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oil in pizza dough question

Mudflap
Mudflap Posts: 69
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I've been making Peter Rienhart's Neo-Neapolitan pizza dough recipe for awhile now. It turns out great when cooked on the Egg between 500°-550°. I tried temps much higher but the bottom burned well before the top seemed done. Was this because of the olive oil (low smoke point) in the dough? Will I be able to bake at higher temps with a Napoletana recipe and therefore no oil?

Also, is there a benefit to raising the stone? I notice a lot of people do it.

Comments

  • Olive oil in the dough tenderizes it, adds a bit of flavor, and helps with browning. Your burned bottom and underdone top are NOT due to the inclusion of oil in the dough, but rather cooking the pizza too low in the dome--raising the stone higher into the dome means hotter air above the pizza.
    Higher temps better suit a true high-hydration napoletana dough, but excellent pizza crust can certainly contain a bit of oil. Especially if you're not able to do a long, slow rise, the oil will help with browning. Same-day dough made w/commercial yeast is often pale, browns slowly & unevenly.
  • Photo Egg
    Photo Egg Posts: 12,110
    If you like your pizza at 500-550 why change?
    It just burns more lump to cook higher temps.

    Cooking higher in the dome "will help cook the top" of your pizza faster as you will get more heat from the dome. Gives you pizza oven style brown cheese and slight char on the outer crust.

    I have only used "Zippylip" pizza dough and it works at 550-750 depending on the pizza size.
    Thank you,
    Darian

    Galveston Texas
  • Bear 007
    Bear 007 Posts: 382
    I had the same problem, I thought it was the dough to, it wasn't, after raising them higher up in the dome they came out fine.
  • Mudflap
    Mudflap Posts: 69
    Photo Egg wrote:
    If you like your pizza at 500-550 why change?
    It just burns more lump to cook higher temps.

    Darian,
    I knew someone was going to ask that question. I feel like that is a good pizza but I have a couple of reasons. 1. I really really love the napoletana style pizzas with the charred crust but chewy interior. (that's probably my best reason) and 2. I want to make a pizza at a higher temp than my friends...just because I can. (my semi-shallow reason) I'm not going to stop making the Neo-neapolitan pizza, but I'm not 100% satisfied since the crust gets very crisp in order to get it charred.

    Thanks for the info on the dome. I thought that might be the case but wanted to be sure.

    Now after rereading your post, my little char issue might only be that it isn't high enough in the dome. Might have nothing to do with the temperature. Any way, I already made a batch of Napoletana dough for tonight as well as some gluten free w/ FioreGlut. I'm going to experiment with different temps.

    Thanks again,
    Jeremy
  • Photo Egg
    Photo Egg Posts: 12,110
    Hey man,
    All good reasons to me.
    If you are cooking at base level now, you will love getting another 4-6+ inches higher in the dome. It will cook the top of your pizza faster w/out burning your crust.
    Use anything to get the distance. Fire bricks or raised grid will work.
    Hungry Celeste's post above better explains.
    Thank you,
    Darian

    Galveston Texas
  • Mudflap
    Mudflap Posts: 69
    Hungry Celeste wrote:
    Olive oil in the dough tenderizes it, adds a bit of flavor, and helps with browning. Your burned bottom and underdone top are NOT due to the inclusion of oil in the dough, but rather cooking the pizza too low in the dome--raising the stone higher into the dome means hotter air above the pizza.
    Higher temps better suit a true high-hydration napoletana dough, but excellent pizza crust can certainly contain a bit of oil. Especially if you're not able to do a long, slow rise, the oil will help with browning. Same-day dough made w/commercial yeast is often pale, browns slowly & unevenly.

    I guess I missed this one at first. Thank you. I'm definitely going to do that from now on.
  • 70chevelle
    70chevelle Posts: 280
    Depending on the temps and time you cooked, the oil definitely could have caused the burning. In true neopolitan pizza dough, there is only water, flower, yeast and salt. The reason is that they are cooking with a floor temp of 8-900*, which will cause the oil(sugars or?) to burn. Now, if you are talking about cooking at 6-700*, a little oil shouldn't be an issue, but if you are going to higher temps, I'd raise the stone, and eliminate the oil. Good Luck!