Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

[wayno1]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Has anyone tried extending the cold ferment (using Caputo Flour) more than one day? And cooking in the WFO.

I am accustomed to extending 3 or 4 days (bottom shelf of fridge) with my regular Sir Lancelot high gluten flour to develop max flavor in the crust. It really does make a huge difference. You do have to reduce the amount of yeast for these longer cold proofs. I use the Sir Lancelot for baking in my regular oven (550 degrees).

[echopark]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

I use a natural levain, too. Like tomtom, I got it from someone via a pizza & bread making class. The quality and flavor of the bread & pizza I've made with this far surpass anything that I've ever made with yeast. I highly recommend it.

One of the coolest things about a natural levain is that regardless where it originally came from, eventually, as you use and feed your levain, the yeasts that colonize your levain will be the local cultures found in your region making your bread locally unique!

[tomtom]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Just made pizza earlier in the week with a wild starter for the first time. I got the starter from a friend who uses it for bread baking. Wild starters are essentially sourdough cultures. She made hers (or captured the naturally occuring yeast) in her kitchen. Pizza turned out good. Had a slight sourdoughish taste to it. You can buy reliable good cultures, which I will do at some point. Im sure someone here can tell you a good one to buy.
Tom



LEVAIN: A French term for a natural preferment that is essentially synonymous (in the U.S.) with sourdough. It is a culture of a naturally-occurring (wild) yeast and bacteria that can leaven and flavor a bread or pizza crust. It is refreshed periodically by replacement of a part of the culture by new flour and water, and a portion of the refreshed culture is allowed to ferment and mature (ripen) before incorporating into the final dough. The remainder of the culture is used to begin the next batch of dough. A levain, or "sourdough," can be perpetuated for many years, even centuries for certain highly-stable strains.

[DimTex]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Wild yeast starters? What are they, where do you find them?

[dmun]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

10 per 500, 20 per 1000

[maurilein]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Hello,

on this dough recipe, tyou are using 10 g salt.
On the pdf is nearly the same recipe, but with 20 g Salt.

Which introduction is correct ?

[Puy de Dome]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

I did a search through those threads but didn't find anything useful (to me).

Anyone else have a link to Dave's pizza making vids, please?

[egalecki]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Or maybe not. This is the right thread, I think. I don't have time to look for it now- but you should be able to find it with this info!

[egalecki]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...ough-3332.html

I think this is the one.

[Puy de Dome]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Even a rectangle would be great!

Now, have you or anyone a link to a vid I could watch?

Should this description of shaping the base be achieveable using this 'Perfect Pizza' recipe?

I really need to crack this because I'm having a Grand Opening of the oven on 20th June, with about 20 folks arriving for lunch. Am I crazy? Don't answer that.

[egalecki]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

hmph. I don't think pizza HAS to be circular. Mine certainly aren't!

Seriously, though, Dave has a video somewhere that shows pretty clearly how to get good results. For me, going skin-side-down on a lightly floured surface, making a little rim around the edge (sort of poke your fingers down and pull toward the center, not the edge), and then pick it up and drape it over your fingers with your hands facing each other. Stretch gently (this is where the caputo really shines, it just sort of melts into shape!) until it's the right thickness, and put it down again. I don't throw mine- I'd end up scraping it off the ceiling.

[Puy de Dome]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Ok, thanks.

Now I just have to find out how to make a proper pizza base! All mine are weird stodgy-looking things, miss-shapen, and tears and holes in them. Not even approaching being circular.

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

I use the SAF instant yeast...specifically says to add directly to flour, I love it and it is cheap if you get it here:
SAF Red Instant Yeast - 16 oz.

16 oz! that is a lot of yeast!

Drake

[james]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Agreed.

I don't think proofing ADY in warm water adds anything useful -- it just takes more time and effort, and makes more dishes to clean. :-)

James

[BrianShaw]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

This dry yeast, I would normally expect to dissolve it in water...

This is a bit of a confusing situation at times. Many recipes and some rather knowledgable cookbooks/websites still say that ADY should be proofed in water before adding to the flour. I even think some of the directions on the package still state this method. Proofing in water is really archaic advise. I haven't done that for decades, nor do I know anyone who still does... except when using really old yeast that I have lost confidence in.

Interesting (hopefully) addtional note.

Red Star recognizes the option: "For traditional baking, Red Star? Active Dry Yeast may be hydrated in 110?-115?F liquids or mixed with other dry ingredients if liquids are warmed to 120? to 130?F."

Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast
"The original dry yeast product was introduced in 1943. This product works best when dissolved in water prior to mixing. "