Craig's Neapolitan Garage

[hotsawce]

Craig,

The pie with the lemon...how thick are those lemon slices and you left everything, including the rind on? You just eat it straight like that?

[TXCraig1]

The lemon slices were as thin as I could slice them with an absolutely razor sharp knife. Any thinner and they fell apart.

I put them on rind and all and ate it just like that. I liked it with the zest, pith and all. I thought it was a nice contrast to the fat in the cheese and to the smoke in the pie with the smoked mozz. Notwithstanding, I'm going to experiment with using the rind (zest) only. When I maranate cheese, I always add lemon zest.

CL

[flyboy4ual]

Thanks Craig for the cheese explanation.  I will try that on my next pies.

Scott D.

[TXCraig1]

Thanks Scott.

I've been using a relatively inexpensive mass-produced fresh mozz from our local store. Galbani Mozzerella Fresca is the brand. It's nothing special. It's 4 balls about 2oz each packed in water. I try to find the ones with the farthest our expiration date and they seem to be less waterlogged.

I use two balls per pie (250-270g dough). I tear each by hand into maybe 20 or so pieces (you can probably get an approximate count from the pictures keeping in mind that some have run together)? I've never counted. I try to make them about the same size, but I think it looks good if there is some variation. I used to do less larger pieces, but I think I like more smaller pieces better. I've tried cutting it with a knife, but I don't like the look anywhere near as well. When torn by hand, the edge seems to melt into the sauce, and you get that look where it's hard to tell exactly where the sauce stops and the cheese starts. Cut pieces seem to have a distinct edge when melted. I try to place the pieces fairly evenly over the surface of the pie that is covered with sauce. I'll try to gemember to snap some pictures of a pie pre-bake next time.
 
For non-margherita-style pies, I use the fresh mozz log from the same people and slice it like this: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,14271.0.html

CL

Here are some pics before going into the oven:

[TXCraig1]

Tonight's pies:

100% Caputo
62% water
2.8% salt
1.7% Ischia culture

I mixed until it cleaned the walls in my K5 w/ dough hook then 30 or so more turns. 6 or so folds on the counter, 10 minutes rest, then 6 more folds, then into the tubs. 30 hours at 62F. then balled and 6 more hours at 75F. Baked at 850F for ~70-90 seconds (shorter as the night went on). Near perfect texture and bite. My guests universally said these were the best pies they had ever eaten. I think P1, P3, and P5 were some of the best looking pies I've baked.

The reason some of the crusts look a little more yellow than others is I was having flash problems, and without the flash and just a longer exposure (thank goodness for VR), they look a little yellow.

CL

[TXCraig1]

More pics:

[Jackie Tran]

Dang Craig!  I like the look of your latest crust.  I'm mixing up dough as we speak and it's almost friggin' midnight.   Doing a party on Saturday BUT I do have some starter ready to go and I do have a new bag of caputo on hand.  So I must try again.

[pennygirl]

Would purchase.

[dellavecchia]

They are perfection Craig. What cheese are you using? The melt is stunning - like bufala.

John

[BrickStoneOven]

Craig how do you do your shroom pies? Is there a thin layer of a white sauce?

[TXCraig1]

They are perfection Craig. What cheese are you using? The melt is stunning - like bufala.

John

Thanks, John.

Galbani Mozzerella Fresca is the brand -4 balls about 2oz each packed in water. It's about all I can get near my house, so I'm lucky it works OK.

CL

[TXCraig1]

Craig how do you do your shroom pies? Is there a thin layer of a white sauce?

No white sauce. It's just mozz (fresh, but not packed in water), mushrooms, parm or grana, and black pepper. I finish with white truffle oil after baking. It's a really good combo,.

CL

[norma427]

Craig,

All your pies look stunning!    Wish I could have tasted at least a slice.

Norma

[TXCraig1]

I forgot to note above that the pie below is the first to come out of the oven that was made by someone other than me. The guy who made it did it all himself - and it was the first pizza he ever made.

CL

[TXCraig1]

Craig,

All your pies look stunning!    Wish I could have tasted at least a slice.

Norma

Thanks Norma.

[TXCraig1]

Thanks, John.

Galbani Mozzerella Fresca is the brand -4 balls about 2oz each packed in water. It's about all I can get near my house, so I'm lucky it works OK.

CL

Also, I've been cutting the balls in half and placing them, cut side down on a couple layers of paper towels to drain for an hour or so before using.

CL

[Jet_deck]

I forgot to note above that the pie below is the first to come out of the oven that was made by someone other than me. The guy who made it did it all himself - and it was the first pizza he ever made.

CL

It was either the guy who buried the forklift in your yard, or one of the boys?

[TXCraig1]

It was either the guy who buried the forklift in your yard, or one of the boys?

No - actually my boss (and I don't mean my wife  ).

[pizzablogger]

Simply Bravo!

Is the bottom one a little more what the crust color looked like IRL?

[pizzablogger]

Definitely need to get out the Spyder and re-calibrate my monitor....