Bread out of Preferment Lehmann dough January 25, 2011

There was one dough ball that was left out too long near the end of today.  It had been a frozen dough ball from two weeks ago and when I went to open the dough ball it wanted to tear.  I was just ready to throw the dough ball away, and had just pushed it into a ball.  I almost threw it in the trash can.  I then decided to experiment with it.  I just formed it into a dough ball.  From reballing it was very tight. The dough ball was made into bread right away.  Steve and I decided to bake it into bread.  Steve cut the slits and we just placed it into the top oven.  After we saw it rising we decided to take a cold dough ball out of the deli case and just slit it and also placed it into the oven.  Steve and I were surprised to see the dough ball that was tight, did rise better and also created a better loaf of bread.  The pictures with the tighter crumb in the slices are the dough ball we removed from the deli case.  Now the preferment Lehmann dough can be made into bread, too!    I still don’t understand what happened with this.  This almost useless dough ball did create a decent bread.  Since my deck oven is low, we almost had problems removing the dough ball from the oven.

Norma

Non-fat dried milk added to Preferment Lehmann dough January 25, 2011

This pizza was the one had added non-fat dried milk powder in the amount of 4% to the formula.  This pizza didn’t brown as much as when adding dairy whey to the formula.  The moistness and oven spring were about the same as my regular preferment Lehmann dough pizzas.

First picture is of a regular preferment Lehmann dough pizza with nothing added to the mix.  That pizza was made  yesterday morning.  Rest of pictures are of the added non-fat dried milk powder.

Norma

WFO and Pizza made of Snow 1/30/2011

I had made a snow woman and a snow pizza in the last week and had posted about making them. When I made the snow woman, right before I was finished her head fell of for some reason.  I didn't have time before it was dark to make another neck or head for the snow woman, so I just took pictures from her shoulders down.  I had planned on making a neck and head again for the snow woman yesterday, but it was below freezing and the snow really wouldn't cooperate in trying to finish my snow woman.

Today when I went outside she had fallen down, just like some snowmen do.  I decided not to finish her, but to make something out of snow that I had wanted since I started to learn about pizza.  I decided to build my own WFO, because I probably will never own one.  The WFO was easy to build and I had it built in no time at all.  The pizza was also easy to make. I waited until the bottom oven temperature was up to around 1,000 degrees F (give or take a few degrees) and slid the pie into the WFO.  Although this pizza didn’t get the char I wanted, it did brown nicely.  I guess I will have to learn more about operating a WFO.

I think I followed all the Vera Pizza Napoletana rules for building this oven.  If anyone thinks I didn’t they can let me know.  I don’t know if I will be able to get VPN certification or not.
I used all the ingredients for dressings for a VPN pizza . (proper ingredients: Tipo 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes, all natural Fior di Latte or Bufala mozzarella, fresh basil, salt and yeast -- only fresh, all-natural, non-processed ingredients)

This pie was one of the best pies I have made so far.  At least I own a WFO, if only for a short while.

All kidding aside, I still like to play in the snow if it isn't too cold outside.  I guess some of the child in a grown person doesn't go out.

Norma

Greek Pizza made 1/29/2010

I removed one preferment Lehmann dough ball from my freezer that was smaller.  It wasn’t the right weight Peter set-forth for a Greek-style pizza, so after it was unfrozen in the mircowave, I just cut off a small portion until it weighed the right weight.
I didn’t want to waste the small piece of dough so I used that for another experiment.  I pressed on the edges and the middle of the dough while it was in the deep-dish pan so the dough wouldn’t rise too much while it was in the oven.

I must say the preferment Lehmann dough did work out well for a Greek-style pizza in my sloping deep-dish pan.  My home oven was around 500 degrees F and I put the deep-dish pan right on the stone on the second to the bottom rack position.  I was surprised how well the preferment Lehmann dough worked out for this pie.  The edges turned out nice and crunchy and the bottom browned well. The deep-dish pan was slightly oiled.  What really surprised me was the crust of this Greek-style pizza tasted so much different than my regular pizzas I made with the preferment Lehmann dough.  I don’t see why any sugar would have to be added to my preferment Lehmann dough formula.  I really enjoyed the slices of the Greek-style pie I ate.

Thanks Peter for figuring out how much dough I needed for my sloping deep-dish pan.

Norma