Store bought dough in high temps?

[MD56]

Hi everyone,

I didn't have time to thaw out / rise my Caputo 00 dough last night so I ended up just running to the store and getting a couple balls of their pre-made american style dough (TJ's).

I fire my pizza's on a kettle pizza which I've recently modded to up the max temp by quite a bit. That being said, last night was a new high, I really went for it with the fuel and managed to get it up to 985f at the dome and somewhere around 750f at the stone (and kept it there for about 30 minutes)

The first pie I threw on cooked in just about a minute and came out BEAUTIFULLY, excellent char / blister and just the right amount of leapording.

The 2nd and 3rd pizza's also ran about a minute and looked beautiful ontop, however the bottoms were pretty scorched.

The real bummer however was when we started eating. Right off the bat I noticed that any part of the dough that was charred had a very bitter, almost chemically taste to it. Even the first pizza which had just a nice leapording still had a hint of the bitter taste. Is this because it was a store bought dough? I know that 00 dough's are more suited for high temps, but is it that bit of a swing?

The highest I've cooked with my 00 dough was about 800f - dome / 650-stone and the pies come out delicious. My goal however was always to crank as much heat out as I can, now that I have i'm wondering if I'll have the same problems with my Caputo 00 dough as well.

Any insights would be appreciated!





Oh yea I forgot to mention that I also blew up my cheap BB&B pizza stone in the process!

[david s]

Re: Store bought dough in high temps?

Because of the higher temperatures we fire to the dough should not contain any sugar or oil, both of which promote charring. It should only contain flour, salt, yeast and water.Unless of course you want to cook at lower temperatures.

[MD56]

Re: Store bought dough in high temps?

Because of the higher temperatures we fire to the dough should not contain any sugar or oil, both of which promote charring. It should only contain flour, salt, yeast and water.Unless of course you want to cook at lower temperatures.

Ahh Oil! I never thought of that. The pizza tasted very petrolium'ish if that makes sense. It never occurred to me that the dough had oil which does scorch. I cook with oil quite a bit and am always aware of the fact that oils all have different smoking points, I don't know why it didn't occur to me here!

In fact.. a couple of times after removing the pizza i noticed that the stone would actually catch a blue flame on it. This must have been the oil from the dough burning off. In fact, i wouldn't be surprised if this is this was why my stone broke as well.

Great thank you very much. That makes me feel better knowing my Neapolitan dough is only flour, water, salt and yeast. No more store bought dough for me!

[cobblerdave]

Re: Store bought dough in high temps?

G'day
I look at your pic and I can imagine the burnt toast smell.
I don't think the doughs going to make the difference,burnt base is burnt base.
That's the disadvantage of pizza stones. There heated from the bottom rather than the hearth of a WFO which is heated from the reflected heat from the dome. The best I have done with a stone is under neath the grill ( broiler ) of a bottle gas stove. And that was done with a scratch dough of 10 per cent protein flour and potato. Nothing planned, it was just what we had on hand.
Regards dave

[david s]

Re: Store bought dough in high temps?

MD56,
Try the semolina test. cast a little semolina onto your pizza stone and if it takes 3 secs to turn black then the temp is perfect. 2 secs too hot 4 secs not hot enough.

[MD56]

Re: Store bought dough in high temps?

MD56,
Try the semolina test. cast a little semolina onto your pizza stone and if it takes 3 secs to turn black then the temp is perfect. 2 secs too hot 4 secs not hot enough.

Wow really, is this for real?