Weighing dough balls

[james]

I really should know better, but I cut my 1kg Caputo dough batch (65% hydration) in six pieces by eye tonight and shaped them. I looked at it for a minute and thought to myself -- that just isn't very good. So I came back and weighed them.

239
270
297
263
325
284

1678 total.

Embarassing. I promise to weigh everything from now on. :-) That said, the Caputo Rosso is soooooo nice to work with.
James

[Wiley]

Re: Weighing dough balls

James,
I usually divide my dough by weighing the whole and then making a calculation with respect to to how many pizzas I want. I then make a quick eyeball measure cut (as in that looks like it's a third, sixth whatever) and weigh that. A quick adjustment as to whether my "eye" was heavey or light and then the next cut/divide which I find is usually much closer to what I was hoping for. By the third cut in a batch of six I find I am quite close.

What sized pizzas are you making with 270 gram balls? Must be bigger (or thicker) than the pizzas I make, I usually use a ball of 6 oz (170 grams) for a 11-12 inch pizza. For a three pizza mix I start with 10 oz of flour and a cup of water when finished with salt and yeast I end up with a mix weighing very close to 18 ozs (usually just over) and this is eventually divided into three pizza balls.

Wiley

[AnnieMacD]

Re: Weighing dough balls

James, What is the difference between the Caputo Pizzeria and the Caputo Rosso? I've taken delivery of 25 kg of the Pizzeria (blue bag) - hope I haven't made a mistake. Intended for pizzas, pasta and anything else that requires 00 flour. BTW I made great lasagne with it last week and the pizza dough seems easier to work with than the bread flour.

As for scaling dough - always! I estimate about 205 - 220 grams for 11 inch pizza. Wiley, yours must be nice and thin - do you have a picture?

Annie

[james]

Re: Weighing dough balls

Hi guys,

The Caputo "Pizzeria" flour in the 25kg blue bag is the real deal. You will love it. It's the mainstream flour used by most pizzerias. The Rosso flour is a tiny, tiny bit stronger, but very similar. The Rosso is definitely stronger than the general purpose Caputo flour in the small 1kg bag (sadly also in a blue bag) -- and I like the Rosso much better than the general purpose. It takes water better, and the dough has more structure. It is still incredibly extensible, but it is less likely to tear and the crust, crumb and taste are great.

I use the 275 gr ball for monster pizza. It's big (I need to measure) and chewy. The photo on the cover of the FB Wood-Fired Pizza eBook is 275/280 gr.

I think we should have folks post photos of pizzas, along with size and dough ball weight. That would really help beginners -- who tend to leave the cornicione too thick.

What do you think? Photos anyone?
James

[Wiley]

Re: Weighing dough balls

Digging thru my photos I find that I haven't kept up with photos of the pizzas themselves. Several are photos of people with pizza in the picture but none of the pizzas alone, as the object of the photo.

Next time I bake pizza I will make a point of taking some photos with something like a bottlecap in the photo for scale. I could try and remember a measured rule to include in the photos but bottlecaps are something always at hand and plentiful when were are having pizza :-)

I just went back and checked my recipe and it's 10 oz flour and 1 tsp yeast, 1 tsp sea salt, 1 Tbs olive oil and 1 cup water. I just weighed (taking tare etc into account) one cup weighs in at 8.2 oz. I'm new to the baking by percentages but if I understand correctly that would have this recipe at 82% hydration. Am I figuring that correctly? Other than a trial or two comparing this recipe with the one in "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" it is all I have used.

Bests,
Wiley

[pizzaziggy]

Re: Weighing dough balls

168 -188 grams...never any bigger

this one was done with escargot marinated in olive oil/garlic/shallots and parsley

[PizzaPolice]

Re: Weighing dough balls

I feel like a big ol' freak, man. I start out with 2 batches which total 24 pounds. They get balled up in 12 oz. (340 gr) balls. I have an analog scale which is pretty close. 3 abreast and 12 in a box. The skins are very thin and average about 14". The oven doesn't seem to care. They come out pretty well.

[texassourdough]

Re: Weighing dough balls

I have tested myself by weighing my dough balls and I generally do better than James' list - usually +/- 10 to 15 grams which is close enough by my standards. I will try to upload some photos also. I usually make my dough balls either around 170-180 or around 250 gms depending on whether I use all purpose or bread flour - the former are very thin and the second a bit more substantial.

And I have almost no cornicione. Or at least minimal.