Dough presses are they good for premaking and storing skins?

Hi all,

couldnt find anything on dough presses so thought I can ask if anyone has had luck with dough presses?
I currently bought the doughpro dual heat plate dough press and it flattens pizza out pefectly. i set top and bottom plate to 325 and wondering if im cooking it too much but right after i usually fire up the skin in wfo. Any thoughts on my process and how to achieve a crispier crust…

thx
gary

Gary said:

Hi all,

couldnt find anything on dough presses so thought I can ask if anyone has had luck with dough presses?
I currently bought the doughpro dual heat plate dough press and it flattens pizza out pefectly. i set top and bottom plate to 325 and wondering if im cooking it too much but right after i usually fire up the skin in wfo. Any thoughts on my process and how to achieve a crispier crust…

thx
gary

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I believe that your dough formula has more to do with having a crispy crust than temperatures on a dough press will. I bet if you share your dough formula, and handling techniques, many here will be able to better help you.
Also, list what flour you are using,

Be glad to share my current formula,
as of now its
100% all purpose wheat montana
50% water
0.50% idy
1% salt
1% sugar
8% vegetable oil.

i let this sit in fridge for 24 ours and then ball and let sit for 2 more days.

when i use dough press i have to spray olive oil on both plates. i want to go for a crispier crust once i take it out of wood fired oven however , its very good but im aiming for that crackery crisp bite and crumb that hods a slice straight.
any advice or change in procedure greatly appreciated.

thx Gary

Your hydration seems very low to me, I believe you’d want to be closer to or slightly above 60%
And your oil seems high.
Hopefully some others will chime in to confirm or dispute my claims.

What are the temps you’re running in your oven?

I was under the impression that you want a lower protein content flour and high hydration for WFO’s due to temps typically being above 800F

Thanks Gotrocks for input. My wood fired oven hits temps around 600. I was assuming people always say use a high protein flour or bread flour. So should I change flour to lower protein and then decrease the oil?..I have achieved crispy before I jus have to bake longer in wfo however majority of time its not as crispy and airy as I want.

having recently worked with a WFO…I am an All Trump fan…I would ball it up as soon as it is mixed…the oil is a bit high, but it helps when stretching…

what size dough ball are you using for what size pie?

our pies cook in less than 4 minutes, most of the time…temp range is more 700+/-

watch the amount of toppings & the cheese…

If you’re only running at 600 or so, I think my formula would be stellar for your oven

Flour 100% (75% Bouncer, 25% All Purpose)
Water 62%
Salt 1.7%
Sugar 1% (can be raised up to 2% for more/better browning)
IDY .5%
Oil 3.0%
We mix for 12 minutes in a spiral mixer, and do not add oil until halfway through mixing
We scale and ball right out of the mixer, and let sit in dough boxes for at least 24 hours before use

Here’s my hat in the ring; I’m in total agreement with increasing the dough absorption to a minimum of 60% but go higher if you can. I would delete the oil as well as the sugar. These steps will allow for a little expansion (oven spring) of the dough during baking for a crispier finished crust, as well as a longer baking time to achieve a good, solid bake to the crust. If you were using a sheeter to shape your dough skins you could go the opposite direction on absorption, dropping it down to something between 40 and 45% to achieve a cracker type characteristic, but with the press the dough would be too tough to press out at that absorption level.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

Here’s my hat in the ring; I’m in total agreement with increasing the dough absorption to a minimum of 60% but go higher if you can. I would delete the oil as well as the sugar. These steps will allow for a little expansion (oven spring) of the dough during baking for a crispier finished crust, as well as a longer baking time to achieve a good, solid bake to the crust. If you were using a sheeter to shape your dough skins you could go the opposite direction on absorption, dropping it down to something between 40 and 45% to achieve a cracker type characteristic, but with the press the dough would be too tough to press out at that absorption level.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

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So let me.see if I understand you correctly because I’ve been trying to read and absorb as much as I can on all the info in all these forums and I felt I finally came across a good recipe. Since I have been cooking in a wfo with the above recipe It has worked pretty good although I need a 72 hour cold ferment and I’m using all purpose flour. Sometimes its not as crispy as i like. Maybe i should try all trimos bit im scared of the bromated issues. So Tom are you saying I should increase the water absorption to above 60 even though I’m using dough press? Wouldn’t that create a more floppy or soggy crust with more water. If I’m not reading this correctly please correct me because I really do want to figure this out and appreciate your vast amount t of knowledge and contribution to this forum.

Thx
Gary

Gary said:

So let me.see if I understand you correctly because I’ve been trying to read and absorb as much as I can on all the info in all these forums and I felt I finally came across a good recipe. Since I have been cooking in a wfo with the above recipe It has worked pretty good although I need a 72 hour cold ferment and I’m using all purpose flour. Sometimes its not as crispy as i like. Maybe i should try all trimos bit im scared of the bromated issues. So Tom are you saying I should increase the water absorption to above 60 even though I’m using dough press? Wouldn’t that create a more floppy or soggy crust with more water. If I’m not reading this correctly please correct me because I really do want to figure this out and appreciate your vast amount t of knowledge and contribution to this forum.

Thx
Gary

Click to expand...

I meant to say all trumps (is this really a good flour or bread flour fine) and by the way the in the above recipe recipe I mentioned I’m using 50% water hydration. So with wood fired oven reaching 600-700 degrees should I increase water absorption to create crispier crust ?

having recently worked with a WFO…I am an All Trump fan…I would ball it up as soon as it is mixed…the oil is a bit high, but it helps when stretching…

what size dough ball are you using for what size pie?

our pies cook in less than 4 minutes, most of the time…temp range is more 700+/-

watch the amount of toppings & the cheese…

Click to expand...

Patriots pizza my dough balls are usually 300 grams. Never used all trumps but very tempted too. Are you cooking in wfo and what’s your heat if so? My wfo runs around 600-700…I feel like I need to cook when hearth is around 600 to achieve crispier crust anything higher temp and pizza gets charred to fast.

I might take another look at all trumps (just because all you guys recommending it) but I was not pleased with my finished product at all when I tried it last summer.
I found that all trumps produced a tough spongy crust compared to bouncer,
Maybe I’ll cut it with APF like I do with Bouncer, there a few cents for me to save with all trumps too

Gary;
Many flours from major manufacturers are available both bromated and non-bromated so you can have it either way in many cases. The basic rule for flour protein and crispiness is that a higher protein flour will have the potential for giving a crispier crust however it may bring some baggage along with it in some situations like increased chewiness/toughness and greater difficulty in opening the dough into pizza skins (normally addressed through the addition of PZ-44 to the dough). As for higher dough absorption, this is correct. The higher absorption allows the dough to expand more (oven spring) during the early stages of baking creating a better thermal break between the moisture laden sauce/toppings and the bottom of the crust. This allows the crust to get hotter faster creating a crispier crust. When the dough does not expand as much a greater portion of the heat is passed through the dough into the sauce and toppings where it is absorbed and dissipated as steam. You can see this with Ciabatta bread where the dough absorption is above 70% but the bread is still very crispy with an internal structure resembling that of an English muffin.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

make sure you are using tempered dough…600 is a bit low for our oven…tho I’ve used a press & a sheeter, my pref is hand tossed…300 gr DB for a 14" pie?

remember, as soon as you take the pie out, the steam begins to turn the crust soggy, so that might be an issue on where you are landing the pie for presentation…

we prolly run 54/55% water…watch the amount of sauce, as the good Dr. noted…I don’t like to use any form of relaxer either…