Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

[Ken524]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Thanks for all the great advice! I now have a good idea which direction I need to go. Sounds like if I up the hydration a smidge and refridge the balls overnight I should be in good shape.

[james]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

I agree with both of those. And avoid the oil on the dough ball -- it seems to sink in and make the skin of the ball tough.

Let us know how it goes.
James

[Ken524]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

And avoid the oil on the dough ball -- it seems to sink in and make the skin of the ball tough.

I concur with that. When we were making pizza's the other night, my Mom was forming her dough and commented "Which side should be up? The side with the skin or the soft side". So there you go!

Just to be clear, it's OK to mix a couple of Tbls of EVOO into the dough, right?

[Ed_]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Just to be clear, it's OK to mix a couple of Tbls of EVOO into the dough, right?

I've had good luck with a bit of oil in the dough, although I agree about not coating the ball. Of course my experience thus far is in the kitchen oven, so take it with a grain or two of salt.

Ed

[dmun]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Oil in the dough promotes browning, you may not need it in the wood fired oven. I agree with oiling the ball. With a properly sized plastic container dough balls don't skin up.

[james]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

I really depends on the flour you are using. If you are going to the effort of using Caputo flour, definitely do not use olive oil. I can't tell you how many times pro's and restaurant owners have told me that. You don't need oil for the flavor when you use Caputo flour, and it can get in the way of making an extensible dough -- so that it is actually a negative.

James

[james]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

With a properly sized plastic container dough balls don't skin up.

That's right. If you do get is little skin, flip your dough ball over and use the soft underside and the pizza top.
James

[Ken524]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Alrighty! We just finished cleaning up from our big pizza birthday party. We had 10 adults and 10 kids, so it was a really nice size crowd.

Yesterday we made 5 batches of dough with the Caputo. The only change I made from the FB recipe was using 10gr of salt instead of 20gr. After the initial rise we made 24 pizza balls, placed them in large Rubbermaid containers, sifted a bit of flour on top and put them in the fridge.

This afternoon the dough was as soft as silk. Really amazing. It handled 100% better than the last batch that had olive oil on them. I was able to make larger pies with less dough.

Of course, everyone raved about the pizza. Everyone made their own. I had to keep reminding everyone "Less toppings!". The teenagers showed little restraint, they showed up at the oven with pies heaped high with toppings. I just popped them in near the entrance of the oven where the floor was cooler. Without the oil, the Caputo handled the long cooking times extremely well. So all turned out fine.

Time for a beer.

One more quick question: How do you keep the dough balls from sticking together in the Tupperware? The first few balls came out fine, but as things warmed up outside, they started sticking together. Sift more flour on them before refrigerating?

[gjbingham]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Spray oil!

[Ken524]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Spray oil!

Yeah, but we're not supposed to spray oil on the dough balls while they are proofing. Make them tough and hard to shape.

Any other ideas? Do the balls need to be placed far enough apart so they don't touch?

[james]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

If you spray the bottom of your proofing container (whatever that is), and then make sure your container is airtight -- you're there.

You can easily remove the dough ball when you need it, and the airtight container keeps the dough from developing a skin -- and you avoid the oil that makes the ball tougher and resistent to stretching.

I'm getting on a proofing container kick.

James

[Ken524]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

If you spray the bottom of your proofing container (whatever that is), and then make sure your container is airtight -- you're there.

You can easily remove the dough ball when you need it, and the airtight container keeps the dough from developing a skin -- and you avoid the oil that makes the ball tougher and resistent to stretching.

James,

The plastic containers I have are darn near non-stick (so I don't need to oil the bottom of the container). The problem I had was the dough balls rose in the fridge and "grew" together. How do I keep them from sticking to one another?

[Dutchoven]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Guys,
How curious! We have found just the opposite. We don't spray the bottom of the container, so as to keep the dough from sagging outward in the container. When they stick a bit to the bottom they seem to go up more. We spray the tops and sides, so as not to have them stick together as much. (knocking on wood) We have had no problems with the dough getting a skin or being tough and hard to stretch. We are using the dough trays that are used in most pizzerias, you know the hard plastic stackable ones. They fit in our extra fridge(just barely) and will go into use in the commercial capacity I suppose they were designed for when we open the pizzeria.
All the best!
Dutch

If you spray the bottom of your proofing container (whatever that is), and then make sure your container is airtight -- you're there.

You can easily remove the dough ball when you need it, and the airtight container keeps the dough from developing a skin -- and you avoid the oil that makes the ball tougher and resistent to stretching.

I'm getting on a proofing container kick.

James

[james]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

Very funny. We need a controlled experiment. Spray top only, bottom only or both. :-) I have found it easy to separate the dough balls that might grown together using a dough cutter. Indispensable.

I guess either way, spray is a lot lighter than olive oil and won't impact the dough as much.
James

[Acoma]

Re: Perfect Pizza Dough by Weight

When I use the containers for my balls, and planning to refrigerate for 1-3 days, I spray oil to the interior. the ball maintains shape, and with ease, removes from the container once needed. The skin is soft, even with a small pierced hole in the lid for pressure balancing.

I did remove the last 8 balls from my containers when I had my party, sprayed oil inside ziplock bags, then sealed the bags. I placed them in the freezer. I removed them yesterday to defrost, and have plans to use them Saturday. The dough is soft now, and shows great shape.

My question, should I do anything to the balls to help for the pizzas on Saturday?

BTY, my 1k posting is coming with quality in mind, not spam....