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[Infoodel]

Recent pies.
Some of my more recent pies in a neapolitan-style.
Still experimenting to get the heat right, which can result in some hairy oven antics (crust on one of the pies literally caught on fire tonight  ). Anyway, I'm still learning (do we ever stop?)
Cheers,
Toby

[Matthew]

Recent pies.
Some of my more recent pies in a neapolitan-style.
Still experimenting to get the heat right, which can result in some hairy oven antics (crust on one of the pies literally caught on fire tonight  ). Anyway, I'm still learning (do we ever stop?)
Cheers,
Toby

Nice Job Toby.  What type of oven are you using?

Matt

[andreguidon]

nice work !!!

the pizza on fire thing already happened to me.... i elevated the pizza to the dome, for 5s... wen i got it out the cornicccione was on fire.... hahaaaa !!

[Infoodel]

Thanks Matt, Andre

Was using my good ol' electric oven. Just one stone this time (Been using 3 recently to experiment with thermal mass).

I kept some notes on the dough which was an experiment in a 3 stage levain. Unfortunately it did not bring as much flavour benefit as I hoped.
Here it is for what its worth:

Stage 1: Refresh Starter
1:1:1 ratio of starter:water:00 flour
Ferment @ 85F for 5 hours

Stage 2: Overnight Biga Naturale
100% 00 flour
46% water
17% stage 1

Overall hydration ~50%
Ferment @ 60-65F for 15 hours

Autolyse/Soaker
100% 00 flour
70% water

70% hydration
Rest @ 75F for 12 hours

Stage 3: Sponge (Final Levain)
196% stage 2
100% 00 flour
96% water
2% salt

Overall hydration ~70%
Ferment @ 85F for 4.5 hours

Final Dough
607% autolyse
366% final levain
100% 00 flour
11% salt (total salt ~2%)
7% water

Autolyse, levain and flour mixed until even (2 minutes)
Rest for 15 minutes
Salt and water sprinkled over the dough and mixed until fully incorporated (further 2 minutes)
Rest for a further 20 minutes
Dough kneaded to full gluten development (10 minutes)
Ferment @ 75F for 2.5 hours with 1 stretch and fold @ 1 hour
Dough divided and balled
Refrigerated at ~40F for 16 hours
Removed from refrigerator and allowed to warm up at room temperature for 3 hours
Baked (<2 minutes each pizza)

It's possible I should have left the dough in bulk for longer and not gone with retarding the dough balls but there were mitigating factors like...um sleep! The final flavour was exceptionally mild.

Cheers,
Toby

[widespreadpizza]

I think the olive oil is what catches on fire and can spill over the edge too ?

[Infoodel]

I think the olive oil is what catches on fire and can spill over the edge too ?

Think you might be right!

Toby

[Pete-zza]

Toby,

A few years ago, one of our members discussed a three-stage French levain method that I found intriguing (but never got around to trying), in a series of posts starting at Reply 11 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2238.msg20760.html#msg20760). One of the posts referenced this website: http://www.sourdoughhome.com/threestagefrench.html.

Peter

[Infoodel]

Toby,

A few years ago, one of our members discussed a three-stage French levain method that I found intriguing (but never got around to trying), in a series of posts starting at Reply 11 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2238.msg20760.html#msg20760). One of the posts referenced this website: http://www.sourdoughhome.com/threestagefrench.html.

Peter

Thanks Pete - I did consider the three stage french levain detailed on that website (I believe it's from Dan Wing's Bread Builders and in turn from Calvel et al.) However I felt that the stiff levain that it leaves after three builds would not be conducive to an extensible final dough.
The above formula, as you may have already deduced, is essentially a modified detmolder (http://samartha.org/SD/procedures/DM3/index.html) which is intended for rye breads although the author of that site insists it's also applicable to wheat breads. I found it left me with a very mild (acidity) dough which wasn't what I was expecting.
Now I think about it more,  I can see parallels between the three stage french levain and my adaptation of an italian 'sweet starter' levain build http://foolishpoolishbakes.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/pizza-a-casa-mia-part-2-neapolitan-style-pizza/ so perhaps it's worth investigating the french '3 stager' more fully at some point in the future.
Thanks again,
Toby

[tommy]

Infoodel, how hot does your oven get?  are you cooking under the broiler?

the pies look great.  if they taste half as good as they look then, wow.

[Infoodel]

Infoodel, how hot does your oven get?  are you cooking under the broiler?

the pies look great.  if they taste half as good as they look then, wow.

I'm afraid I don't have an IR thermometer - so I can't begin to accurately gauge the temperature but yes I'm cooking under the broiler.
The pie above tasted OK but not great. The three stage levain was good as an experiment but didn't really provide the depth of flavour I wanted. Further experimentation may be warranted at some point in the future.

Cheers,
Toby