balls
7 Litre Plastic Stacking Food Grade Domestic Commercial Pizza Dough Bakery Euro Trays – 400 x 300 x 75mm Stackable HDPE Dough Proofing Proof Containers (3)
(as of September 18, 2024 21:27 GMT +01:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)Wooden Pizza Peel: Stops your pizza sticking when you launch it into the oven, needs minimal flour also. I wish I had bought one of these years ago as it’s a total game changer.
TOBOS Screen Protector Tempered Glass,[Anti-Fingerprint][No-Bubble][Scratch-Resistant] Glass Screen Protector
(as of September 18, 2024 13:19 GMT +01:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)The Dough:
Sometimes when you make a pizza dough you have a feeling it’s going to be a good one. You can tell as you handle it. This was one of these occasions, through each stage of working with it the dough felt really good. My only change this time was checking the water temperature with a Thermapen before adding the yeast. I got it to 37c before adding yeast. Reason for this was last time the dough wasn’t quite right and I had a feeling I had killed the yeast with water that was too hot. I will add this step in on future cooks too, removes that risk.
The Sauce:
New York – New Jersey Tomato Sauce from The Pizza Bible book. The San Marzano tomatoes, tomato puree, oregano, salt and oil blitzed with a hand blender then hand crushed tomatoes were also added.
The Fire:
I am running down my charcoal stocks so I can try a few new ones. This was resilient woodlands mixed hardwood, 2 flamers underneath, lit and left for 10 minutes. I take my dough out the fridge when I light my fire, not as long at room temperature as most people but I find the cooler dough easier to stretch and shape plus it helps with the leoparding.
Flamers Firelighters - 200 Units Natural Fire Lighters for Wood Burner Firepit Bbq Pizza Oven Fireplace Chimenea Barbecue Fire Starter - Firestarter for Kiln Dried Kindling Log Coal Charcoal Briquette
Two cherry chunks on top of the lit charcoal:
BBQ Smoking Cherry Wood Chunks - 100% British Wood - 25 L Box
The Cook:
I had made a double batch of dough so had two trays, each with 3x 265g dough balls in. I added flour to the tray before I put them in and floured the tops, this helps remove the cling film without tugging the top of the dough balls.
I bought some little 1/9 and 1/6 gastronorm pots from Nisbets to help get more organised, they were really helpful during the cook.
First Pizza: My daughters were so keen to help make their pizzas that I couldn’t say no. They shaped the dough a bit (I finished it), put sauce and cheese on then they placed some chorizo on. I thought this was pretty good bar the air bubble.
Pizza Two: Similar to the first one my youngest daughter put the sauce, cheese and toppings on this one. Another pretty good one and it didn’t last long once cooked!
Pizza Three: The girls were away eating so I made this one, scamorza and some Nduja.
Topped with garlic oil, salt and pepper. It was glistening in the light!
Pizza Four: I felt this stick slightly as I launched it, maybe my launch action wasn’t as good as it should have been but it stretched a little! Scamorza and Chorizo&Bourboun on this one.
Pizza Five: My eldest was back to help make this one, leftover chorizo and some chorizo&bourbon. A little bit singed but still tasty!
Pizza Six: The last of the scamorza and the last of the chorizo&bourbon too.
Garlic oil, salt and pepper on top. Glorious!
SUMMARY:
When I made this dough I thought it was going to be a good one and it really was. Very easy to stretch and shape but a great texture and taste once cooked too. The dough recipe from the Pizza Bible along with the Caputo Red is a real winner for me at the moment, having such great results with it.
The Nduja was great again, will need to buy more of that. Really enjoyed the chorizo&bourbon too, you could tell it was a quality product on the first taste.
First time cooking with scamorza, uncooked it was really nice – very nice tasting cheese and my eldest daughter was eating loads of it whilst “helping”! Cooked, it melted well but seemed to lose a bit of it’s distinct taste when melted. Quite interesting, will get some more and try it again. Worked well on the pizza though.
Another great cook on the Ooni Pro, I do love cooking on this thing. So relaxing and great pizzas at the end.
THE BOOK:
The dough and sauce recipe is from The Pizza Bible book:
The Pizza Bible: The World's Favorite Pizza Styles, from Neapolitan, Deep-Dish, Wood-Fired, Sicilian, Calzones and Focaccia to New York, New Haven, Detroit, and More
If you don’t have an Ooni Pro yet you can buy one here
Uuni Pro 16 Multi-fueled Outdoor Pizza Oven
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