Baking at lower temps

[Gwen]

Am I going to be able to get anything even close to a Neapolitan style pizza using lower baking temps?  We have an Aga.  I can cook directly on the floor which is 400. I can also put a pizza stone on the top rack where the temp is closer to 475/500 range.

Even though the temps are different at the bottom and top, cooking directly on the floor of the roasting oven compensates for the lower temp.

But when using the 00 flour, I cannot get it to brown enough unless I leave it in there so long that it's tough and too chewy.

Any suggestions for a recipe and/or technique that will allow me to bake in the Aga and still get a decent pizza?

[shuboyje]

Does your Aga have the two huge burners on top?  If so your best bet may be to launch the pie right onto the burner then place it under the broiler to brown the top.  Just an idea.  I don't have an Aga but have lots of experience with one.

[Gwen]

I do have the burners.  That's a great idea!  I'll try it tomorrow.  I don't have a broiler tho.  It's the one thing lacking in the Aga.  We just put things close to the top of the roasting oven.

The recipe I made tonight was actually not bad considering that it was an unattractive color and had to be in the oven too long.  I'll try some of the same dough tomorrow using your suggestion.

I'm wondering if either subbing in regular or bread flour for part of the flour and/or adding in sugar and/or oil would get the crust a bit browner.  Of course, what I really am after are the big charred bubbles.  I do have a BGE that I can get up to inferno temps, but living in the PNW, it's not always that much fun to go outside and use it.  So I'd really like to come up with a recipe and technique where I can get passable pizzas indoors.

[buceriasdon]

Gwen, I went to the Aga site to refresh my memory and to paraphrase :"Heat is transferred into the cast iron ovens and released steadily from all the inner surfaces simultaneously. This is an altogether gentler process than the fierce direct heat from the elements or flames in most ovens." That may be fine for baking cookies and pies, but all wrong for Neapolitan pizza. You want fierce direct heat and twice as much of it than your Aga can produce. Save Neapolitan and the 00 flour for the BGE and go with a different style more suitable for your oven.
Don

[salvatoregianpaolo]

Gwen,

I agree with Don's advice.  I can get much hotter temps in my oven (700+), yet it still hasn't proven to be enough to make Pizza Napoletana vera.  At such a low temperature, I think you would see bake times of 5 min or more, and that won't work.  The difference in tenderness between 90 seconds and 105 seconds alone is monumental!

Salvatore

[Gwen]

Don/Salvatore - Thank you for the advice.  Yes, the Aga is a gentle heat, which is why it excells at certain things.  It didn't really occur to  me that that would make such a difference in pizza!  So my next question is:  What style of pizza should I pursue to get something decent from the Aga?  Can you direct me to a recipe?

[buceriasdon]

Gwen, Peter converted Reinhart's NeoNeapolitan recipe to baker's percent which you can bake an artisan style from. As with other recipes similar, it is a high 67% hydrated dough which can be a challenge for beginners handling such doughs, however it can yield quite good results.
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=8143.0
If need be you can use parchment paper to form and bake the pie on making the chore somewhat easier. Do you have a digital kitchen scale?
Don

[Gwen]

Yes, I do have a scale.  Thanks.  I'm familiar with 'wet' doughs.  In fact, the best pizza I ever made was with the wettest dough I've ever tried.  Unfortunately, I have experimented so much with doughs, I cannot remember what that recipe was!  I remember thinking it was going to be just awful because it was so wet and that it would end up in the garbage; then it ended up being the best ever.  Typical.

And thanks to someone on the BGE forum, I'm now keeping a journal so I won't duplicate what doesn't work and lose what does. 

[buceriasdon]

Gwen, Glad your familiar with wetter doughs. They can be a challenge to get round, hence my use of the term "Artisanal", besides it sounds more sophisticated and worldly I keep a notebook handy to make observations of my doughs and possible improvements, I don't trust my, um, what's that word again...oh yes, memory.
Don

[Gwen]

Round, they're supposed to be round?

[buceriasdon]

Or square or rectangular or in my case rustically oval shaped.

Round, they're supposed to be round?

[Gwen]

Jeff, I just tried your suggestion of putting the pie right on the boiling plate.  My first mistake was I made the pie on the bread board instead of the peel and when I went to slide it on the plate, it sort of folded over and one end tucked under so that the topping was directly on the plate.  That's when all hell broke lose - smoke everywhere, burning smell, smoke detector going, husband aka Mr. Fire Safety rushing in to find out why/how I was burning the house down.      after a short time, I transferred the whole thing to the floor of the roasting oven where it's now finishing up.  I did notice I got the charred spots on the bottom though!   

Note to self:  All future pizza experiments should be done when husband is at work.