Great sourdough results = venturing into sd pizza

[canadianbacon]

Hi guys,

I've been playing around with sourdough in the last few weeks and am finally starting to
"get it" ... I had tried sourdough a few months ago, and didn't really have fun doing it, had no
clue what was I was doing so gave up,

anyway I jumped back into it, and got some pretty impressive results yesterday
 ( my latest 100% sourdough loaves )
you can see all the images here:
http://www.detroitgrillking.com/frosty/sourdough-april-3/

What you can see in my images is a not-so-traditional sourdough baked in a traditional bread
pan ( which I did on purpose, as I wished to see what would happen ) and a very traditional
sourdough loaf which gave me very shocking results.



Shocking because the 100% sourdough dough was pretty flat when it hit the pizza stone, and 10 mins
later it had blown up like a balloon ! ( the first 2 images show the before and after ) .... the results
are just stunning ! ( to me anyway )  .... look at the slits I made in that dough, and look at how
wide they opened up.... it was really amazing for me to see, I didn't realize I could get that excited
about sourdough   

Note: At about the 10 mark I had opened the oven to spray some water from my water spritzer into the oven
and the loaf had already blown up like you see it in that second image, but it wasn't as brown, that second image was taken just before I took it out )

see below !

P.S. - On April 1st, I did a test using 1 cup of sourdough starter, and used only 1 teaspoon of yeast
to see what would happen..... well, the results were visually very pleasing, but the loaf didn't have that
real sourdough taste as the one I made without any yeast at all.
you can see the complete set of images here:
http://www.detroitgrillking.com/frosty/sourdough-april-1/

Anyway the 100% sourdough bread has given me some really good hope, and now that I know I can do
bread, I'm going to start making my first sourdough pizzas 

(( Just to clarify, the last 2 images of the TALL bread in the tin was made with sourdough starter, but
with the aid of 1 teaspoon of yeast )) ( baked on April 1st )

After my bake session yesterday with NO commercial yeast, and seeing the amazing results of that free form
bread, it blows my mind the power that is contained in a good sourdough starter !

Mark

[Aaron]

Those are some huge voids in that loaf,can some one say oven spring.
Aaron

[canadianbacon]

Hi Aaron and thanks 

I've been working hard with a mentor ( woman in St.Catherine's Ontario ) a retired professional
baker.  She has helped me out much !

I could never ever get any ovenspring on my loaves, and thru her schooling me, experience, etc,
I now know the time when the bread is ready for the oven.  So much of it is not the ingredients
but the way you do it.

Anyway I am so thrilled, like the kid in the candy store that I'm finally able to get oven spring like that 

hope all is well.  I look forward to seeing you at the BBQ competition this summer, I hope Dizzy Pig
does very well !

Mark

[Aaron]

Morning Mark.
St Catherines is my home town,spent most of my misguided youth there,from what I can remember.
Nice to know that people are helping in your bread making skills.
Thanks for the encouragement,our season already started a couple weeks ago in Rockingham N.C,Mike and Brian went down to help the U.S team out,they got a third place in anything but and a seventh for pork shoulder out of sixty one teams.
Looking forward to seeing you again.
Aaron

[tonymark]

anyway I jumped back into it, and got some pretty impressive results yesterday
 ( my latest 100% sourdough loaves )
you can see all the images here:

Can you please provide all the details, recipe, rise time and temp, bake time and temp.  What culture are you using?

TM

[Kinsman]

The use of natural leavenings is what allowed me to make what I consider truly world-class pizzas.
I searched for years and years...like ten or twelve; now I make pizza dough that is so easy it's funny.

2 pounds of flour (mine is about 14% protein...hard winter wheat)
2 cups of starter...I keep mine pretty wet, like a pancake batter.
2 cups of water, blood temp
1 Tb kosher salt
Maybe a bit of flour to bring it to the right consistency.  It should be so wet you can barely handle it.

I let it rise at cool-ish room temp about six or eight hours before I use it.
This makes a perfect dough.  Light inside, lots of bubbles; crispy outside; and chewy.  Just perfect.

[Pete-zza]

Chris,

Can you give me an idea how many pizzas you make with that amount of dough and what size they are (or give an amount of dough for a particular size pizza)? And can you tell me how you refresh the starter in terms of amount of water and flour you use at each refreshing?

Finally, are you certain the high-gluten flour is winter wheat? Most high-gluten flours at around 14% protein tend to be hard red spring wheat.

Thanks.

Peter

[Kinsman]

Peter-

I scurried right home and looked at the info on the flour...lo and behold, you are right.  Hard red spring wheat it is.  It is from Wheat Montana ("We sow it, grow it and dough it").  I am lucky enough to buy it nearly anywhere around here and it really makes a great dough. 

Anyway, when I make that amount of dough, I usually make a 16" pepperoni from a 12oz ball, a 10" deep dish from a 12oz ball, and have enough for a couple of smaller 6-8oz balls for experiments or pies that only one or two people eat.  Anchovies and garlic or similar.  It's a good amount to mix in my Kitchenaid.

This amount also will make 8 or 10 small balls of 8 oz or so for a "tasting party" which we do with friends when we want to try lots of different kinds of pizza, and only want to have a taste -one or two small slices- of each.

I keep the starter in a wide-mouth mason jar, lid on loosely. When I feed it, I just put in about a cupful of flour and add enough water at blood temp to make it about like a thinnish pancake batter.  I shake it up well, mixing lots of oxygen in for the first growth phase of the yeast.  I also try to keep the jar only about half-full so I don't get a big mess on the counter.