Pizza and Beer
Beer and Pizza. You know it’s meant to be. We’ve been making pizza here almost as long as making beer. Before the brewer went pro, his weekends involved making bread at home for the family. Sourdough, semi-sours (which I will talk about later), rye bread and crusty italian styles were a staple in our house.
I’m planning to make bread again at the brewery to share with you all.
A really good book on baking bread is “The Village Baker” by Joe Ortiz (ISBN 9780898159165).
Our Cubby Haus pizzas are made onsite – by the brewer, using our beer which adds depth to the flavour. We experimented with brewers yeast but this was all too unruly with inconsistent results and at one tenth the price, bakers yeast is the way to go.
The Recipe.
Our regular pizzas weigh 240g pre-baking and are dinner plate sized, making them a medium crust base. We par-bake the bases every Friday ready for weekend service.
Like our beer, we use traditional ingredients and methods. The beer conditioning room is used for proofing the dough. It’s a constant 18 degrees so makes it easy to control the rise. We do a long first and short second rise – to fit in with our schedule. 16 hours first rise and 3 for the second.
To make 6 bases,
- Add 8g bakers yeast (3g if using old dough) to 100ml water at 30C. After 10 minutes, add 5g sugar
- To the mixer add:
- 250ml beer – English Oatmeal Stout is best
- 150ml water
- 800g flour
- 15g salt
- 25g olive oil
- 200g old dough (optional)
- Add the yeast slurry and mix on low until smooth and glossy
- We also add 200g old dough from last week, which adds a little complexity to the dough, optional.
- Rise in a warm spot under a wet tea towel overnight
- In the morning, weigh and ball the dough and allow it to rise for 3 hours (your times may vary unless you have a warm beer conditioning room)
- 240g for regular pizza and 120g for small
- Roll out each base, spike and par-cook. It takes us about 5 minutes at 180C in our oven. You want the base firm, without colour.
- Cool and refrigerate until needed.
Too much like hard work? Pop in to Cubby Haus for a pizza and beer instead…
Our Range
Our pizzas are made fresh and to order, so mix them up any way you like…
Margherita
Basil, parsley, tomato, mozzarella & passata
Hawaiian
Pineapple, olives, ham, mozzarella & passata
Mexicana
Fresh chilli, olives, capsicum, hot salami, mozzarella & passata
Capricciosa
Olives, mushroom, anchovy, red onion, ham, mozzarella & passata
Pepperoni
Pepperoni, parmesan, pepper, mozzarella & passata
Brekky
Bacon, egg, mushroom, mozzarella & passata, pepper, oregano
Chicken Barbecue
Chicken, BBQ sauce, mushroom,
red onion, mozzarella & passata
Vegetarian
Potato, seasonal vegetables, feta, olives, herbs, mozzarella & passata
Garlic & Herb
Garlic butter, herbs from the brewers garden and a sprinkling of mozzarella
Our kitchen makes more than just pizza. We do pork ribs, chips and other light meals with always something new in the works. Check out our full menu here.