Click here for a home baker version of Craig’s pizza/ciabatta dough recipe, in case you want to try it and don’t have a large Hobart mixer or a LOT of friends to invite over! The dough produced with the technique below will be less firm and little tricker to shape than the home baker version, but equally delicious.
This dough uses the poolish method and requires a LOT of water. In the video above, master baker Craig Ponsford demonstrate the folding method mentioned & demonstrates how this dough takes on water over time.
The following version will make 30 ounces of dough (or 852 grams) or enough for three 10-ounce (284 grams) pizzas. Recipe indicates both ounce and grams.
**If you would like to add olive oil (as Craig does in the video) reduce the water by 5% (or 1/3 cup) and add 5% (or 1/3 cup) olive oil.
Poolish Ingredients:
- Water #1(75 degrees)- 5 ounces – 142 grams
- Hard Red Winter Wheat flour– 5 ounces- 142 grams
- Instant yeast #1- pinch
Dry Ingredients:
- Hard Red Winter Wheat flour– 10 ounces- 279 grams
- Pumpernickel- .3 ounce- 9 grams
- Sea Salt- .45 ounce- 13 grams
To Finish:
- Water #2 (75 degrees)- 9.4 ounces- 266 grams
- Instant yeast #2- 1/2 tsp- 1.4 grams
- Check water temperature with thermometer. Pour water into a bowl. MIx in flour and yeast and mix with your hand working out any clumps with your fingers. Set aside at room temperature for 7 hours.
- Measure out dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- After 7 hours, scrape poolish into bowl of mixer. Using water #2, pour into bowl that poolish was in and mix to include any residual poolish left in the bowl. Pour into bowl along with yeast #2 and dry ingredients. Mix on low for about a minute. Then stop the machine and with a rubber spatula or dough scraper, scrape well along the sides and bottom of bowl. Then mix on low for 3 minutes. Increase to medium and mix for 3 minutes.
- Scoop dough into a sprayed or lightly oiled rectangular or square container. Fold dough from the bottom up one over one third of the dough. Do the same with the other side, like an envelope. Do this both horizontally and vertically. Then flip over by putting hands under whole dough so folds are underneath. Let rest, covered with a lid for an hour at room temperature.
- Give another set of folds, let rest an hour, and give a final set of folds.
- If you want to use right away, let rest for about 15-20 minutes before dividing into 10 ounce or 284 gram pieces. Round pieces by tucking sides of dough under and let rest again before gently rolling out for pizza.