Higher hydration attempt for a NY style pizza with GM Full Strength flour 5/01/2012

The pizza made with the increased hydration of 63% and the GM Full Strength flour turn out very good. The rim had great oven spring, the taste of the crust was very good and there was a nice crisp to the bottom crust. The dough ball also opened up very easily. The only problem was I think I decided to add a bunch of toppings to this pizza, because I get tired of regular toppings all the time. I think I added to many topping when trying out the first attempt for this pizza. Until I added all of toppings of garlic Alfredo sauce, a two blend of mozzarellas cheddar cheese, spinach, sausage, spring onions and tomatoes, part of the crust wanted to stick to the peel. I also used too much rice flour on the peel. When attempting to slide the pie into the oven the toppings shifted some and the pie didn’t get evenly round. Steve, my taste testers and I really did enjoyed this pie though.

Norma

Tried a Cracker-Style Dough Formulation with the Ischia Starter, from Pete-zza thread 5/01/2012

First part of making the dough with the Ischia starter with pictures at Reply 42 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5173.msg184979.html#msg184979

These are the results of the first attempt at a cracker style pizza with the Ischia starter.

The Ischia natural starter preferment cracker style pie turned out very well in the taste of the crust and was like a cracker style I would enjoy all the time. I am not still sure if I made a real cracker style pizza because I never tasted one before, but I will give this one a thumbs up. Steve even liked this pie, as did my taste testers. It was crackery as far as I know. The skin was par-bake without any oil and then the olive oil was brushed on the par-baked crust before the tomato sauce, blend of mozzarellas, cheddar, Swiss cheese and hard salami were added. I was afraid of how the dough looked to be fermenting last evening and put it into the refrigerator overnight. It was taken out this morning and left to room temperature ferment until about 3:00 pm today when the pizza was made. The rolled out dough was also docked lightly.

Thanks Peter for giving me this alternative cracker style pie to try!

Norma

Norma does Pete-zza DKM Cracker Style Pizza 5/01/2012

First part of where I was making the cracker-style dough if anyone is interested.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5762.msg184938.html#msg184938

This was the second attempt at a cracker style pie. I rolled out the skin a little bit more (or to take a few wrinkles out of the skin), then cut the excess off so it would fit into the cutter pan. The dough skin was docked. Olive oil was brushed on the dough skin before the par-bake. The skin was par-baked until it looked a little golden brown in the cutter pan. The dressings applied were sauce, a blend of two mozzarellas, cheddar cheese and Italian hard salami and then baked again until it looked finished. I am still not sure if this attempt was a true cracker style pizza, but this attempt was sure better than the ones I tried on the dough enhancer thread.

If anyone is interested the results of the other cracker style pizza that was made with the Ischia preferment are at Reply 51
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5173.msg185390.html#msg185390

Thanks to everyone that has helped me get this far in trying to make a cracker style pizza!

Of course, I had many failures before this attempt..lol  This style of pizza is one of the hardest for me to make.

Norma

Steve and Bob's new adventure with their Airstream and mobile WFO 5/5/2012

My friends Steve and Bob are sure having an exciting adventure with first buying an older Airstream trailer, then hauling it from NY, and now working on converting it so it will hold a wood fired oven. They both have been doing a lot of work on it. Just this week they are putting in the WFO. They both had to make sure the Airstream would be strong enough to hold all the weight they Bob and Steve worked on putting in a service window. The both had to rip out the insides and then basically start over. I can hardly wait until the day they fire-up the oven and have their mobile unit on the road.


I wish them the best of success, because they are both great guys!!!

Norma

Sicilain Pizza worked out well today! 5/01/2012

Using the exact same formulation as before with the GM Full Strength flour, this attempt was the best so far. The things I did differently were to bake for 15 ½ minutes as timed on the stopwatch of my cell phone, placed the sauce randomly on the cheese, added some cheddar to the blends of mozzarellas and used less oil to oil the steel pan. There was no gum line this time and the taste, tenderness and moisture of the crust was very good. When tasting a slice my taste testers and I got the nice taste of cheeses with some sauce in almost every bite. I think maybe I would add a little more corn oil to the pan in a future attempt. The last picture is after the remainder of the pie sat out for about 5 hrs. The crust was still moist and tender without a reheat. I guess these slices could be sold cold. We liked the addition of some mild cheddar cheese. The dough was opened when it was cold and then left to proof for 1 ½ hrs with the metal lid on the blue steel pan at room temperature on top of the deck oven.


Norma