Author Topic: Blue Bay LBE - in Baltimore MD (Read 4080 times)

pizzaneer · « **Reply #20 on:** May 21, 2012, 11:21:30 AM »

Quote from: pizzablogger on May 21, 2012, 10:09:24 AM

I agree with Craig....excellent looking crumb.

Nice pie Brian. You said the char was too much....do you mean on the bottom? ' Cause the top looks good on this end.

That's a great shot of Darwin!

Best -k

Thanks Kelly! Good thing Darwin takes after his mom, right?
Hope the market venture's going well! I'll see you this Sunday bright and early, and may bring a doughball with me. I was very pleased with how this dough turned out, and plan to tinker with the recipe some more, now that I know my completely insane idea of using an electric drill on reverse with a mini dough hook actually works. I just let it go a few seconds too long in the BBE. Heres the bottom shot- you can see it's a little dark, although it tasted fine.

pizzablogger · « **Reply #21 on:** May 21, 2012, 01:25:34 PM »

The bottom is maybe a tad too far charred, but it doesn't look bad either. The real question is did that level of char give enough of a bitter perception to detract from the balance of the pizza? --K

pizzaneer · « **Reply #22 on:** May 21, 2012, 02:17:04 PM »

To my taste, not at all, although I'm looking forward to trying it again, more carefully. It balanced the creaminess of the rehydrated mozz and the slight pepper bite of the roni's. (They were from Pastore's Italian Market- a great source for specialty toppings like capicollo, proscuitto, etc.) http://www.pastores.net/index.php

What I tasted most in the crust was a rich, complex sourdough flavor. It blended well with the sauce and toppings.

pizzaneer · « **Reply #23 on:** June 12, 2012, 01:35:38 AM »

AAAAALLL RIIIIGHTY THEN!

Since we're pizza'd out atm, I made other stuff tonight.

This is feta & cheddar stuffed green peppers with salsa and a dash of chili oil, coupled with BBQ chicken & onion kebabs. I made the BBQ using ketchup, Worcestershire, balsamic vinegar, salsa, assorted spices and OO. Those are real bamboo skewers- I have bamboo growing wild and it comes in handy now and then.

As you can see in the pictures, I added a small log to the LBE back vent area: instant mini WFO. The log caught and burned well after just a few minutes. I turned the propane off once it lit.

The taste and smell and sheer fun of seeing the flames shooting across the ceiling were fabulous. I have to try making a pizza the same way, without propane (after the stone gets to temp), just using natural fire for the top finish.

deb415611 · « **Reply #24 on:** June 12, 2012, 06:36:58 AM »

wow pizzaneer the peppers and kebabs look awesome

pizzaneer · « **Reply #25 on:** June 12, 2012, 07:31:32 AM »

TVM Deb!

I actually use the LBE for other foods more often than pizza: my wife only likes the pan-fried Sicilian type, so usually it's just me and the kid eating the Neopolitan.

Great things to make on the LBE:
Sirloin steak @ 800F, in cast iron pan with OO- perfect char and tenderness; side of potatoes (wrap in foil, place on hearth during heat-up), or steak fries (frozen kind, in pan with a little oil)
Cordon Chicken Bleu in puff pastry & salad with fire-roasted croutons
Fresh bread boules for NE clam chowder or cream of crab soup - perfect on a winter night
hamburgers (of course) I'll take a picture next time I make some. I use a small cooking grate on a broiler pan for that.
Balmer Pit Beef! Basically a highly-spiced dry rub roast, cooked next to charcoal. I place charcoal in one of the charcoal baskets, and cook the roast on a grate over a pan. Slice super-thin, serve with horseradish, onions and mayo on Kaiser rolls: delicious!
Cedar-planked fish - salmon is the standard, but tuna or swordfish is even better. I've got a huge pile of cedar shims left over from building the house - they are perfect to cook on.

I really like making the kebabs, and I think that will be a big hit at our next cookout. Even the kids can get into spearing the vegetables, and once they taste the smoky char, they won't whine about eating them!

Bigfoot21075 · « **Reply #26 on:** June 14, 2012, 11:46:20 AM »

Oh wow - that looks great! love the stuffed peppers, they look awesome!

pizzaneer · « **Reply #27 on:** June 17, 2012, 08:39:05 AM »

Thanks Bigfoot! I bet they'd cook up great in your WFO!

pizzaneer · « **Reply #28 on:** June 17, 2012, 09:12:24 AM »

This is my current dough-making process. Subject to change. For instance, after making pizza last night, I realized only then that I had forgotten something... the sugar. Oops.

The first time I used this dough, I made deep-fried mini-calzones. I didn't notice the lack of browning then.

Weigh out, hand mix to incorporate, use dough hook & drill in reverse at low speed for 7-8 minutes, rotating bowl to get the planetary arm movement.

This is a 63% hydration dough, with just olive oil and a small amount of yeast. The plan was to CF it for a few days, then use. For various reasons, that didn't happen. As it happened, it was mixed, bulked @ RT for 2 hours, then balled and frozen. The next time I use one of these balls, I'll take it out several days in advance, instead of the same day.

pizzaneer · « **Reply #29 on:** June 17, 2012, 09:22:29 AM »

Last night's thin crust.

Super-thin, lightly topped, launched at 650, baked for about 2 minutes. Nice crackle, not chewy at all. Color and flavor suffered a little from lack of sugar or lack of longer fermentation. Came out to be a 14" oblong pie, and my kid ate it all. He's probably not the most critical of reviewers, but he really liked it.

pizzaneer · « **Reply #30 on:** June 17, 2012, 09:23:08 AM »

upskirt

Pete-zza · « **Reply #31 on:** June 17, 2012, 10:26:10 AM »

Brian,

Is that an inverted pie plate that you used to form the skin and, if so, was it to avoid having to measure the diameter of the skin?

