Hey All,
Threw another pizza party on Saturday, and made 8 pies, over the span of about 6 1/2 hours - shared between 21 people. I made two batches of dough by this recipe:
Flour (100%): 1335.99 g | 47.12 oz | 2.95 lbs
Water (66.67%): 890.7 g | 31.42 oz | 1.96 lbs
ADY (.44%): 5.88 g | 0.21 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.56 tsp | 0.52 tbsp
Salt (1.78%): 23.78 g | 0.84 oz | 0.05 lbs | 4.26 tsp | 1.42 tbsp
Sugar (1.4%): 18.7 g | 0.66 oz | 0.04 lbs | 4.69 tsp | 1.56 tbsp
Total (170.29%): 2275.06 g | 80.25 oz | 5.02 lbs | TF = N/A
Single Ball: 379.18 g | 13.37 oz | 0.84 lbs
residue factor 2.48%
6 dough balls
doughball weight 370
The six on Wednesday got 3 days ferment and Thursday got 2 days. The finished doughball weights were closer to 360 grams each for a 14' x 16' pizza. The only thing different from my past recipe
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9424.0.html was increasing the sugar from 1.2 to 1.4% for more crust coloration. My oven temp was approximately 575F or 50< before. Generally, I set my timer for 4 minutes then opened the door to take a peek at the pie (my oven doesn't have a window) and usually baked it for 1 more minute - so average bake time was approx. 5 minutes.
#1 - Bacon Tomato A - Turned out great. Good crust color, but not burned/it was just right.
#2 - Pepperoni - w/Mushroom and Kalamata Olive - Baked to perfect doneness again.
#3 - Veggie - This included roast garlic on top of the sauce, but underneath the cheese. Not the prettiest, but it tasted great.
#4 - White - w/Caramelized Onions, Gorgonzola and Rosemary. This was quite good. The novelty of it caught everyone's interest, and it vaporized. The crust coloration was optimal.
#5 - Supreme - Similar to the veggie but with Pepperoni. My picture taking fell off in quality a bit here as my mouth acquired greater use.
#6 - Vegan Red - Tasted as refreshing as it looked.
#7 - Bacon Tomato B - Used a bit too much cheese but it didn't last long.
#8 - Cheese - Classic simple pie w/basil. The basil was about 2 days old, so looking a little tired, but it's flavor was still quite noticeable.
All in all I was pleased with the results of increasing the sugar and decreasing the oven temp. Maxing my oven temp (at 50F higher) may have yielded slightly better results, but also a much narrower window of optimal doneness. None of the pies were significantly under or overcooked. Easily my most consistent results so far. It helps to have a timer of course. But still, the slightly cooler oven permitted me a bit more leeway with timing while still yielding the char and cheese meltage I seek. I think the extra sugar also helped to make a noticeable improvement on crust color and it also seemed a tad sweeter. Given the sweetness of the sauce I use, I would say the sugar % and its effect on crust color is now in the sweet spot.
