My nickname is Pyeman. I live in Tennessee. I have been making homemade pizza since I was a kid. Many years ago (too long ago to mention), my mom bought me those Chef-Boy-R-Dee pizza kits so I could experiment with making my own pizza at home. As an adult, I got more serious about baking homemade breads and pizza doughs. I have experimented with various modified versions of Jeff Varasano's recipe that I made with baker's yeast and cooked on a Big Green Egg (with decent results). A few weeks ago I ordered Ed Wood's Italian cultures and I have now entered the entirely new world of baking with sourdough cultures. Though I have been baking for a while, I realize that I have a lot to learn about using sourdough starter. I ordered Ed Wood's book with my culture, but he told me that it is out of print and he will send the new edition when it becomes available in a few weeks. After activating the Ischia Island culture, I attempted to make Jeff's recipe with sourdough starter. I used a digital scale and followed the recipe to the letter (I did not add the optional baker's yeast). My effort was pretty much a failure. In my second attempt, I used Ed Wood's recipe that came with my starter and that was also pretty much a failure. In both cases, the dough looked and felt nice after kneading, but after rising, it was too sticky and fell apart when I tried to shape it into a pie. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
