I am whipping up a batch of dough right now as a matter of fact. . . . I am still hoping that you may provide some instructions on how one of those vessels is best constructed.
Dear Tin Roof, your recipe sounds complex, yet
fantastic. I have never crafted a dough of that stature. The final product must be delicious, with its own particular flavor and texture. Please, take some pictures of the final products and post them here.
In my previous post, I completely forgot to discuss the construction of the marble chamber. It is very simple and elementary. Below is a list of what you need:
1) Five 18×18 polished "bianco carrera" marble tiles. (The denser and thicker the carrera marble tiles are, the better they will sustain their cool temperature. Mine is slightly less than half of an inch thick.)
2) Clear, wide scotch tape of good quality. Alternatively, you can use silicon sealant.
The pictures attached hereunder should be self-explanatory. Basically, you need to construct a topless cube with the tiles, and use the tape or silicon to conjoin the edges. (Sometimes I do use a top in conjunction with some frozen water bottles placed inside.) Take heed that the five carrera marble tiles together are quite
heavy. So, I recommend not to cement or permanently join the tiles together (unless you would like to permanently situate the marble chamber below ground level under your house), or you will have a difficult time moving the chamber around.
Where in a room you place the chamber will have an impact upon the interior temperature of the chamber. Sometimes I place the chamber right below an open or closed window. For obvious reasons, make sure the bottom marble tile sits directly on naked floor, as opposed to on a carpet or rug. Also, make sure there is no hot water pipes running below the floor. On hot days, I use a small electric fan (positioned close to an open window) to blow air above the mouth of the chamber in order to gently refresh and keep cool the air inside, kind of like a heat sink on a microprocessor. (As you may know, many Pentium microprocessors would fry themselves within a short period of time without heat sinks.) If the temperature gets too hot, I place frozen water bottles inside the chamber, which work great. It is a good practice to keep a thermometer inside the chamber to be alert of the interior temperature.
I hope the marble chamber works for you. Again, make sure to pick a right spot for it. And, every season may require a different spot in your house. You may want to read my "reply #399" in this tread to examine my setup:
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,14506.380.html.
By the way, you can use a single marble tile to ferment your dough balls on. There is evidence that the ancient Pompeians practiced this. There are some bakeries in Iran that place their dough balls on an overly large marble table. Try it and you will see the difference! Bianco carrera marble absorbs moisture relatively well; hence, making it easy to pick up a dough ball with aid of a spatula or dough scraper. Also, the marble can better regulate and sustain the internal temperature of the dough balls. Good luck!
Respetfully,
Omid
