Caputo flour pizza on the BGE

[Cigarbque]

I am lucky and have some customers not far from "Fred's BBQ & Music" store in PA. So when I stopped in on Thursday for some Blues Hog I picked up some Caputo Tipo "00" flour. This was my first atemp at using this Neapolitan pizza flour. I made the dough with a poolish and a 65% hydration on Saturday and then after rising separated into individual balls and let it proof over night in the fridge. I took it out this morning and let it sit for eight hours.

I made the sauce from San Marzano tomatoes and did nothing more than crush them with a bit of garlic and oregano. I hit the sauce with a immersion blender. For toppings nothing more than some fresh mozzarella, grated parmigiana, fresh basil and a touch of salt and EVOO.

I have no idea what temp the egg was cooking at because the thermo died on me. I did incinerate the poor thing and melted the new gasket I put on only two weeks ago. The first pie came out the best. The three after it had more of a biscuit style crust with less oven spring so I need to work on that. All in all the results were amazing. Best pizza I ever made by far.

The set up:

The incinerated Big Green Egg:

The first pizza Neapolitan:

Check out the perfect char on the bottom:

A slice of heaven:

 

[landarc]

Oh, very nice. Do you think the flour made a difference?

 

[Paulmark]

Outstanding pizza way to go.:clap2:

 

[Cigarbque]

Oh, very nice. Do you think the flour made a difference?

Yes it did. It was baby bottom soft. I have always used olive oil in my dough but not this time. The dough was so relaxed it was a joy to work with. As far as the taste goes i am not sure you can tell a difference but as far as the feel of the dough you sure can.

 

[MilitantSquatter]

outstanding job Brian !!!!

 

[Shiz-Nit]

Very Nice indeed

 

[1_T_Scot]

Pizza lookes awesome! 2 questions. What does Poolish mean? How do you measure 65% hydration or is it calculated?

 

[leanza]

A man after my own heart. You did things right. If you cant afford those San Marzano's,may I recomend some 6in1, its a beautiful premium canned tomato. Thanks for the wonderful pictures.

 

[Brauma]

Awesome looking pie. But you've got some weird ash build-up or blow by on the back half of your Egg. The front looks like it's sealing well. Have you done the dollar bill test? What fuel/lump are you using? Or is what I'm seeing some excess flour?

Part of me says don't fix what aint broken seeing the excellent pie. But I just thought I'd ask.

 

[bigabyte]

Great looking pie!

 

[Jeroen]

Well done, the pie looks great.
Maybe next time you drive by Fred you can buy a high heat gasket.
Last week a colleague wanted to make some flammkuchen on my Large at about 575 F and the gasket held great.

 

[Rick's Tropical Delight]

what diameter and brand of pizza stone is that?

 

[Cigarbque]

Pizza lookes awesome! 2 questions. What does Poolish mean? How do you measure 65% hydration or is it calculated?

A Poolish is a preferment starter. 50% flour and 50% water with yeast. Like a sourdough starter. I made it the night before I made the dough. Let it sit out overnight and you have bubbly goodness.

Yes the 65% hydration is calculated. I measure by weight so for instance 100 grams of flour would use 65 grams of water. There are calculators on line if you google it also in most good bread books.

 

[Cigarbque]

Awesome looking pie. But you've got some weird ash build-up or blow by on the back half of your Egg. The front looks like it's sealing well. Have you done the dollar bill test? What fuel/lump are you using? Or is what I'm seeing some excess flour?

Part of me says don't fix what aint broken seeing the excellent pie. But I just thought I'd ask.

What you are seeing is ash. The egg is a medium about 14 years old. I mostly use it for cooking low and slow so I guess it just fried everything from the heat. I put a new felt gasket on it about two weeks ago and I set it with a low heat cook. I cleaned and scraped the ceramic before putting on the gasket.

I was using a mixture of RO lump and aFire coconut extruded charcoal. Man the thing was hot.

 

[Cigarbque]

what diameter and brand of pizza stone is that?

It is the BGE brand pizza stone. The egg is a medium so I am guessing 14" to 16".

 

[Big George's BBQ]

That looks really really nice :thumb:

 

[leanza]

A Poolish is a preferment starter. 50% flour and 50% water with yeast. Like a sourdough starter. I made it the night before I made the dough. Let it sit out overnight and you have bubbly goodness.

Yes the 65% hydration is calculated. I measure by weight so for instance 100 grams of flour would use 65 grams of water. There are calculators on line if you google it also in most good bread books.

I understand Bakers Percents but not your math. But my question is about your dough (Poolish). How was the handle-ability of it when you went to press it out the next day? Did you knead it at much? What was the dough weight of the mixture and how much yeast did you use? Thank you for taking the time to answer the questions.

 

[landarc]

Thanks Brian, I have been wondering if it was worth seeking it out or not. I have heard that many pizza traditionalists insist on it, but, sometimes I think that has less to do with a difference than tradition.

A poolish is like a biga or starter dough, if my understanding is correct. It forms a small part of the overall dough. A cup of biga or poolish to 5 cups of flour is the proportion I was taught.

 

[Big Frank]

That looks great. My goal for the year is to learn how to make a good dough.

 

[SmokinOkie]

I tried that flour and didn't tell the family and they all didn't like the change. The texture for us was very different. So I adjust and when 50/50 with out normal flour and liked it better.

Part of it was how it grilled up. I use an FEC1000PC with a pizza stone also.

Big thing? I didn't think it worth the extra price. I know the purists out there insist on it, that's why we tried it, but after I get through this batch of flour I'll probably not order it again.