Rock may crush Scissors, but not Steel

Hubby said he'd get my old, beloved pizza stone cut down for me to fit in the Gagg oven, so along with the pizza steel in one, I could utilize both cavities for last week's big pizza feed.  Unfortunately, he thought he could do that just minutes before the crowd arrived, forgetting or not thinking that it would have to heat for an hour or more to be of any use.  That meant I enlisted the help of the special, Gaggenau baking stone and element again, giving them another chance to prove their worth.

Kitchen forum friend JC thought there might be something amiss with my Gagg stone, because of the white crusts I got on previous pizza baking outings.  So this time, I had Prince CuddleBunny fetch the infrared thermometer Hubby got in a goody bag at a conference.  After preheating for well over an hour at 500, the surface read about 500 degrees.  So I'd say the element is doing its job.

Speaking of temperature, that is part of what makes the competition between the Gagg stone and the baking steel a little bit of an unfair fight.  The steel bakes pizzas well at higher heats than the stone does.  I need to keep the stone at about 475 when I'm baking pizzas, but the steel can stay at 500.  

As you can see from photos I took well into the pizza feed, I wasn't getting equal results from the different surfaces.

The first "pop"...Just 2 or 3 minutes in, shortly after the pizza hits the hot, hot surface:

On the Gaggenau stone and element set

The great rise on the baking steel

And the baking steel pizza is beautifully done in about 8 or 9 minutes, 

while, at that same point, the Gaggenau pizza stone pizza needs an additional 5 to 7 minutes.  

I admit that I still use parchment on the stone, and my friend
 says that may be affecting my result.  But that would mean
forming each pizza, one at a time, directly on cornmeal on
the pizza peel, and that just wouldn't work well
for the number of pizzas I need to bake.

That means the steel put out at least 3 pizzas to the stone set's 2.  My guess would be that I baked 8 pizzas on the stone, and 13 better ones on the steel.

I'm done.  The Gaggenau baking stone set loses again.  It's not worth my time (and the muscles to heft it around) for that result, and even though I got a deal at the time I bought the oven, it still far more than the price of a baking steel or other stone options, and wasn't worth the expense.  I still hope Hubby gets to cutting down my formerly favorite stone, and then I can compare it to the steel.  I've missed using the double oven to its full capacity to make pizza!

Pizza Steel, Round 2

I tried everything at once!  

I know that's not very scientific, because now I don't know which ingredient or method got me which result.  But I just wanted some great pizza... and I wanted it NOW.

1) A few hours ahead of pizza-baking time, I added a couple teaspoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon yeast, dissolved in a minimal amount of water to my dough bucket, and left it sit at room temperature.

2) When I turned on the oven to preheat, I didn't wait to form my pizzas, but did it right away, so they could rest and rise while the oven and Baking Steel heated for 45 minutes to an hour.

3) Just before putting in the first pizza, I turned the oven to Broil for several minutes.  

4) When I put in the pizza, I returned the oven mode to Bake.  But after several minutes of baking, when the bottom crust seemed brown enough, I turned it back to Broil to finish the top.

5) I left it on Broil when I took out Pizza #1 to repeat the method for the next pizza.

Results:

GREAT "pop" of the crust... Quick rise and some bubbles formed just after putting the pizzas in the oven....and a browned bottom crust!

But, alas.... sigh... even though the pizza was browned, it was on the soft and bready side, instead of lightly crispy-crusty like we wanted.

That's the advantage of our weekly Pizza Night... It's not too long before we try again and hope to do better.  So... More later!


You might also be interested in Pizza Steeling, First Try

Pizza Steeling, First Try

You may remember that I mentioned wanting to try the Baking Steel in my most recent pizza baking post.  Well, last week, I was honored and blessed to receive it as a "because-I-want-to" gift from a friend!

She'd told me it was coming, and the whole family was intrigued and excited.  I got a text from Princess Sassy while visiting my dad:  "Something came for you today.  It's not very big, but it's HEAVY.  Maybe your pizza steel?!  :-)"

Yep!  So, last Friday was its maiden voyage.

It didn't arrive looking like this... It was beautiful and clean.
I just forgot to take its picture!

I'd read and received a few tips about using the steel, but figured I'd start with the directions that came in the box:  Preheat the oven and steel to 500 degrees for at least 45 minutes, placing the steel on a rack in the 2nd from the top position in the oven.





















Since the blogs I'd read, praising the stone, mentioned baking times like 5 minutes to a slightly charred pizza and a very noticeable "Pop" or quick rise of the dough, I was disappointed that our first pizza took over 12 minutes, and was still looking pretty white, and not at all puffy.  

The crust was very delicately crispy on the outside, though, and the family was declaring the Baking Steel a winner.

For pizza #2 I tried one of the tips I'd read most often... Turn the oven to broil for a few minutes, then back to bake, just before putting the pizza on the stone.  That, however, also didn't seem to improve browning, rising, or timing.


My crust was just not browning, especially evident around the edges on top.  I wondered if it may be the recipe.  Sugar in the dough might help it brown, but I haven't had to do that before.  Even though the dough rises nicely in the bucket through the week, boosting the dough with a bit of yeast might help?  Or maybe making sure to bring the dough to room temperature before baking?  I'm not sure.  

More testing to be done!!