Playing with Pizza

Pizzas around here in Central Oregon are expensive and, with a couple of notable exceptions, not worth trying. This is a shame because we love a great pizza. Ever since we got invited to a party where they had a gas-fired outdoor pizza oven and we fired our own pies, a little voice has been nagging in the back our minds.

Amatriciana-Style Pizza with Arugula and Olive Oil

That little voice has been saying, "If pizzas are such junk, make your own." And why not? I'm a (retired) chef, I can handle dough and a peel, and I have always been able to hack together an acceptable pie at any time. But why not put in the time and testing to really put out a great pie?

This is the year that we have decided to get serious about pizza: Ann ordered a new natural gas-fired Ooni pizza oven a couple weeks back and it has finally arrived. After two trips to the hardware store for fittings, I got it plumbed into the gas line that also supplies the fire pit out on our patio. 

Saturday, I fired it up and let all the oils burn out of it in preparation for its maiden voyage. That morning, I also made a batch of dough for an 8-hour ferment for our first run. I think I prefer a longer ferment, but I was also itching to try the oven out that day, rather than wait for an overnight ferment to complete.

The test batch was a safe 60% hydration/3% salt version made with Caputo 00 flour with the aim to make four 250g balls. The results were better than just about any pie here in Bend, but not where we are aiming. We're not looking for acceptable; we're looking for professional quality. It's going to take a lot of experimentation to determine what works the best with the flour we have available here, this oven, and our elevation. Honestly, I do not know how high elevation messes with pizza.

1000g of Dough

Four 245g Dough Balls, Ready to Proof

Proofed and Ready to Go

First Pie: Pesto, Mozzarella, Pecorino, Fresh Basil

Rosé on the Patio Waiting for Oven to Heat

First Pie!

First Pie: I Didn't Rotate it Quickly Enough

Lessons learned on day one. The crust was a bit doughy and I believe that this is a combination of too hot an oven coupled with insufficient hydration. In my mind, I have been toying with a hydration approaching 70% but I thought I'd start with a foolproof 60% which is easy to work until I hone my dough handling skills. Obviously, I need to rotate the pie a little quicker which is merely a function of being able to determine the crust color in the dark interior of the oven. And finally, 250g is the perfect size pie for us.

So for day two of testing, I decided to make another batch of dough at 65% hydration. I rejiggered my recipe accordingly and made the new batch, also a kilogram and also using Caputo 00. The idea was to do an A-B test with one pie from the new 65% batch and an 8-hour fermentation against a leftover dough ball at 60% which had re-proofed in the refrigerator for another 24 hours. Not exactly modifying a single variable, but illustrative nonetheless. Ann would be tasting blind, but I would know which pie was which.

For these pies, we decided to do an Amatriciana-style pie using Sicilian estratto di pomodoro (world's sexiest tomato paste) thinned with water and a little grease from rendering guanciale as the sauce. Then I would put some of the rendered guanciale and mozzarella on top of that.

Rendering Guanciale

Left: 60% Overnight Ferment, Right: 65% Same Day Ferment

After tasting both pies, we both had definite opinions and as it turns out, we agreed. For this test, I dialed the oven back to about 7/8 of its maximum heat to give the crust just a few seconds longer to cook. We both liked the texture of the 65% hydration dough better, so now we will move on to something higher, perhaps 67%. I am still not happy with the black charring on top of that pie though; it may be I need to cook it slightly less. Or this may have happened when I elevated the pie on the peel to quickly finish an area that looked undercooked. Time and experience will sort this out.

Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomato Pies on Day Three
Left 60% Ferment, 48-Hour Proof; Right: 65% Ferment, 24-Hour Proof

On day three, I did not make any new dough and tested one of the original 60% dough balls from two days prior against one of the 65% balls from the day before. Again, we preferred the crust of the 65% pie; however, after all this time in the refrigerator, it seems the flavor of the original 60% dough was starting to gain some character.

This is going to be a many-week process of refining the recipe. Next up, I'm going to switch flour and go back to the flour that I always used at the restaurant, King Arthur Sir Galahad. While in the minority, one of my favorite pizza joints uses this flour to great effect and if I can achieve the same thing, King Arthur is way cheaper and way more available in this part of the world.