KNEAD TO KNOW with AUDREY KELLY In Crust We Trust E Discover how to achieve a light and chewy finished crust very time I look at social media, I am bombarded with pictures of pizza crust close-ups. People displaying the huge air pockets in a cross section of crust, also known as a cornicione. Don't get me wrong, I like a good crust shot as much as anyone, but what is it that they are really showing off ? Proper fermentation. For me, this is what creating the perfect dough boils down to. You can use all of the right ingredients but if your dough is not properly fermented then you're not going to have the light and chewy crust that is so desirable. To understand just how to achieve your perfect cornicione, it is important to understand the fundamentals of dough production and a few crucial steps that should not be left out in order to create the perfect dough. They all center around fermentation: the initial bulk rise, doing an autolyse and the final rise. 2 0 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / M A R C H 2 0 2 1 020_PIZ_0321_KK.indd 20 2/10/21 12:32 PMhttp://www.PIZZATODAY.COM