Dough help....very sticky in bowl.

Using All Trumps: 62% H2O at 60 degrees (198.4 oz), 1% oil (3.2 oz), 1.75% salt(5.6 oz), 1% sugar(3.2 oz), .5% IDY (.55 oz).

Mixed according to instructions in recipe bank for New York Style. At 8 minutes, dough was very tacky…a lot would stick to fingers and would tear. At 10 and 12 minutes still the same. Tried to mix a few more minutes but still no difference and at 18 minutes total (I knew this was too long, just wanted to see what it would do) dough was at 90 degrees (and still very, very sticky).

New (to restaurant) Hobart 60.

Any ideas?

I’m about to try another batch again, maybe my measurements were off a little.

2 much H20 - 25# of All Trumps use 7 Qts of H20, or about 14# I believe

Sorry, there was a typo in my weights. I used 12.4 lbs of water for the 20 lbs of flour. It has been edited above.

You may have forgot to add the salt.

Salt was def. added.

I am assuming that you weighed out all of the ingredients, and especially the flour and water, correctly, but All Trumps should be able to tolerate a hydration of 62%, which is perhaps close to the rated absorption for that flour. If the flour is a fresh batch, it may have a fairly high moisture content. Also, room humidity (often seasonal) may be a factor. Most operators tend to use close to 58% hydration for a flour like the All Trumps, which should yield a dough with an extensibility that makes it easier to open up and stretch the dough balls without forming thin spots and tears. I think I would try lowering the hydration and see if that helps. Alternatively, you can lower the hydration by a percent or two and go from there.

There are 2 things that I have had this type of trouble with is 1) too much water 2) temperature too high. I have found not all bags of flour are created equal. I need to weigh each bag and adjust the water and other ingredents acordingly.

Made another batch, dropped water down to 58% and upped oil to 2%. It was still pretty sticky when I pulled egg sized pieces off, but once I stopped mixing after 10 minutes and pulled the bulk ball out, it was fairly easy to work with and form into balls. ADT was at 85 degrees as well.

We’ll see how they perform tomorrow.

How important is the “tackiness” factor when mixing? I can’t seem to get it like Tom does in his videos, (the chicken egg technique) but as I said above, the balls are easy to work with once out of the mixer.

Made another batch this morning. The only thing I did differently was lower the water temp a bit which produces a ADT of 80 degrees.

I still can’t get it to not severely stick to my fingers, even after the final 12 minutes of mixing. I’m not new to mixing but this is a used mixer in a new restaurant, which is why I’m trying to get my dough right.

What could I be doing wrong? I am making absolutely sure all ingredients are weighed out by using a digital scale.

The only things that vary compared to how I used to make it is the batch size and the mixer. I’m using 12-20 pound batches in the hobart 60. Is it possible that I’m under or over mixing? This mixer is a 4 speed H-600.

Please help!

Are you saying that your dough weights are 12 to 20-pounds? Or are you using 12 to 20-pounds of flour? twelve pounds of dough, or even 20-pounds of dough (about what would be made from 12-pounds of flour) is too small for decent mixing action in the H-600 mixer unless you use first speed before the oil addition and then go to second or third speed for the final 8 to 10-minutes of dough mixing. With a dough size that is too small you will see the dough “glomp” (that’s a highly scientific word meaning to cling onto) onto the hook and go for a ride around the bowl without the benefit of much actual mixing action. At the higher speed, the dough is thrown off of the hook and gets the needed mixing action by the hook. All of the other responses you have received are correct, but there is one more that is unique to today’s situation with regard to flour availability and quality. Simply stated; flour quality ain’t all of what it used to be. Wheat is in extremely short supply, and it appears that many of the millers are having some difficulty holding the line on flour quality. Frankly, it amazes me that they’ve done such a great job of maintaining quality up to this point. But, your flour MIGHT not be up to it’s usual quality standard as a result of the lack of suitable blending wheat varieties. Your’s is not the first problem with stickiness or unusually low dough absorption that I’ve heard of recently. Don’t get too upset if this proves to be the problem, there isn’t much that anybody can do about it until the new spring wheat crop comes in sometime in August. This is just something that we’re going to have to “tough out” until things hopefully improve in the next few months.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

The 12 and 20 pounds were referring to flour weights. I was using 1st speed for initial mixing and then 2nd speed for the 8-12 minutes and still couldn’t get a smooth finish that passed the egg pull test.

I’ll make another go at it using 40 lbs this time.

make 25 lbs floure and add 7 1/2 quarts of water garuntee it will work make sure to use high gluten floure and it should be perfect at the end add little vegtable oil to keep doug from stiking to bowl spinn only a couple times when adding oil, if that does not work go back to school.

LMAO.

With that spelling, I know someone that should go back to school for sure… :roll:

BTW, is Doug still stuck to the bowl? Tell him I said hi!

Keep in mind that a correctly mixed/developed pizza dough should be slightly tacky when it first comes from the mixer. The finished dough should have just taken on the smooth, satiny appearance that indicated a properly mixed pizza dough. You do not want to have the dough developed to the extent that you can form a gluten film/window by stretching it in your hands, this is correct for a bread dough but it is not correct for a pizza dough unless you want the finished pizza crust to have a crumb structure resembling that of white pan bread rather than that of an English muffin. After the dough is conditioned in the cooler over night, you will find that the gluten has been fully developed through biochemical action. When the gluten is developed in this manner, the dough is quite extensible and easy to shape, but when you develop the gluten mechanically, such as the case is when using your Hobart mixer, the gluten is much more tough and elastic, making it more difficult to shape.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

I adjusted up to 25 lbs of flour and it was a much better finished dough. Much less tacky off the mixer as before (still just a little tacky, like Tom said above, which is where I’m used to it at).

I’ll assume (considering nothing was changed except flour amount and ingredients proportionate to that) that it was the dough “glomping” that was keeping it from properly mixing.

Thanks for everyone’s help…much appreciated.

I use a 50# bag of fronte high gluten and 13 qt of water, the rest of the recipe is mixed in with the water and whisked, then we add the flour and spin for 10 min.