I think they try hard to appeal to the average, novice cook who may not have the ability or inclination to buy gourmet products, I totally agree. They do put alot into their testing, but I think it skews to common ingredients as opposed to "best" ingredients.
As for example, their recommendation for DaVinci as their standard supermarket olive oil brand. That's like the Pabst Blue Ribbon of olive oil. It's inferior swill.
Pierino, I do understand where you are coming from. However I do think they deserve some respect. I'm going to try your pizza recipe and approach, so I challenge you to give theirs a try also. Kimball and team have for me a whole set of what I deem "best recipes" including this pizza, pancakes, cornbread...not to mention some interesting techniques, like for this pizza moving the pizza stone to the top shelf of the oven-against all conventions and every recipe I've seen-and it works like magic, even for my original "quick" pizza dough recipe I've used for years and still pull out when I don't have time for a few day rest in the fridge. Best, Henry.
Henry my friend, I completely respect your opinion and your experience. Perhaps the biggest problem with CI and Kimball is that he actually believes his own propaganda. Real cooks know that there is no "best" anything. Even if there were you would still have to deal with the fact that all kitchens are not equiped equally. Even if you set the oven dial to 500F that doesn't necessarily mean that's what the actual temperature really is.
Recently I was sent a complimentary copy of CI (to get me to subscribe). I read the piece on olive oils, which was to say the least "eccentric". I know because I work in that business. Only one California olive oil was recommended "with reservations." His lab rats must be smoking pot before they taste. California olive oils at the moment are superior to the European product for more reasons than I can list here. The story did include two very sapient quotes from Darrell Corti but clearly he wasn't on of the testers.
The same issue also included a recipe for "lasagne bolognese" which was made with "no boil" lasagne. Trust me, in Bologna that would get you "un vaff'" immediately.
Nonetheless keep up your contributions to 52. I will look forward to reading them.
And sorry I forgot to add, the recipe asks for vegetable oil in the pizza dough. Why they didn't specifically ask for olive oil, I don't know, but I use a high quality olive oil.
And sorry I forgot to add, the recipe asks for vegetable oil in the pizza dough. Why they didn't specifically ask for olive oil, I don't know, but I use a high quality olive oil.
The recipe from the video is very very good. I've made many pizza doughs, but this one and the concepts are fantastic for a tasty crisp crust. There are 3 keys to the recipe: Bread Flour, 1-3 day refrigerator to develop flavor and "tenderize", and an uncooked tomato sauce. I find their recipes mostly excellent, this one is probably imho, their best. So give it a try, its very simple.
That's good to know chezhenry. Thanks for the link.
I'll often put aside a section of sourdough dough (raised once) when I'm baking bread, wrap it up and keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days, to use as pizza dough. I take it out of the fridge, punch it down and put it to one side to warm up while I get the toppings ready and preheat the oven. I don't tend to get so fussy as getting it all the way up to room temp, sourdough is pretty forgiving for this sort of thing.
I've never tried doing this with an actual pizza dough recipe though. I'm curious now what it would be like with a pizza dough dough.
Pizza dough flavor continues to develop through a 1-3 day rest in the refrigerator after its made. Take it from the fridge, and let it relax for an hour. At that point the dough will have relaxed and should be easy to handle and stretch out. There is a great video from America's Test Kitchen that shows you how to make your own dough, the science behind letting it develop in the refrigerator, and how to work with it after its been refrigerated. http://www.americastestkitchen.com/episodes/detail.php?docid=35172
With all respect to ChezHenry, I can barely contain my disdain for Mr. Starched Apron Kimball and "America's Test Kitchen". It's pompous and smug and often ignorant. Here is my own pizza recipe from Food52, published about three years ago http://food52.com/recipes/4502_una_pizza_rustica_e_autentica_for_sophia_loren Amanda and Merrill produced a demonstration video which I'm sure you can find here.
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Recently I was sent a complimentary copy of CI (to get me to subscribe). I read the piece on olive oils, which was to say the least "eccentric". I know because I work in that business. Only one California olive oil was recommended "with reservations." His lab rats must be smoking pot before they taste. California olive oils at the moment are superior to the European product for more reasons than I can list here. The story did include two very sapient quotes from Darrell Corti but clearly he wasn't on of the testers.
The same issue also included a recipe for "lasagne bolognese" which was made with "no boil" lasagne. Trust me, in Bologna that would get you "un vaff'" immediately.
Nonetheless keep up your contributions to 52. I will look forward to reading them.
I'll often put aside a section of sourdough dough (raised once) when I'm baking bread, wrap it up and keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days, to use as pizza dough. I take it out of the fridge, punch it down and put it to one side to warm up while I get the toppings ready and preheat the oven. I don't tend to get so fussy as getting it all the way up to room temp, sourdough is pretty forgiving for this sort of thing.
I've never tried doing this with an actual pizza dough recipe though. I'm curious now what it would be like with a pizza dough dough.