Deadline?

@millions, that is a beauty, and thanks for the shout-out! What dough formula are you using?

@Adam, wanna give up a bit more info about that sauce??

@Meat Guy, thanks for explaining what I've been tasting! Definitely hate using real silver. I can taste the aluminum in cans, but I think I must be used to it, because I don't mind it. As for the steel, before I cleaned the mill scale off of my first DIY steel, the metallic flavor (and smell!) was almost overwhelming. After I cleaned it, though, not so much. And I've not tasted it much from by real Baking Steel.

@millions, okay, here goes (and thanks for being so patient!). Begin by taking a sheet of "heavy" aluminum foil and fold it in half. Take a paper towel and fold it in quarters. Place the folded paper towel in the center of the folded aluminum foil and trim the foil so that it is about an inch and a half larger than the towel on all sides (don't cut the folded edge of the foil, though, because you want it to stay connected). Place a wooden dowel (I use the handle of a wooden spoon) in the center of the towel and roll the whole shebang around the dowel. You should now have a tube that is covered in foil, with a towel core. Slide the dowel out from the tube, cinch one end of the foil tube closed and leave one end open. Fill the tube with tap water, and dump out the water. The towel will now be soaked. Make sure that the center of your tube is still hollow by slipping the dowel in and then out again. Freeze your foil tube solid, until ready to use.

This is how I use the tube to bake my pizza. I preheat the oven as hot as it will go. This takes about 45 minutes. After the oven is fully preheated, I place the frozen foil tube over the protruding thermostat probe at the top left of my oven (I use an oven mitt). I wait about 5 minutes (never more than 7, though, or my oven gets too hot and the pizza bottom burns before the top cooks) then turn on the broiler. As soon as the broiler is on, I top the pizza and bake. My bake time is about 80 to 100 seconds. Your times and temperatures may vary based on your oven and baking surface (stone or steel).

Whatever you do, make sure to remove the foil tube from the thermostat probe as soon as you are finished baking (and definitely use an oven mitt!). Then just let it cool, refill with water as before, refreeze, and it'll be ready to use the next time. You can also make multiples for use when making a lot of pizzas.

A lot of this is difficult to explain, and I wish I could have provided a visual guide! Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can clarify any of the steps. Also, let me know how it goes!

@DT, please see my response at comment #7. If this doesn't provide an adequate response, let me know!

@millions, I'll give you a better description in a bit…

@derricktung I haven't tried it with 00 mostly because I'm very happy w/ my results using KABF. I haven't been able to find a reliable source for 00 where I live — the bags I've bought have been very inconsistent. If using 00, though, you might want to try a bit less water. If you try it, please let me know how you like it and what works for you.

@Adam, a bit of further testing on my part, and I have to say that using all-starter (as I suggested could be done in the head-note) is inferior to the mix of IDY preferment and starter that is actually in the recipe. Let me know how you like the results; I'm curious to hear how it works with your non-broiler setup.

@vijay_tv I'm thrilled to hear it worked so well for you! I hope to see some pictures on My Pie Monday sometime soon. I've not tried the recipe with 00 flour but would love to hear about your results if you do. Happy holidays!

You can if you want, but I don't reccomend it. Because if you do, you'll also have to proportionally reduce the amount of yeast, and it's really difficult to measure less than 1/8th of a teaspoon (or less than .6 grams for that matter).

@Tim, They are indeed 250 g, about 12 inches in diameter. The dough open well when stretching. In lieu of starter, you can use just use all preferment (51 g of it). Using all preferment works very well for texture & color, but flavor suffers a bit.

The formula has been posted.

@Imwalkin, you know me too well. Of course there was aleppo!
@Tim Nguyen, I finally wrote out my method today for someone. Should I just post it over on Talk for all to see?

Adam and @imwalkin, I do use the broiler and the frozen towel on the thermostat thingy, but my method has changed since switching to steel. I now preheat to 550 for about 30 min to 1 hr (I've noticed it doesn't make as much of a difference with the steel). The steel is on the second to LOWEST rack. For some reason, I do not get the right kind of heat when it is closer to the broiler element. I get spotty, intense, and uneven heat from the broiler when it's closer than that. I put the frozen towel thing on the thermostat for five minutes, after five minutes I switch to broiler heat, dress the pizza and wingo! 2:00ish minute bake.