hm....to tell the truth I have never checked the temp of my starter or my oven with/without the light or my bread dough or the starter as I was getting it going ! My house is 68 all winter and then in the Summer we keep the thermostat on 78. Whatever time of year it is all seems to do just fine. I have never made an exception for my bread dough other than to place it in the oven with the door propped open with an oven mitt. That is how it is today with the dough I am currently making. It has to rest at "room " temp for 3 hrs...with stretch and folds every 30 min for the first 2 hrs and then leave it alone for one hour. Then shape and let rise one hour at room temp then retard overnight and bake direct from fridge in 500 degree pre-heated pots tomorrow. I just checked my oven temp with the light on and it is 73. That is where I do my apple yeast water and my starter after I feed it and that is where my first and only , current , stater got going. One of the things they caution is not to over feed your starter...as in until it doubles don't feed again. I followed the method I linked 4 yrs ago and didn't have a problem. I know others on the Fresh Loaf have had to try about 3-4 times to get one going. I used rye flour from my local health food store and bottled water ( that is important when getting it started) and King Arthur white AP flour. It could be that is the problem with your first starter is over feeding. As to the second starter I wouldn't worry at all about "bad" stuff growing at this point. The tiny bubbles and concept of "bad" are not a problem at this point. Simply carry on and move it to a slightly cooler place and feed/discard and definitely stir well and give it air via a loose cover. It should be fine. As to the other one after 6 days if it has bubbles and has a fine odor I sure wouldn't discard it either. I would take out half and feed it and leave it where it is about 75 for 24 hrs and see what is what. As to apple yeast water just chop up 100g of apple and put it in the quart jar with 2/3 full filtered water...it does love the 80's so use your oven with light. Stir very well every couple hours all during the day for 3 days - 4 days. It is ready to rise bread. The apples will always float and the water will be VERY fizzy ! You can hear it ! It does need a lot of attn and warmth the first 3-4 days and then it is completely care free and can be in the fridge for weeks at a time and not used. Once you get your other starter going....and I do urge you to go to TFL and read some of the discussions on getting a starter going...I will tell you how to store it when not in use for lengths of time...when I am gone on a bicycle tour I leave mine unattended in the fridge for months. Keep us posted. c http://www.thefreshloaf.com/search/node/debra%20wink%20starting%20a%20sour%20dough%20starter read the first two articles by Debra Wink...linked above and then the link below...you will know more than I do when done :) Debra's way always works !! c Here is a link that might be useful: TFL...link to a lot of discussions

Yes, I did. I believe the article said they tried mozzarella for that part and it didn't work well, but I can't remember why. Save the mozzarella for topping the pizza. Something's wrong with Houzz again and I can't post a reply to carol below. But it's letting me edit this post. \ Yes, a wall of cheese with the Jack, pressing it up the side. It cooks down, but that's what makes the crispy edge to the pizza.

Looks like I forgot to post my pizza dough recipe. This recipe is specifically for an Ooni pizza oven, which will get to 950°F. The dough is 67% hydration (I think), which is quite wet, but this is necessary for this type of pizza. I mix the dough in a plastic mixing bowl, and so it does not stick, but it might stick to a glass bowl. To get the precise hydration, ingredients should be weighed. Ooni Neapolitan Pizza two 11-12 inch diameter pizzas 240 ml warm water (67% hydration) 3-1/2 grams IDY (Instant dry yeast) 7 grams VWG (Vital Wheat Gluten, or dough enhancer, or flour) 3-1/2 grams olive oil (can omit if baking at over 800°) 350 grams bread flour (can use AP or 00) 6-1/2 grams salt Semolina flour, for peel Toppings: Olive oil Marinara sauce (should be thick, not watery, and applied very sparingly) Mozzarella (1/4 pound for two 12” pizzas) Fresh basil leaves (Note: Neapolitan pizza does not have to have oil in it and must not have sugar.) In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast into water and add VWG, stirring to combine. Substitute flour if you do not have VWG. Add 2/3 of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir. Add the rest of the flour plus the salt and continue stirring, or mix with your hand. Remove dough from the bowl and knead on a board or counter top with no flour, as you will want to keep the hydration high. Dough will be sticky – use a dough scraper. Form into a ball. Put dough in an ungreased bowl, cover, and allow to rest for 30 minutes for flour to hydrate. Knead dough again and allow to rise for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until doubled in size. Divide the dough in half and form into balls (keep one ball covered). Stretch/press one ball into an 11” to 12” circle with hands and fingers – do not use rolling pin. Edges will remain thicker than the center. Flour the board to do this, but keep the flour on the bottom of the crust – do not turn the dough over – top should remain sticky. Crust should slide easily on the working surface that has been floured. Dust peel with semolina flour and place dough on peel with no edges lapping over. Add toppings, minimally, so that pizza will not be too heavy and therefore unwieldy. Make sure that the crust slides easily – if not, add more semolina to the peel. Preheat Ooni oven on high for 30 minutes, to heat the stone. Check temperature of stone with an infrared thermometer – it should be at least 750° - 825° in the center, and above 900° at the back. Turn heat down to medium, and insert pizza. Turn at 15 seconds using a pizza turner and then continue to rotate with pizza spinners every 10 seconds. Check bottom of pizza with turner or peel for doneness after one minute. It might take as much as two minutes to finish cooking. Remove first pizza and serve. In the meantime, check the heat on the stone and raise the heat in the oven to reheat the stone (if necessary) and prepare the second pizza. The second pizza can stay on the peel or on a board while you are eating the first one. Note: We bought a wooden peel for launching the pizza onto the stone, and this works much better than the metal peel, We use the metal peel to remove the pizza. It is necessary, I think, to have both types of peels, and spinners are also necessary, although you can get away with not having a special turner, although it helps. I got the pizza off this time, but this does not always happen so easily with the metal peel.

Things are in a tumble here, and there's still no bread. My second individual pizza was more traditional in flavor: leftover homemade spaghetti sauce (ragout), which isn't the best pizza sauce because it kind of takes over, parm, prosciutto, a huge handful of wild arugula and fresh mozz. The trace of cinnamon flavor and overall tastiness of the crust went surprisingly well. The pecans disappear. I've been tempted to bake off a piece of the dough and try it just with butter... :) Annie, the spring onion and 2” slicing tomato are the rare things in yesterday's adventure. We're always looking for good ways to use the last of the charoset. Replicating that would be easy. Chop a couple of pecans and a big slice of apple together with a lot of cinnamon, and soak in a cup of concord grape wine. Et voilá. And while perhaps less perfect, scallions and cherry tomatoes might be pressed into service. :)