how to make a pizza with Caputo flour

[mikeyr]

I purchased the Caputo flour a few weeks ago and now have tried 3 times to follow the recipe posted here by weight. How do you make a pizza from that ? do you brush the dough onto the peel ?

First time I thought I had mis-weighed the water and added flour until I got a nice ball during mixing, ended up using almost an extra cup of flour. Second time, I carefully measured but ended up with the same thing. Today I am trying again and of course I ended up with a mash in the bottom of the bowl and no dough that I can recognize. I am letting rise without adding extra flour this time but I am wondering if I need to go buy a paint brush to make my pizzas with tonight.

From reading all over this forum it looks like everyone else has had great success but me, what could I be doing wrong ? I am carefully measuring.

By the way even with adding flour until I had a ball, the dough was easy to work with and great tasting, I just want to follow the recipe this time.

[james]

Hey Mike,

When you mix 500gr of flour with 300gr of water, what do you get? It should be a slightly stick mix, but is should still form a "ball". What do you get at that point?

Are you mixing by hand or with a stand mixer. A second idea is to just get all the flour wet/mixed with the water, then let it sit for 10 minutes. This lets the flour absorb the water before you start the mixing process. Having watched the Caputo flour stretch and form a ball in a stand mixer, and watched various bread flours do the exact same thing, it's nice to see the gluten line up and see the texture form.

But if you aren't getting a basic dough ball with the 500gr flour and 300gr water mix, something isn't right.

What do you think?
James

[arevalo53anos]

Mike:

Autolize is a god ideia and I always use it with great results.
A little ferment quantity and a good rest (9 hours in the counter or 24+ in refrigerator) will do the trick.
Go to www.pizzamaking.com/forum and look for the Caputo thread.
There will be a lot of tips.

Luis

[CanuckJim]

Dough Balls

Mike,

I'm not a dedicated pizza guy, but I do make a lot of high hydration doughs for bread. Recently, I ran into a problem that might have something to do with the difficulties you're experiencing. Where I live, high humidity is rare, except for two weeks ago, when it was absolutely brutal. As a result, my doughs were extremely sticky, to the point that forming a boule was well nigh impossible. After one batch, I compensated by cutting back the water by almost 10 per cent. Worked.

As Luis points out, resting the dough in the refrigerator will always firm it up AND give you both better flavour and texture.

Jim

[tgm]

Caputo flour .....

Mike,

I have been only working with Caputo for the last month and I have yet to have a failure or a bad pizza. I learned this method from a master that has made pizza his life for the last 45 yrs.
Try this recipe...1780g Caputo 00, 1 liter of water, 3g (yes 3 grams) of active cake yeast, 2oz salt. That's it!
Mix the yeast with 500ml water and mix the salt with the remaining 500ml.
After you get everything measured out dump the liquid into the flour and mix.
Depending on humidity dough should be slightly sticky at onset. Let rest for 5-10 min. take out of bowl and knead by hand for 17-20min. You can add a small amount of bench flour during kneading to get the dough feeling right.
Divide into 10 9.5oz. balls and put in a covered container, even at room temp for 3 -5 hrs.
Now you are ready to make thebest crust you have ever had. None of this waiting 24 hrs or making the dough over a 2 day period. 3-5 hrs is all this takes at minimum. We routinely make dough in the morning on the weekend for pizza at lunch the same day. Works every time.
This technique is from a pizza master who runs two shops in the Pittsburgh PA area and who is known for his crust.
Give it a try and let me know how it works out.

Good Luck,

Tom in PA

[Richard]

if using a kitchen aid mixer on low (spped 2) would you suggest cutting knmead time in half?

[tgm]

Richard,

I have only mixed by hand so far, approx. 100#'s of Caputo. I wanted to try my KA and just have not got around to it. I would think the kneading time would be reduced, by how much, don't know.
I may try a batch later this weekend by machine and also a batch by hand so I can compare side by side.

Thanks,

Tom in PA

[mikeyr]

Hey Mike,
When you mix 500gr of flour with 300gr of water, what do you get? It should be a slightly stick mix, but is should still form a "ball". What do you get at that point?

Are you mixing by hand or with a stand mixer. A second idea is to just get all the flour wet/mixed with the water, then let it sit for 10 minutes. This lets

Sorry, guys, I made my pizza last week and then was gone for the weekend, I am back.

Ok, I mixed 500gr of Caputo and 325gr of water as per the recipe and it was very runny, could not work with the dough at all. The first time I did that , I kept adding flour until I could work with it, this time I was determined to stick to the recipe. It was very runny, not workable at all. I let it sit about 13-14 hours before I made pizza's and it stuck to everything, the bowl, my hands, the peel, everything. It took much more flour on the peel than usual and I got it done, but it was no fun. I could not get a ball at all, just a blob.

I will try this week with only 300gr of water, I usually make pizza 2 to 3 times a week. I use both a Kitchen-aid and also hand mix/kneed my doughs depending on my mood. I usually make my dough the night before. The dough tasted great however and I liked the crispy yet crunchy part. It was better the last time with the "blobs" then when I added flour the first 2 times.

[james]

Hey Mike,

Try the 300gr water to 500gr flour mix. That gets you you 60%, which is in the middle of the 58%-62% hydration that is called for in the VPN spec. I have a bad habit of trying to push things right to the edge.

I like the autolyse method, where you stop and let your dough stand. Like all experimetns, you can have fun working out the various variables -- hydration, autolyse, chilling your dough, night-before/morning-of, chilling you dough balls, etc. You will get your own perfect method.

Let us know how that percent recipe works.
James

[mikeyr]

Trying it later tonight

I like to let my dough sit also, tomorrow I am making bread in the AM so Pizza is for lunch and most likely dinner also.

[mikeyr]

I made dough twice since my last post, with 300grs of water it is easier to form a blob, still not a dough ball that I am used to but I can work it into a pizza shape fairly easily. This does make the best tasting dough I have ever made with just the right amount of crisp and chewyness (new word ) I wish I could work with it better, its easy to tear it.

I am experimenting today with staying at 300gr of water and adding flour, this time I will measure how much it takes to get a ball like I am used to and see how it tastes and works. One other thing I noticed is that it does not burn on the bottom from the hot hearth as easily/much as my other dough (which included olive oil).

If you are used to a throw it in the air, nice firm dough ball this recipe is very different but the taste and texture is well worth it.

[PizzaArthur]

Here's one of my latest results with Caputo

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/ind....html#msg33764

PizzaArthur

[christo]

That's a good looking pie

That is a good looking pizza!!!!!

Christo

[PizzaArthur]

That is a good looking pizza!!!!!

Christo

Thank you. That's my baby

[james]

That's It!

Arthur,

That's it. You've done it; it's perfect -- from the puffed cornice, to the sauce, placement of your mozzarella, the brown cheese and slightly charred crust. Buonissimo.

I have heard folks say you should be able to see the crust through the tomatoe sauce before the pizza goes into the oven. What do you think of that theory?

What type of olive oil are you using, and are you doing the swirl right before you put the pizza in the oven? Are you using an old-fashion oil can? Can you taste the flavor of this oil?

And you got to this level really fast. Wow.
James