Pizza Sputnik...

[ponzu]

Inspired by JT and Bill SFNM's recent WFO neapolitan beauties I decided to do a short bake with continuous top heat this AM for breakfast. 

Baked at a stone temp of 825 for 90 seconds.

[ponzu]

 Some recent attempts at bread and pie.

[Jackie Tran]

Not sure if they ate much differently than your previous pies but the latest ones are some of your nicest looking pies Alexi.  To me, the crust looks very similiar to the pie on the caputo blue bag, only darker and with more character.  There are 2 looks that I like when it comes to NP, and this is one of them.  Omid's pies have this look as well but much lighter in color.

Your bread as always are rediculously good looking.  Are you sure you didn't buy those somewhere?

[norma427]

Alexi,

Your pies and bread both look beautiful! 

Norma

[ponzu]

Thank you Chau and Norma.  Your feedback is always much appreciated.

The pies ate similarly.  3 minute bakes,  slight chrunch , soft crumb.

My technique now is pretty much straight tartine.  I just combine the dough in the bosch before the autolyse, and the rest is all turns.

[ponzu]

This was one of my favorite bakes.

A different workflow was necessitated by the fact that I was cooking pizza for lunch for family visiting from out of town.

As such I used a 15% starter 63 % hydration dough which went through 4 turns post autolyse and into the fridge overnight for a bulk ferment.

upon waking at 7:30, one turn and a 15 minute rest then balled and proofed 4 hours for lunch.

Baked at 750-775 for 2-3 minutes (closer to 2).

Not as crisp as my usual bake so the tip would sag a bit when a slice was lifted.  But there was a thin veneer of crunch and a very soft and light crumb.  These were closer to neapolitan than anything I have yet made. 

Although the leoparding may look a bit extreme,  there was absolutely no bitterness.

[norma427]

Alexi,

Good to hear your recent bake is one of your favorites.  Really nice looking crumb!  Sounds like you are closer to Neapolitan pizzas.

Norma

[Jackie Tran]

Alexi, I love the extreme look.   Imo, your best looking pie.  Looks even better than most of mine from the wfo!   What flour blend did you go with this time?  Fantastic work.  

Chau

[ponzu]

Thanks guys.  Totaly disagree that it looks as good as your WFO beauties JT.

The flour is harvest king as usual.

AZ

[ponzu]

Haven't posted in a long time because my technique has been pretty static.  Still making pies once a week though.

I'm posting these cause there were a couple of unusual things about this bake.  One was the use of Caputo as I had run out of harvest King.  The other was that I had forgotten about these skins in the fridge and they aged 7 days before baking. 

I expected them to be blown out and over fermented but the dough handled beautifully and had a remarkably mild and creamy sourdough profile.  I really liked the leaparding on the first one.

The first is a truffle cheese and cremini pie.

The second a Honey Crisp, crucolo cheese, and boar sausage pie.

AZ

[Jackie Tran]

Nice looking pies Alexi.   I know what you mean by "static".  Hard to keep improving after a certain point.  Any further plans for a wfo?

[ponzu]

Nice looking pies Alexi.   I know what you mean by "static".  Hard to keep improving after a certain point.  Any further plans for a wfo?

Thanks JT.  Still dreaming of the WFO, but focusing on savings for other financial goals for now.

I am enjoying the continued documentation of your beautiful WFO pies.

AZ

[TXCraig1]

That mushroom pie is right up my alley!

Good looking stuff Alexi!

Craig

[norma427]

Alexi,

Great looking pies! 

Norma