2Stone pizza pics

[ringkingpin]

I took the drive today to meet Willard up in Michigan at the 2Stone test kitchen.  It's a cool space in a neat little town. 
Willard came up with a "control bar" to regulate gas flow on the front of the grill which was the impetus of my trip but when I got there, he had a 2stone going and some dough proofing.  We had a good time making some pizzas and even roasted some green coffee beans.  Evidently the convection is excellent for roasting coffee.
We were talking about pizza and exchanging "notes" when I decided to give a go at something I had seen not too long ago at Spacca Napoli from Franco Pepe, a calzone!
I made two and they both turned out pretty well!

[parallei]

Nice looking calzone!  Would you provide a bit more detail on this "control bar"?

[ringkingpin]

Thanks Par!  I bought the new control bar and a new top piece. 
I forgot that you're a two stoner, you might be interested in this.  The control bar is a bar that goes across the bottom of the face of the oven.  It has a laser cut little 2Stone logo and a regulator for the gas on the face.  No more reaching behind the grill to adjust the flame.  When I agreed to buy it, Willard said just bring your oven up here but the installation is just drilling two 1/4" holes in the right place and you're done so I decided not to haul my oven up there.  Not to mention, I was buying another one of the infeno pro's for a friend but setup with a natural gas burner.  I drove our old benz thinking the trunk is huge but it wasn't huge enough by about one inch.  So... next weekend I plan on taking another trip to Michigan but this time I'm gonna bring some of my dough with me.  It was fun hanging out with Willard and his son, sharing ideas, talking pizza, eating pizza, etc.
I was psyched about the results of the calzone!  I used a little bit of sauce, some cheese, some salt and pepper and then put a healthy dose of arugula to give it body.  I put these ingredients only on half of the skin and leave a good margin by the edge then fold over the other side and pinch it together where the dough edges meet.  The arugula gives it body and shape and as it cooks, the dough keeps its shape and the arugula basically steams down.  I think a calzone about half this size, cut in two pieces could be really handy, like a gourment Hot Pocket!

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the top part I bought, basically the baffle in the back of the top section now fits perfectly in the back with no gaps.  Tyler, Willards son said that I'll get a lot more usage out of a propane tank with this mod.  I'll post pics later on this week once I get it all installed. 

[parallei]

Thanks for the info RKP.  Looking forward to the pics.

Paul

[parallei]

ringkingpin,

How did the top baffle modification work out for you?  Did it effect the top/bottom heat distribution?  Better/worse?

This evening's 2Stoner pies.  Not the greatest, cheapo BF and an 8 hr dough.

 

[slybarman]

That crust looks very good.

[parallei]

Cooking in the rain here this evening.  Hybrid I guess; 50/50 KABF/00, 20% Starter, 65% HR, 2.5% Salt.  Tartine work flow.

[ringkingpin]

Hey Par,

Nice looking pizzas!  Sorry I haven't gotten any pics up yet.  Two big thumbs up on both the baffle and the gas control.  It seems like it has increased the efficiency of the burner quite a bit.  I'm also able to get the top much hotter.  I'll get some images. 

[parallei]

Somebody needs to keep the 2Stoned flame going.  Gold Medal Organic AP (not malted), 62% HR, 0.4% IDY, 2.5% Salt.  Mixed in the Cuisinart stand mixer, rest for 10 min, dough hook for 6 min.  6 hrs @ room temp, balled, 4 hrs @ room temp.  One of those rare (for me) really easy to open doughs.  Maybe I should use the mixer more often.  About 2 min bakes.....

[TXCraig1]

Drop dead gorgeous in all respects Paul.

CL

[parallei]

Thanks Craig.

[Pete-zza]

Beautiful pies, Paul. You nailed it.

Peter

[norma427]

Paul,

Wow, just beautiful! 

Norma

[parallei]

Thanks for the thumbs up Peter and Norma.  And thanks to John D. for his thread on AP flours here:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,18737.0.html

I didn't even know non-malted AP flours existed!

[2stone]

Kind of burned the fresh oregano on this one.....just wanted to say hi to every one- hope you had a good holiday-willard

[ringkingpin]

Hey, I'll play!

I made a small batch (four balls) of hand mixed, naturally leavened dough this weekend.  I made this batch quite a bit more wet than I normally do.  It worked out well, not sure if I could tell a big difference aside from how it was to work with and the fact that I needed more bench flour than I normally use. 

[ringkingpin]

This has become a norm for me when doing a pizza bake, I always make at least one batch of Willard Bread.  Just work a piece of dough, a little thicker than normal, cut in to four and bake it until it's done.  Once it's done, cut it open from the center tip with a bread knife, let it cool and then store in an airtight bag.  It's kind of like a thicker, tastier, pita bread.  My family loves them for sandwiches.  

[parallei]

Nice work RKP. You too Willard.

RKP - Sometimes I do Piadina on the 2Stone to stuff leftover goodies in.  The good thing about Piadini is you can whip 'em up in 5 min and they are good to go after sitting an hour or so.

[toddster63]

Great looking pies, guys, all look tasty and high temp-reffic...!

And I love your great shots, Paul, where on one plate you show the cornicione and underskirt shots—GREAT! The Tartine workflow really seems to be working well for you (though your mixer pies ain't nuttin to sneaze at either!)

[ringkingpin]

Two days ago I made, by far, the wettest, stickiest dough I've ever made.  Just to experiment, I've been making wetter and wetter doughs.  This one was super wet, like well over 70% hydration.  It was nearly impossible to work, it was so wet.  I had to use a lot more bench flour than I'm used to in order for it not to stick.  I was so slack that I couldn't really form a round pizza that well, I mean this stuff was WET.  So I'd work it in to some sort of shape, put it in my peel and hope that the humidity hadn't worked it's way through the thin layer of flour on the peel.  All in all it worked pretty well.  Nice spring, as it would go in to the oven totally flat and puff right up.  The crumb was nice, kind of bready but with good air pockets.  I'll never make one this wet again but it was fun to experiment.  As always with all of my pizzas, naturally leavened with some Ischia or Cameldoli (didn't even check) which Pizza Police hooked me up with about two years ago!