20 Comments
Oct 25Liked by Alexandra Stafford

Alexandra- I can’t wait to try this pizza. Just made the dough and will bake this weekend. I love broccoli rabe. Thank you for this great idea. Also, I recently was trying to figure out how to make a sesame crust that I have had at two local pizzerias.

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Nov 12Liked by Alexandra Stafford

This is my second time making your focaccia like dough and it is super super active, sticky and hard to handle. I could not get a “tight ball” or even fit both hands around it for the cupping step. Then after I put it in the fridge, within an hour it was pushing the top off the container I had it in! I’m a total amateur so there could easily be something I’m missing, but would love to know if this is normal :)

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Hi! This is definitely a wet, sticky dough, but, as you can see from the video, you should still be able to get the mixture into a ball. Questions:

Are you using a scale to measure?

What type of flour are you using?

Do you live in a humid environment?

How large (in quarts) was the vessel you used to store the dough?

We'll get to the bottom of it!

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Thank you so much for the response! I did find your videos super helpful and will try those techniques next time.

I did measure when making the dough, but not when dividing it. I’m using regular all-purpose flour, and I’m in the mid-Atlantic — it’s fairly humid here, but the weather has just started to turn so it’s more dry than it was in the summer now.

I was using a 1-quart Pyrex, but transferred the dough to a 2-quart after a day and that seems to have helped too! I think that when I’ve refrigerated dough in the past, it basically has not expanded at all. So I was expecting very little growth, and was surprised to see how eager this one was to get out.

Thank you again and I will keep trying!

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Oct 27Liked by Alexandra Stafford

even better reheated for breakfast the next day. divine!

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author

Woohoo!

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Oct 27Liked by Alexandra Stafford

signed, sealed, delivered! had a bunch of broccoli rabe languishing in the fridge, straight from an italian shop in pittsburgh. and in came your recipe. spent a relaxing morning and afternoon preparing the parts and it all came together beautifully. the sesame crust is fabulous, ali. my one mistake was that i subbed in "00" flour and it made the dough too wet. but my experience helped me to just keep on and it worked out fine. thank you for another creative, simple, brilliant recipe, ali. always appreciate

your efforts. the leftovers are going to be so yummy tomorrow! (the mikes honey is a sublime touch)

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Glad you were able to fix the dough, Jude! 00 flour is tricky for sure... it's a beautiful flour but definitely makes for a wetter dough. So glad you were able to find a happy home for your broccoli rabe. It's becoming one of my favorite pizza toppings, and I especially love it for grandmas and Sicilians.

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Oct 26Liked by Alexandra Stafford

Love a sesame crust :O!!!!

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Oct 26Liked by Alexandra Stafford

Hi Alexandra - could I use a single batch of the simple sourdough pizza crust instead for this recipe?

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author

You could! That will make for a thicker crust. You need roughly 525 grams of dough for this Grandma pizza (which will be about half of that recipe), but if you use the whole amount of dough, it will be more like a Sicilian. Also keep in mind that the simple sourdough pizza is slightly lower hydration, so the crust might not be as light and airy, but it will still be delicious. Finally, if you use the whole amount of dough, I would follow the parbaking instructions in this Sicilian pizza recipe: https://pizzaeveryfriday.substack.com/p/the-best-pizza-for-a-crowd

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Oct 26Liked by Alexandra Stafford

all the things. This looks amazing. AND I really want to go to Nashville! Would love to hear about the wildness!

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Cay, what was crazy to me was that I was just there on a random Friday night, and it felt like the entire city (and beyond) was out. Broadway St, which is closed to traffic, was packed edge to edge with people, and there seemed to be live music in every single bar/restaurant, and every single one was spilling out with people. It was just so lively! Lots of party buses cruising the streets, lots of mechanical bulls seen through windows :)

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Oct 25Liked by Alexandra Stafford

I had already planned on making a broccoli rabe pizza for dinner tomorrow and here it is. 😊

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Oh my goodness, you had me at hello! I just pulled your new book out for my husband today and said it's been far too long since we made pizza, and then this landed. It hits all the notes I adore--seseame, broccoli rabe (love bitter, it's my favorite flavor!) and that golden crust. It's all the things we need this weekend.

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Oct 25Liked by Alexandra Stafford

This will be such a fun addition to the pizza repertoire. I just discovered that my local hardware store will deliver and assemble the Gozney oven of my choice for free. So now, which one!?

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Oct 25Liked by Alexandra Stafford

love the sesame crust!

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Oct 25Liked by Alexandra Stafford

This is immediately going on the menu for next week's pizza. Coincidentally I am making another sesame forward pizza tonight: https://chatelaine.com/recipe/pizza/dany-pizza/

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Spicy honey on that one too! It looks fantastic. Thanks for sending.

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