Dough dough...

[mn8tr]

We have been cooking nearly every weekend for the past 2 years and having a ball. When it comes to pizza dough I have experimented along the way but I am still not satisfied with the crust. It tends to not crisp or brown on the bottom before the top of the pie is done in spite of a 600+ deck. I have also struggled with the elasticity. Started with 2.2 bag of caputo flour, 2 1/2 tsp yeast, 1tbs sugar and 1 tbs salt. proofing yeast with sugar and 1 c. water then adding 1 1/2 c. water

Lately I have moved to 1 part caputo to .5 part semolina with additonal water and all else unchanged. Browns up better but still not the neopolitan airy crust that is desired.

Any suggestions??

[SCChris]

Re: Dough dough...

I like my floor about 725-750, some go significantly hotter. Give it a try..

Chris

[deejayoh]

Re: Dough dough...

hard to say just based on the proportions - but you have 1000 grams of flour and roughly 560 grams of water. With pizza dough, I think you can go to higher hydrations -
I usually go with about 70%. I think with higher hydration, you will get more bubbles in the crust.

Also - how are you proofing?

You might also want your deck a little hotter. Between 650 and 700 seems to work best for me.

[sclancy]

Re: Dough dough...

Why not just use the FB dough recipe? And give some serious thought to trying the simplicity of Tscar's "no-knead" dough - it relies on just a bit of kneading followed by a cold retard to build gluten. With the FB recipe (not Scar's recipe), it produced a very silky, almost slack dough that was very easy to get super thin with just a hint of snapping back. It cooked up with nice structure in the crust, a bit of chewiness and plenty of crispness... I plan for these two pieces to be my stand by as I begin to play around with recipes and dough handling techniques....(it will be nice to know that I can at any time easily do a great dough this way).

[vernonator]

Re: Dough dough...

Why not just use the FB dough recipe? And give some serious thought to trying the simplicity of Tscar's "no-knead" dough - it relies on just a bit of kneading followed by a cold retard to build gluten. With the FB recipe (not Scar's recipe), it produced a very silky, almost slack dough that was very easy to get super thin with just a hint of snapping back. It cooked up with nice structure in the crust, a bit of chewiness and plenty of crispness... I plan for these two pieces to be my stand by as I begin to play around with recipes and dough handling techniques....(it will be nice to know that I can at any time easily do a great dough this way).

Just getting my oven set up, is there a link to the FB dough recepie?

[sclancy]

Re: Dough dough...

Vern, you have some reading to do on this site.....there is a ton to absorb and learn...the more you read the more overwhelming it is likely to be.

Recognizing that this is still very much a learning experience for me, I would humbly suggest starting with the FB recipe below and Tscar's method (watch his video) which I have summarized and changed up just a bit. Tscar uses AP flour with his method. I used 00 with the FB recipe and found that it worked very well.

http://www.fornobravo.com/PDF/Using-caputo-tipo00.pdf

Hopefully Tscar wont be upset at my version of his no-knead recipe -

I toss all dry ingredients into the KA with dough hook.
gradually add room temp water. Speed 1 or 2. No need to scrape the sides.
Dough pulls away from the sides and bottom in 3 mins max and "balls" up
dough temp will be low 70s
Set aside in bowl to autolyze for 20 mins.
Dump on floured work surface
Stretch and Fold 4-6 times ( 1min of kneading?)
form ball drop into lightly oiled bowl.
cover with towel on counter, rise for 1 hr or more
should get at least 50% rise
dump on floured work surface
Portion into 3 or 4 balls
Knead each for 2 mins ( I fold and roll with palm of my hand)
form and stretch into balls, place into lightly oiled containers/dough tray, cover and refrigerate for 2-4 days. in 2 days you will get another 50% rise and the balls will hold their shape. days 3-4 the dough will go very slack and turn into a large pancake (if in a dough tray).

**I have not experimented yet with freezing this dough - I think that you need to refrigerate for at least 24-36hrs before freezing to allow for the cold retard - develop gluten and allow for further rise. But I suspect that if you pull from freezer and refrigerate for 1-2 days before use you might get the cold retard on the backend. I have a batch that I did the fridge cold retard for 36hrs and then froze. I hope to pull it out and fire the oven tomorrow. I ll defrost 1/2 in the fridge overnight and 1/2 on the counter day of cooking and see what happens.

[sclancy]

Re: Dough dough...

Quick update - I froze some of the "no knead" dough. defrosted in the fridge over night. It was not as good as the dough that had only been refrigerated but it was still easy to work with and produced a good crust.

On friday I took the FB recipe and the no knead recipe and tweaked it again for our pizza party omn Sunday. I went 50/50 on the flour using Caputo 00 and KA AP. I did a 2hr rise on the counter. I handkneaded for an additional 2 mins after portioning/balling knowing that I was only going to have a 24hr retard. I pulled the dough the next day about 2 hrs before cooking. Again it was almost perfect. Really easy to work (my roundest pizzas yet) with and just enough spring. I only tore one after about 12 pizzas. I was easily able to knock out about 20 pizzas (forming, topping and cooking) by mysef as guests watched.

[adm]

Re: Dough dough...

I don't know about you guys, but I find that using a Sourdough starter (around 20%) works really well for super tasting dough. I go about 60-65% hydration, Caputo "00", 2% salt.

Last batch I made had a 3 day ferment of the dough balls in the fridge. I think that was a bit too far as the dough was almost too soft. Maybe 2 days would be optimum.


Crispy duck with Hoisin Sauce

Sadly, I have to confess this was not WFO pizza as I am still only in the planning stages. This was on the Weber Charcoal Pizza Grill accessory which I have been having great results with.

[deejayoh]

Re: Dough dough...

well, that is a fine looking pizza from a weber. I think I might like that recipe!

[adm]

Re: Dough dough...

well, that is a fine looking pizza from a weber. I think I might like that recipe!

Maybe not to typical US tastes, but this is black pudding and smoked pork belly:



Very tasty....

happy Memorial Day!

[Gulf]

Re: Dough dough...

Maybe not to typical US tastes, but this is black pudding and smoked pork belly:

Very tasty....

happy Memorial Day!

That is probably true for most of the US, but not all .
Boudin Rouge (red boudin) .

[Laurentius]

Re: Dough dough...

Maybe not to typical US tastes, but this is black pudding and smoked pork belly:



Very tasty....

happy Memorial Day!

Nor, Italian! If its good to you, your friends and family, keep them coming, and grab a beer or ale, maybe just a glass of water and party on!