Pizza at home: Baking Steel

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baking steel, basil, bread, fior di latte, margherita, mozzarella, pizza, pizza stone, romana, the potted kitchen garden, thyme

Disclaimer: To bake great pizza in a home oven requires a bit of experimentation for best results for your oven. Every home oven is different. This is what I have worked out for my home oven and my style of pizza. Your oven will be different. What works best for my oven may not work best for your oven or for your style of pizza.

In the last pizza post, I documented baking pizzas in a home oven using the Lodge Cast Iron Pizza Stone.  In my home oven, even the relatively thin cast iron pizza stone created greater oven spring and better leopard spotting on my pizzas.  This time I take it a step further and begin experimenting with A36 steel.  Steel has a slightly higher heat transfer rate than cast iron and a 1/2 inch thick piece of steel will hold considerably more heat than the relatively thin cast iron of the Lodge Cast Iron Pizza Stone.

I placed a 1/2 inch Baking Steel approximately 8 centimeters from the top broiler of my oven, on top of a terra cotta paving tile.

Oven setup for 1/2 inch Baking Steel, located approximately 8 cm below electric broiler element.

My current go to pizza dough recipe is the Basic Country Bread recipe from Chad Robertson’s Tartine Bread: just flour, water, salt, and leaven (from wild sourdough culture) at around 78% hydration (I suppose that would be about 80% total hydration if you account for the leaven which is at 100% hydration). I typically fold the dough once after 30 minutes, then divide the dough into 280g portions and place each portion in a separate container and place in the fridge to ferment. I typically bake with the dough anywhere from a 1-4 day fermentation.

Tartine Bread: simplified recipe notes (I add an additional 80g of water with the salt.)

I decided I to bake two pizzas and set up my mise en place.

The oven was set to high and preheated for at least one hour. Just before baking a pizza, I set the oven to broil and let the upper element heat to glowing before stretching the dough.

After shaping, I waited 30 minutes before stretching the first dough ball.  I have consistently found the dough to be more relaxed after about 45 minutes after shaping and much easier to stretch.  I need to remember to time the shaping to a minimum of 45 minutes prior to stretching and baking the first pizza.

One day sourdough ferment.

After stretching the dough, I made the first pizza and launched it onto the Baking Steel.

Pizza Romana: Tomato sauce, fior di latte, red onion, capers, anchovie, Kalamata olive, fresh thyme.

I removed the pizza when the first spots on the cornicione were just turned black: 3 minutes, 26 seconds. The pizza was removed to a cooling rack for two minutes to preserve crispness of the crust before plating and slicing.

Pizza Romana upskirt

Even after less than 4 minutes, the crust was browned evenly and the cornicione was beautifully soft and airy.

After letting the oven temperature recover, I once again switched the oven to broil and prepped the next pizza.

Pizza Margherita: Uncooked tomato sauce, fior di latte, fresh basil

I removed the pizza from the oven when the first dark spots on the crust turned dark black: 4 minutes, 42 seconds. The pizza was removed to a wire rack to cool for two minutes to preserve crispness of the crust.

Pizza Margherita upskirt

The cornicione was sufficiently cooked and reasonably light and airy. Bear in mind this was just a one day sourdough ferment. Later pizzas should have better development and leopard spotting, especially after 3-4 days.

Pizza Margherita cornicione

Note:  As with a proper woodfired oven, the pizzas need to be turned at least once during baking for even cooking.  I did not turn these pizzas, hence the uneven cooking.

I still do not have a non-contact infra-red thermometer, so was unable to check the temperature of the stone just prior to launching the pizza. I hope to buy one soon…

I was very happy with how these two pizzas turned out, even after just a one day sourdough ferment. Today’s pizza on the Baking Steel seems to have already outperformed the Lodge Cast Iron pizza stone. I look forward to baking more pizzas over the next several days.

Pizza! Pizza!

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baking, brussels sprouts, champagne ham, fior di latte, garlic, italian, parmigiano-reggiano, pizza, pizza stone, sourdough, taleggio

Ham & Cheese: Crushed Tomatoes, Champagne Ham, Fior Di Latte, Taleggio

Brussels Sprouts & Sopressata: Fior Di Latte, Brussels Sprouts, Sopressata, Garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Hello Pizza, My Old Friend!

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baking, basil, extra virgin olive oil, fior di latte, italian, pizza, pizza stone, sourdough

It’s been a while since I last made pizza, as I put my sourdough starter into deep freeze in January. It’s been a long time. Too long.

