Hestons Quest for the perfect pizza

[puppyshunter]

I think critics need to understand that the concept behind this show was being able to make stuff at home. So the recipe has been adapted to suit conventional home ovens.

The pizza base is NOT a sour dough. And the small amount of salt doesn't kill the yeast. The rested dough expands to twice its size i.e. the yeast is still active.

I have found this technique – particularly the hot pan/grill combo – to be very effective.

[kolosmistrz]

first of all u cant put dry yeast just like that in the mixer and aspecialy not together with salt:) it kills the yest! and the sour dough should be edlist 14 days old! imbarecing mister heston wery shallow performance

[kolosmistrz]

im probably the best pizza chef in london just check out my videos, this guy dont know what he is doing he has small information about it probably from some lazy itallian emigrants that come to this country because they are finished in itally

the same goes to Gordon Ramzey the pizzas he served in hells kitchen on tv are imbaresing and pefetic - again some lazy emigrant tot him the wrong easy lazy way to do it backed it up with itllian roots and there we go we have a square burned bread

[uchiacon]

"The natural sugars in the dough are gonna feed off the yeast"

yes

[Cyworldabcd]

this guy is like a genius on cocaine! so busy. its as if hes so hungry but you know hes not cuz u dont see his mouth water like yours

[HIvanH91]

the amount of prep and waiting time in his recipes...

[afhakers]

I am wondering why he puts the yeast in after the dough beens formed. Why should that work better than mixing it with the flour?

[afhakers]

Heston is the best! I love the way he works.

[dusted04]

awesome chef , but to much stuffing round for a pizza dough i think

[0000dougy]

I just love how half you guys know better then Hesten. Honestly who cares if he said something the wrong way around! The guy is a genius. I'd love to see any of you cook better pizza then him. Send me a link when your done :)

[shinsingh]

"He found that standard ovens don't get hot enough to make perfect pizzas. Italians use fired ovens at 500+ degrees C, to cook the pizzas very quickly and develop maximum flavour. He suggests using the grill on full to boost the oven temp from above. He also heats a large frying pan on the stove at top heat for 10 minutes, which he then puts under the grill and slides the pizza onto. This gives the base the heat that it needs to cook super quick."

[shinsingh]

Hey Pizza Lovers!

I while back someone posted something about the oven temps Heston uses.

I've been a bit slack about responding but someone went to the trouble to try to answer the query...it was gunnaknow..I've pasted his response above.

[mahlstadt]

"Now you need to build your pizza oven. I'm using heat-resistant tiles on the surface, so that the heat is directed towards the pizza. These tiles are used on space shuttles."

[MeHungy136]

Heston's a genius and all, and I would cook like him every day if i had 4 days to prepare for every meal but I don't so as cutting edge as he is... his methods are very impractical

[Kammerthonen]

"I'm going counter clockwise"

Because clockwise would ruin it:)

[kuntrasha]

"sugars feeding off the yeat" lol

other way around buddy

[PaniPrezes]

this guy is cool to watch, and things he does are great.. but not a mortal at home.

you either won't get half of the ingredients at your store or you won't have proper equipment to do things.

why won't he use REAL home ways of making stuff.

[sabugassabhu]

the M5 Chef hehe

[horayforboobieszxr]

how come he dos;nt activate the yeast

[scitch224]

fuck this just call a takeaway

[michaelcapati]

all we need to do is develop more flavour LOL

[macrumpton]

That is insanely elaborate. I can't imagine anyone would ever bother making pizza if it were that much work.

[anjkrazy]

@macrumpton , the title of this show is "in search of perfection". u do not have to do what he does, feel free to reach for the phone and call pizza delivery ;P

[puremage000]

wheres the other video ???

[chrisbrowner]

"the sugars are going to feed off the yeast and develop more flavour".. erm shouldn't that be the yeast is going to feed off the sugar and release CO2 to make the bubbles in the dough so it will rise. tut tut heston get your facts right

[Legacyjackass]

@chrisbrowner how many michelin stars you got?

[chrisbrowner]

@Legacyjackass none - just a masters degree in chemistry

[Legacyjackass]

@chrisbrowner hmmm, well its still not a michelin star is it mate, didnt really ask what degree you had did I, surely someone of your "inteligence" should be able to understand basic questions.

