Up and Running w/Blodgett 1048

[pizzaneer]

Pizza #4, shown in all the pics here was a bit of an odd-ball orphan but it was by far the most popular.  It consisted of Pendleton Power, about 75%, and the remaining S&F flour I had in a jar, about 25%.  Hydration was 65% and about tsp of IDY was used.  This ball was about 6 days old.  It overproofed and I knocked it down and reballed after 48 hours, it blew-up again and I reballed a second time at 96 hours, this was the third rise with the yeast gobbling-up what was left of a tsp of sugar originally.  Bake time 5:00 !  It almost went into the garbage.

When you reballed twice did you use a lot of bench flour?  Enough to make the overblown feeling go away, and return it to a starting doughball?  What was the bench flour?  Proofing temp?  Ball weight to begin with and finally before use?

[Pete-zza]

When you reballed twice did you use a lot of bench flour?  Enough to make the overblown feeling go away, and return it to a starting doughball?  What was the bench flour?  Proofing temp?  Ball weight to begin with and finally before use?

Brian,

RE can speak for himself, but in my experience if a dough has overfermented to the point where the dough is wet and clammy, adding bench flour to absorb the water released from its chemical bond will not salvage the dough. In RE's case, I suspect that there was enough yeast in the dough and enough sugars (natural) in the dough to sustain multiple rises without overfermenting to the point of becoming completely unusable.

Peter

[Pizza De Puta]

"When you reballed twice did you use a lot of bench flour? " No, none.

"Enough to make the overblown feeling go away, and return it to a starting doughball?" No

"What was the bench flour?" None  

"Proofing temp?"  36F

"Ball weight to begin with and finally before use?" 1.5 lbs/same

[Pizza De Puta]

We did a 30+ free catering gig for my mother's church, yesterday.  Learned a valuable lesson as our cold kitchen didn't bring the dough up to the needed 70-75 degrees before opening. Two hours after removing from the frig, the balls were only at 60 degrees. This cold, elastic dough would not stretch without tearing.  My 18" pizza's ended-up being 14" but we were up against a time deadline and had to bake.  The people liked them anyway because they tasted good and were free.  However, if this ever happened in a market environment, we'd be screwed . . . but that's the whole point of practicing and putting-on free lunches, right?  Here's one before/after baking, I call it "sunshine".

[pizzaneer]

Well, that's interesting.  Your overblown must be a LOT different from my overblown.  When mine turns into a gooey bubbly blob and tries to escape onto the counter, I call it overblown.   What's yours like?

Amazingly, they were usable.  I just reballed until they didn't stick to everything like glue and let them rest 15 minutes.  Turned out full of flavor, decent spring.  These were made with a very small amount of starter, and fermented at 70 in a cooler.  I took them out of the cooler I keep in the basement and they sat on the counter while I preheated the LBE.  Half an hour later, they were making a break for freedom.  Feisty stuff, wild yeast.

[weemis]

We did a 30+ free catering gig for our church, yesterday.  Learned a valuable lesson today as our cold kitchen didn't bring the dough up to the needed 70-75 degrees before opening. Two hours after removing from the frig, the balls were only at 60 degrees. This cold, elastic dough would not stretch without tearing.  My 18" pizza's ended-up being 14" but we were up against a time deadline and had to bake....

Ah, the challenges of doing pizza on location. But as they say, the show must go on! Way to roll with the punches.

[Pizza De Puta]

Well, that's interesting.  Your overblown must be a LOT different from my overblown.  When mine turns into a gooey bubbly blob and tries to escape onto the counter, I call it overblown.   What's yours like?

Not like yours!!  I'd be afraid to sleep at night at your house fearing that I might be consumed by the dough monster by morning!!! 

Love the char on the edges of the meat on your pizza.  That one looks like it needs some beer, a little football, and some serious "alone time".

[Pizza De Puta]

Ah, the challenges of doing pizza on location. But as they say, the show must go on! Way to roll with the punches.

Thank you!  Yes, we made it work!!  The event was 50 miles from our home, up in the foothills.  Pizza is not an everyday or even every month event in the lives of most of the people there.  The children were happily dancing in the assembly room with a slice of cheese pizza in one hand and a soda in the other.  We had to reheat the seven pizzas we baked earlier in the Blodgett on an ancient range inside the commercial kitchen housed at the Catholic Church.  It was the first time we've served our pizza reheated and it came out exceptionally crispy, if not taller, smaller, and thicker than I planned.  The appreciative crowd consumed all but two slices and we had great fun catering our first event!!

[pizzaneer]

Not like yours!!  I'd be afraid to sleep at night at your house fearing that I might be consumed by the dough monster by morning!!! 

Love the char on the edges of the meat on your pizza.  That one looks like it needs some beer, a little football, and some serious "alone time".

Post some pics, or a description of your monsters, please.  I'm really curious.  And yes, my kid and I made short work of this one- he calls them "burnaronis", and always asks for them! 

[Pizza De Puta]

How about just a plain 18" cheese pizza?

[Pizza De Puta]

Here's a linguica and mushroom being removed from the mighty Blodgett after a bake of 4:20.

[scott r]

Hey... just one man's opinion here, but if I have a dough ball that's still rising I consider it to be immature.    No surprise to me that the dough that kept growing and growing was the best one.   My feeling is that when the dough is just about to collapse on its own, or does collapse when its container is tapped..... its ready!   For me this provides the best texture and flavor, but it does take much more practice to work with dough in this state.   



Try letting a sacrificial doughball rise until it falls.   Note how long it took, and what temperatures you were working with.   Next time use your dough ball just a little earlier than "ground zero" and see if you like it.   


Good luck!   

[Warren Montney]

Forgive me if this was posted above but I didnt take the time to read all the posts. You want 1 1/2 inch thick stones for baking pizza and firebrick isn't the best choice I used to bake on bakers pride Y-600s and blodgets  in one store we had a grey stone deck its made from high heat concrete in the other firebrick ( both y 600s ) the fire brick doesn't transfer the heat as well . No big deal for one or two test pies but for high volume get the concrete also if you have a really old oven with original stones many of those stones have asbestos in them . When you scrape the stone with a peel it can get bits of asbestos on your pie. Also if you can't get the stones to heat up to 650 close the round holes  on the sides down a bit that will force more heat to bottom of stone. Blodgets are great ovens and you will get great results with them. It sounds like you want to open a store at some point. You may cook a pie in 7 minutes at the start of a busy hr but it will be closer to 15 by then end. I remember doing back to back 110 pie hours on 4 bakers pride y-600 ovens by the end of the second hour it was 15-16 minutes a pie. a good rule of thumb is 4.5 times the number of spots per hr. so one oven  that holds 5 pies can to about 22-23 pizzas her hour. Good luck you will love love love that oven!

[norma427]

RE,

Very tasty looking pies! 


Norma

[jever4321]

Pizza De Puta, Your pies look awesome!

[Pizza De Puta]

Thank you for the compliments and the input guys.  The latest round of pizzas in our testing session were a solid leap forward from where we'd been.  The sauce is delicious.  The cheese brands and blend are spot on.  The dough has been the last to come around but we nailed it this time.  Even our stretching skills are becoming adequate.  This latest bake was the first time our production was sufficient for market, in my opinion.  The pies tasted great and looked like something that could be served to a paying customer.

The menu is just about filled so we are close to moving on to the real estate phase of our business plan.  Looking for a commercial agent to represent us now.  I also would like to bring in an investor to fund the start-up.