- Jan 26, 2000
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For me I'm still searching for the "perfect" dough, which of course doesn't exist.
I have about 200 lbs of flour, KA Sir Lancelot, KA Sir Galahad, blue and red Caputo tipo 00, Canadian #1 durum, and assorted ryes and wheats.
I go through that in about 9 months to a year, with some every three months, because well, I bake a lot.
There are two pizza styles I like, NY style and Neapolitan and good luck in the home oven.
So workarounds- I have a handy dandy scrap metal place that I can buy plate steel. My oven only goes to 550F and that's a hundred or more degrees too low for what I'm after. The answer? I have a 1/4" plate I put on a rack, the second from the top electric burner and preheat on convection roast.
I use an IR thermometer and the plate gets to almost 650F and the pie goes onto it. A NY style pizza takes 5 to 7 minutes and has a nice crispy bottom and cornicione.
Neapolitan? Not hot enough for 2 minute pies, however I mix 3 parts 00 with 1 part KA AP for extensibility and increased performance under my baking conditions. Is it a Neapolitan? No. It's a decent substitute.
However, in the summer I have "The Hernia" a dead flat 3/4" steel plate for my large propane grill. IR tops out at about 850-900F which is perfect and of course I can lower the temp.
Two problems. First is that there is no thermal mass to the grill above the pie and the conductivity of steel is ridiculously high and the bottom will burn.
So what then? I make a mini oven. I place thin kiln tiles on the plate which allow high heat while not burning, put firebricks on the edge and back of the large plate and then rest the 1/4" plate on the bricks. The upper steel reflects the heat and with the firebricks contain the heat from "The Hernia". A high temp probe shows 700-750 after inserting the pie and closing the lid with temps climbing to 800-850 ish. Pies in about 90 seconds.
I have about 200 lbs of flour, KA Sir Lancelot, KA Sir Galahad, blue and red Caputo tipo 00, Canadian #1 durum, and assorted ryes and wheats.
I go through that in about 9 months to a year, with some every three months, because well, I bake a lot.
There are two pizza styles I like, NY style and Neapolitan and good luck in the home oven.
So workarounds- I have a handy dandy scrap metal place that I can buy plate steel. My oven only goes to 550F and that's a hundred or more degrees too low for what I'm after. The answer? I have a 1/4" plate I put on a rack, the second from the top electric burner and preheat on convection roast.
I use an IR thermometer and the plate gets to almost 650F and the pie goes onto it. A NY style pizza takes 5 to 7 minutes and has a nice crispy bottom and cornicione.
Neapolitan? Not hot enough for 2 minute pies, however I mix 3 parts 00 with 1 part KA AP for extensibility and increased performance under my baking conditions. Is it a Neapolitan? No. It's a decent substitute.
However, in the summer I have "The Hernia" a dead flat 3/4" steel plate for my large propane grill. IR tops out at about 850-900F which is perfect and of course I can lower the temp.
Two problems. First is that there is no thermal mass to the grill above the pie and the conductivity of steel is ridiculously high and the bottom will burn.
So what then? I make a mini oven. I place thin kiln tiles on the plate which allow high heat while not burning, put firebricks on the edge and back of the large plate and then rest the 1/4" plate on the bricks. The upper steel reflects the heat and with the firebricks contain the heat from "The Hernia". A high temp probe shows 700-750 after inserting the pie and closing the lid with temps climbing to 800-850 ish. Pies in about 90 seconds.
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