2 and 3 day pizza pics

[brayshaw]

Hi,
Since I had 25 dough balls in my fridge last night I thought I would make a few pizzas The photos below are of my white pizza and a cheese and tomato, I will post pictures in here of the pizzas I am making tonight so you can see the difference between a 2 and 3 day dough.
For these pizzas I had to use supermarket Canadian flour as I have run out of my Manitoba flour, I mixed until the 'cottage cheese' stage and after 2 days in the fridge it was smooth as silk and opened up perfectly.

I am getting another 2 sacks of Manitoba next week to 'trial'

I didn't brown the crusts on the 2 day pizzas as much on purpose as I am really liking it that way now, but it still had amazing crunch and chew.
I baked them on a 620 F stone for 4minutes 50seconds in my home oven, I will try to do exactly the same tonight so we can get a fair comparison.

Any comments are more than welcome even if it's 'they look cr@p' 

Paul

[Jet_deck]

The cheese to dough ratio looks about 60/40 in favor of the cheese.   I'd hit it.

[brayshaw]

The cheese to dough ratio looks about 60/40 in favor of the cheese.   I'd hit it.

Cheesy does it!

[scott123]

They look gre@t  

Nice job, Paul. You rolled with the punches and were able to achieve an open airy crumb with a lesser quality flour.

A paler crust is actually very traditional for NY style. That's about the color I take my pies to.  As long as I can get my cheese to bubble/give off it's flavor/fat, I'm good.  Bubbled cheese, a relatively pale rim and a tiny amount of char underneath.

How are you hitting 620? Have you always been able to do that?

One thing to consider is that higher protein flours create doughs that are a little more durable when it comes to fermentation.  As you decrease the protein, they tend to break down a little faster.  Don't be surprised if tonight's pies end up a little on the toothy/overfermented side.  Assuming, of course, the Canadian flour you're using is lower protein.  

[norma427]

Paul,

Your pizzas look great.    I look forward to seeing more of your pies.

Norma

[Jackie Tran]

Nice work Paul.  I like the airy crumb and voids.

[brayshaw]

Thanks Norma, Scott and Chau.

Scott, I got my small top oven fixed so I heat my stone in there for an hour then I turn the grill on for about 5minutes, the temp goes from around 450 F to 620 F. I know its not ideal and will probably crack my stone in the near future but hey...it makes good pizza at the moment. Lol

Paul

[brayshaw]

Ok, here are the 3 day pictures.
I felt that this is the maximum I could have taken this flour and it still being of the standard I try to achieve.
I tried to keep everything as similar as possible to create a fair test.


Chau, our friends had to cancel at the last minute so I didn't have to worry about about the lactose intolerant guy after all! lol
My dad and brother kindly came round to try some pizza though! lol

Paul

[Jackie Tran]

Paul, your pizzas look fantastic.  Fantastic airy rim & crumb shots.  I'll take a slice or two.

How many slices did your dad and brother ended up taste testing? 

chau

[brayshaw]

Thanks Chau, they ate nearly all of the pizzas! I was in the kitchen all night and only ended up eating 4slices!

Paul

[scott123]

That's the curse of being a chef, Paul! You're usually too busy making the food to enjoy the fruits of your labors. Even if you do have time to sit down for a slice, you really can't give it your full attention, as you usually have something that will need attention momentarily.

How do your dad and brother feel about your progress?  Which pie got finished first? Let me guess... pepperoni?

As far as the level of fermentation goes... I have to admit that I was a little surprised how little toothiness you're getting, especially on the margherita. I think if you absolutely had to go one more day, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but I think that your goal to aim for this (or slightly earlier) is probably wise. I think this is a good sign that the supermarket Canadian flour is relatively high in protein.  Is this the Sainsbury's Very Strong Canadian Bread Flour?

[brayshaw]

Scott, thanks for the kind words. The pepperoni and white pies were the favourites.lol
The flour was from Waitrose, but I have a sack of Manitoba coming this week! Yay

I hate being chef....no damn pizza! Lol

Paul