My First Pizza - in progress - LOTS of Newbie Questions...

[pizzaneer]

On the second one I am planning to use a little bit more oil in the pan and a mix of white cheddar and whole milk mozzarella topped with pepperoni.

Ok, a few suggestions:
1. the oil amount you used seemed sufficient - too much and it gets weird
2. try thinly slicing about 1/3 of the cheese, covering the dough with it, then the sauce- the bottom cheese will keep the sauce from seeping into the dough and making it soggy
3. Dispense the blended sauce with a ketchup squeezer- this ducks the "smearing it around with a spoon" step, which can lead to isolated blobs of lots of sauce interspersed with heaped up mounds of dough
4. Use a cake knife to pry up and check the bottom browning.  If the top is getting too done before the bottom is, open the oven.  The residual heat in the stone will finish the bottom as long as the pan is sitting on it.

[nicu2001]

Ok, a few suggestions:
1. the oil amount you used seemed sufficient - too much and it gets weird
2. try thinly slicing about 1/3 of the cheese, covering the dough with it, then the sauce- the bottom cheese will keep the sauce from seeping into the dough and making it soggy
3. Dispense the blended sauce with a ketchup squeezer- this ducks the "smearing it around with a spoon" step, which can lead to isolated blobs of lots of sauce interspersed with heaped up mounds of dough
4. Use a cake knife to pry up and check the bottom browning.  If the top is getting too done before the bottom is, open the oven.  The residual heat in the stone will finish the bottom as long as the pan is sitting on it.

Awesome, I will try all of this.. thank you!

[nicu2001]

Just came back in to post on my latest attempt, this time NY style, but wanted to update on my 2nd Greek pizza.  The 2nd pizza was great and had better flavor but the dough was not as good.  I think I should have cooked it a little longer but it seems even in the bottom of my oven on the stone the top cooks very quicky.  I ordered an IR thermometer so that I can better determine the best setup for my oven and actual temps that it reaches.  Thanks again to everyone for their comments and help.

[pizzaneer]

Thanks for the update!  One thing we didn't cover was your oven.  Is it a heat-on top type?  Where is the burner? The broiler?

I'm sure you're going to be discussing this in-depth as you start your NY style journey.  Good luck!

[nicu2001]

Thanks!  My oven is this Bertazzoni:

http://us.bertazzoni.com/freestanding/professional-series/ranges/36-6-burner-gas-range

The oven is gas and the setting goes to 500.  It has a regular and convection setting as well.  The burner for baking comes from gas on under the "bottom" of the oven.  The broiler is on the top of the oven and is gas as well.

[pizzaneer]

Whoa! You have this thing in your kitchen? 

Thats an impressive range. I don't know about the oven. Conceivably, you should turn off the convection feature, and bake the Greek style pan pizzas at a lower temperature, around 450.

It's going to be interesting to see how your professional oven does with NY style.  Where is your temp sensor located?

[nicu2001]

Haha, yeah that is our oven.  When we bought the house the prior owners had just done the kitchen and chose this fancy Italian range.  I really like it but honestly starting the gas oven is a bit annoying and the temperature dial is not always perfect.  I bought the Thermoworks IR thermometer and plan to investigate my oven further!  Right now I am not even sure where the temp sensor is.

As for NY style, I am worried that my dough is over fermented but I am going to take two of the balls out and give em a go tonight. 

[pizzaneer]

Let me point you at another thread, where the poster also used a gas oven, to make NY style.  She did an amazing job.  Perhaps you could emulate the oven setup.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,19517.0.html

[scott123]

I bought the Thermoworks IR thermometer and plan to investigate my oven further!

Please do, and let us know what temps you're reaching.  Unless you pull an Omid and do a complete overhaul of the oven, I don't see you pulling out anything in the way of Neapolitan. As far as NY goes... let's cross our fingers that your IR thermometer gives you stone readings of well above 500- preferably 550 or higher.

[nicu2001]

Thanks guys and will do. 

On a side note, I took two of the containers of my 5 day NY dough out just now and they both have large bubbles in them.  Any advice on how to handle it?  Let it come up to room temp in the covered containers and then pop and shape when I am ready to bake?

[TheBlum]

Thanks guys and will do. 

On a side note, I took two of the containers of my 5 day NY dough out just now and they both have large bubbles in them.  Any advice on how to handle it?  Let it come up to room temp in the covered containers and then pop and shape when I am ready to bake?

Just pinch and pop the bubbles ... they will deflate and suck right down!

[Pete-zza]

I posted along the same lines earlier today at Reply 1 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,19674.msg192847.html#msg192847.

Peter

[nicu2001]

Please do, and let us know what temps you're reaching.  Unless you pull an Omid and do a complete overhaul of the oven, I don't see you pulling out anything in the way of Neapolitan. As far as NY goes... let's cross our fingers that your IR thermometer gives you stone readings of well above 500- preferably 550 or higher.

I got the IR Thermometer yesterday.  After an hour of preheating the stone which I placed on the lowest rack was at 600 degrees.  Good stuff!