Playing With Dough

Over the course of two days (Sat and Sun) I did two types of dough. First was fermented caputo 00 blue bag pizzeria dough 70% hydration that took about 20 hours. Dough came out really good but I learned that this recipe was much better done at home since it was colder at the cabin so the hydration was a bit much. Also at 6000ft elevation it took a while to warm up the oven. What usually took 15-20 mins at home I waited over an hour until it was at 800* ish for me to cook the pizza



I did an al pastor style pizza





Pretty darn good but the cold + the elevation didn't let me reach my intended product





As I got ready to launch my second pesto, grilled chicken pie below, it went down hill and a failed lunch due the dough sticking to the peel farked everything up :tsk: I tried to recover but made an even more of a mess, with cheese, dough and ingredients all inside the Roccbox. :shock: So I took out what ever I could and let it burn everything to a crisp, shut 'er down and called it a night. At least I had one pie in so it wasn't too bad.



Sunday morning I cleaned the Roccbox, blew out all the residue, char and ash and got her set up for another go :becky:



I made a new batch of dough with caputo self-rise flour this time. I froze the dough balls from the night before for another time.



Al pastor style pizza again







Better results but my dough from the night before was far more superior





Next I did the pesto grilled chicken pizza again





No accidents this time around and pretty happy with the results. Damn, if you think brisket is hard playing with dough will give a run for you money. Only thing to do is keep trying. :becky: Thanks for looking and many more cooks on the way to get it where I want it. I left the Roccbox at the cabin so it'll my toy up there since I have the Blackstone at home.

bowhnter said:

Very nice Sako! I’ve only used caputo once. It’s a long way for me to go get a bag. I think it was red though.
Do you think it is worth it?

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Thanks Mike!

IMHO it's totally worth it when you do Neapolitan style pies which I really personally enjoy a lot. It the only dough that will handle 800-900 degree heat and not burn. In turn you can crank out soft, fluffy and chewy dough pizzas in less than 2 mins. It's got high protein and gluten levels which are perfect for airy crust pies with a lot of depth in flavor.

If you have access to local Italian delis or markets they usually carry them in 1kg bags for about $5 each. Or you can order online and the last bag I bought was from ATBBQ.COM They're prices are fair IMHO when it comes to Caputo flour especially the blue pizzeria bag.

Whisky said:

Nice recovery and persistence. 70% hydration is no joke.

Regarding the Caputo Pizzeria, you can make a decent Neapolitan pizza with most organic, unmalted AP flours. They key is unmalted. Two fairly common brands are Bobs Red Mill Organic AP, and Arrowhead Mills Organic AP. I'm sure there are others that work as well, depending on what's available in each person's area. Caputo is good, and I always have a supply on hand, as I prefer Neapolitan pizzas, but I'm also a fan of experimentation and finding things local to me that work in a pinch too.

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Nicely put and thanks for the input. I too love to experiment and never settle on one way of doing things. One of my favorite flour brands is King Arthur. Their offerings are excellent as well. And true caputo is nice to have as you know what to expect but there are definitely alternatives to play with.

ShadowDriver said:

Love this. I haven't made homemade pizza dough in too long now.

Al Pastor pie is the bees' knees! Hell, you could threaten me with that grill chicken pesto, as well!

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Thanks Marc!

Being familiar with your work and pallette you will enjoy al pastor pizza. Tremendously!

Vader1959 said:

Care to share your Caputo 00 blue bag dough recipe?

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Sure!

Like Whisky said though, you need an oven that goes at least 800*

Just followed this guy's recipe since I had the same flour and same oven. The music kinda gets annoying :becky:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j19GevtJsKk

Smoke Dawg said:

Looks great neighbor. The elevation thing makes a difference. We went from ~50 feet to almost 4000 feet. it's like cooking on another planet.

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Thanks neighbor!

Yup! Not kidding. When q-ing, I usually open all vents full and pack an excess amount of charcoal as the cookers eat through charcoal and they run cooler than usual up there. I've learned to give myself extra time also as it takes longer to finish than at home. Pizza was no different. Upside is you go through more beer. :becky: