Dough Too Tough To Shape

[marcuscarey]

I followed the exact instructions on this forum and on others about how to make dough using Caputo 00 flour, hydrating, mixing, timing every thing to a 'T'. Just couldn't get the dough to be pliable enough yet strong enough to match what I was seeing as others worked it into a pizza round.

Do I need to shape the dough while it is still "fluffy" or how do I get it to mold into the round?

Also, I'm trying for a thinner crust in a 10-12 inch pizza when finished. How much should my dough ball weigh for this size pizza?

Just getting started and need your help. Thanks.

[deejayoh]

Re: Dough Too Tough To Shape

It would help if you tell us what your kneading/proofing methodology is. How do you knead? How long do you bulk proof? Are you warm or cold proofing?

Whenever I have problems, it's generally a proofing issue.

Lots of good videos on youtube about shaping dough. this one is my favorite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbkfDqA8yKg

I find a good weight for a 12 inch pizza is about 250g/9oz.

[marcuscarey]

Re: Dough Too Tough To Shape

Making traditional Napolitano pie. Caputo 00 flour, salt, yeast and water all measured by weight strictly by Caputo's instructions.

Mixing with dough hook in Kitchen Aid stand mixer at speeds and time in Caputo instructions.

Let rise in lightly oiled bowl under moist towel cover for 2 hours.

Remove, punch down, cut and shape into balls (appx 250 g each) folding each under over and over until smooth.

Place in plastic tub with lid, into refrigerator overnight.

Remove next day, let stand at room temp in tub with lid for hour or so, then onto floured surface, begin pressing out.

And that's where the rubbery, uncooperative relationship with my dough begins.

[deejayoh]

Re: Dough Too Tough To Shape

You might try a much longer bulk rise. I mean like 12-18 hours at a controlled temp, or more than 24 hours refrigerated. Balled rise should be shorter.

There is a good thread on proofing times on the pizzamaking.com forum that might be helpful
Fermentation Time/Temp vs. Proofing Time/Temp

IF you're not a member there, I'd recommend joining. There's more expertise there than on this forum w/r/t dough.

[Wozza]

Re: Dough Too Tough To Shape

I did my first pizzas with the 00 flour last weekend. Still a long way to go before the wfo is built so I thought I'd give it a go on a pizza stone in the Barbie.

Used the exact measurements as per the first post in this section (well, all divided by 2 as I was home alone at the time).

Some of the luke warm water I put in a cup with a level teaspoon of dried yeast and a 1/2 teaspoon sugar. After about 10 minutes it was nice and frothy so flour into large bowl, large pinch of salt, the yeast and remainder of the water.

I stirred it all with a fork until the water had been taken up by the flour, then let it sit there for 15 mins. Then I kneaded it for about 10 - 15 minutes on a lightly floured surface until it was pretty smooth and silky. Very little stuck to my fingers during this process and it was still just a little sticky at the end but not so much that it was sticking to my hands.

Then into a floured bowl and, as the weather was pretty cool last week, I covered it with a tea towel and out it into the bottom of the oven which I had turned on low for 3 or 4 minutes just to get the temp up to warm.

Two hours later and it had doubled in size. Tipped the dough out onto the work surface, cut into 2 and rolled each half into a ball. Tried to 'roll' one side around to the other to get some surface tension on the 'top' of the ball. Put each into an individual floured plastic container with a loose fitting lid and let sit in ambient temp for a couple of hours.

They had risen again, about 50% I?d say and were very light and almost fluffy. I sprinkled semolina onto the work surface and tipped the dough out. The semolina really worked well to stop it sticking. Flattened the dough ball and using my fingers, pressed down around dough from middle to edge and flattened it out to about twice the diameter. I crinkled the edges all round to get a nice cornicione. After a little more pressing and turning I tried lifting it up and slapping it from side to side onto my arms as I?d seen on videos. Ye Gods and little fishes, it worked first time. Amazed. A dozen or so flops from one side to the other and it was done.

Managed to slide it onto a non-stick pizza pan ? I was just using this to transfer it to the bbq, and added some tomato sauce (it was some Italian make out of a bottle ? can?t recall the name) and some chunks of mozzarella and a few basil leaves plus a few slivers of anchovy. I had had the bbq on full for the last 15 minutes so I slipped the pizza onto the stone, closed the bbq down and waited. Now my store bought pizza bases take something like 15 minutes at a mixture of medium and high in the same barbie but this one was looking good at 1 minute. The base, which was quite thin, was just about done although the top was decidedly underdone.

I gave it another 30 seconds then it was back into the pizza tin and under a very hot grille for about 30 seconds or so, keeping a very close eye on it.

Job done. Tasted great. Edges were nice and chewy and the base was close to being crisp but you could fold it without it breaking. Just the way I liked it.

I tried the second whilst I was eating the first (plus sculling some half decent red) and made it a little thicker. Because of that it didn?t turn out so well. Just not enough heat to cook all the way through so the texture wasn?t as good. I guess I?ll have to experiment with the weight of the dough balls versus the size of the pizza to get the right thickness each time.

[Greenman]

Re: Dough Too Tough To Shape

Sounds like you are on a winner Wazza. It is all about finding what works for you and then tweaking it a little until you have exactly what you want.

One tip, only tweak one thing at a time or you will never know what it was that made it better or worse. I spent 18 months getting to where I am very happy with the dough and can consistently produce the same quality.

You sound pretty happy with where you are at.