Harley's Backyard Pies

[HarleyL7]

Hey all, I'm Harley. I started making pizza in my home oven using dough that I would find premade in the store. I eventually branched off and learned more about dough, but all from YouTube. I'm not sure about hydration percents or any of that. I hope to learn more as I read here.

The pizzas I made yesterday were all using 00 central milling flour. It was my first time using it and I typically use Anna 00 flour. I want to try and get all my ingredients as local to NC as possible in the future.

I am using an ooni with propane currently. Once I'm good enough, I'll branch out a little.

My goal is to use this post as a place to get feedback and learn. Also, document my pizzas over time.

Here's the pictures from yesterday.

[02ebz06]

Lookin' good!

[HarleyL7]

So pizzas from tonight.
They are all margherita. I might start playing with different pizzas soon.
Dough on these are
Poolish:
300ml water
300g Anna 00
5g honey
5g active dry yeast

Let that sit one hour room temp and then 18 hours in the fridge. Then I did 700g of Anna 00, 25g salt, and 10g of EVO (when working it on the counter).

[TXCraig1]

Why add honey - and, in particular, why add it to the poolish?

[HarleyL7]

Why add honey - and, in particular, why add it to the poolish?

I honestly have only learned via YouTube (Vito) and he uses honey because "it's the more natural sugar". It has been working for me, but I'm also down to try something else.

[TXCraig1]

Sugar in any form is very uncommon in Neapolitan pizza. I'd be curious to see you do everything else the same but without the sugar and see what difference it makes.

[HarleyL7]

Sugar in any form is very uncommon in Neapolitan pizza. I'd be curious to see you do everything else the same but without the sugar and see what difference it makes.

Sounds like I'm gonna give that a shot this week and I'll make the poolish on Thursday without honey.

[foreplease]

Welcome to the forum, you’ve found the right place. Everyone has to sort through things someone else (often YT) said will work at their own pace. You’re off to a good start. For me, who makes non-Neapolitan, my biggest improvements have come from reducing how many ingredients go into the dough, reducing yeast to what I previously thought were minuscule/impossible levels, and to start thinking of time and temperatures as ingredients.

[HarleyL7]

Welcome to the forum, you’ve found the right place. Everyone has to sort through things someone else (often YT) said will work at their own pace. You’re off to a good start. For me, who makes non-Neapolitan, my biggest improvements have come from reducing how many ingredients go into the dough, reducing yeast to what I previously thought were minuscule/impossible levels, and to start thinking of time and temperatures as ingredients.

Thanks! I'm excited to keep learning and taking all this information from all over the place. I'm starting to invite friends over just to make more pizza lol. Almost gave a pizza to my neighbor yesterday because I had too much.

One of the things, I'm trying to focus on during the cook time is getting color into the crust evenly. So I'm playing with the flame during the cook to not burn my ingredients, but get the crust nice too.

[TXCraig1]

Thanks! I'm excited to keep learning and taking all this information from all over the place. I'm starting to invite friends over just to make more pizza lol. Almost gave a pizza to my neighbor yesterday because I had too much.

Practice and experience is the most important thing by far when it comes to making great pizza.

One of the things, I'm trying to focus on during the cook time is getting color into the crust evenly. So I'm playing with the flame during the cook to not burn my ingredients, but get the crust nice too.

Don't be afraid to go hotter than you think.

[HarleyL7]

So on my ooni, I think I'm going as hot as I possibly can. It's propane on full flame... Maybe I need to let it preheat a little longer than I typically do. (15-20mins)

[deb415611]

Thanks! I'm excited to keep learning and taking all this information from all over the place. I'm starting to invite friends over just to make more pizza lol. Almost gave a pizza to my neighbor yesterday because I had too much.

One of the things, I'm trying to focus on during the cook time is getting color into the crust evenly. So I'm playing with the flame during the cook to not burn my ingredients, but get the crust nice too.

I have been known to give neighbors pizza just because I want to practice.  It goes a long way when you suddenly need a quick favor

[TXCraig1]

I've never used the ooni, so I can't give much advice on the pre-heat. Quite a few posts about them here or you might start a new thread with a title like "ooni preheat time," and i bet you get good advice.

[HarleyL7]

I have been known to give neighbors pizza just because I want to practice.  It goes a long way when you suddenly need a quick favor

Lol I need to get some cardboard boxes and put a backyard pies logo and leave it on there doorstep with a feedback card in it. I don't really talk to my neighbors haha.

[HarleyL7]

I've never used the ooni, so I can't give much advice on the pre-heat. Quite a few posts about them here or you might start a new thread with a title like "ooni preheat time," and i bet you get good advice.

I'll have to look into it more, I also might do my next cook with wood.

[deb415611]

Lol I need to get some cardboard boxes and put a backyard pies logo and leave it on there doorstep with a feedback card in it. I don't really talk to my neighbors haha.

I have thought about getting some from here, I just use regular plain ones though   
https://www.prattbox.com/products/pizza-box/?size=12x12x2&material=white

[HarleyL7]

Did the poolish this time without the honey and didn't really notice a huge difference. So safe to say that I can keep not using honey. If anything the crust felt like it had more air, but it could of been just me shaping differentntly this time around.

I tried focusing today on margherita sbagliata, and I'm terrible at making clean tomatoe lines lol so next time I'm just going to get creative and do my own thing with it. I loved the taste though.

Now I just need to find some non homogenized milk to make my own mozerella.

[HarleyL7]

Time to make some more pizza. I have my biscotto stone arriving in the mail Tuesday. Hopefully it comes in one piece.

I'm kinda stuck on which flour to use. My local choices are the AnnA 00 and central milling 00. I have king Arthur 00 also, but haven't tried it. I also want to look into changing my poolish yeast. I currently use ADY and I've done a little research on the forum, but can't seem to figure it out. Should I try out IDY? And my poolish recipe is: 300ml water, 300g flour, and 5g yeast. I also feel like sometimes that's a lot of yeast. Any ideas would be much appreciated!

[Pizza_Not_War]

I prefer Central Milling flour in most cases. I like using organic and never much cared for Anna 00. As for poolish I rarely use one as I mostly use a sourdough starter. But 5g seems like a lot based on what I've seen of other people posting.

[HarleyL7]

I prefer Central Milling flour in most cases. I like using organic and never much cared for Anna 00. As for poolish I rarely use one as I mostly use a sourdough starter. But 5g seems like a lot based on what I've seen of other people posting.

I'll have to cure the new biscotto stone tomorrow. I need to pick up central milling 00, but the store that sells it isn't open because of the power outage here in NC currently.
I might have to check out the yeast table, I've heard a little about. I might try out a lower yeast amount.