shaping/building /loading?

[widespreadpizza]

Hey there folks!  based on these videos, tonight(friday of course)  I tried a new loading technique as seen on the Scott r ,the vid. with the wet dough,  I built the pie on the counter and actually dragged it onto the peel.  It worked, much like the video.  But,  I used too much flour to accomplish it, possibly only on the peel , and got the dreaded ,bitter flour effect(AND SMOKE IN THE HOUSE).  is this the most common way of building in Italy,  and did I just use too much flour on my peel.  course you don't know how much i used but can this be done with a good amount of bench flour and not much on the peel at all?  Do any of you use the perforated peels.  I guess I'm wondering what your most successful methods might be.  I knowI hate using much flour at all but how else can this be done with a very wet dough?  I have used bench flour with semolina on the peel pretty successfully, but want to do it right AND NOT SMOKE UP THE HOUSE.   any tips pointers opinions.  DO any of you folks really do it the exact same way every time, or are you like me and still trying new ways (and occasionally smoking up the house)  for reference, standard home oven cranked all the way, bottom brick on oven floor ir therm.  reads in the range of 650 when loading then up to the broiler to finish.  Hey might as well have a discussion based on the most recent posts anyways huh?  while I'm here ill try to leave a pic of one of my recent (not tonights)  cold mix/sir galahad doughs /pies inspired by picco in Boston (NO SMOKE UP THE HOUSE EFFECT THIS NIGHT).  please note used purple basil  any thoughts / -marc

[Pete-zza]

widespreadpizza,

From what I have seen from the videos, the Italians use a marble or similar smooth surface to build their pizzas and the pizzas are on the smallish side (Neapolitan) and without a lot of toppings. I don’t think you could use the “pull and slide” approach with say, a 16-18” pizza loaded with cheeses and toppings.

I know that Bill/SFNM has been using a perforated peel with great success. I believe he is using a perforated peel from GI.Metal, whose website is at http://www.gimetalusa.com/.

A few months ago, there was an interesting thread that addressed many of the same concerns with the use of flour that you mentioned in your post. You might find it useful. It is at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,3384.msg28631.html#msg28631.

BTW, nice looking pie.

Peter

[David]

Marc,
it looks like you are going in the right direction.I  would say that from my experience this method is only done with highly hydrated doughs in Neapolitan Pizzerias,so it is more common to see Pizzaiols in the rest of Italy building each Pizza on the bench and then picking it up on the peel and placing it in the oven.They can do that because the dough is not as wet .I don't think that much bench flour is required in either method really if your dough is in the right condition at the time of use.The dough hydration is a fine line IMO and a few % can make the world of difference.It 's probably better of to start with a lower hydrated dough an gradually work you way up until your confidence and experience builds,be prepared to waste a lot of mishaps on the way!I screw up all the time as i'm not doing this on a daily basis,and it can seem frustrating,but stick at it.I would try and avoid any semolina or cornmeal,you really don't need it IMO.I saw a video clip of the other methods of building a Pizza and then lifting it with the peel which i'll try to find and post for reference.Good luck,
                                              David

O.K. here's the link I looked at on my computer at work.It's actually from a pizzeria in Denmark but you should see the method clearly. It played alright,but now I can't get it to work on my home computer,probably due to my security settings? Give it a try....

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?ei=UTF-8&p=pizzeria&b=49&oid=419a645d91bc925c&rurl=www.pizzeriasardegna.dk&vdone=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.yahoo.com%2Fvideo%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3Dpizzeria%26b%3D41

[pizzanapoletana]

widespreadpizza,

From what I have seen from the videos, the Italians use a marble or similar smooth surface to build their pizzas and the pizzas are on the smallish side (Neapolitan) and without a lot of toppings.

Peter

the same approach even when loading a capricciosa (all the toppings you can think of but pepperoni..).

As David has pointed out, it needs to be in the right condition at the time of shaping. There are at least 5 things we would make sure to do to avoid using extra flour, and this all come from traditional experience.

IMO it is better to incorporate more flour when mixing then adding it when shaping.

Ciao