Peter’s Blog, August 8th — Alright, Controversy!!
I’m packing and getting ready for the big book launch over the next two weeks in SF and the Bay Area, so will keep this short. The schedule is listed below in my previous Peter’s Blog, if any of you can make it to any of the classes or book signings. There are still a few seats left for the classes but you’ll have to call the venues for more info.
But this week I think we’re going to have to address the controversy that emerged in the Comments section of my last posting, thanks to someone named Scott007 and a few other voices, including another Scott — Scott123. It’s actually kind of exciting — apparently, I’ve pissed a few people off and am not sure why but would sure like to find out what I did (if you aren’t up to speed, please check out the Comments thread in the recent Peter’s Blog — last time I checked there were 14 comments). So, what I’d like to do is open up the discussion here on this posting, via a new Comments section, the one on this posting, and ask any and all of you to chime in. If I’ve trashed NY pizza culture, as Scott123 accuses, or passed on misinformation about pizza methodology or dough science, let’s get it all on the table so we can clear it up. Scott(s), how about getting specific and make your case — I hear that 123 is a well respected pizza authority so maybe I have something to learn from you. None of us have a monopoly on the whole truth and Pizza Quest was created to be a forum for the sharing of our mutual pizza journeys and celebration of artisanship. I’m open to learn from you but also would like to know the actual specifics of where you think I went wrong, rather than generalized attacks. The only rule for this discussion is civility — I reserve the right to edit out ad hominum attacks, unnecessary language, and nasty language. But differences of opinion — sure, I’m okay with that. So, for those who want to play along, go ahead and express yourselves — but let’s do it respectfully, please.
I won’t be posting another Peter’s Blog till I return at the end of the month, but will try to join in the Comments section from the road if my i-Pad and local WiFi will allow it. In the meantime, let’s get to the heart of it — we’re on a search for the truth (or, perhaps, truths). Let the discussion begin….
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Peter, don’t lose any sleep over it, the Internet is full of people who post nasty stuff, almost always anonymously.
I will continue to recommend your books to anyone who asks about them (eg, on the King Arthur forums) and the ones I don’t have yet are on my wish list. I am also looking forward to the new GF book, even though I wasn’t able to do much testing for you on it, and I’m sure a copy will be in my GF daughter-in-law’s Christmas stocking.
Peter:
Your recipe for NY style pizza, posted on this site, includes the following:
“If you can get high-gluten flour, such as King Arthur’s Sir Lancelot, that’s the ideal choice. If not, then use unbleached bread flour.”
“Always use unbleached flour for better flavor but, if you only have bleached flour it will still work even if it doesn’t taste quite as good. If you want to make it more like a New Haven-style dough (or like Totonno’s or other coal-oven pizzerias), add 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.”
This is misleading. Cont:
The famous coal oven pizzerias, like Totonno’s, don’t use sugar or oil. More importantly, most, if not all of the classic coal oven and NY slice-style establishments do not use unbleached flour. Most use bleached, bromated high gluten flour such as All Trumps, or bleached, bromated medium gluten flour such as Full Strength. Pepe’s, (New Haven style) uses, I believe, Spring King, similar to Full Strength.
Bromate is the key to NY style pizza, the missing link, as it were. Outside of Naples, the greatest pizzas in the world were made with bromated flour. The original Lombardi’s used a medium strength, bleached, bromated flour. Why is this never discussed? You can make decent NY pizza without bromated flour, but it is difficult. I struggled for years with sub par pies and KA flour, until I discovered bromate. Cont:
Bromate, an oxidizing agent that improves handling, browning, crispiness, and oven spring, and is far superior to ascorbate in this regard, has a bad reputation because it has been discovered to cause cancer in rats fed unholy quantities of the stuff.
There have been no studies linking products made with bromated flour to cancer in humans. A recent study by Bushuk and Hlynka shows that dough made with flour with a bromate quantity of 10 ppm retains 3.84 ppm bromate after five minutes of baking at 220C (428F). A dough made with flour that has a bromate quantity of 20 ppm retains 11.01 ppm bromate after five minutes of baking at 220C (428F). Beyond five minutes of baking, there is ZERO. General Mills bromated flours, such as All Trumps and Full Strength, contain 8-16 ppm bromate.
This study contradicts an earlier study one by Lee and Tkachuk that found greater quantities of residual bromate in baked dough. When given the opportunity to respond, Lee and Tkachuk confirmed the later study, and admitted their error in an addendum.
The char on the cornicione of a Neopolitan pizza is more carcinogenic than bromated flour. So is black pepper.
Leaving bromated flour out of a discussion of NY pizza is like leaving wild yeast out of a discussion of SF sourdough. A dispassionate, even handed discussion of the issue by a popular author would go a long way towards dispelling hysteria, helping the amateur home pizza maker, and perhaps creating a retail market for the product.