?_Lehmann:

Can you tell me what I am doing wrong if my dough starts crusting just after I cut it and ball it?

Thanks

Bill
Five Guys Flippin Pies

I’m not Tom, but…

how long does it take you to round your dough? It should come straight out of the mixer to the table 3b cut & rounded…

are you “cross” stacking your trays in the cooler? If so, perhaps you’re leaving them uncovered too long…

is there enough H2O in your formula?

are you “wiping” them w/oil?

…now, I don’t do any of these things…my dough may begin 2 crust up ever so slightly, if it takes us too long to cut/round, as we get “side-tracked”

And don’t forget dough temperature. A dough that is warm will evaporate water faster than a dough that is cooler. A good, working dough temperature is in the range of 80 to 85F. A dough that is watmer than this might develop a dry, though I question “crusty” skin in a short time. You should be taking the dough straight from the mixer to the bench for scaling and balling. The entire process should not take more than 20-minutes. As soon as you have a dough box filled, wipe the dough balls with salad oil and cross stack them in the cooler for about 2-hours, then down stack and nest the dough boxes to prevent drying. To use the dough on the following day, remove the desired number of dough boxes from the cooler, leaving them covered, and allow them to set at room temperature for about 90-minutes to temper a little. Then begin shaping the dough balls into skins.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

I put the dough in a clear garbage bag on top of sheet pans and put on a pan rack in the cooler. Is there a reason for using boxes? Seems like more work rotating and cooling down than my meathod. thanks for the inpute

It takes me about 25 minutes to cut and ball a 30lb batch. I am sure there is enough water because the dough is just a little stickey after mixing. I put it on sheet trays, put it on a rack, cover the rack and and put it in the cooler.

Thanks for the feedback

Bill

It takes me about 25 minutes to cut and ball a 30lb batch. I am sure there is enough water because the dough is just a little stickey after mixing. I put it on sheet trays, put it on a rack, cover the rack and and put it in the cooler. Should I use colder water on my second load of water?

Thanks for the feedback

Bill

A lot of peop0le like the convenience of the dough boxes, but I’ve used 18X26 sheet pand with a plastic bag covering too and this works just as well. The only downside to the sheet pans is that they need a rack where as the boxes are stackable. When I use the sheet pans I have found that I get better results if I keep my finished dough temperature in the 75 to 80F range rather than the 80 to 85F range that I use with the dough boxes. This allows me to cover the sheet poans of dough right away, rather than putting them in the cooler unbagged, and then coming back in 90 to 120 minutes to bag the pans of dough.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

That’s way too long. Either you need to examine your techniques or you’re doing other stuff in the middle (taking orders, etc). My experience is that dough should be done prior to opening where you don’t have to take “breaks”.

I’m not saying 25 mins is too long for the dough to be sitting out, just suggesting that you’re missing some efficiencies in making dough.

Take a large s/s table. Dough “blob” on one end, scale next to it, and at the far end is your sheet pan. Cut the dough and weigh it. Toss “globs” on other side of the scale. Once you have so many globs you run out of room, start balling until you’re clean on that side again and go back to scaling.