My NY style pizza

[ma71supra]

I've been reading these forums for almost a year now. I don't post very much but I do learn quite a bit from everyone here.
Here's some pies I made recently. The first one is a caramelized onion and sausage, the second is a simple marinara with garlic and parmigiano.
Anyone have any suggestions? My main goal lately has been to balance the char on the crust with the melting of the cheese. I like to have quite a few black spots on the rim and white unbrowned cheese but that doesn't always happen

[Pete-zza]

ma71supra,

I don't think you need any help. You have learned well and are doing fine. In fact, I think that a lot of our members will want to know what dough recipe you used and how you made the dough and baked the pizzas.

As for cheese, I have found that the quality of cheese makes a difference in terms of melting and browning. My favorite in that regard is the Grande whole-milk mozzarella cheese. It melts without breaking down and doesn't brown as much as other cheeses, at least in my oven. I can't get the Grande where I live in Texas but I buy it when outside of Texas and given the chance. There are many other cheeses that are perhaps as good if not better than the Grande but, unfortunately, they are hard for me to find where I live. The Sorrento, Polly-O, and Saputo family of processed mozzarella cheeses come to mind as being above average.

Peter

[ma71supra]

Pete-zza-
I think you're right about the correlation between the browning of the cheese and the quality. A while ago I bought some belgioso mozzarella at costco and it was better than the trader joe's mozzarella I used on the pies I have posted here.

As far as my recipe it goes as follows

King Arthur Bread Flour  -  100%
Filtered Water              -  59%
Salt (Kosher)               -  2.3%
Poolish (Camoldoli)        -  7% of overall weight

Mix poolish into cold filtered water, add to flour (reserve a bit for kneading)
Mix into "shaggy mess"
Autolyse for 30 minutes
Knead by hand until it passes windowpane test
While kneading fold in salt
Bulk Ferment at room temp (usually 68 deg) for 12 hours - 14 hours
Portion into balls and ferment at room temp for 2-3 hours longer
Bake in 550 deg preheated oven on pizza stone

Sauce is comprised of de-seeded and de-stemmed whole san marzanos (cento) with salt

[Pete-zza]

Ah, that helps explain things. I could tell from the crust that there was a lot of fermentation going on, and at a temperature in the optimal range. And I see that you used the classic autolyse correctly. Great job.

What dough batch size did you make, and what dough ball weight did you use and what was the corresponding pizza size? Along with the baker's percents you gave, the answers may help others replicate what you did.

Peter

[JerryMac]

ma71supra

What kind of oven are you using  Are you using any sugar or oil in your dough 

Your crust looks GREAT 

Mangia Bene, 
Jerry

[ZekeTheCat]

ma71supra -Great looking pie and the crust especially interests me since that has been an on going nemises with me !

Questions:
What's the size of your pies?
How long do you typicaly cook your pizzas on the stone and what position in the oven do you place your stone ?
Is your oven a residential gas or electric ?
 Zeke

[ma71supra]

Pete -
Sorry but I don't know the batch sizes because I always make a loaf or two of bread with the same dough, and I don't weigh the dough balls - I go by size - usually a bit smaller than the size of a softball when I break them up after the bulk ferment.

JerryMac -
I'm using a residential electric oven and no sugar, honey, or oil.

Zeke -
My pies are usually somewhere between 12 and 13 inches in diameter. The stone is placed on the second to bottom rack and preheated for about 30 minutes at 550 degrees. I don't time my pies but I would venture to guess that they take around 7 minutes.