I baked my first pizza today. Using a scaled down version of Bryan S.’s NY Style Pizza Dough,, I made two balls of dough for 10” pizzas. Thanks Bryan!
2 balls:10.125 oz / and 10.5 oz., for 2 - 12” X 0.089” thick)
KAB flour: 12.25 oz./12 ¼ oz/347.29g (100%)
Filtered water: 7..625/7 5/8 oz /216.17g (62.%) at 68º
Red Star Quick Rise Yeast: 375 tsp/3/8 tsp/1.05g (0.30%)
Diamond Crystal Kosher salt: 1.25 tsp./3.5g, (1.01%)
On Monday, I made up the dough and put in the refrigerator, hoping for a 5 day ferment.
Air and table temp. 69.3
Humidity 47%
Using a Kitchen Aid Pro 6 with a “C” hook, I combined water and salt to dissolve. Added yeast and stirred. On speed 1, slowly added flour and mixed for two minutes. Let stand for 20 minutes. On speed 2, kneaded dough for 5 minutes. Hand knedded about 10 times until depression popped up. Halved dough and placed each in lightly oiled 3 cup Zip Lock cups. Dough temp. 69 º. Placed in bottom drawer of refrigerator which was 40 º. Next time mix water and flour, rest, add yeast and salt, mix and knead.
After 24 hours, the dough was rising and smelling good.
Dough after 24 hours, top view.
Side view:
While waiting for the dough to finish, I picked up a box of Dal Tile Red Blaze Q40, 6” X 6” X ½” unglazed quarry tile to line my Weber Genesis Gas Barbecue. I placed three half tiles vertically across the back of the grill to keep the pizza from touching the grease build up on the back of the gasser, then horizontally, a row of 3 across the back, 4 across the middle and ½ of 3 across the front. I placed two and 2 halves of tiles on the fixed warming rack above the grill and two more tiles on the lid warming rack (more doesn’t let the rack swing when the lid closes and they tend to fall out.. I didn’t cover the grill entirely so that heat could rise instead of funning out of the bottom vent/grease hole. To crack tile in half, I set the tile on the shank of a long drill bit, centering the shank on one of the female corrugations, stepped on one side and whacked the other side with a rubber mallet. Not rocket science. Wear safety glasses as some small tile shards go flying.
Because the corrugations on the back of the tile had something similar to silicon to prevent scratching in transit, and to burn out anything that could be burned out of the clay, I turned the gasser on the lowest notch for 10 minutes which took the temp up to 170 º, then the second notch for 10 minutes which brought it up to 230 º, then to 430 º, 520 º, 600 º, then two more notches to the maximum. The thermometer pegged at 600 º, two notches below maximum. I could hear a greater flow of gas so I am sure the temperature increased. I am going to order a lazer temperature gauge so I can get a better handle on the temp.
This morning, after the dough had fermented between 54 and 56 hours, one on the dough balls collapsed about an inch a half. There were some large bubbles on the top.
Dough #1 top view
Side view
The other ball had not collapsed.
Ball # 2 top view.
Side view
Fearing that the first ball had over fermented, I decided to bake it today, rather than waiting until Saturday.. I set the ball on the counter for two hours, then pushed the center down and out, to about 6”. I then picked it up and stretched it out to about 10” and placed it on the peel. It started to spring back to about 8”. I pick it up and stretched it again, but finally settled on an 8” X 10” pizza as the middle was getting very thin and opaque. I sauced it with ¼ cup of my own sauce, 4 oz. of ¼” cubed Precious (Sorrento) low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese and two minced cloves of garlic.
Topped.
I preheated the Weber to 550º. I was shooting for 600º+ but it was gusty outside, so at one hour, I slid the pizza in the
”oven”. I immediately heard sizzling. Didn’t know if this was normal or not. After two minutes, I looked in to see if it needed turning and say that the bottom was smoking and was stuck to the tiles. I pried it lose from the tiles and placed it on a cooling rack.
Done
The crust was a very light golden brown, with the appearance of pastry but was not flakey. At first, I thought that it wqs undercooked but that wqs not the case. The mozzarella had not totally melted, but had spreqd out by the time it was cooled and sliced. The bottom was burned.
Bottom
The rim was light, with up to ½” bubbles. It was very thin at the end, but stood straight out without drooping. Once I got pqst the burnt crust, it tasted very good, not like a heavy bread, nor doughy. The best I can describe is was as a warm French bread, but not a sourdough.
Side of slice
All in all, it was a great first experience, a learning experience. Next time, I will let the dough rest after combining the water and flour, then, after the rest, add the yeast then salt. I will cut down on the yeast to 1/8 tsp beause of the over fermentation for a cold ferment. I will probably get a pizza screen and start the bake on that, then transfer to the tile fo crisp up the crust.
Also, my sauce was a little heavy. I used 6 in 1’s with tomato paste and spices, uncooked. Next batch, I will eliminate the paste for a “fresher” taste. This sauce will make a great spaghetti sauce though.
I need to get a better temp. on my Genesis. At 550º, the crust shouldn’t have burned in two minutes so it may have been much hotter. I’ll have to wait until my infrared thermometer gets here next week.
