New Pies with Full Strength Flour

[scott123]

Let me get this right, Sean, you had a friend in CT that just happened to have an electric oven that could handle an 18 x 20 stone and could reach 550? Did you call first and have them measure the dimensions?  You brought your stone up, and, in an oven you've never worked with before, you were able to make that? How many pizzas did you make?  You had to have gotten less than stellar results on at least one, right?

[PizzaSean]

Haha, yes I did call ahead and ask for the dimensions... I knew that I didn't wanna lug a bunch of stuff up and make dough etc only to find out that we couldn't even fit it in the oven!

I actually didn't ask how high the temp went til we were already on the way, because I figured I'd be curious to see what would happen if we could only get it to 500F and depending on the layout/broiler setup I would have to see what we could work out.

As it turned out, it went to 550F and the broiler was just like mine and the shelf to ceiling distance seemed very similar.  The only major difference was that my oven is about 2 inches wider, so there was JUST enough room for airflow and no more.  Pretty certain that during the bakes the stone + broiler got a bit hotter than my home oven, just because of the dark charred spots you can see on the first pie (the plain).  After that I turned the broiler on a minute or two after launch.

I only made 3 myself and then coached an eager learner into stretching/dressing/launching her first 2 pies and that was it.  Pretty sure by the end of the night there were only 2 slices left that went into the fridge!

[PizzaSean]

Just started a new bag of Full Strength the other day - did a two day cold ferment with this...I'll put the numbers up in the next post. I'm really bad at remembering to take pictures when there is pizza to eat and serve, so there's just a few pics from last night's 10 pies. They were done somewhere in the middle of the bunch - maybe pies 3, 4, 5? Something like that...

Sorry for the quality of the undercrust/crumb shots... guess i wasn't holding steady.

[PizzaSean]

.

[Chicago Bob]

Yes siree...thats how ya do it! 

[scott123]

Sean, I think you know what I'm going to say here 

I've seen every NY style pizza on this forum for the last 4 years, and I consider this:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,16182.msg158343.html#msg158343

to be in the top 3 pies ever.

To go from that... to this...  *shaking my head*

Please tell me that some significant other is forcing you into increasing your thickness factor.  Blame it on someone else- because if this is you, and you really do prefer this, then there's very little hope for the pizza of the future. Dominos has won.

[Chicago Bob]

I think it's jus the camera angle Scott....

[PizzaSean]

Haha, Chicago Bob has it right...

These were all at .075 which was a departure from the .08 and change I had been doing. Overall, some of my  best stretching to date, too, but I don't have anything left but one cold slice.

Significant other and friends are to blame for anything "Hawaiian" you see for sure!

But these were my most successful thin (.075 / 540 g) pies to date, whether with or without toppings they just seemed to hold up.

[PizzaSean]

Cold one...

[scott123]

Sean, I wasn't going to say anything about the Hawaiian.  Hawaiians can be forgiven  

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that pan is looking a LOT like an 18" pizza pan.  If that's true, then the way the first pizza fits, that's stretched to 16".  16" @ 540 g = .095.

[PizzaSean]

Ok, you're wrong! Haha, I assure you, and you know that no one on these boards could trick someone with as much passion as Scott...it's a 20" pan.
Take a look at the half plain, half Hawaiian, THAT is on my 18" pan and the pie fits much more snugly. But the ones with the excessive pan margin are on a 20" pan.

When I launch a pie, I have 18" front to back that I'm working with in my oven and almost always get full coverage on that axis. The left to right diameter of my pies sometimes loses some width during the transfer from peel to stone. The peel itself is also 18" wide, but during the launch I can only really control where it gets touched down and where it gets released.

[Chicago Bob]

Cold one...

Nice camera angle!   

[scott123]

Oh, alright... Never mind 

That cold slice looks phenomenal.

[PizzaSean]

It was quite a tasty reward for not scarfing it down last night!

Thanks guys!

Scott, I think I had you scared there for a second haha... Don't worry!