keeping the dough :(

[texman]

Re: keeping the dough

JMS

Thanks for the video. Makes a lot more sense now. Been using the pin.

Tex

[Tscarborough]

Re: keeping the dough

You can use a rolling pin, but there is a method to that as well. When rolling never "pinch" the edge of the dough. Roll from the middle out, but never quite reach the edge, rotating the dough as you go. A straight edge drinking glass actually works better since the length is about right.

[lhs]

Re: keeping the dough

It's about 35C outdoors where I live too and I found that the dough balls do best if you leave them out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes and not much more than an hour. (That is, make the dough and let it rise, then form it into balls and store them in the fridge.) When I've left them out an hour and a half or 2 hours, they get a little too soft to work properly and tend to stick to the peel more. I take the dough balls out a few at a time when I'm going to be cooking over a period of time. You're not supposed to re-knead the balls but I'm a newbie so one of the veterans could respond better on that point.

[Tscarborough]

Re: keeping the dough

You can also leave the dough balls in the fridge until you use them. If all else is good, they will stretch out just as easily, or more easily than room temp ones.

[lhs]

Re: keeping the dough

Tried an experiment tonight - used some dough balls that had over-proofed in the fridge (about a week I think). I took them out, removed and discarded any hard crust (a few had gotten a little hard on top), kneaded the dough, made them into balls again, and left them out for a few minutes. They seemed soft so I put them back in the fridge. Worked great! Dough had a lot of flavor and edges puffed up well in the oven.

Maybe my dough is different or my technique isn't as good, but my fresh dough doesn't stretch out as well straight from the fridge. This old dough did, though.

Not all of my experiments work, in my opinion, but my tasters claim they haven't had a bad pizza yet!

[tusr18a]

Re: keeping the dough

To avoid the skin build-up, put the dough balls in disposable glad containers. You could also just cover the dough balls with plastic wrap. After five days, your dough has had a chance to ferment, which is what is providing the great taste. I always prepare my dough three days before I will use it. I will let it sit in the frig for three days so it will develop the taste that you are talking about.

If your dough was in the refrigerator for the five days, my guess is that technically your dough did not over proof. In order for that to happen , the yeast has to be active. Unless you refrigerator is warm, the yeast probably was dormant for the five days. If you we're to let the dough rest for several hours outside of the refrigerator, then there is a chance that the dough will over proof. If that happens, then knock the dough ball down and reball it.

If you decide to reball the dough, you will want to let it rest for at least 20 minutes. It takes at least that long for the gluten to relax. Letting it rest for an hour or more is even better.

[Xene]

Re: keeping the dough

There are as many scientific theories about bread dough as there are recipes to make it. Experience is the best teacher. I use cold dough, I like my dough to have a chance to rise twice, once outside the fridge at room temp and the second in the fridge. I roll my dough into balls (about the size of a grapefruit) while they are cold and spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray (Pam) I have a shallow bowl with olive oil in it that I roll each dough ball in before I set it on the cookie sheet, this way the balls can touch each other and I can get 12-16 on each pan. I have lids for this pans that I purchased at the restaurant supply and I snap them on. When I am having a big party I leave one slot in the pan empty and I fill a plastic bag with ice cubes and set it in there with the dough balls to cool down the atmosphere in the pan and keep the sequential pans of dough from rising as fast. The pans stack, so I keep those under the pan I use first and they stay cooler.

The oil keeps them from forming a skin and the lid keeps out flying pests. I can easily grab the balls as I need them because they don't stick together. At the end of the night if I have dough balls left I simply reform them into balls and slide them into the freezer. As soon as they are frozen I snap them apart and put them in a Ziplock. After a while I have built up a full batch and I simply thaw them out and make pizza with them. I haven't noticed any difference in using the frozen dough versus the unfrozen. Punching down dough is perfectly acceptable, the yeast simply works harder each time. You can run the risk of depleting the sugars in the dough (which feed the yeast) if you repeatedly punch dough down, but that is rather unlikely.

Dough does need to rest at least 20 minutes before it can stretch. The first few pizzas typically require more effort. I pull a couple at a time as large as I can get them and let them rest before I finish getting them to size. After the first 2-3, at least 20 minutes as passed since I first formed them so they just get easier from there. I like to use cold dough for this reason, so that I have a little more time to form all the dough balls and get out to the oven and start making pizza, I feel less rushed this way.