Pizza ovens

I never use oil in mine…I only use oil when i put the the balls in the containers so they slide out easily. Maybe you overhydrated it ?

Thanks for that. I'm hoping to use solid fuels but I'm prepared to go with gas if need be.

First attempt was not great, but also not a total disaster.

The dough was easy to work with. 62%, 24hr room temperature prove. The fire was easy to manage.

Garlic bread was first. That burst into flames on placing it on the stone. I think some butter spilled onto the stone.

Next was my wife's ham and pineapple, launch failure. Excellent shape if I was making naan.

My pepperoni was a bit better. Started to get the hang of slap and stretch. Reasonable 11" disc.

The crust was chewy on them all. Not sure what to do about that.

Yeah, I think the chewiness is a feature, not a bug :-)

Yeah. I've been looking up about pizzas. Chewiness isn't a problem. I think I expected a more open texture to the crust.

I'm currently making another batch. Same ingredients, same method. Just seems wetter this time.

Edit: That was too sticky to do anything with. It spread out like a cow pat during the one hour rest. After that, it just cling to anything, no chance of balling it up. So I put it back in the mixer and added flour until it looked like the previous mix. Hoping for the best at this point.

I much prefer to let it bulk ferment in the fridge for a day or 2, then take it out for an hour, ball it up and depending on when I'm using it it'll go into the fridge in a covered proofing tray and removed for a few hours for its final rise before using, or I'll take it out and ball up and then let it rise and use it that way. An extra ,4/6/8 hours in the fridge if you got your timings wrong or changed dinner time won't make much difference but a few hours extra at room temp will make a huge difference as the yeast is very inactive at cold temps.

The balls in your picture look very flat and the pic of the crust is all bread with very little air which might suggest it's due to your stretching or it's not proofed enough.

The top right, garlic bread I'd say looks lovely.

How are you calculating your amount of yeast and proofing times? I use PizzApp for my calculations and it's pretty good. For the room temp I use my oven with the light on as it's the same temp in there wether it's a warm summer's day or a chilly winters one. The ambient temp for your proofing makes a huge difference.

The pic attached shows the calculations for 4 pizzas with instant yeast, 24 hours in the fridge and 4 hours at room temp. Once you get used to using the app it's pretty fool proof.

Good luck with your next batch.

Did you ball them straight away and then proof them?

they will never keep the shape like that. I use something like below for my proofing. Then ball about two hours before I need the dough that way it keeps its shape. Your loosing all the air in them the way your going at the minute hence them being flat after such a length of time.

https://www.nisbets.ie/cambro-76ltr-freshpro-camsquare-food-storage-container/cu139

As had been said by others those dough balls have not been formed correctly ie with a strong tight skin pulled in and sealed on the bottom. The bulk ball should also be formed into a tight ball before proving and as said before the top of the bulk should also be the top of your smaller dough balls and later the top of the pizza.

I would also suggest that the dough is not kneaded enough if it is still sticky at 62% hydration. I make my dough at 70% hydration and I don't find the dough sticky but it will make your dough lighter and less chewy.

For what its worth I always use fresh yeast and cut it up in 4gr pieces which are kept in the freezer for up to 6 months and replaced then with a new batch. I always make a poolish the night before making dough and and cold ferment between 24 and 48 hours and then make the final dough balls. Having said that I have been making Pizza at home for over 40 years and am still not happy with it but hey its good fun learning so enjoy the journey.

Bulk proofing in a tray isn't ideal. I got a set of 4 plastic bowls in Tesco, think they were about €10/11. Different colours and sizes. I use the biggest one for my bulk ferment in the fridge. I pop in the dough after kneeding in the mixer and mark the level with a permant marker, take out the dough and fill to the mark with water, then add the same amount by weight again and roughly mark that level. Dry the dowl, small bit of olive oil and pop the dough back in. That way then I can tell when it's doubled in size. A bowl with measures on would be better but my way does the job. The bowl is definitely better for the bulk ferment than a wide tray like your using. The other bowls in the set are used for my cheese and sauce, the second biggest is perfect size for when I do a poolish or smaller batch.

Ive got a poolish going now in the fridge, I'll do the dough tomorrow and ball up on Monday for pizzas. My last few batches were done with a sourdough starter(very mixed results) but I couldn't get the timings right this week with work so back to the tried and tested poolish.

Edit..

Mine were only €€9