Leoparding (Leopard Spotting) Pizza Discuss Leoparding (Leopard Spotting) in the Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart forums; I am looking at getting some info together about developing leoparding on the crust. Below is a quick explanation on ...

[heliman]

I am looking at getting some info together about developing leoparding on the crust. Below is a quick explanation on the term (called leopard spotting).

Word Coinage: 'leopard spotting' | Slice Pizza Blog

I am interested to hear from anyone who can suggest ways of making this happen when cooking pizza in the WFO. It definitely seems to be temperature related, but could also have to do with yeast/fermentation...

Rossco

[dsgreco]

I think you should check this page out Jeff Varasano's NY Pizza Recipe

[Dino_Pizza]

Wow, leoparding seems to be similar to the caramelization of the complex sugars I've gotten on long retarded sour dough breads? My pizza and bread worlds are colliding faster than I'd imagined. Cool -Dino

[RTflorida]

I thought that was how a pizza is supposed to look. I have stayed pretty close to the FB dough recipe (with Caputo flour) since day 1, and unless I do something stupid (like run to get another beer) while the pizza is in the oven, mine look pretty similar to the photo on the link provided. Dumb luck, I guess.

RT

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

RT

I thought that was how a pizza is supposed to look.

I think pizza's are supposed to look like whatever I take out of my oven, and as long as it tastes good they look good,,, Ok not always,, as blue cheese and hot dog pizza's arent that pretty but I love the way they taste (sorry, But I really like them) If it tastes good eat it... if it looks good, take a picture, then eat it ..
Cheers
Mark

[heliman]

Just want to pose a question here to try to narrow do this phenomenon a bit...

Has anyone created leoparding using flour that is NOT Molino Caputo?

Rossco

[wlively]

My long fermintation doughs reg or sour always look like that. I always thought it was because of a well developed sponge (millions of holes) and the "spots" tend to be on the surface of the bubble or thinner surface of dough stretched by the expanding gas bubble. I am no bread expert so may not be stating correctly, but just noting my observations.

[Stan]

Originally Posted by heliman

Just want to pose a question here to try to narrow do this phenomenon a bit...

Has anyone created leoparding using flour that is NOT Molino Caputo?

Rossco

Yes. I've got spotting with KA all purpose at 65%+ hydration, hot oven, and a good fire. I also never took my eyes off it once it was in the oven. Cooked in under 90 seconds, so it was a pretty hot oven.

Stan

[RTflorida]

Good point Stan. There is a fine line between Leopard spotting and severe char (some would call it burned). I prefer the 800-850 F range, just 5-10 seconds can make a HUGE difference, my eyes never leave the oven (learned the hard way).
As for flour, sorry to say that every pizza that has come from my WFO has been made with Caputo. Indoors in the electric oven I just use all purpose, usually only making a med-thick sheet pizza or deep dish (which is an entirely different type of dough). The 2 times I tried Caputo in the electric oven resulted in crust that just wouldn't brown. The first time I cooked it so long the crust was hard as a rock all the way through and was barely browned anywhere. Using a stone may help, but in my opinion Caputo stinks when made in a pizza pan at such a low temp (my oven only goes to 500 F).

RT

[Stan]

I will admit there's something to Caputo when it comes to browning. I've also never had Caputo brown in my electric oven at 550+, but it always spots and browns in the WFO. Anybody know the Caputo secret as to why it browns at 700+ degrees?

Stan