Greetings!
I'm a DIY'er. I love to cook, brew beer, build vacuum tube musical equipment, garden, do woodworking and carpentry, among a variety of other hobbies and vocations. In recent months, I've began making pizza a couple times a week. I look forward to making my own mozzarella - a process that appears to be quite accessible and requires little specialized tools and ingredients.
Like many of us, I've been a pizza fanatic for as long as I can remember eating it. In fact, for my first "job" at age 8 - distributing fliers for a pizzeria in west Baltimore - I was paid in pizza and Coke. For a poor kid who couldn't buy pizza himself, it was well-enjoyed compensation. As the years went by, several fond pizza moments have nestled themselves in my memory and have contributed to what my senses consider "ideal" pizzas. While it is a natural motivation to want to chase these idealizations of the perfect pie, I am a lover of all styles of pizza and look forward to making them all.
I haven't been in the habit of taking photos of my pies and the ones posted here aren't too clear, but in the spirit of participating, I'm posting them. They were taken two weeks ago. I made several pizzas that night. These are 18" pies - pepperoni and ham and capicola, which was requested by a coworker. Since these photos were taken, my technique has improved and knowledge broadened, which has resulted in both worse pies and better pies. Not all learning is accompanied by improvement
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100% All Trumps bromated high gluten flour
62% water
.25% IDY
1.5% salt
2% oil
1% sugar
Mixed in a 6 quart Kitchenaid mixer, cold fermented for 24 hours. Baked in an old Baker's Pride stone shelved pizza oven at 550 degrees.
I change the percentages and procedure every time I make dough. I'm also trying longer fermentation periods when I can. I'm beginning to learn how changes affect the outcome. When I can spare the cash, I am going to purchase Encyclopizza.
I've read on this forum, from Peter possibly, that All Trumps does not respond well to reballing. I recently I tried reballing 6 hours before baking and it did not turn out well. The dough was very soft, elastic and nearly impossible to form without tearing. Perhaps I did not let it rest long enough after reballing, but this was the result I experienced after a 6 hour rest.
Adam
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/soundswim/PizzaFeb142012.jpghttp://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/soundswim/Pizza2Feb142012.jpg
