Craig's Neapolitan Garage

[TXCraig1]

These were also a bit more well-done and/or charred than your usual, which has it's appeal. 

I attribute that to alcohol-induced slowed reaction time. That being said, I'm really starting to enjoy my pies more "well done."

[TXCraig1]

What is it about "rustic" that almost makes them look more delicious? 

Say I had a pizza restaurant, would you want to see the pies close to perfectly round or more "rustic?"

I tend to prefer the latter, but somehow I'm always dissapointed when they don't come out round. Even in the condition I was in last night, it bothered me. I usually slip the pies carefully off the peel and last nigght I was just ripping it out from under them. After the first couple "rustic" pies, I remember thinking what are you doing? And, I went back to a more careful launch. The pictures are not posted in the order they were baked.

CL

[thezaman]

 craig, remember to much sauce makes a mess of the sauce.there is only one pie in that group i would send back the last margherita.

[TXCraig1]

craig, remember to much sauce makes a mess of the sauce.there is only one pie in that group i would send back the last margherita.

Too much sauce or too charred? I think the underexposure makes it look like more sauce that there really is. Maybe too much. I don't remember. It is too dark though.

CL

[pizza dr]

Crap this whole time I thought it was my lack of experience.  Next bake I'm laying off the sauce

Personally though... I have no problemas with those pizzas. 

Scot

[RobynB]

Say I had a pizza restaurant, would you want to see the pies close to perfectly round or more "rustic?"

Huh.  Good question!  I don't know.  On the one hand, your usual perfectly round works of art are so amazingly consistent, they impress the heck out of people like us that have more knowledge of what that takes.  But on the other hand, there is something really attractive and approachable about the imperfect ones...  I think in a restaurant setting, the round ones would be less impressive and more expected, and the rustic ones less expected and therefore more fun...?  But I'm really not sure 

[wheelman]

Nothing wrong with those!  They look really really good. But I think i vote for your normal for your restaurant standard.

[Pizza Napoletana]

Meet The Garage's new mascot - Pulcinadillo

Pulcinadillo meets the pizza wanderer! Dear Craig, your new mascot can make an interesting mosaic on your Acunto oven. Have you thought about it?

[TXCraig1]

I frothed the yeast with a hand whisk (worked just fine) as Omid was discussing the the Philosophy of Pizza Napoletanismo! thread. I then added the rest of the water with the salt already dissolved. I then immediately incorporated the flour. I did this as gently as possible with a spatula and a folding motion to try to incorporate as much air in the dough as possible.

I have no doubt that it jump started the yeast. I had significantly more rise than normal after the bulk ferment and also after the initial 12 hours in balls. The flavor and texture were excellent, but the dough ended up being a little more risen than I like, and it was sticky and hard to work with.

Overall, this was a dissappointing batch of pies. I really didn't care for the way they baked up. The one bright spot was the asparagus "bird's nest" pie - loosely inspired by the similar looking no-knead Lehey pie I saw on Slice. Mine was topped with Mascarpone and dry whole milk mozz, then the thinly sliced asparagus, 4 egg yolks (two broke before the bake - next time, I'll break all 4 on purpose), and a sprinkle of sea salt. After the bake i drizzled on fresh squeezed lemon juice and some Meyer lemon olive. The inspiration was asparagus and hollandaise sauce.  This was an incredible tasting pie - it greatly exceeded my expectations.

CL

[TXCraig1]

Pulcinadillo meets the pizza wanderer! Dear Craig, your new mascot can make an interesting mosaic on your Acunto oven. Have you thought about it?

I had not, but I like it!

[pizza dr]

Craig

Do you think the frothing of the yeast/H20 mixture really made that much of a difference?  If so, can you see using this technique when you have a shorter fermentation window?  Perhaps an emergency dough technique?  Interesting stuff

Scot

[pizza dr]

Oh and by the way....  that asparagus pie looks great.  Love those flavors.  I'm going to try one this weekend with a sous vide egg. 

[TXCraig1]

Craig

Do you think the frothing of the yeast/H20 mixture really made that much of a difference?  If so, can you see using this technique when you have a shorter fermentation window?  Perhaps an emergency dough technique?  Interesting stuff

Scot

There is no doubt in my mind it sped up fermentation meaningfully. I could have baked 12 hours earlier than normal. That being said, it would still have been 36 hours.

