Saba S. (broucek) reviewed The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home on + 48 more book reviews
I've got some experience making pizza, but I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend. I tried the 48-hour dough to start off, and immediately encountered major problems. First of all, he recommends instant yeast, but I have a pound of active dry on hand. There is no information on what, if anything, to do differently when using active dry yeast, so I went ahead and followed the steps. I know that active dry yeast will activate best at a water temperature of 105° to 110°F, but this recipe calls for 90° to 95°F water. I haven't had good luck using water at that temperature, but I went ahead and "trusted the expert" and followed the steps, using the absurdly small amount of yeast called for. Then I noticed that he says to add "white flour, preferably 00." As if 00 flour is interchangeable with other types of flour with the exact same quantity. It's not. 00 flour requires far less water, otherwise you end up with a soupy mess. I understand his intention of making a wetter dough to withstand the longer bake time in a home oven, but you simply cannot use the same hydration with 00 flour. But, I went and followed the steps. And, I ended up with a soupy mess, and had to spend several minutes adding a large amount of flour just to get the mixture manageable. Made the dough balls, put them in the fridge. 12 hours later, they have not risen at all. The yeast did not activate. A few minutes ago, I tried mixing some yeast with water at 110°F and it activated just fine. Since the yeast is not the problem, it had to be the water temperature. Or maybe the fact that I had to add so much flour. Whatever the issue, I now have to throw out an entire batch of dough because I was foolish enough to ignore what I already knew and blindly follow the vague and incomplete instructions in this book. I considered submitting a return request to Amazon, but will probably hang onto the book and try to incorporate other aspects of the book into my cooking. But now I know better than to blindly follow instructions that I know to be wrong. I will say this: his instructions on how to make the dough balls are very good.
