Sublime

Straight dough A dough that is made up in a single stage, without pre-fermented dough or a levain culture. Levain The French word for “sourdough,” referring to a naturally leavened dough culture made from just flour and water, containing billions of active wild yeast cells and naturally occurring bacteria that ferment bread dough and allow it to ri

Levain cultures kept in cooler temperatures also lean toward the acetic end of the taste spectrum, as do stiffer levains. Bread made from a liquid levain, with equal parts flour and water (it has a soupy texture), has a distinctive flavor profile that leans toward the lactic acid end of the taste spectrum. Warmer levain cultures encourage lactic ac

To return to the schooling I received at La Notizia, when Enzo Coccia said, “Pizza is not the same as bread,” he wrote down pizza dough’s ingredients in the following order, to demonstrate how the dough is made: (1) acqua (water); (2) sale (salt) plus impasto (stir to dissolve); (3) lievito (fresh yeast) plus impasto (stir to dissolve); and, finall

The second big shift in my thinking was to come from everyone in Naples: rather than mixing the dough and letting it rest for several hours to rise (what we call bulk fermentation), it is customary to mix the dough and then divide and shape it into dough balls early on in the fermentation timeline, often just 2 hours later.

FOCACCIA Makes 1 large focaccia or 3 small ones • Time spent in the kitchen: 5–10 minutes • Time taken altogether: 3

You can bake one or two loaves from this recipe. If you bake just one loaf, you can divide the remaining dough into two or three dough balls to make iron-skillet focaccia or pizza; refrigerate the dough balls and use them any time during the next two or three days.

Neapolitanish Pizza Dough

Step 3: Knead the Dough and Let It Rise Fifteen to 20 minutes after you finish mixing the dough, knead it to help the mass of dough come together. I find it easiest to do this on a countertop lightly dusted with flour. Using floured hands, reach under the dough and remove it from the dough tub onto the floured surface. Fold the dough over itself an