[chrisbrowner]

@Legacyjackass It's not about cooking. It's not about intelligence. It's not about Michelin stars. It's about chemistry and biology. Yeast is a bacteria and it feeds on sugars converting them to carbon dioxide and ethanol. The carbon dioxide causes the dough to rise and the ethanol evaporates off. That's chemistry, that's fact.

[areezzy]

@chrisbrowner if Yeast feeds on sugar, does that mean sugar feeds off yeast? I'm sure Heston meant exactly what you mean, if it doesn't sound like it, maybe it was a slip of the tongue

[acanthopleura]

@chrisbrowner I am sorry yeast are unicellular fungii, NOT bacteria.

[BosHCinematics]

@chrisbrowner are you really trying to correct heston? not to mention you dont want it to properly rise given that its a pizza base, not a loaf of bread..

[acanthopleura]

@BosHCinematics sugars cannot feed off anything, Heston just got mixed up in the explanation; it's the yeast that feed off sugars thus producing CO2 bubbles that help in rising the dough.

[dhlv]

anybody has the recipes? I would really appreciate it

[wacala66]

I recognize the influence of Heston Blumenthal pushing the interest of masses towards cience & cooking. I been following actually some of his principles with some degree of success. But I have to say that sugar brokes the gluten chain instead of "develop it". "Develop" the gluten means promote the glutening molecules bond each other, and this is possible using water and salt.

[norwegiangangsta]

no german-subtitles? :( its now 01:46am and im hungry :D lol

[spinex2]

i want pizza now :)-)

[tdeane34]

I love Heston but he really doesn't know how to make pizza.

[emouch1]

have you tried this recipe? I am using it for 2 years now, and I have even blown Italians minds off with my pizza dough.

[Stilllookingforacure]

aaha

[retroremo]

message me the recipe for the pizza please

[emouch1]

erm... it is on the video!

[retroremo]

but I really can't be bothred to listen it out

please for the dough pizza and toppings

[KoukiR]

Yea Italian minds that were born in America not Italy. This is not a real napoletana douh.

[shinsingh]

@emouch1 Really? any deviations from his recipe?

[omritoker]

Mmmm...

My ideal pizza will be really thin with a lot of different kinds of cheese on it =)

[perfidious20]

bet they didn't make or talk about their pizza like this in naples...

[adamg8686]

''IF''

[adamg8686]

''IF''

[iamhere1234566]

I've been baking woodfired pizza everyday for ten years and this guy has some idea about the basic fundamentals (excluding the yeast/sugar slip up) but has virtually no experience of making great pizza. He has spent a day researching pizza from Naples and then tried to do it without the experience, technique & true understanding of a great pizzaiolo. In other words he's buggered it up! He may have 3 Michelin stars...but that's only because he doesn't have pizza on the menu in his restaurant..

[adamg8686]

lol do u think dedicating tha last 10 years to making pizza was a good idea, on the other hand u can make me a pizza any day, would u deliver to northwest london? lol , double pepporoni please

[boiswatching]

ur pizza sounds really good :)

[shinsingh]

yo...i agree with you to a point...i think the point of the video is to attempt to try to bake a pizza in a home oven...which is impossible to mimick a woodfired oven...thus making a traditional pizza impossible too...but with the resources we have at home he has attempted to make do...and he has made a fair stab at it

[Nigglips]

@iamhere1234566

i've eaten TWO different pizzas at the fat duck

try again kid, he has a very strong understanding of the interactions of heat and ingredients....

take your crap somewhere else.

[eldictator1]

@iamhere1234566 The guy's has appeared in the top 3 list for the greatest restaurants in the world for the past 4 years winning it in 07, so I think he knows the essentials. If you watched all his shows properly you'd understand each dish he created was his own personal take and personal improvement on a traditional dish, tweaked for the home.

[pacini8400]

is he missing anything to this recipe do you think like eggs or milk

[nickelt1]

@pacini8400 No way is eggs or milk in pizza dough

[onebadmoto]

@iamhere1234566 the restaurant considered the best in the world. you work at dominos don't lie.

[drplbiftin]

@iamhere1234566 not everyone has a wood oven in theirhomes... that's what this recipe and program is about, for home cooking

[barberino182]

@iamhere1234566 i dont think the time frame he had for the TV show would allow him to go and train for 10 years.

