The Best Thing To Make With Overproofed Dough?
The Pizza Sandwich | La Mortazza | Foldy
How many times have you found yourself at the end of a pizza-making night with one or two rounds of deflated, tired dough on hand? What to do?
There are several courses of action, but perhaps the most delicious solution is something I’m only just learning about: the pizza sandwich.
You’ll find a brief history below, and in the video, you’ll find an overview of the process as well as three ideas for fillings and two more ideas for how to salvage overproofed dough:
The Pizza Sandwich | La Mortazza | Foldy
I have my friend, Christy Alia, who shared her Ooni oven wisdom in the first Pizza Every Friday post several weeks ago, to thank for introducing me to the pizza sandwich, which sent me down an Internet/Instagram rabbit hole to learn more.
From what I can tell, the trend can be traced to chef Evan Funke of Motherwolf in Los Angeles and one of his menu items, La Mortazza:
As you can see in the video, the process is very simple, and the result is heavenly: think fried dough meets focaccia, crisp on the exterior, light and airy throughout, perfect for housing all of your favorite sandwich fillings.
Evan refers to the sandwich as a “foldy”, and I love what he says — that it smiles at you — because a smile is exactly what I’ve seen every time I’ve pulled one from the oven.
The most fun part of the whole process is …
… peeling apart the crust to reveal this:
From here, the possibilities are endless. I’ve included three ideas below, but if you’re looking for even more inspiration there are so many good ideas on Instagram. Here are a few accounts to check out:
All of the above-linked pizza sandwiches were made in Ooni ovens, and they all look fantastic. I am a wimp in the winter and from here until June will likely rely on my Baking Steel and home oven for all pizza-ish creations. The recipe below is written for the home oven.
Here are three filling ideas:
Roasted Red Peppers + Burrata
Prosciutto + Arugula:
Roasted Butternut Squash + Whipped Ricotta:
What Else to Do With Overproofed Dough?
As noted in the video, the pizza sandwich is a great thing to make with overproofed dough. But at the end of a pizza night, when you’re trying to wrap up the evening, it’s unlikely you’ll then assemble a sandwich. But what you can do is this:
Make the pizza sandwich crust, let it cool completely, then tuck it into an airtight bag. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze the crust for a future use. Let it thaw at room temperature, then reheat it briefly before using to revive it: 350ºF for 15 minutes or so.
Re-ball the dough. This is perhaps the simplest option: take your overproofed dough, re-shape it into a ball, place it in an airtight container, and transfer it in the fridge for a future pizza night. (Guidance in the video above.)
Parbake the dough: I love doing this with my thin-crust pizza dough especially because the process of stretching out the round entails using a rolling pin, which depresses much of the air out anyway. There is video guidance in last week’s post, but the process is simple: Roll out the dough thinly, transfer to the oven (ideally onto a preheated Baking Steel), and bake for 60-90 seconds. Let cool completely. Transfer to an airtight bag (the 2-gallon size ziptop bags are handy here) and store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Questions? Suggestions?
New Logo
Before we get to the recipe, do you like the new logo? Artist Emma Make made it. I think she did a fantastic job.
How to Make a Pizza Sandwich
Yield = 1 (scale up as needed)
Find a printable version of this recipe here.
Notes:
Dough:
I unfortunately cannot give away my Neapolitan-style pizza dough recipe because it is in the yet-to-be released Pizza Night but this dough recipe will work beautifully here. Though I have only experimented using Neapolitan-style dough, you can use any style of dough here, so use what you have.
Equipment:
Parchment paper
Lidded vessel for proofing and storing dough (optional, but I love these)
Crust Ingredients:
One 245-250 gram Neapolitan-style (or other) pizza dough, see notes
Flour for dusting
Extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky sea salt
Filling Ingredients:
Roasted Red Peppers + Burrata:
Basil pesto
Burrata
Mixed greens
Extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky sea salt
Arugula + Prosciutto:
Crème fraîche
Prosciutto
Arugula
Extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky sea salt
Roasted Butternut Squash + Whipped Ricotta:
Ricotta
Flaky sea salt
Butternut squash
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Mixed greens
Instructions:
If you are using refrigerated dough, allow it to proof at room temperature in a covered vessel for 2 to 4 hours. If you are using room-temperature dough (as in dough that has risen once and has been portioned and balled up), you likely won’t need quite as long of a proof — aim for 1 hour.
Place a Baking Steel or pizza stone in the middle or top third of your oven and preheat it to 550ºF convection or as hot as it will go. Once the oven gets up to temperature, allow it to preheat for roughly 1 hour if time permits.
Lightly flour a work surface. Place the dough ball on the surface and pat and stretch into roughly a 10-inch round. You are not trying to create any sort of rim here — just pat the dough evenly all around.
Line a pizza peel with parchment paper. Transfer the dough to the prepared peel. Drizzle with olive oil then use a brush to distribute the oil evenly over the dough all the way to the edges.
Fold the dough in half. Drizzle with more olive oil then use a brush again to distribute the oil evenly over the top all the way to the edges. Season with a pinch of flaky sea salt.
Shimmy the dough, parchment paper and all, onto the Baking Steel or stone, and cook for roughly 5 to 6 minutes, or until browned to your liking.
Remove from the oven, transfer to a cutting board, and carefully open the crust.
From here, you can fill as you like. Here is some guidance:
For the Roasted Red Pepper + Burrata Sandwich:
Spread basil pesto to taste over one half of the crust. Line with a layer of roasted red peppes. Break a ball of burrata over the top — depending on the size, you won’t need all of it. Pile greens over the top. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with flaky sea salt. Close halve, and serve.
For the Arugula + Prosciutto Sandwich:
Spread crème fraîche to taste over one half of the crust. Top with a layer of prosciutto. Pile arugula over the top. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with flaky sea salt. Close, halve, and serve.
For the Roasted Butternut Squash + Whipped Ricotta Sandwich:
To make the whipped ricotta, place ricotta (I usually make 1-2 cups at a time) in a food processor, season with a pinch of flaky sea salt, and whip until light and smooth. Taste. Add more salt to taste. Lemon zest is nice here, too.
To make the roasted butternut squash, peel one small butternut squash, then cut it in half above the bulbous end. Slice the non-bulbous end thinly (⅛-¼ inch thick). Halve the bulbous end, scoop out the seeds, then slice the flesh similarly. Transfer the slices to a large sheet pan, toss with olive oil, and season generously with kosher salt. Roast at 425ºF until fork tender, 25-30 minutes.
Spread the whipped ricotta to taste over one half of the crust. Top with a layer of butternut squash slices. Pile greens over the top. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with flaky sea salt. Close halve, and serve.
(Personally, I thought this one needed something like some pickled peppers or something else … it was missing some acidity and texture.)
Any topic you’d like covered? Please let me know. See you next Friday 🍕🍕
How do I tell the dough is over proofed?
I think I may have the opposite problem. Sometimes I get a perfect pizza dough, and other times, it’s flat and like cardboard. How can I get the nice puffy crust all the time. What signs do I need to look for in the process?
PS: Loving your book! It’s been upping our pizza game. After 15 years of virtually the same boring pizza, we are now experiencing the best pizza on the block. (When the crust turns out!)