I mixed up a batch of pizza dough this morning. I usually let the dough cold ferment for at least three days before I make a pizza, but it’s been so long I couldn’t wait…

Pizza Margherita: Chopped tomato, Fior Di Latte, Basil, and a Well Deserved Drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

36 Hour Sourdough Pizza

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aubergine, basil, cheese, cold ferment, fior di latte, grana padano, italian, kalamata olives, pizza, pizza stone, red onion, sourdough, tartine basic country sourdough, thyme

I pulled out the sourdough retarding in the refrigerator and divided it into three 260g portions. I folded and shaped the dough balls and let them rest while the oven warmed and I prepped the toppings.

When the oven came to temperature I switched the oven from bake to broil and made the first pie.

One portion was a bit smaller than the others, so I made a bambino pizza with Kalamata olives, red onion, fresh thyme, and freshly grated Grana Padano.

The next pie was topped with a bit of fior di latte, roasted melanzana, and freshly grated Grana Panano.

The last pie was topped with fior di latte, Kalamata olives, red onion, fresh thyme, freshly grated Grana Padano, and basil.

These pies cooked in about 6-7 minutes. I had some of the best oven spring I’ve ever had out of this dough. Next time I’ll mix the dough and probably give it four turns over two hours at room temperature, then bung it in the refrigerator for two to three days before using.

Sourdough Adventures: Sourdough Pizza

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basil, cold ferment, fior di latte, italian, pizza, pizza stone, scamorza, sourdough, tartine basic country sourdough

I have pizza withdrawal. I have not made pizza since I started making sourdough bread.

I drove to the farmer’s market at La Cigale and picked up fresh basil and some fantastic fior di latte and scamorza made locally by Italian Cheeses.

My first try making sourdough pizza dough…

I made a 2kg batch of sourdough, same as I do for my Tartine Basic Country Bread. After bulk fermentation was complete, I shaped 400g portions of dough into balls and let them bench rest for 40 minutes, whilst the oven came to temperature and I prepared the toppings.

I reserved enough dough to make two more pizzas and stored it in the fridge for a longer, cold ferment. I would normally have let the whole batch ferment for two or three days, but I really wanted to make some pizza the same day, purely for testing purposes…

The cornicione had good flavour. I may have to play around a bit to get the bulk fermentation timing right. The dough balls had good extensibility, but lacked some elasticity, perhaps due to too short a bulk fermentation or too long a bench rest. The dough may have benefited from a second shaping and bench rest to make up for a short bulk fermentation.

The cornicione showed decent oven spring, but I need to work out proper temps and timing with my oven, cooking on a terracotta paving stone. The electric home oven I currently use does not hold a high temperature very well. I may need to move the stones to a lower position in the oven. It is also difficult to get the stone to a high enough temperature to get much colour on the bottom of the crust.

The oven is set at the highest temperature setting and allowed to warm up for 1 hour. Just before I start to stretch a dough ball, I switch the oven to broil. These pizzas were in the oven for between 6-8 minutes.

I may make a couple more pizzas tonight to see how the dough handles after a 36 hour fermentation.

For my next batch, I may turn the dough every 1/2 hour for the first two hours, then store the dough in the fridge for 1-5 days.

Morgan, Pizza, and Bread

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baking, basil, bread, dog, extra virgin olive oil, fior di latte, italian, jim lahey no knead dough, lemon, morgan, no knead dough, pizza, pizza bianca, white pizza

I had pizza dough getting happy in the fridge. You know what that means…

I opened up a bottle of wine and made pizza. I was not so happy with how the dough was responding. It didn’t brown as fast or as much as I would have liked. Perhaps the fridge was too cool for the three day ferment, or the oven was not hot enough, or I was too timid to let it cook long enough. All part of learning to work with a living thing.

I formed the balls of dough and let them rest for an hour before I started making pies. The first balls are always the most difficult to stretch, as they have the least amount of time to relax. Unfortunately, my oven has difficulty maintaining heat, so when the oven is at it’s prime, I’m stretching the most difficult dough to work with and by the time I get to the last dough ball, the oven has cooled. Oh, well. If only I had a pizza oven…

I wanted to try something different for one of the pizzas. I made a white pizza with smoked mozzarella, lemon, basil, and olive oil. I liked the combination, but the smoked cheese I used was only lightly smoked, so it’s flavour was covered by the lemon. Next time I’ll either top it with more cheese or look for one with more flavour.

This morning I played with the dog for a bit before baking.

100g unbleached, organic, stone ground white flour, 464g High Grade white flour, 2% salt, 0.25% active dry yeast, 75% hydration, 24 hour bulk ferment, 70 minute proof, 30 minutes in a covered cast iron cloche @ 250C and 24 minutes uncovered @ 225C.

This time I remembered to score the dough before I put it in the oven.

Tonight I’m going to try making a leaven from my new wild yeast culture and try baking a boule tomorrow, if I’m lucky…