[barberino182]

@iamhere1234566 i dont think the time frame he had for the TV show would allow him to go and train for 10 years. Same for everyone else who is guna try this recipe. Pretty silly comment when u take into account that it is a cooking show. But good for you, you can make good pizza...

[rafayetn]

@iamhere1234566

There's no arguing that. Heston is famous for owning one of the world's top restaurants with very innovative cuisine, but he is not a pizza chef. Nonetheless, I wouldn't quite say he's buggered it up. He may not have the experience, but the man knows flavour, and he tried to put together a recipe and a method that allows the homebaker to achieve the closest profile to his perfect idea of pizza - which I'm sure he's had a lot of.

[shinsingh]

@iamhere1234566 Hey, Thanks for your response. I'd be very interested in hearing your method of creating a great pizza! The problem I had with trying to bake traditional pizza in a home oven was that 'OO' flour didn't cook so well in a home oven...Heston's method is a kind of a compromise.

Looking forward to your reading your tips.

[hghoffman]

He just got yeast and sugar the wrong way round - the yeast feeds off the sugars. It's pretty easy to make linguistic slips like that - but it's the production company's error to not have corrected it.

[danceriverside]

Im sure he's a great chef but other experienced cooks/chefs here will understand that he doesnt make sense saying things like "sugar feeds off yeast." Its almost laughable. Just because you use scientific terminology doesnt make you more knowledgable than anyone else in your profession. I would elaborate but comment space limited. My sources: experience, college ed, further research. DONT RELY ON HESTON OR MY OWN COMMENTS. Cooking is science and needs many many sources other than Heston.

[lardissantissime]

It is the first time that I hear of a pizza dough recipe without oil (or any type of bread without oil or other fat).

Someone tested it ?

[jm1969bc]

supernerd go wack off you wanker,when you have three stars we will listen to you

[monster0129]

I moved back to Hong Kong and they broadcast this at the same time as David Attenborough's Planet Earth. Each Tuesday evening is a struggle!

[danceriverside]

sugar feeding? NOT a living organism. Adding water to flour doesnt develop gluten, it is kneading and mixing. When making cakes dont mix alot, as gluten develops DURING MIXING you get a tougher/chewy cake. 24 hour preferment doesnt add flavor, a sourdough starter/homemade preferment does. Need AT LEAST 2 days of bacteria growth in preferment to add sourdough flavor or random void crumb to crust. catalyst? there is NOTHING in the dough that isn't already in there so there is NO REACTION.

[fabbe0]

heston is a chemical teacher and i think he knows that better than you

[danceriverside]

Cooking is science, but SUGAR NOT ALIVE. Equavalent of 'gold feeds off yeast' or 'homework ate my dog'. No catalyst cuz adding HIS preferment to dough is equavalent of 'put wet towel on dry towel'. No reaction, just combining ingredients. Just cuz he uses scientific words does not make him more knowledgable. Experience and actual research will help us see through all that.

[gunnaknow]

For those of you who don't know, this guy, Heston Blumenthal is one of only three chefs in Britain to ever be awarded 3 Michelin stars, which is the pinnacle of gastronomic awards in europe. He is renouned for combining cooking with science to come up with revolutionary taste experiences.

[antsman88]

His restaurant in Berkshire (The Fat Duck) was rated as the number 1 restaurant in the world in 2005. It got knocked off the top spot but its stayed at number 2 for the last 2 years.

[gunnaknow]

For the guy that asked about gluten, flour contains gluten, which is a protein. When you add water to the flour, the gluten sticks together in chains and it becomes more stringy the more you knead the dough. This gives the dough structure when cooked. In contrast, if you are making a cake, you want a crumby, light texture so you knead the dough as little as possible to stop gluten development.

[jwogdn]

Thanks I was unable to get my pizza crust chewy enough until I watched your video.

[supernerd12345]

"The sugar feeds of the yeast" yeah right - other way around. And the pre-fermented dough adds nothing!

[nserranob]

Why the F... do you call your self supernerd if you don't know sh... about food.

[supernerd12345]

He should stick to cooking and stay away from the "science." The water activates the gluten - wtf does that mean?

[tarhun]

Cooking is a science, at least the way he does it.

[Zdrastvooy]

God this guy is thorough, so talented. Anyone who has bought his book and seen things like a vacuum clear and cardboard box being used for a black forest gateau will see what i mean!