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Pizza with 00 flour (pic heavy)
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Posts: 404
There have been a few posts recently about baking pizza at 700*, or otherwise “nuclear”. I’ve been responding that ideal pizza stone temps are somewhere between 550 and 600*, although with a dough made with “00” flour you can go hotter. "00" flour is desired by Neapolitan pizza fans as it is used in Naples to make authentic "DOC" certified pies, and can be found in more and more specialty pizza shops these days. Besides the popularity, it's extremely light and easy to work the dough. My doughballs were 80% Antimo Caputo "00", and 20% bread flour (and was at about 65% hydration, also used a wild yeast starter, approx 18% of flour weight, 2.5% kosher salt). Today was a stone temp test day:
I’m using a Raytek MT6 infrared thermometer for all my stone measurements (dome temps are from a basic calibrated BGE thermometer). First I was curious how long it takes to get the pizza stone preheated, clearly there are lots of variables in setup but mine got the stone just over 500* in 30 minutes (highest dome temp was 560); and stone got to 580* in 40 minutes (highest dome temp was 570). My setup was indirect, platesetter legs down, grid and grid extender, stone on the extender so it was high into the dome.
My first pie went on at this last measured stone temp, about 580* (dome 560*) and I didn’t take any pics (frankly I was so hungry I wolfed it down!) :silly: But the crust wasn’t anything to write home about. It was good but not fully browned on the top and no visible char. I baked this one for just over 5 minutes, I probably could have gone closer to 7 and achieved something better than I got. But clearly it needed more heat.
Pie # 2 – plain pepperoni, bake time 4.5 min
Dome temp was stabilized at 600*, stone temp was 580-600*. This was a great pizza – not as fully browned with char as I’d like, but still plenty of “snap” to the crust and cooked through.
not a bad crust at this temp!
example of "snap"- can you fold it and not destroy the slice?
nice rise in the "cornicione", or edge
Pie # 3 – baby bella mushroom
Dome temp is now at 650*, stone was about 730* (I note many commercial pizza ovens bake at 700). This was my favorite pie! It baked in only 3.5 minutes, I got ample browning throughout, and some nicely charred spots without blackening the crust:
THIS is what I'm shooting for - in only 3.5 minutes the browning/char around the edge is great without burning (although you see one cheese spot that got nuked...maybe next time I try lower like 700 instead of 730 stone!)
nicely browned bottom with a little char here and there
Pie # 4 – veggie disaster!
I decided to go for broke and let the stone get over 800- I think one spot read 830* and the dome was reading 670*. This pie cooked in only 2.5 minutes but look at the bottom—I smoked it!
oh noooo! nuclear meltdown! :(
too bad...too as this was my favorite crust rise.
Lessons learned: (1) with “00” flour you can get aggressive, a stone temp of 700* is something worth shooting for. (2) if you’re not using “00” flour a stone temp of 500-600 is probably all you need, just be sure to bake 5-10 minutes; (3) if you don’t have an IR thermometer, give the stone at least 40-50 minutes to preheat, assume the stone will approximate your dome temp after 50mins if you have the stone raised high enough.
I’m using a Raytek MT6 infrared thermometer for all my stone measurements (dome temps are from a basic calibrated BGE thermometer). First I was curious how long it takes to get the pizza stone preheated, clearly there are lots of variables in setup but mine got the stone just over 500* in 30 minutes (highest dome temp was 560); and stone got to 580* in 40 minutes (highest dome temp was 570). My setup was indirect, platesetter legs down, grid and grid extender, stone on the extender so it was high into the dome.
My first pie went on at this last measured stone temp, about 580* (dome 560*) and I didn’t take any pics (frankly I was so hungry I wolfed it down!) :silly: But the crust wasn’t anything to write home about. It was good but not fully browned on the top and no visible char. I baked this one for just over 5 minutes, I probably could have gone closer to 7 and achieved something better than I got. But clearly it needed more heat.
