00 Rinforzato Experience...?

[toddster63]

Got a bag of 00 Rinforzato today to play with, particularly for longer CF's... Haven't seen too much real world experience posted about this harder brother of 00 Pizzeria. There's Norma's wet gluten tests, and a few references to it, as in "might be better for—" type comments, but again, very little real world experience...?

Would love to hear if anyone has anything to say about the red Caputo from their ferments, bakes...? What I know so far is that off of the mixer hook the dough was every bit as silky and smooth as 00 Pizzeria...

[norma427]

Got a bag of 00 Rinforzato today to play with, particularly for longer CF's... Haven't seen too much real world experience posted about this harder brother of 00 Pizzeria. There's Norma's wet gluten tests, and a few references to it, as in "might be better for—" type comments, but again, very little real world experience...?

Would love to hear if anyone has anything to say about the red Caputo from their ferments, bakes...? What I know so far is that off of the mixer hook the dough was every bit as silky and smooth as 00 Pizzeria...

toddster63,

When I was invited to Steve’s home I did use Pizzeria flour for 2 of the doughs and Rinforzato flour for the other two doughs at Reply http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,18735.0.html  The one dough was made with CY and the other with the Ischia starter though, so really a comparison of the two flours couldn’t be made.  I couldn’t really see any big differences in the flavors of those crusts or oven spring even though they were both controlled temperature fermented doughs.

Norma

[toddster63]

toddster63,

When I was invited to Steve’s home I did use Pizzeria flour for 2 of the doughs and Rinforzato flour for the other two doughs at Reply http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,18735.0.html  The one dough was made with CY and the other with the Ischia starter though, so really a comparison of the two flours couldn’t be made.  I couldn’t really see any big differences in the flavors of those crusts or oven spring even though they were both controlled temperature fermented doughs.

Norma

Thanks, Norma... My first Rinforzato ball was also made with Ischia and sitting in 24 hour room temp ferment, we'll see...

P.S. You look pretty in pink, peel in hand....!

[toddster63]

Baked my first pie from the Rinforzato today, a 16 hour Ischia RTF. I am very impressed with this first experience—pie browned much more than the 00 Pizzeria does for me, and the crust shell was a tad crisper, but just as soft and pillowy inside as the Pizzeria. It's on the first try, but it's everything I was hoping for...!

Pie was a classic Lombardi's white pie—Ricotta impastata, mozz, loads of garlic, Calif. VOO, oregano and pepper. Cooked at 650F for 2:00 on my LBE...

[toddster63]

Second shot—

[TXCraig1]

Todd, that pie looks WAY better than the last pie I had at Lombardi's.

[David Deas]

650 for two minutes?  That would normally result in a gum line.  How are you avoiding having a gum line under such mild bake conditions?

Your crust has good coloring, which is due in part to the increased protein but also due to good heat.  Are you sure you were at 650?

[toddster63]

650 for two minutes?  That would normally result in a gum line.  How are you avoiding having a gum line under such mild bake conditions?

Your crust has good coloring, which is due in part to the increased protein but also due to good heat.  Are you sure you were at 650?

IR on stone said 627-698 at various points, 648 at the center (where pie is launched). It sounds like a mild bake, but the air foil/venturi mod on my LBE's lid is very effective in smashing hot air over the top of the pie; you can see this with the tiny brown/burn spots on the cheese (which is a negative strike for true Neapolitan pies)—this pie should have been pulled a little sooner, but I've been kinda infatuated with the New Haven style lately. Also, I should have taken a side shot of a slice, as this pie was also very, very thin, ala New Haven. I've never had gum line problems with thin pies in my LBE, and really only with tomato sauce involved have I seen gumlines. Don't forget this was a sauceless white pie...

You can see pics of the air foil/venturi mod I did to my oven's lid in the LBE thread in the oven forum—I just posted pics of it yesterday.

[toddster63]

Today I did the best Neo Neapolitan I've ever done with the Caputo Rinforzato. 58% hydration, 24 hour RT rise with Ischia, 625F stone in my LBE, 1:40 bake time. Good light brown overall coloration with decent and nice leopard spots. Crust had the Caputo hallmarks—soft and pillowy, slices folded over in half almost by themselves. It was just a tad chewier than 00 Pizzeria in a  WFO at higher temps, but it's taste similarity to Anthony's pies at UPN just tickled me to death (it was gobbled down before pics could be taken... )

I can see the Caputo red Rinforzato being a much better flour choice for those in the 550F-650F baking range than the 00 Pizzeria (for those of course that are hell bent on using Italian flours or non-malted flours), with just a bit of a tradeoff in terms of texture—but the better browning at lower temps balances thing out IMHO... What does suck is how hard the Caputo red is to find—maybe that's why it's not more notably used in the home environment