Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

[Pizza Man]

I use the cold method of letting the dough rise in the frig. for 24 hours. Sometimes the balls collapse in the container making a big sloppy mess. They all stick together. The balls do not keep their shape. I usually make a fairly wet dough. After I re-knead the dough, the pizza comes out fine. Why is my dough collapsing? Thanks in advance for any help.

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

How much yeast are you using?

[texassourdough]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

You need to give us more information. What flour, what % hydration, what else do you put in your flour, how is it developed, what is the temp of your refrigerator, and as Rossco asks, "How much yeast is in it? And a photo of what you mean by "collapse" would help.

Without more info it is probably too wet and underdeveloped. But wet doughs will tend to lose shape and run together. Comes with the territory. To do anything other than guess I need more info.

[Pizza Man]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

I thought it might be the yeast. I only use flour, water, salt and yeast. I use approx. 8 cups flours and the last batch I cut back to 1 1/2 teaspoons of yeast and it was better...still a little spongy and flat.

[texassourdough]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

If you don't weigh things you will be hard pressed to be repeatable. You can get away with it on pizza (to some extent) but not with bread. And if you aren't weighing you are hard pressed to know the hydration and that is important to your problem. Even if you were using too much yeast and your dough balls are tripling in size, if they were well developed and moderate hydration they would tend to hold their form and not collapse. There is more than yeast that is driving your problem.

You haven't told me anything that suggests you problem isn't too wet and/or underdeveloped or that you are simply trying to get a wet dough to do something it can't do - and that is defy gravity.

[lwood]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

Hydration %? Sounds like high hydration and too much yeast.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

If you use a wet dough, your best bet is individual containers for each ball. That solved my problems completely.

[Pizza Man]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

O.K., let me be more precise. I start with 6 cups 00 caputo flour in the kitchen aid mixer. I add 3 cups cold water with 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast and 1 teaspoon salt. I mix with paddle and change to dough hook. I add between 1 cup and 2 cups additional flour, just enough to have dough form a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl. I mix for 10 minutes, divide into 8oz. balls and place in frig. for approx. 24 hours.

[dmun]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

I think you're using too much yeast. Here's FB's volumetric recipe:

4 cups Molino Caputo Tipo 00 flour
1 ? cups, plus 2 TBL water
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry active yeast

I also vote for round plastic containers for cold retardation. The pizza shops that are using dough balls in trays are usually using much lower hydration than we do. And you certainly don't want to be re-kneeding dough before stretching it out.

I don't use a mixer, but I'm thinking 10 minutes of mixing is excessive if you're refrigerating overnight.

Just a few thoughts.

[Pizza Man]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

Thanks everyone... I appreciate your help. I will cut back to 1 teaspoon and see what that does.

[lwood]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

Lower hydration also. At first the lower hydration is a lot easier to deal with. Try adding only enough water to incorporate all the flour and the dough ball pulls away from the side of the bowl. The dough should not be sticky to the touch, only mix long enough to get the dough ball smooth and silky. With the reduced yeast and lower hydration, you should get a dough ball barely rises at all in the ref.

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

Start with 1/2 the amount of yeast you are currently using at present and see how that goes.

After eating at Da Michele in Naples a few months ago, one thing that struck me was the minimal amount of "puffing" in the crust, yet the pizza was still very light and tasty. I have since tried to model my pizzas on the Da Michele style and now do a biga starter with a very small amount of yeast and don't add any to the main batch the following day. Results have been really good and this has become my preferred pizza making process for consistently good results.

[C5dad]

Re: Pizza Balls collapsing in container after 24 hour rise.

I chickened out and made my dough a 60% hydration - stiff enough to work with, but not so sloppy to lose the lot. Dough looked good this am (made last night).

The dough came out excellent - window paned beautifully and was nice to work with. And bout oh boy did it get bubbly I noticed that the dough with the olive oil cooked better than the non-olive oil as well.

However, I will do a 65% hydration next time as it would make it somewhat looser.