I tried my first sourdough batch in my pizza oven last week... I worked out all the timings. Started feeding the sourdough on the Friday, made the dough and knocked it back a couple of times on the Saturday, created three batards on Saturday night (technique thanks to youtube) which sat in the fridge overnight, and then Sunday morning... well things fell apart. The air temperature was over 20 degrees (more like 30) and I took the loaves out of the fridge too early, and then the pizza oven wasn't ready... so I knocked them back. Got the pizza oven to the right temperature with the help of my new laser thermometer, sprayed the interior with water and placed an oven tray full of wet rags in the back of the oven, and then placed my batards in the oven. Twelve to fifteen minutes later I checked them out and was..... disappointed... same old, same old sour dough. No caramel top or large gaps of stretched dough.. none of that special wood fire taste and texture I was hoping for.
What did I do wrong? What will I do next time?
Next time, I will use a strong (possibly not organic), high protein flour.
I will use small pieces of wood which will burn quickly (rather than the large logs of gum I used this time) and make a mother of a fire in my pizza oven.
And, I will use my new hose wand to get more water/steam into my oven...
That's about it.
