pizza temps take 2

Large Marge

Last week I did a bunch of neapolitan style pizzas made with 00 flour and found that around 600 degrees on the stone produced good results. I also did the stone "naked" without the plate setter, had it up high enough so the stone didn't nuke the crust. This weekend I went with a more traditional thin crust made with a mix of bread and all purpose flour. I also used the platesetter and raised the stone well up into the dome. The first pie was done at 600 (I use an infrared thermometer to measure right when the lid opens) and it was clearly too hot.

Here's the second pie, had the stone more in the 550-600 range:

Nice crispy crust...had this high in the dome and it cooked in about 5 minutes.

For the third pie I lowered the stone down to the grid level, raised on the green BGE feet. I waited until the stone got closer to 550 before baking:




This one was the winner. Perfectly crisp crust in about 6-7 minutes at 550 stone using platesetter. So...from the two weekend cooks I found pretty much what people tell you-- if you use 00 flour get the heat up there- 600+. But for BGE cooking at 550...a much more reasonable temp to achieve and not kill yourself :ermm: make the pies with conventional flours and bake it a little longer. Comes out great!

cookn biker

Ok Joe, let me pick you thoughts. I used bread flour today. What kind of difference does that make compared to ap flour. Also compared to your half bread and ap flour combo.
thanks for your post and thoughts.

Large Marge

The primary difference is bread flour will tend to be of a higher gluten (protein) content than AP flour. NY style pizza crazies swear by highest-gluten flour to create that massive, stretchy, pizza with the huge puffy crust (cornicione). But there are so many variables (amount of water, kneading/mixing method, fermentation to name a few)...that would explain why there are so many variations on pizza crust, and why regional styles and tastes differ so widely.

I mess around with all kinds of flours (personally I think you can make a good pizza with AP, Bread, 00, or whatever...it's all in the mixing and fermentation) and am always in search of that "perfect pizza"...which is why I'm so curious about oven/stone temps and various ways to approximate a wood-fired pizza oven on the BGE---But a lot of you are quick to point out: anything coming off the BGE with bread, cheese, sauce and some great toppings is going to come darn close to perfect! :silly:

chrisnjenn

Those pizzas look awesome. Making pizza is on my to do list. Making dough is what worries me. I guess it is more trial and error until you find the perfect dough for your tastes.

Little Chef

Great info Joe!! Thanks for not only taking the time to do the experiments, but for taking the time to share the results! Great info, once again!

Denbbq

Thanks for the update Joe