2 balls:10.125 oz / and 10.5 oz., for 2 - 12” X 0.089” thick)
KAB flour: 12.25 oz./12 ¼ oz/347.29g (100%)
Filtered water: 7..625/7 5/8 oz /216.17g (62.%) at 68º
Red Star Quick Rise Yeast: 375 tsp/3/8 tsp/1.05g (0.30%)
Diamond Crystal Kosher salt: 1.25 tsp./3.5g, (1.01%)
On Monday, I made up the dough and put in the refrigerator, hoping for a 5 day ferment.
Air and table temp. 69.3
Humidity 47%
Using a Kitchen Aid Pro 6 with a “C” hook, I combined water and salt to dissolve. Added yeast and stirred. On speed 1, slowly added flour and mixed for two minutes. Let stand for 20 minutes. On speed 2, kneaded dough for 5 minutes. Hand knedded about 10 times until depression popped up. Halved dough and placed each in lightly oiled 3 cup Zip Lock cups. Dough temp. 69 º. Placed in bottom drawer of refrigerator which was 40 º. Next time mix water and flour, rest, add yeast and salt, mix and knead.
After 24 hours, the dough was rising and smelling good.
Dough after 24 hours, top view.
Side view:
While waiting for the dough to finish, I picked up a box of Dal Tile Red Blaze Q40, 6” X 6” X ½” unglazed quarry tile to line my Weber Genesis Gas Barbecue. I placed three half tiles vertically across the back of the grill to keep the pizza from touching the grease build up on the back of the gasser, then horizontally, a row of 3 across the back, 4 across the middle and ½ of 3 across the front. I placed two and 2 halves of tiles on the fixed warming rack above the grill and two more tiles on the lid warming rack (more doesn’t let the rack swing when the lid closes and they tend to fall out.. I didn’t cover the grill entirely so that heat could rise instead of funning out of the bottom vent/grease hole. To crack tile in half, I set the tile on the shank of a long drill bit, centering the shank on one of the female corrugations, stepped on one side and whacked the other side with a rubber mallet. Not rocket science. Wear safety glasses as some small tile shards go flying.
Because the corrugations on the back of the tile had something similar to silicon to prevent scratching in transit, and to burn out anything that could be burned out of the clay, I turned the gasser on the lowest notch for 10 minutes which took the temp up to 170 º, then the second notch for 10 minutes which brought it up to 230 º, then to 430 º, 520 º, 600 º, then two more notches to the maximum. The thermometer pegged at 600 º, two notches below maximum. I could hear a greater flow of gas so I am sure the temperature increased. I am going to order a lazer temperature gauge so I can get a better handle on the temp.
This morning, after the dough had fermented between 54 and 56 hours, one on the dough balls collapsed about an inch a half. There were some large bubbles on the top.
Dough #1 top view
Side view
The other ball had not collapsed.
Ball # 2 top view.
Side view
Fearing that the first ball had over fermented, I decided to bake it today, rather than waiting until Saturday.. I set the ball on the counter for two hours, then pushed the center down and out, to about 6”. I then picked it up and stretched it out to about 10” and placed it on the peel. It started to spring back to about 8”. I pick it up and stretched it again, but finally settled on an 8” X 10” pizza as the middle was getting very thin and opaque. I sauced it with ¼ cup of my own sauce, 4 oz. of ¼” cubed Precious (Sorrento) low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese and two minced cloves of garlic.
Topped.
I preheated the Weber to 550º. I was shooting for 600º+ but it was gusty outside, so at one hour, I slid the pizza in the
”oven”. I immediately heard sizzling. Didn’t know if this was normal or not. After two minutes, I looked in to see if it needed turning and say that the bottom was smoking and was stuck to the tiles. I pried it lose from the tiles and placed it on a cooling rack.
Done
The crust was a very light golden brown, with the appearance of pastry but was not flakey. At first, I thought that it wqs undercooked but that wqs not the case. The mozzarella had not totally melted, but had spreqd out by the time it was cooled and sliced. The bottom was burned.
Bottom
The rim was light, with up to ½” bubbles. It was very thin at the end, but stood straight out without drooping. Once I got pqst the burnt crust, it tasted very good, not like a heavy bread, nor doughy. The best I can describe is was as a warm French bread, but not a sourdough.
Side of slice
All in all, it was a great first experience, a learning experience. Next time, I will let the dough rest after combining the water and flour, then, after the rest, add the yeast then salt. I will cut down on the yeast to 1/8 tsp beause of the over fermentation for a cold ferment. I will probably get a pizza screen and start the bake on that, then transfer to the tile fo crisp up the crust.
Also, my sauce was a little heavy. I used 6 in 1’s with tomato paste and spices, uncooked. Next batch, I will eliminate the paste for a “fresher” taste. This sauce will make a great spaghetti sauce though.
I need to get a better temp. on my Genesis. At 550º, the crust shouldn’t have burned in two minutes so it may have been much hotter. I’ll have to wait until my infrared thermometer gets here next week.
