Questions regarding Olive oil in dough + stone differences

[shayke]

Hello there!
so, I'm with my new Effeuno oven for about a month+. I've had a lot of fun and though not every time was a major success, it wasn't also a disaster so I'm doing kinda good

I've experienced poolish & Oil-less dough to make somewhat of a Neapolitan-style pizza. I'm using the Saputo biscotto stone and 420 degrees bottom 450 top (celsius). I wanted to ask:

* are there any benefits for the original stone (I think it's shamuth) over the Saputo? let's say if I want to bake at lower temperatures, or should I just leave the Saputo inside and use only it?
* I wish to experiment with dough that has olive oil inside. I used to make it on my regular oven and the taste is very good. should I count the oil as % hydration?
* should dough with Olive oil be baked at lower temperatures, or will it work on the higher end just like the oil-less dough?

thanks! <3

[Yael]

Hi,

* I wish to experiment with dough that has olive oil inside. I used to make it on my regular oven and the taste is very good. should I count the oil as % hydration?

We generally include oil in the hydration in France (maybe Italy as well, I'm not 100% sure), but I asked once Tom Lehmann what he had to say about it, and his reply was that oil and water have different roles in dough so they shouldn't be counted together. I've been separating them since then!

* should dough with Olive oil be baked at lower temperatures, or will it work on the higher end just like the oil-less dough?
The question should be taken from the other angle: do lower baking temp need oil? And the reply is.. yes. In a nutshell, oil keeps moisture within the crumb so it's interesting for longer bake/lower temperature bake; when baking at high temp (I'd say 450°C and above), pizza bakes in one minute, there's still a lot of moisture, so adding oil would lead to keep even more moisture in the crumb (which would result in an under-baked crust).

[shayke]

Hi,

* I wish to experiment with dough that has olive oil inside. I used to make it on my regular oven and the taste is very good. should I count the oil as % hydration?

We generally include oil in the hydration in France (maybe Italy as well, I'm not 100% sure), but I asked once Tom Lehmann what he had to say about it, and his reply was that oil and water have different roles in dough so they shouldn't be counted together. I've been separating them since then!

* should dough with Olive oil be baked at lower temperatures, or will it work on the higher end just like the oil-less dough?
The question should be taken from the other angle: do lower baking temp need oil? And the reply is.. yes. In a nutshell, oil keeps moisture within the crumb so it's interesting for longer bake/lower temperature bake; when baking at high temp (I'd say 450°C and above), pizza bakes in one minute, there's still a lot of moisture, so adding oil would lead to keep even more moisture in the crumb (which would result in an under-baked crust).

thank you for your thorough reply!
so, if I generally like the taste of dough with some oil better than without it, I should aim for a Temperature lower than what I'm using at the moment (which is 450 cel top, 420 cel bottom).

[Yael]

thank you for your thorough reply!
so, if I generally like the taste of dough with some oil better than without it, I should aim for a Temperature lower than what I'm using at the moment (which is 450 cel top, 420 cel bottom).

Well if you think the crust is correctly baked, then keep the oil. I have friends that are happy with >450°C bakes and 3% oil. But if it seems to you that the crust is a little bit too wet, you can try without.

[shayke]

I think I'll give it a try tomorrow, and start at >450 (maybe 350-370 bottom, 380-400 top) for the first balls, just to see how it goes. I can crank up the temperature and give it a try on the same run with another ball.

[Yael]

Wait wait wait, just to make clear, when I wrote ">450°C" I meant "more than 450", not "<450 - less than" 

[shayke]

Yes, yes, Yael, my bad! thanks for clearing that out! I'll give it a try