Too Much Flour?

[Doughboy20]

So I have been trying to get the black char spots on the crown, but no luck. Do a long 3 - 5 day ferment, usually see lots of bubbles in the container before i bring it to room temp.  Now looking at my own pics I see would could be spots where the wet sauce is hitting the rim.  So is it possible i am using too much flour when pushing out the pie keeping it from charing?  Am I imagining the spots in the inside rim?

FYI:
I use King Aurthur Bread flour
Electric oven, stone on bottom rack  550F.
5 day ferment
65-70% hydration

[GuzziJason]

I would thing that sugars (naturally occurring or added) or oil in the sauce could contribute to browning, in areas where it contacts the crust. With that said, yes - based on the photo, it seems like there may be a bit too much flour on the crust as well. I used to have similar problems problems, and just worked on using just *barely* enough bench flour to get the job done, without leaving too much flour on the crust. It definitely makes a difference.

__Jason

[Doughboy20]

Good point, there is no oil in the dough, but there is some in the sauce.  I didn't thing of that angle. 

[TXCraig1]

I think it is more likely that it is the sugars in the sauce. I've seen sauce brown on the cornice of my pies, and I don't add oil to my sauce.