cibatta pizza crust

a while ago my sister was asking me about pizza dough recipes. we were reminiscing about the crust at the little pizza parlour in our home town, and how it was so crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside and full of big holes. i got to thinking about it, and that’s sort of like cibatta bread!

so, i resolved to try it out. this recipe is adapted from a recipe i found online - most of the recipes called for 18-24 hours prep, and i wanted my pizza NOW!! (or, for dinner tonight, anyway) so i tweaked the recipe, and here’s what i came up with.

ingredients:

4 c flour (i used 3 c white, 1 c whole spelt)
1 1/2 t yeast
1 1/2 t salt
2 c warm water

to make:

i used my kitchen aid (because it’s easier on the arms) but you could certainly do it with a big bowl and arm-power. throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them up. i added a bit of extra flour, but the dough should be sticky. in terms of consistency, it should be cohesive enough to stay together, but sticky enough to stick to hands/spoons, etc.

let it rise 2 hours, covered.

after 2 hours, i covered a big baking sheet in oil, then lots of flour and cornmeal.

then i dumped the dough out onto the sheet.

i coated my hands in oil, and formed the crust by gently pulling the dough and pressing it into place.

then, i let it rise another 2 hours.

the result: holy fluffy crust batman!

it calmed down a bit when i put sauce on it…

i baked it at 380 (convection) for 20 minutes…

and it turned out really well!

verdict: it’s no frenchies, but it’s pretty damn good! also, i think it would make a great bread on it’s own, although it would have to be pretty flat. like a focaccia? YUM!

also, i think i could have done either of the rising stages for quite a bit less time than i did. i was just busy. obviously how much it will rise depends on temperature, humidity, etc… but i think an hour for each would have done it.