Are you trying to make a dryer, crispier version of Neapolitan? 59% hydration is on the low side for most Neapolitan, but considering that you have WW flour in the formula, it's REALLY low. Maybe even lower depending on your biga.
What kind of bake time are you aiming for? 725F is VERY cool for a neapolitan oven. 600F is practically ice cold.
Keep in mind that the longer the fermentation, the more dough you need on hand. I see you mentioned 120 hours. That would require having 5 days worth of of on hand! Frankly 24 hours at room temp will probably make better pizza than 5 days in the fridge.
Hi Craig,
Yes we're making a bit dryer version, a little crisp and less soup in the middle, closer to robertas then di Michele. The bake temp were aiming for is 700 F close to the flame and 650 close to the wall as were also going to be banging out thin cracker pizza style, like a romana pala or pinza style. I have done napletano and it performs amazingly in the stefano at around 450c or 820 f I think as we sear steak at that temp in the oven.
The problem with room temperature is, in dubai its frickin hot so will not be easy to calibrate everything the way I like and make it as consistent as we want.
As for dough, that's not a problem but our sweet spot currently with existing reciepe is 72 hrs. I just wanted to see how dough reacts past 72 hrs, at 120 it was so soft, that was almost like jelly.
We're currently experimenting with biga, but probably also test sourgh dough starters as we have a nice batch currently in the existing establishment being used.
I currently have around 6kg of dough sitting in cold room,
1/2 bulk
And 1/2 already balled. Will make pizza this Wednesday and will ball the bulk tomorrow, and compare both.
For flour we're testing Le 5 stagoni for both the WW and 00 Gold. It's a bit thirsty then what I was using in Italy, don't know if it's the batch or the local supplier storage. I might be forced to move to caputo as it's widely used here and the supplier has a continuous revolving stock.
After we get the flour down, then it's on to the cheese and such:) long process, think I am getting fatter so need to have testing:)
The biga is 50% hydrated.
But a lot of what I learned in Naples, was more to do with temperature, of flour/room/water. Plus a little secrets here and there, or superstitions.
How happy are you with your final product? Cause your stuff looks real nice.
And yes, I miss italian tap water:(