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Pizza experiments

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    Pizza experiments

    I am by no means a pizza expert, but post this in the hope that it helps some and gets me suggestions from others.

    I tried a bunch of different things to see what matters and what doesn't, what I like and don't for the very basics of a thinner crust pizza. I tried all this with the same dough, the same sauce, the same toppings. In my home oven at 525 on a cast iron pizza pan. I cooked pizzas with 150 grams of dough, spread by hand to about 10 inches. I tried two pizzas each time so I could try them side by side to get a good comparison. They took about 5 minutes each to bake.

    First, I found that what I like best is a sauce made with a can of San Marzano tomatoes crushed by hand, with a little olive oil, salt and basil. Didn't like any of the store bought sauces nearly as much. None of the store bought pizza doughs were as good as what I made, which was a Neopolitan style, 3 day ferment. For the tests I just used mozzarella and pepperoni. The crust gets tough if you overwork the dough, not good. Cooling the pizza on a wire rack for a few minutes is better.

    1. KA bread flour vs 00 flour. The 00 seemed to me to be just a little better, but that could be that I knew what it was. It was slight if anything. I read once somewhere that 00 makes more of a difference at higher temps, so it might make more of a difference in an oven higher than 525. I haven't double checked that. In my oven, I don't think I will go out of my way to use 00.

    2. Parchment or no parchment. Baking on parchment makes things easier. The pizza was noticeably better, puffier and more tender without parchment. I need to work on my pizza peel skills more so that I don't use parchment anymore.

    3. New York vs Neopolitan dough. Ok, one dough difference. The New York had oil in it. I liked the Neopolitan better, but that is personal taste.

    4. Par baked or no par baked crust. The par baked crust puffed up more which made it lighter and more tender, I liked that much more. I par baked for one minute, it might be that a different time could be even better. One thing to consider though if you par bake is that you have to consider the toppings more in order for them to cook right along with the crust.

    So, my personal preferences are for bread flour, no parchment, Neopolitan, and par baked crust.

    I should also note that I usually bake Neopolitan style pizzas with the broiler on, and I did not for these tests, but results should carry over.




    Last edited by Mark V; June 13, 2022, 08:18 PM.

    #2
    Good post but it needs more pics.

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    • bbqLuv
      bbqLuv commented
      Editing a comment
      That is right! No pics, didn't happen 😛🤣

    #3
    Thanks for this.

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      #4
      Just curious why you are using bread flour instead of AP? Also FYI KA does a 00 flour although I have been unable to find it at my grocer. I like to use cornmeal for my peel. I haven't had as much luck with flour and am not a fan of a mouthful of flour from dusty crust. I will get a better peel someday. Can you share the recipes for Neapolitan and New York crust? 🔥🔥🔥🐿

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      #5
      Please we need not these posts as I was happy with Take-n-Bake.
      My Todo list is growing faster than I can keep up with.

      Comment

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