Pizza Nerdery: Diastatic Malt Powder for Color and Oven Spring

Posted by on
Via Adam Kuban on his Instagram handle (story)
For years, I've been poking around this thread (and the various sub-threads) on PizzaMaking.com that focus on Chicago-style thin crust (aka Tavern pizza) and in various places, posters have occasionally mentioned using diastatic malt powder - or sometimes non-diastatic - in their dough formulations.  And while I've been intrigued, I've never gone out and procured the stuff, let alone find out where I could buy it locally. 

But then, this happened over the weekend on Instagram.  Slice (RIP) Head Honcho and "pizza influencer" Adam Kuban posted this upskirt and description in his recent stories.  I screenshot it above.  (You can follow Adam here on Instagram.  Or you can learn more about his pop-up Margot's Pizza here.)

He called out that he added diastatic malt powder for oven spring and color.  Color, people?!?!  That's one of the things that I've been working on over the years is a consistent undercarriage that looks a lot like what he's holding up there.  I make my own version of tavern-cut Chicago thin that uses a modified Detroit-style approach crossed with some things that I've learned from watching how Aurelio's makes their skins (lets them dry out on top while they proof in the pan) and, of course, topped with Chellino Scamorza cheese. 

Off to find this stuff and incorporate it into my formulations to see what kind of impact it has on my pizza making.  If I can reliably produce an undercarriage that looks like the one above, while maintaining the rest of the pieces of the puzzle - which I'm quite happy with - I'll be one step closer to achieving my Chicago thin-crust touchstone pie and can move on working on another style. 

Comments

  1. jborlandDecember 28, 2020 at 7:58 AM

    Did you find the diastatic malt powder? I'm looking for a place to buy it locally (not online) and I can't for the life of me find one.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Be nice to each other here.

Popular posts from this blog

Lou Malnati's Salad Dressing Recipe as Published in the 60's

Posted by on
Image
Earlier this winter, I wrote about the old Lou Malnati's menu and mentioned that as I was waiting around for my pie to finish up, I spied an old Chicago Tribune article posted on the wall that included the original Lou Malnati's Italian Salad Dressing Recipe.  The Tribune reporter called it "prized".  We were set to host a little pizza party over the weekend, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Here's the article as seen through my mobile phone's camera. I'm not a wine drinker, so the fact that the recipe called for Burgundy wine didn't strike me as odd.  I went shopping at Angelo Caputos in Addison - a really incredible shopping experience - and when I got to the wine section I found Burgundy wine was carried ONLY in those HUGE jugs.  And they were dirt cheap.  The only issue is that needed just 4 ounces.  We ended up with a whole-lotta-wine that Nat won't drink. I've taken the recipe and modified it a bit by eliminating the percentage...
Read more

Tom Thayer's Italian Beef Recipe

Posted by on
Image
TOM’S TAILGATER ITALIAN BEEF COURTESY OF Steve Dahl  and  DAHL.COM Ingredients: One 3 ½ to 4 pound boneless beef chuck pot roast One package of Zesty Italian Salad Dressing and Recipe Mix One 16 oz. jar of hot giardiniera One 16 oz. jar of mild giardiniera One dozen baguettes (French rolls) Directions: In a four-quart Crock-Pot, pour in one bottle of giardiniera. Place the roast on top of the layer of giardiniera. Sprinkle the salad dressing mixture on top of the roast. Add the second bottle of giardiniera to the top of the roast. Cover Crock-Pot and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. When fork tender, shred the roast in the Crock-Pot and allow it to combine with the other ingredients. Slice the baguettes in half and pile on the beef and giardiniera mixture. ------------------------------------ For the babe's baptism party, we hosted a collection of family and friends back at our house after the church proceedings. We ordered some of t...
Read more

Overwintering Disneyland Roses With Leaf Mulch - Floribunda Roses - December 2024

Posted by on
Image
Yesterday, I posted photos of how I'm attempting to overwinter some Dahlia tubers in the ground and in a couple of those pics, you might have peeked at the chicken wire cages next to the piles of mulch on the dahlia tubers.  Those chicken wire cages are full of fallen leaves and are set on top of the three Disneyland Rose crowns along the southside of our house. See below for a couple of photos showing how I set up the ring of chicken wire and filled it with mulched-up leaves: These roses struggled this year, so here's hoping this little bit of extra Winter protection is going to help them get through the cold.
Read more