CL

[scott123]

Craig, I'm not familiar with the discussion that prompted you to try whisking, but yeast propagate twice as fast aerobically as they do anaerobically, so, by whisking, you're incorporating air and fostering yeast activity.  Whisking and adding yeast will both produce the same results, although adding yeast is a lot more measurable.  By increasing the yeast count by whisking, it becomes very difficult to gauge how much additional yeast activity you've generated. You could, I guess, whisk exactly the same number of times, with the same hand movement and same intensity, but, to be honest, I think that's more work than it's worth.  If you have a quantity of leavening that currently works, adding more yeast to the equation, either by adding physical yeast or by whisking, your fermentation will be  altered adversely, as you encountered.

[thezaman]

 craig, you may want to wait on that there is a mosaic coming your way that will jazz up your oven!

[TXCraig1]

Craig, I'm not familiar with the discussion that prompted you to try whisking, but yeast propagate twice as fast aerobically as they do anaerobically, so, by whisking, you're incorporating air and fostering yeast activity.  Whisking and adding yeast will both produce the same results, although adding yeast is a lot more measurable.  By increasing the yeast count by whisking, it becomes very difficult to gauge how much additional yeast activity you've generated. You could, I guess, whisk exactly the same number of times, with the same hand movement and same intensity, but, to be honest, I think that's more work than it's worth.  If you have a quantity of leavening that currently works, adding more yeast to the equation, either by adding physical yeast or by whisking, your fermentation will be  altered adversely, as you encountered.

Thanks, Scott. The result was not unexpected, though I was a little surprised just how much of a difference it made. It was just an intellectual experiment, and is not something I plan to do again.

[Pizza Napoletana]

I frothed the yeast with a hand whisk (worked just fine) as Omid was discussing the the Philosophy of Pizza Napoletanismo! thread. I then added the rest of the water with the salt already dissolved. I then immediately incorporated the flour. I did this as gently as possible with a spatula and a folding motion to try to incorporate as much air in the dough as possible.

I have no doubt that it jump started the yeast. I had significantly more rise than normal after the bulk ferment and also after the initial 12 hours in balls. The flavor and texture were excellent, but the dough ended up being a little more risen than I like, and it was sticky and hard to work with.

Overall, this was a dissappointing batch of pies. I really didn't care for the way they baked up. The one bright spot was the asparagus "bird's nest" pie - loosely inspired by the similar looking no-knead Lehey pie I saw on Slice. Mine was topped with Mascarpone and dry whole milk mozz, then the thinly sliced asparagus, 4 egg yolks (two broke before the bake - next time, I'll break all 4 on purpose), and a sprinkle of sea salt. After the bake i drizzled on fresh squeezed lemon juice and some Meyer lemon olive. The inspiration was asparagus and hollandaise sauce.  This was an incredible tasting pie - it greatly exceeded my expectations.

CL

Dear Craig, I thank you for posting the results of your experiment. And, I feel awful that I did not forewarn you about the fermentation time. I apologize!

If enriching the starter-water mixture with oxygen stimulates the wild yeast propagation and activity, as is my belief based on "Pasture effect" and my own observations, then the fermentation period and temperature should be accordingly modified. In other words, changing one side of the equation necessitates a change in the other side in order to maintain the symmetry—which is why in my experiment (in Reply #1374 in my thread) I implemented, using 1.93% starter (via water), a total fermentation duration of 24 hours: 19.5 hours of fermentation in mass at 65°F - 68°F and 4.5 hours of subsequent fermentation in balls at 70 - 71°F. As a result, the dough was rheologically fit and gastronomically sound. This process seemingly allowed me to achieve proper fermentation and maturation of my dough within a reasonably shorter period of time (24 instead of 37 hours or more), which in turn prevented development of immoderate dough sourness that I disfavor. Of course, this is only one way of achieving this result—at the expense of taking less than a minute to froth the culture with the aid of a frother! Of course, this was your first time doing this kind of experiment. However, I am glad that your asparagus pizza exceeded your expectations!

Regards,
Omid

[TXCraig1]

This week no messing around - no frothed yeast, no autolyze, no elevated hydration - just back to the basics. 61.2% HR Caputo, 3% salt, 1.5% Ischia culture. Focus on hitting the point of pasta perfectly. 24 Hours bulk and 24 hours balls - all at 65F. 900F+ across the entire floor of the oven and 1000F+ in the walls farthest from the fire. 64 second average bake time. The result - some of the best pies I've ever baked.

[TXCraig1]

The rest:

[JimmyG]

Beautiful photos and pies Craig. Spot on  .