First Pie results

[pza_eater]

I made my first pie using the dough from my first post.

King Arthur 27.63 oz
water (62%) 17.13oz ( I used the cold water from the fridge filter)
IDY .86 tsp
salt 2.8 tsp

dissolve salt in water
add flour and yeast with hook on speed 2 for ~ 2minutes
let sit for 15 minutes
final knead on speed 2 for ~4 minutes

Well I tried to take the dough out of the bowl and and it very gooey and unmanagable.  I had to add more flour so it wouldn't stick.  I finally managed to split it into 2 balls (gobs) and placed them into containers.

The dough was cold fermented since Tuesday. I took the dough out 1.5 hours before cooking and used a screen in a 500 oven in the lower rack.

I ran the dough through some flour and stretched it out. Pressed the dough creating the outer rim and hand stretched the center. A lot easier than I expected as the elasticity was low.

Dressed with sauce made with Cento tomatoes (processor with 3 cloves of garlic, 1tsb dried oregano, 3 pinches of salt), 1.5 cups of Sorentto whole mozzarella cheese and Hormel roni.

Total cooking time was 14 minutes.  While the pizza was good, the bottom crust was just a tad too overdone.  The end crust was not poofey and pale, not golden as I expected.

Any idea on how to get the end crust golden?

Also, I noticed that I was using King Arthur all purpose.  Should I be using KA bread flour?

Thanks,
T

Pics to follow

[pza_eater]

Daughter wanted cheese.
I think I was a little heavy handed with the sauce too.

[pza_eater]

The pic is a bit fuzzy. I had to convert to gif and the focus was a bit off.
Notice how the crust is a bit flat.  I was sure not to disturb the rim as I was shaping.

[pza_eater]

Here is what it looks like from the bottom. Like I said before, just a tad too crisp.  I was waiting for the end crust to brown but it didn't happen

[philly333]

Wow, That makes me want to go make a pizza right now! It looks absolutely delicious

[Pete-zza]

Any idea on how to get the end crust golden?

Also, I noticed that I was using King Arthur all purpose.  Should I be using KA bread flour?

T,

I think you will get more crust coloration using the bread flour because it has more protein than all-purpose flour. Also, with three days of cold fermentation, you may have been about a day too long. Next time, you might add a bit of sugar to the dough if you want to go out to about three days. Also, if you plan to stick with the all-purpose flour, I would reduce the hydration from 62% to 60%.

Your bake time of 14 minutes at 500 degrees F also strikes me as being on the long side. I estimate that the dough recipe you used makes about 45.40 ounces of dough, or 22.7 ounces for each of two dough balls. You didn't indicate what size pizzas you made but that amount of dough will make a crust that is a bit thicker than the crust for a Papa John's 14" original crust pizza. In my oven, it would take about 8 minutes to bake such a pizza. In your case, if you have a pizza stone, you should be able to get better oven spring and also a somewhat shorter bake time by baking the pizzas directly on the pizza stone. It is common for a pizza screen to produce a crust with less oven spring than one baked directly on a pizza stone, but there are other factors that also come into play with respect to achieving a good oven spring.

Peter

[pza_eater]

Peter,

My first dough recipe was from a member of a BBQ forum that cold ferments his dough 5-7 days using a similar recipe. My next batch will be made with the KA bread flour with 62% hydration with a little oil. I'll cold ferment for 2 days and see how this turns out.

The first pizza was laid out on a 18" screen so it was about a 17" pie with the dough ball a little over 23 oz.  The crust was nice and thin but just a tad overdone as I was waiting for the end crust to brown (it didn't happen  ).  I have a 14" round stone but wanted to make one larger pie on the screen so it wasn't used.

I'll see if oven spring improves using the KA bread flour and a shorter ferment.

Thanks,
Tom

[Pete-zza]

The first pizza was laid out on a 18" screen so it was about a 17" pie with the dough ball a little over 23 oz. 

Tom,

That is even more puzzling from a bake time standpoint. However, let's wait to see how your next effort turns out before agonizing over it.

Peter