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Today's eggless cooking

chocdoc
chocdoc Posts: 461
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Still up north working until next Tuesday. So still without an egg to cook on. Brought up some Caputo 00 pizza flour with me to work on a pizza dough recipe.

5417207376_ecb97144fa.jpg
DSCN2486 by ChocDoc1, on Flickr

Outside my kitchen window this morning. The condo unit that I'm staying in is very poorly insulated and has a rather steeply pitched roof. There was a veil of icicles over the door when I arrived. I watched someone with an axe over his head bring them down later that day. I was a little concerned that I'd be dragging him off to the ER with either an axe blade or an icicle impaled in his head!

5417207382_4f965fcb44.jpg
DSCN2489 by ChocDoc1, on Flickr

First pizza off the stone. Very happy with the texture of the crust - but the flavour is lacking somewhat. Not sure if longer in the fridge is called for to develop the flavour - or if a different flour would make a difference.

5417207384_50158551c9.jpg
DSCN2493 by ChocDoc1, on Flickr

Third pizza (second one burnt - no picture).

5417207380_c36b7b7b43.jpg
DSCN2495 by ChocDoc1, on Flickr

Last dough ball with a drizzle of olive oil, a tiny bit of leftover cheese, salt and pepper.

Comments

  • cookn biker
    cookn biker Posts: 13,407
    Kerry, That's what I thought of my first dough with caputo 00. Lacking flavor. I did overwork the first batch. The second was better, but flavorless.
    Yours looks good! It's a process.
    Molly
    Colorado Springs
    "Loney Queen"
    "Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it."
    Bill Bradley; American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
    LBGE, MBGE, SBGE , MiniBGE and a Mini Mini BGE
  • chocdoc
    chocdoc Posts: 461
    cookn biker wrote:
    Kerry, That's what I thought of my first dough with caputo 00. Lacking flavor. I did overwork the first batch. The second was better, but flavorless.
    Yours looks good! It's a process.

    So did you find a change in flour was the solution - or longer flavour development?
  • WWSis
    WWSis Posts: 1,448
    That all looks great! Hope you'll be eggin soon... :)
  • cookn biker
    cookn biker Posts: 13,407
    I actually froze two balls of the original. Still tastless, but much more plyable. Next time I will try Marc's approach.


    I am not sold on types of flour. I have used many types. The main trick or tip is making sure whatever ingredients used with the dough will not cause it to burn and that the dough has had enough time to culture in the fridge before baking.

    I usually make my batch ahead of time so that it has had at least 24 - 36 hours of time culturing in the fridge. I do not let my dough rise after mixing which is not a common thing you hear. I also make sure all my liquids are very cold and that all my solid ingridents disolve first in the liquid. I add my fresh yeast (not dry - I use bakers yeast, come in a block form) that was activated in room temp water. I have my mixing bowl (spiral mixer) ready and I add my activated yeast and mix, then add my flour. I try not to over mix, i want the dough out of teh bowl asap. I also want the dough to be more on the moist (wet) side than too hard with to much flour. The way i test that is I stop the mixer and push my fingers toward the hook and pull back quickly. If no dough has stuck to my fingers, it is enough flour. When portioning the dough, it may require alittle more flour, just dust lightly and roll into dough balls, when the dough has just absorbed the flour, stop handling and refridgerate in a sealed container or in a plastic bag, do not push the dough into the corners of the, keep it in the centre (you will see why).

    I do not use alot of yeast for the size of the batch that I do (20-22 large pizza's), follow the amounts of a recipe you are familar with and monitor results for the proper yeast amount, it will make sense as you make more and more batches.

    This will allow you to roll out your dough by hand (no rolling pin), the gravity of the dough will stretch itself (minimal handling).

    Now for baking, if you want a crispy bottom you want to bake at 425-500 (depends on the cooker elements) and if you want it soft and fluffy like Napoli, flash baking (I call it), find the highest temp the dough bakes well at 600 and up.

