Lehman's Dough Formula

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

If I did my math correct, using the dough doctors dough recipe, for a 50# bag of flour, would call for 6oz. of active dry yeast. We currently only use 1oz of yeast and have done so for 15yrs. The only issue I have with our dough is that we have to dock each dough ball prior to hand tossing or we risk bubbling of the crust while cooking. 6oz seems like ALOT of yeast, however does anyone know if increasing the amount of yeast would eliminate the bubbles?

2

PS;
When we encounter unusually low yeast levels it is usually due to a fault in the dough management process, such as allowing the dough to sit out of the cooler too long before taking it to the cooler, or failure to cross stack the dough boxes. In essentially all cases, it was observed initially, that the dough would be blown, so the knee jerk reaction was to reduce the yeast level to a point where the dough didn’t blow anymore. So far, so good, but now the yeast level is so low that the dough doesn’t rise as well as it should during baking, and the low yeast level doesn’t provide sufficient yeast for good fermentation. Without sufficient fermentation, the dough will exhibit a pronounced tendency to bubble, no matter what you do, it will bubble. Other tell tale signs can be edges that don’t rise as well as they should, and a center section that tends to be rather dense and compact worst of all, a gum line across the center section of the pizza. To ascertain just why you are using a relatively low yeast level, we would need to have a close look at your complete dough management procedure. Then again, maybe that low yeast level just makes the finished pizza that your customers want.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

3

Tom,
What is the difference between active dry yeast and instant dry yeast?

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Active dry yeast (ADY) MUST be prehydrated in warm (100F) water before adding it to the rest of the dough ingredients. Instant dry yeast (IDY) can be added straight from the package to the flour, or sprinkled over a partially mixed dough without the need for pre-hydration.
In case you’re wondering, the word “instant” is in reference t othe hydration properties of the yeast. IDY is said to be “instant” hydrating.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor