Pizza: 3 Day Ferment…

Tags

cold ferment, homemade pizza, pizza

I made two more pizzas from the same batch of dough, only now the dough has had a three day cold ferment…  The dough balls are about 285g.

The oven set up remained the same:  An oven rack was positioned at the second from the top setting and a 1″ terracotta tile was placed on this rack.  On top of the terracotta tile, I placed a 1/2″ Baking Steel.  The oven was set to “bake” and pre-heated for 1 hour before I cooked the first pizza.

The oven hit a maximum of about 280C before cycling off again.  I have had difficulty getting the grill to turn on once the oven is up to temperature, so I had to time the cooking so that the pizza was launched onto the pizza stone as the oven cycled back on.

I pulled the pizza dough out of the refrigerator at the same time I turned on the oven, so the dough was shaped and had a final proof of about 45 minutes before I baked the first pie.  The dough was more extensible and slightly less elastic and could definitely ferment for at least one more day.

Pizza Margherita: Fresh tomato sauce, fiore di latte, fresh basil, grated Grana Padano

The pizza was launched onto the pizza stone at the beginning of the heating cycle.  The pizza baked for approximately 6 minutes with the oven set to “bake” and the temperature set to the maximum setting.  The pizza was turned half way through cooking.  Good oven spring on the cornicione.  Only light browning in spots on the crust – probably because I have not been able to get the grill to turn on to preheat the stone prior to launching the pizza.

Pizza con Pepperoni e Blue Cheese: Fresh tomato sauce, fiore di latte, blue cheese, pepperoni, red onion

The pizza was launched onto the pizza stone at the beginning of the heating cycle.  The pizza baked for approximately 6 minutes with the oven set to “bake” and the temperature set to the maximum setting.  The pizza was turned halfway through cooking.  Good oven spring on the cornicione.  Only light browning in spots on the crust.

Cornicione

These pizzas had great oven spring.  The cornicione had decent colouring and a wonderful soft, chewy texture.

This pizza dough fermented very nicely over three days and could have easily fermented for four or possibly 5 days.

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Pizza: Two Day Ferment…

Tags

baking steel, homemade pizza, pizza

I made two pizzas tonight from the same batch of dough as yesterday, only now the dough has had a two day ferment…  I should mention these are all about 285g dough balls.

I changed the oven set up:  I moved the oven rack down one notch and placed the 1/2 inch Baking Steel directly on top of a 1″ terracotta paving stone.  I set the oven to “high” and preheat for 1 hour.  The oven hit a maximum of about 280C, a bit higher than yesterday’s high temperatures of about 255C.  This is in our domestic electric static oven.  The oven temperature still seems a bit low for some reason.

What toppings do you want on your pizza?

Tonight I pulled the pizza dough out of the fridge at the same time I turned on the oven, so the dough was shaped and had a final proof for about 45 minutes before I baked the first pie.  The first dough ball was still very elastic and not as extensible as I would have liked.

Pizza Margherita

The pizza was launched onto the pizza stone at the beginning of the heating cycle.  Pizza baked for approximately 6 minutes with oven set on “bake.”  Good oven spring on cornicione.  Some light leopard spotting on crust.

Pizza con Taleggio, Prosciutto Cotto, e Salt Cured Caper.

The pizza was launched at the beginning of the heating cycle.  Pizza baked for approximately 6 minutes.  Good oven spring on cornicione.  Some light leopard spotting on crust.

With this oven set up on the second highest rack, the pizza stone ends up a bit farther from the top element, aproximately 10cm below.  I would most likely get a better result by moving the pizza stone closer to the top element.

Pizza, Oh How I Miss You!

Tags

homemade pizza, lardo, olive, pizza, sopressa

The first pizzas from our new place in Lyall Bay.

For those interested in such things…

Baker’s percentages:

Flour:  100%

Salt:       1.8%

Yeast:     0.2% (active dry yeast, 1/2 tsp.)

Water:   70%

I made up a 2 Kg batch of dough, so flour: 1154g; salt: 21g; yeast: 2g (1/2 tsp.); water: 808g.

Method:

1154g flour (115g stoneground white/stoneground wholewheat 1/2 & 1/2 + 1039g strong white flour – or, just use all strong white flour, it works fine.)

1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

743g water @ 25.5C

Mix together in a large bowl.  Once incorporated, cover and autolyse for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add 21g salt + 80g water and incorporate.

Cover and let rest for 30 minutes

After 30 minutes, fold in three parts, then divide into 7 portions of about 285g each.

After dividing, place dough in fridge to cold ferment for at least 24 hours.

These pizzas were baked in a standard home electric static oven on a 1/2 inch Baking Steel on the highest rack in an oven preheated on high for 1 hour.

Unfortunately, in this oven, the thermocouple is placed at the very top of the oven and I believe that with the steel plate, the heat was reflected onto the probe and the oven cut out at a low temperature of about 260C (temperatures were monitored via thermocouple placed at the surface level of the Baking Steel.  I’m still waiting for a non-contact infrared thermometer…).

Pizza Margharita.  Even 45 minutes after shaping, dough was very elastic and difficult to stretch.  Pizza was baked for approximately 8 minutes.  crust was leopard spotted.  Cornicione had great oven spring.  I could not get the grill to fire even with the oven door slightly ajar.

Pizza con Sopressa e olive Pizza.  1 hour after shaping, dough was a bit easier to stretch.  Pizza cooked for approximately 8 minutes.  Crust was leopard spotted.  Cornicione had great oven spring.  I could not get the grill to fire even with the oven door slightly ajar. 😦

Pizza con Lardo.  Approximately 1 hour 15 minutes after shaping, dough was much easier to stretch.  This time I timed the pizza with the oven cycle – when the oven element began to glow again, I launched the pizza onto the Baking Steel.  Oven was set to bake.  Pizza was cooked for approximately 5 minutes.  Crust was leopard spotted.  Cornicione had great oven spring.

Three Pizzas

Tags

baking steel, homemade pizza, mozzarella, pizza, pizza margherita

Pizza Margherita

Pizza dough one day ferment (warm weather and very active starter). Cooked in about 4:30 minutes on Baking Steel.

Pizza Margherita Cornicione

 

Pizza Prosciutto e Funghi

One day ferment.  About 4:45 minutes on Baking Steel.

Pizza Salami & Olive

One day ferment.  About 5 minutes on Baking Steel.  I was quite proud of this pizza until I realised I meant to add mozzarella.  Still a good pizza!