First Bakes in the Blackstone Pizza Oven (Neapolitan pizzas, with the new GM flour and the Ischia starter)

I had planned to bulk ferment the GM flour Neapolitan dough for 24 hrs., but since I made a mistake in mixing the first batch last light I had to make another batch of dough.  The bulk ferment of the dough was less than 24 hrs.  This is what the dough looked like before it was balled.  The dough was keep at between 60-67 degrees while it was bulk fermenting in the Styrofoam container.  This is the formulation I used. I used the light gray Celtic Sea Salt as the salt in the dough.  

The bulk fermented dough felt soft and it was balled at 250 grams for each dough ball.

My BS oven is together and was lighted for a little while.  My granddaughters one friend from Texas and my granddaughter helped me put the BS together.  I didn't know it for a little while, but my great-granddaugher was picking my upripe tomatoes in the garden.  The collar on the shaft had to be adjusted with a allen wrench because the steel plate on the bottom was dragging.  I don't know if the steel plate is adjusted too high now.    

I really didn't bring the BS up to the highest temperature it can get, but after 2 minutes the bottom stone was 237 degrees F.  At 5 minutes it was at 483 degrees F.  I didn't take any other temperatures and now have turned it off until I can get some sauce and cheese ready for the bakes.

I also injured my arm while putting the BS together.  Some of those pieces are sharp.

I just did take a two photos of how the one dough ball looks.  To me it looks like it is ready to be baked.

This is how my first bakes went on the BS.  It started to sprinkle before I was ready to make the pizzas.  I knew it might rain from the weather forecast, but I went ahead and made 2 pizzas.  I sure am not good at landing the pizzas in the middle of the stone, but the first pizza and second pizza tasted very good.  This was the first time my mother ever tasted one of my Neapolitan pizzas and she really liked how soft the crumb and bottom crusts are.  Until I went to make the second pizza it was really pouring, but I still went ahead.  The pizza wanted to stick to the peel, but I took some more flour outside in the shed and tried to loosen the pizza from the wooden peel.  It did become loose, but the peel was still wet.  

It stopped raining when it was dark so I made the 3rd pizza in the BS tonight.  In my opinion this pizza was the best one out of the three today.  The BS flames looks so cool at night.   I dressed this pizza with the same sauce, fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes from my garden, Diana's Aleppo peppers and a pepper oil I made.  I really liked the dressings too.

Norma

Saucing the Detroit style pizzas after the bake

I decided to try saucing the Detroit style pizzas after the bake on Tuesday. I guess I was trying to be true to the way Buddy's puts their sauce on their pizzas before. I think I like the looks of the Detroit style pizzas better if the sauce is applied after the bake. I asked Steve if he thought I was bullheaded that I didn't try that before and he said yes I am bullheaded because he does usually sauces his Detroit style pizzas after the bake. I know other members also sauce their Detroit style pizzas after the bake.

Norma  

GM Neapolitan flour dough tried out in my old BBQ setup

I had watched Craig and Scot make the dough on Friday night at the Pizza Summit II in Houston, Texas.  I think I have a pretty good idea of how to make Craig's dough using his methods from watching Scot and Craig.  I decided to give his dough methods a try to see if I can get anywhere near his dough, but I know my BBQ setup won't be able to produce the great pizzas I tasted from Craig's oven.  I didn't use his exact formulation.  The formulation I used with the Ischia starter is below.  My dough balls are only 216 grams because my BBQ grill setup is small in the area that can bake.  

I also have some of the new GM flour that I want to give a try.

The dough and dough balls did feel nice.  

I have to take everything out of my grill whenever I want to grill something and since it has been awhile since I gave that setup a try, and thought I would try it one more time. 

The styrofoam box where the dough balls were fermenting was between 60-65 degrees F.  

I did purchase a new kind of mozzarella last evening at the Giant supermarket.  I don't know how that mozzarella will work because I never tried it before.  I also picked some San Marzano tomatoes from my garden this morning along with a few peppers.  I am going to use the San Marzanos to try and add to the kind of Centro product I purchased at Giant.  Giant didn't have the kind of Cento I wanted to purchase.

These are the photos of the pizzas I made with the new GM flour and using Craig's methods to make the dough.  The pizzas turned out decent in my opinion for only using a BBQ mod.  The dough balls opened very easily and the pizzas baked well except the second one got a little dark on the sides that were too close to the fire. I could tell these were sourdough pizzas which I really like.

Three San Marzono tomatoes were cooked until the skins came loose and then I used the food processor to blend those and to make the Centro product a little thinner.  I thought the new mozzarella I tried tasted good and melted well. 

I used some of Diana's Aleppo Chile Peppers she gave me at the pizza summit on the last two pizzas.  I thought the Aleppo peppers tasted very good on those two pizzas.  Thanks Diana and Craig!

Norma