Pizza !

The dough recipe is from the great Stefano Manfredi and published in his fabulous book New Pizza published by Murdoch Books. This excerpt, including excellent step by step instructions and further tips was published in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food.

I decided to try baking pizza on my Green Egg after purchasing a pizza stone for it. I have the minimax and have to say it turned out rather well. It does a fantastic job of replicating the conditions of a wood fired oven. I did have issues with balancing the temperature of the base and the cavity. We are talking 350 celsius here, that’s 660 degrees Fahrenheit for you ‘mericans. If you’re not careful you can easily scorch the base without getting sufficient colour on top. I suspect the full sized egg would give better results as the fire source is further removed from the base. Next time I will build the fire in a more doughnut shape to lower the stone temperature and increase the cavity temp. This is far beyond the capacity of most domestic ovens although my AEG Steam Pro with the stone was also excellent but without quite the blistering achieved by my egg.

In terms of the topping. The simpler the better for me. Pizza is more about the base than the topping. You need to taste the wheat flavour developed by a long, slow leavening. I like crushed tinned Italian tomatoes. De Cecco Pomodoro S.Marzano Dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino D.O.P were excellent. I blended them using a wand blender, seasoned with a tsp of salt per tin and 1/2 tsp sugar, then let them drain for 2 hours in a fine strainer to remove the bulk of the tomato water (don’t discard. It serves as the base for and excellent Bloody Mary). Spread a small amount on the base and smear it over the surface evenly. I added the finest slivers of fresh garlic and a splash of extra virgin olive oil. It took around 4 minutes. Make sure you set a timer. At 5 minutes it will be toast. I topped it with very fresh Buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil. A variation you’ll see in the video below is Ortiz anchovies and tiny Ligurian olives

• 1kg stoneground whole-wheat flour or strong unbleached bakers flour

• 550g water

• 8g compressed yeast (fresh cake yeast – available from delis and health food stores) or 3g powdered yeast

• 20g salt

• 30g extra virgin olive oil

  1. Place flour in a mixer bowl with a dough hook attachment. Turn on low to medium speed and add 500ml of water. Keep mixing until the water has been absorbed but the dough is still rough. Turn machine off and let sit for 20 minutes.

  2. Dissolve yeast in remaining 50ml water. Turn mixer on to medium and add the dissolved yeast, mix for two minutes, then add the salt, mix for two minutes more, and finally add the olive oil. Keep mixing for another six minutes at this speed. Turn the speed up a little and mix for two minutes more. A good way to check elasticity is to stretch a piece of dough and if it forms a strong, transparent membrane (similar to blowing a bubble with gum), without breaking, it is ready.

  3. Let dough sit covered in cling film for 30 minutes in winter or 15 minutes in summer before forming the dough balls.

  4. Form dough balls of around 250g each. Place balls on a high sided non-stick tray and cover with cling film but make sure the balls don't touch the cover. Let sit to rise for 60 minutes at 20-24C.

  5. After resting, place in refrigerator for at least 12 hours and up to 18 hours if possible. Remove from refrigerator and leave at ambient temperature for two to four hours (less in summer and more in winter) before shaping to make your pizza (see step-by-step gallery above).

  6. Before beginning to prepare the pizza, the oven has to come to temperature. Shape the pizza using a little flour and add the toppings of your choice.

  7. In a wood-fired oven, with floor temperature between 360-400C, a pizza will take around 90 seconds to cook. The pizza is put directly onto the oven floor to cook, thereby getting an immediate "lift". In a domestic oven, my suggestion is to find a large terracotta tile that fits onto an oven rack. Place the rack on the bottom rung of your oven and the tile on top, giving you plenty of room above to manipulate the pizza. Turn to full heat without using any fan-forced function and let oven run for at least 20-30 minutes to heat the tile completely.

  8. When the pizza is ready, use a floured paddle to take it from the bench onto the tile. Close oven immediately. At around 250-280C your pizza will take five to eight minutes to cook, depending on your oven temperature. It will have a crisp, bread-like texture no less delicious than the wood-fired version.

  Makes 6 pizzas at 250g each.