The pizza wasn’t a beauty, but finally a successful crust using the “all broiler” method:
Burnt Pistachios and Crust Getting Closer....
Unfortunately, I nuked the hell out of the pistachios, which obviously don’t like hanging out inches from an open flame, sliced the red onion too thin and the crumb was a little too open and not quite as “fluffy” as I would prefer. But the crust was also pretty good as well, being light and airy and having a very pleasant flavor somewhat similar to hearth baked bread. The sourdough notes were noticeable, yet did not overpower the other flavors. Almost a beautiful pizza, but I’m taking steps in the right direction. If I am eventually able to get repeatable, proven results, I’ll post them here. We’ll call this round a draw.
Pizza Notes:
“Rosa”
Toppings: Parmigiano-Reggiano, Red Onion, Crushed Pistachios, EVOO, Sicilian Sea Salt, Fresh Rosemary
Cook Time: 1:54
100.00% Caputo 00 Pizzeria flour
60.00% Water (going to up this next time)
2.60% Sicilian Sea Salt
5.00% Ischia sourdough starter (as percentage of formula water)
17hrs fermentation @ 68°F
5hrs proofing @ 68°F
This is fantastic. I can’t believe these results came out of a home oven. So this was baked 100% under the broiler? How close to the broiler was the top of the pie? How long did you preheat the stone?
Alex, yes, this was baked 100% under the broiler and I have been inspired buy Foolish Poolish to experiment with this method.
The top of the pizza is about 2.25″ from the broiler element. I initially put the stone on the lowest oven rack and pre-heat the oven to its max temp of 550°F. Once it reaches 550°F, I let the stone heat for one hour in order to thoroughly heat the stone (which helps to avoid potential stone cracking when cooking under the broiler).
After 60 minutes of heating the stone at 550°F, I quickly move the stone to the uppermost oven rack (closest to the broiler). The uppermost oven rack, as well as the side walls of the upper portion of my oven are entirely wrapped with aluminum foil, shiny side out, in an attempt to reflect the heat as much as possible.
After the stone is moved to the upper rack, I immediately turn off the oven and turn the broiler onto high (I cannot operate oven & broiler at same time). I leave the broiler on high for 15 minutes, at which point I put the broiler on low setting and immediately insert a dressed pizza skin.
Pies need to be rotated often to avoid burning. Once the pizza is removed from the oven, I return the broiler to the high setting for about 8 minutes before putting it back to low setting and cooking another pizza.
I still need to tinker with the switch between high and low broiler settings (cooking under high setting is too hot in my oven), cook times and rack placement, but I am getting very close to something which works in my particular oven.
Thanks for the kind words.
pizzablogger…..
you let the dough ferment in the bowl for 17 hours? and then measure and form the dough into balls……then allowing it to proof at room temp for another 5 hours?
crust looks phenominal…!
how many ounces were these pies?
That’s entirely correct Matt.
I personally want just a tad more sourdough flavor and developed flavors (esters, alcohol, etc) from fermentation in the crust. Next batch will be a higher hydration (which speeds up the enzymatic activity), so I am going to up the salt a tad to slow that down, drop the yeast just a wee notch and see if I can squeeze out 20-24 hours bulk fermentation at room temp next time. We’ll see! Thanks for the comment. –K
270g (9.5oz) dough balls for a 12″ pizza on that batch. I’ve tried various weights, but personally like dough balls in the 9.5 to 10oz range, which is a tad heavy by traditional standards.