Pie # 2 – plain pepperoni, bake time 4.5 min
Dome temp was stabilized at 600*, stone temp was 580-600*. This was a great pizza – not as fully browned with char as I’d like, but still plenty of “snap” to the crust and cooked through.
not a bad crust at this temp!
example of "snap"- can you fold it and not destroy the slice?
nice rise in the "cornicione", or edge
Pie # 3 – baby bella mushroom
Dome temp is now at 650*, stone was about 730* (I note many commercial pizza ovens bake at 700). This was my favorite pie! It baked in only 3.5 minutes, I got ample browning throughout, and some nicely charred spots without blackening the crust:
THIS is what I'm shooting for - in only 3.5 minutes the browning/char around the edge is great without burning (although you see one cheese spot that got nuked...maybe next time I try lower like 700 instead of 730 stone!)
nicely browned bottom with a little char here and there
Pie # 4 – veggie disaster!
I decided to go for broke and let the stone get over 800- I think one spot read 830* and the dome was reading 670*. This pie cooked in only 2.5 minutes but look at the bottom—I smoked it!
oh noooo! nuclear meltdown! :(
too bad...too as this was my favorite crust rise.
Lessons learned: (1) with “00” flour you can get aggressive, a stone temp of 700* is something worth shooting for. (2) if you’re not using “00” flour a stone temp of 500-600 is probably all you need, just be sure to bake 5-10 minutes; (3) if you don’t have an IR thermometer, give the stone at least 40-50 minutes to preheat, assume the stone will approximate your dome temp after 50mins if you have the stone raised high enough.
Comments
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That is a great looking pie,I have been looking for the00 flour,will have to buy on-line I guess,Thanks for sharing.
GOOD EATS AND GOOD FRIENDS
DALE -
Great post Joe, thanks for taking the time for all of that. The best part of experimenting with the egg is we get to eat the results and you ate pretty good tonight!!
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The oven spring is spot on. Now that it's starting to cool down I may get back to experimenting too. You like the 65% hydration?
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I agree. that is a wonderful post. Did not know there was so much science to making a pizza. I'm making two as we speak. Getting the stone to 500.Dave San Jose, CA The Duke of Loney
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I believe mine at 700 would have been perfect if the stone was higher than the green feet put it over the platesetter. I still have one more doughball to try it with. I think the stone got hotter being that close.
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Rod I think I might even end up a little higher using 00 flour. It soaks up water like you wouldn't believe. I shoot for a fairly wet/sticky ball that goes into the fridge. It comes out smooth and super pliable - you can shape it without even lifting it
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Great job! Looks really good, Did you use Caputo 00 for pizza. That is the main flour they use in Napoli, Italy. When did you make the dough sasme day or day before?
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thanks for sharing!...... i grew up in ny/nj..... i used eat pizza like that every day at lunch time..... i've been trying to find good pizza like that since i moved to NEPA years ago....i've been making some good pies on the egg ... but you have inspired me to try harder.... does the caputo flour really make a difference? thanks! rray
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thanks! it's tough to get the light/springy nature of the Neapolitan pie without 00 flour, though I've had decent success with bread and AP flours. You can check out Varasanos.com (this is a pizza spot in Atlanta where the guy is a DOC fanatic, look on his recipe link and you can see how he goes about it). Also, pizzamaking.com has a lot more pizza nuts you can follow. good luck... J
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this dough was made 3 days ago, yes it was Antimo Caputo brand. J
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Wow! I go away for a little while, and come back to find you kickin some pizza a$$! Holy crap, I just ordered my flour.
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Great post Joe! Lots of useful info
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Marc,
Do you get the 00 Caputo locally?
SteveSteve
Caledon, ON
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me (Joe?) yes there's an Italian grocer by my house and I can get the little $4 bags of Caputo (you can find it on Amazon). There's a really good "DOC" pizzeria in Atlanta that has bags of this stuff, San Felice 00 on their shelves, might try a bag (but it will doom me to making pizzas for the next year!)
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Joe,
I was asking Marc. I have never noticed it in our (Cdn) Italian groceries and delis. Haven't looked for it though.
SteveSteve
Caledon, ON
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Man, those pizzas look great!! I gotta get me some Caputo! Anyone ever deal with these folks? Umm, how long will an unopened bag of flour keep anyway?
http://fornobravo.com/store/Caputo-Tipo-00-Flour-p-1-c-23.htmlI hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!
MichaelCentral Connecticut -
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Good stuff! I love 00 flour. I think if you keep the flour in a cool dark dry place it should keep for close to a year. If your worried you can always throw it in the freezer too.
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Brick Oven Baker.com has Antimo Caputo 00 Pizzaria (blue bag) flour on sale this week for 10% off! I ordered a 12 lb. bag and it came to 25.00 including shipping
brickovenbaker.com
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