Zippylip Pizza Questions

Quadzilla

Two quick questions;

1. At these high temps (650*+) do you need to cool the stone down before cooking the first pie?

2. My dough has been in ziplock containers in the fridge for 3 days. There are air bubble forming on the bottom of the dough. I sprayed containers with cooking spray before dropping the dough balls in. Is this something to be concerned about? I also ordered the Italian cultures that Varasano's website refers to and used those with a small amount of instant dry yeast. Not sure if this has anything to do with the bubbles.

I will try to post pics when done.

Thanks!
Quad

Fidel

1. No to cooling the stone. That is what you want to form a good crust. Pre-heating it gives you a good oven spring.

2. You should never mix native yeast cultures with packaged yeast. Kind of negates the point of the wild stuff in the first place. That said, bubbles aren't a problem - just shows the yeast is working and the dough is properly developed. They'll work out as you form the skin. Just be sure to take a fork and pop any large ones that appear during the first few minutes of the cook

Quadzilla

Thanks Fidel! I only used about 1/8 of a tsp per Varasano's instructions http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm . He says that the wild yeasts sometimes don't produce the right amount of puff. I'll just skip it next time.