Lahey's Patate Pizza over at Fresh Loaf

[Tatoosh]

Couple of things on my mind.  One is a friend who makes a sliced potato pizza pointed out a thread at the Fresh Loaf that uses Lahey's dough and soaked pizza slices to make a very thin crust pizza that is cooked for 30 minutes in a 500F oven.  Does that sound right to you? No cheese used on the one made by the poster, but still, 30 minutes sounds like a long time at that temperature.  

Thread here: Jim Lahey Potate Pizza  

Also, I'm on pins and needles over my Pizza Kettle insert/add-on for my Weber BBQ grill.  It is, reportedly, in Manila going through customs and I have high hopes it will be in my possession by next Monday or Tuesday.  While there have been varying reports on the Weber/PK setup, one friend that just purchased one and has made pizza on it 3 or 4 times reports good success with a bit of a learning curve.  Adjusting charcoal and wood was essential, no roof (other than the Weber's dome lid) used yet but stone temperatures of 600F reached.  Cook time in 3 to 4 minutes for thin crust pizza and he's was quite happy to report that his wife considered it better than any of their local pizzas.  I've never had pizza in Ottawa, where they reside, so I don't know if that is high praise or more of the faint variety.  He is a fairly accomplished cook/chef so I take his praise as worthy of consideration.  

[norma427]

Tatoosh,

I did some research on Jim Lahey’s Pizza Pomodoro and gave it some tries at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,12542.0.html if you are interested.  The bake didn’t take very long.

Norma

[Tatoosh]

Thank you for the link, I am reading it now!  

Also, happy to report that my Pizza Kettle, pizza stones, pizza peel, and IR thermometer "gun" are due to be delivered today or tomorrow after transiting the Pacific Ocean.  I'm on pins and needles.  

Added even later:

I am ecstatic to report that the boxes arrived and I tore through them.  Both of the pizza stones I ordered arrived in pristine condition.  So one KettlePizza add-on with their 15 inch pizza stone, pizza peel, and pizza turners made the journey across the Pacific without any problem.  And the Red Sky Grilling 21 inch D shaped stone was also in perfect condition!  A Thermoworks IR gun arrived and works fine including the laser pointer.  Two fridge thermometers now are monitoring the kitchen fridge and the bacon curing fridge.  Woohoo!  Tomorrow morning I'm off to gather ingredients for my first Wood & Charcoal Fired Pizza.

 

[norma427]

Tatoosh,

I know that thread I linked you to is a long thread, but there is what I think are very good discussions on how a large amount of yeast can overferment a dough, taste of the crust, baking times, thickness factors etc. from different members.  If you want to skip forward to where I made the experimental potato pie it was at Reply 65 and the next few posts. http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,12542.msg120331.html#msg120331   The next attempt at a potato pie was at Reply 100 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,12542.msg121200.html#msg121200  I never did make a pie like I tasted at Sullivan St. Bakery.  A short time or emergency dough really isn’t in my opinion the best doughs to work with, but the learning process is fun.

Good luck with your Pizza Kettle, pizza stones, pizza peel and IR gun.  I am sure you will have fun.

Norma

[Tatoosh]

Thank you, Norma, I am reading that thread and taking notes.  I will try various thin crust doughs as I have time on the C&WFO Weber/PK setup, but I am willing to do pizza on my home oven (propane) if necessary though it has a hard time making 500F.  I will be making Deep Dish on the home oven for sure.  If the potato pizza works better there for a lower temp/longer cook time, that is fine. 

I still have to get my head around the ideas of rise versus fermentation times.  And we do not have a stand mixer, but we do have bread machines we use for making doughs and breads.  No sourdough at the moment though I do have a bit of dried starter put away for future use.  So I will get out pencil and paper and time line some different doughs out so I get a better idea of both sequence and duration of steps for a few different doughs.  Of course, we are limited to either Pillsbury or Gold Medal AP flour for quality flour and the local no-name bread flour that has been repackaged. 

[norma427]

Tatoosh,

There are so many good threads on this forum about making dough for thin crusts if that is what you want to do.  What style of pizza do you really want to make in your new set-up.  It is sometimes hard to know about fermentation times until you play around with them a little or else use someone proven formulation.  You probably will be playing around with different variables before you achieve what you finally want.  The fun is in the journey sometimes.  If there is anyway I can link you to threads on what you might want to do, let me know.  There are also many other members that will help.

Norma