baking on steel question

[waltertore]

Congratulations Walter!!  Looks awesome!  👌

Norma

Thanks Norma! I am going to boil a batch of bagels this morning.  I am not to confident they will satisfy me.  Haven't made them in 8 years but think I will get back on it quickly. 

[waltertore]

Did my first batch of bagels in 8 years.  Got the bagel boards, oven to 425, used steel and broiler, and just steel, malt syrup, all trumps, and bosh mixer working.  The ones all the way on the steel came out pretty good.  I will make a few changes next batch.  My wife loves poppy seeds and she has been in bagel wasteland while we owned the pizzeria so I made these for her.  I prefer plain.   

[cajunrph]

A question about hydration levels. I ordered a pizza steel from the Baking Steel company. May not have been the right move but too late now. Their normal 1/4 inch version. I find my crust much dryer than when I bake in my Roccbox. I had a hydration level of 70%. I did bake it as instructed in the Pizza Bible. Started on the upper rack for 5 minutes or so then on the lower rack for a few minutes. I have two steels one from Amazon. Both are 1/4 inch thick. Maybe I am baking it too long. The Roccbox is only 12 inches. I'd use the steels for larger pizzas. I also need to try the calibration adjustment, if a higher temperature is warranted. The Roccbox has worked so well that most of the time I just do smaller pies on it vs messing with figuring out the oven and Steels. 

What hydration levels are you using? Should I change up my baking method, just use one steel on the bottom of the oven at the start of the bake then on the upper rack with the broiler on?

[Timpanogos Slim]

A question about hydration levels. I ordered a pizza steel from the Baking Steel company. May not have been the right move but too late now. Their normal 1/4 inch version. I find my crust much dryer than when I bake in my Roccbox. I had a hydration level of 70%. I did bake it as instructed in the Pizza Bible. Started on the upper rack for 5 minutes or so then on the lower rack for a few minutes. I have two steels one from Amazon. Both are 1/4 inch thick. Maybe I am baking it too long. The Roccbox is only 12 inches. I'd use the steels for larger pizzas. I also need to try the calibration adjustment, if a higher temperature is warranted. The Roccbox has worked so well that most of the time I just do smaller pies on it vs messing with figuring out the oven and Steels. 

What hydration levels are you using? Should I change up my baking method, just use one steel on the bottom of the oven at the start of the bake then on the upper rack with the broiler on?

It kinda depends on how thick your crust is and how heavily you top it. I bake a pretty thin pizza and when i bake it on steel at about 525 i just do 6 or 7 minutes on the steel on the top rack position and then if the toppings need more heat i slide it under the broiler in the drawer on my terrible gas range. And i do have a stone in the drawer.

Generally speaking longer bakes at lower temperatures produce harder, dryer crust. Increasing hydration over 70% may not help much before it becomes a big hassle to handle the pizza.

You could also try using a scald

https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=78573.0

[TheRealJonnyD]

Fwiw, my experience has been that a lower hydration dough retains moisture better than a 70+% hydration dough. I tested it a few years back and my research found that The Dough Doctor confirmed it to be true. His explanation was that wetter doughs will expand more readily and bake out more moisture. I retested this theory a couple weeks ago with a 70% dough in my home oven. It looked nice, the crumb was open and the pie held up really well. The issue is it was dry as all heck when cooked for the same 6 minutes I would bake a low hydration dough at in the same manner.

[cajunrph]

Fwiw, my experience has been that a lower hydration dough retains moisture better than a 70+% hydration dough. I tested it a few years back and my research found that The Dough Doctor confirmed it to be true. His explanation was that wetter doughs will expand more readily and bake out more moisture. I retested this theory a couple weeks ago with a 70% dough in my home oven. It looked nice, the crumb was open and the pie held up really well. The issue is it was dry as all heck when cooked for the same 6 minutes I would bake a low hydration dough at in the same manner.

I'll try the dough I've been tinkering with lately. I do a 100% Biga at 45% hydration with a final hydration of 65%, 100% of the final recipe flour is in the Biga. It works great in the Roccbox. I need to tweak the yeast percentages to get it right. The Roccbox is just so much faster to get going and cook on that the steels have, for the most part, been sitting unused. I shall try again.

Thanks for the replies. 

[TheRealJonnyD]

It should help to some extent, but I would also make sure to keep an eye on the time too. My method has always been to have the steel on the second position down from the top and to kick the broiler on for the first 2 minutes of the bake then switch back to regular bake. Total time in the oven is 5-6min. Your experience will likely vary since my steel is 18x19x3/8" but it may be worth a shot.