    Last tip: When you pull the dough out of the fridge, allow it to stay out until it is room temp before rolling out. Top the pizza quickly and get it to the rock ..."pizza stone" a pre-heated egg, on for at least 45 min at the desired baking temp. Try look baking first then increase, it is always easier to increase temp than to lower, because the stone will be hotter than the air temp (another trick of balancing temperature).
    Molly
    Colorado Springs
    "Loney Queen"
    "Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it."
    Bill Bradley; American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
    LBGE, MBGE, SBGE , MiniBGE and a Mini Mini BGE
  • chocdoc
    chocdoc Posts: 461
    cookn biker wrote:
    I actually froze two balls of the original. Still tastless, but much more plyable. Next time I will try Marc's approach.


    I am not sold on types of flour. I have used many types. The main trick or tip is making sure whatever ingredients used with the dough will not cause it to burn and that the dough has had enough time to culture in the fridge before baking.

    I usually make my batch ahead of time so that it has had at least 24 - 36 hours of time culturing in the fridge. I do not let my dough rise after mixing which is not a common thing you hear. I also make sure all my liquids are very cold and that all my solid ingridents disolve first in the liquid. I add my fresh yeast (not dry - I use bakers yeast, come in a block form) that was activated in room temp water. I have my mixing bowl (spiral mixer) ready and I add my activated yeast and mix, then add my flour. I try not to over mix, i want the dough out of teh bowl asap. I also want the dough to be more on the moist (wet) side than too hard with to much flour. The way i test that is I stop the mixer and push my fingers toward the hook and pull back quickly. If no dough has stuck to my fingers, it is enough flour. When portioning the dough, it may require alittle more flour, just dust lightly and roll into dough balls, when the dough has just absorbed the flour, stop handling and refridgerate in a sealed container or in a plastic bag, do not push the dough into the corners of the, keep it in the centre (you will see why).

    I do not use alot of yeast for the size of the batch that I do (20-22 large pizza's), follow the amounts of a recipe you are familar with and monitor results for the proper yeast amount, it will make sense as you make more and more batches.

    This will allow you to roll out your dough by hand (no rolling pin), the gravity of the dough will stretch itself (minimal handling).

    Now for baking, if you want a crispy bottom you want to bake at 425-500 (depends on the cooker elements) and if you want it soft and fluffy like Napoli, flash baking (I call it), find the highest temp the dough bakes well at 600 and up.

    Last tip: When you pull the dough out of the fridge, allow it to stay out until it is room temp before rolling out. Top the pizza quickly and get it to the rock ..."pizza stone" a pre-heated egg, on for at least 45 min at the desired baking temp. Try look baking first then increase, it is always easier to increase temp than to lower, because the stone will be hotter than the air temp (another trick of balancing temperature).

    Sounds pretty similar to what I did for this particular dough. No fresh yeast with me here - but it was 3 grams of yeast, 10 grams of salt, 500 grams 00 and 325 grams water. I mixed everything just until incorporated, then folded a couple of times over about 30 minutes then into the fridge until about 1 pm today. At about 4, I portioned, let sit for a while before stretching by hand.

    I had been thinking that when I got back home I'd contact Marc and pick his brain about dough (he lives just a couple of miles from me) - but is his method around here to be studied before I do? (EDIT - just realized I'm talking about the wrong Marc!)
  • cookn biker
    cookn biker Posts: 13,407
    I know that I really loved the thinness of his crust and the flavor was there. I've never had that before, If it's memorable, it's worth exploring.
    Have you tried/seen this?

    http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=987401&catid=1
    Molly
    Colorado Springs
    "Loney Queen"
    "Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it."
    Bill Bradley; American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
    LBGE, MBGE, SBGE , MiniBGE and a Mini Mini BGE
  • chocdoc
    chocdoc Posts: 461
    cookn biker wrote:
    I know that I really loved the thinness of his crust and the flavor was there. I've never had that before, If it's memorable, it's worth exploring.
    Have you tried/seen this?

    http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=987401&catid=1

    Thanks Molly - that's an interesting read - of course I got sidetracked reading about the Varasano dough. Looks like he uses a starter rather than yeast and his salt percentage is higher. I'm wondering if more salt in the dough I made would help the flavour more than anything?