Even if you had added the sugar, you might not have gotten a great deal more color, especially since you froze the dough shortly after you made it. You might have gotten some caramelization effects from the sugar in its raw state when you decided to use the dough (assuming you used enough of it) but perhaps not enough simple sugars to feed the yeast (yeast only consumes simple sugars) and for the Maillard reactions. To get those sugars, it can often take several hours at room temperature, or longer for a cold fermented dough. Freezing the dough pretty much stops all biochemical activity.

Peter

pizzaneer · « **Reply #32 on:** June 17, 2012, 10:56:09 AM »

Quote from: Pete-zza on June 17, 2012, 10:26:10 AM

Brian,

Is that an inverted pie plate that you used to form the skin and, if so, was it to avoid having to measure the diameter of the skin?

...Freezing the dough pretty much stops all biochemical activity.

Peter

Well, it's actually a tray left over from a New Year's party years ago. Originally, it had a selection of lunch meats and cheese on it, I think. But it's the perfect size for rounding out a dough. (I will NOT use the counter for dough work - far too messy, and I have cats.) It's also the perfect height for sliding the skin onto the peel before dressing it.

So am I right about taking the ball out several days in advance? If I can get some cold rise for flavor & color without blowing the dough, I'll be happy.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #33 on:** June 17, 2012, 11:31:00 AM »

Quote from: pizzaneer on June 17, 2012, 10:56:09 AM

So am I right about taking the ball out several days in advance? If I can get some cold rise for flavor & color without blowing the dough, I'll be happy.

Brian,

I would say yes if the amount of yeast is small. Many commercial frozen dough balls use a lot of yeast (about double the normal amount) because freezing can kill off some of the yeast. But there is still enough viable yeast available in the dough after defrosting to make pizza. But commercial frozen dough balls do not last--or do well--beyond about two days of defrosting (they start to overferment and break down). When I made frozen clones of Mellow Mushroom dough balls, where I used about 0.60-0.70% IDY, I found that if I went beyond two days of defrosting, the dough was much softer and more gassy than the same doughs that were subjected to one or two days of defrosting. In my case, the defrosting was done in the refrigerator, not at room temperature (which, of course, would shorten the defrost time). If you are using a small amount of dough, that, along with the temperature at which the dough is defrosted, will govern when you should use the dough.

You also don't want to hold the frozen dough balls too long in your freezer before using, especially if your freezer has a defrost cycle that subjects the dough to repeated freezing and defrosting. For the Mellow Mushroom frozen dough balls, I held the dough balls for only a few to several days before using. That worked out very well. You wouldn't know from the dough's performance that the dough balls had been frozen.

Peter

pizzaneer · « **Reply #34 on:** June 17, 2012, 02:16:27 PM »

Thanks Peter! The total amount was very small, so I'm hoping it will be great the next time I make pizza. It's hard to quantify amounts this small, so what I usually do is use a piece of scrap paper, and dribble an amount about the size of a capital O @ 14pts, and just sprinkle it on top before mixing.

Grillruss · « **Reply #35 on:** September 19, 2012, 12:03:55 PM »

Brian,

You mentioned a lot of sooty smoke on your first test fire, but I don't see any further mention of it. Are you still getting a lot of smoke?

scott123 · « **Reply #36 on:** September 19, 2012, 12:10:35 PM »

Russ, please explain to Brian the inherent danger of using an unknown material for a hearth

pizzaneer · « **Reply #37 on:** September 19, 2012, 12:12:25 PM »

No, no sooty smoke at all now. I might get a little grease burn off aroma if I have had the BBE configured for open flame (lava rocks just under the cooking grate, over the burner jet and no steel or stone) and I've been making burgers, but as soon as bottom kettle interior temp hits about 850, that's all gone too.

Hi Scott

Grillruss · « **Reply #38 on:** September 19, 2012, 12:58:27 PM »

Unknown material is definitely bad. I thought he was confident it was a natural stone slab? My experience with corderite ahs been great.

I was asking about the smoke more in relation to the burner. That is an extremely powerful burner in a confined space. If the smoke was not from burning off gunk and oils, it can be caused by the burner:

Lack of primary air -- you can see a wide open air shutter at the end of the venturi in one photo, so not likely a problem
Lack of secondary air -- seems quite possible the way the burner is confined within the old ash collector
Flame impingement -- incomplete combustion can occur when an object intrudes upon the path of the flame

Any of these three is bad. All three can be corrected. Lack of secondary air can be extremely dangerous.

pizzaneer · « **Reply #39 on:** September 19, 2012, 01:39:11 PM »

Oh boy, you're going to have fun reading through the main LBE thread....

1. Primary air: I keep my venturi open for precisely that reason.
2. Secondary air: Since I don't run my LBE full-throttle, but at most around 1/4, the secondary air issue has never come up. I can definitely understand why it would be a major safety issue. I've got a LOT more air going into mine than some others do who burn at max, believe it or not.
3. Impingement: I have nothing close to the direct flame until the actual cooking hearth, which is at the top of the kettle. Instead, my stone sits directly on a sheet of stainless to (a) distribute the heat evenly across the stone bottom and (b) deflect most of the super-hot air to the back of the kettle, where it shoots up and is guided down onto the pie by an air director made from stainless and aluminum. But the flame itself doesn't reach the steel under the stone.

Like I said, your feedback will be interesting. I'll add to that - it may save lives. There might be a reason we never hear anything further from a lot of people who have been making their LBE's....