Another Pizza Tip

icemncmth

I had a small pizza party on Sunday night. I cooked 10 pizza's. I had the egg up to 800 deg and was using my normal dough recipe. I put the first pizza on ..and it was burned in less than a min.

I checked my temp gauge and it was working just fine.

Now the only thing that had changed was my flour. I usually use Captuo 00 flour or King Arthur Sir Lancelot flour. Well I was out and used Gold Medal Bread Flour!

So...I had to cool the stone down before I could start the rest of the pizzas. I ended up removing the stone for 10 mins in the cold weather.

The TIP is...try to use the same ingredients. Changing a major component (flour, water, yeast) could change the way your pizzas come out.

Salguod

Are the Captuo and King Arthur flours BETTER, or do they just cook differently?

icemncmth

They are better because the gluten in them is pretty high. They are also more consistant in quality. Now if you have a local mill than just ask them they can help you. We have a local mill here and I will buy from them when I can. They will sell me a high gluten flour ..25lbs usually around 10 bucks.

Salguod

Thanks! It usually pays to start with good ingredients. I'll look around and see what is available here.

PhilsGrill

Wow, 800 degrees! I would never do that. Do all my pizza's at 400-450. Just let cook a few more minutes and never had any problems.

mkc

icemncmth wrote:

They are better because the gluten in them is pretty high.

Isn't Caputo actually a lower protein flour (unlike bread or something like Sir Lancelot)? I thought I'd read that over on pizzamaking, that it's not really good for NY Style (unless blended with about 25% bread flour). I've hesitated using it (I have 5 lbs in the freezer) since from what I've read, it really needs high temperatures (like those for Neapolitan) for optimual crust results. But then, maybe I'm comparing apples and kumquats when talking protein vs. gluten levels.

From what I've read over there (Caputo not browning in a home oven environment of sub 600 degrees) I would definitely think Better for Bread/Harvest King would behave differently than Caputo at 800 degrees, but wow - burning that fast?!?!? I wonder if there's a significant difference in sugar levels in the different flours?

Little Chef

Hey Ice - In all honesty, although there are of course differences between flours (ie proteins, gluten forming abilities, etc) I do not believe there is any reason for a crust burning so quickly unless 1) There was much too much sugar in the dough recipe, or 2) The egg was simply WAY too hot. Sir Lancelot is an excellent flour for breads, but there is also nothing wrong with Gold Medal, Pillsbury, etc. In all honesty, I believe the egg was about 250-300 degrees too hot, thus resulting in the burnt crust. (also, I assume the stone was in the egg while the egg reached the 800 degree temp, thus the crust was place on an exceedingly hot stone...lucky the stone didn't burst).
After many pizzas, I recommend 500-550 tops, with the stone heated accordingly.
mkc - use the flour in your freezer...increase the oil a bit and especially the mixing time. You will not get a chewey, tearing crust like NY, but it will still make a very fine, crispy (but not chewey) crust.
Just my two cents! Happy cookin!
Michelle
Hollywood, FL