Hello,
I want to develop i great crust for delivery purpouses,
Target crust would have to be light & airy.
should i use oil & sugar in the mix, if so what levels would you guys recommend.
Are any pizza operators using sugar in thier mix.
Any help would be appreciated.
Regards
ravikoth
Ravi;
For a delivered pizza, I would recommend going with 3% oil in the dough formula, but more importantly, use a flour with something close to 12% protein content. The oil will provide mouthfeel and flavor, while the lower than normal protein content of the flour will help to control excessive toughness that has a habit of forming during the delivery time (pizza stuffed into a box or bag, then into an insulated bag, and into a transport vehicle, and then 20 to 30-minutes later, if you’re lucky, here’s your fresh, hot pizza!) Typically, what the customer gets is a warm, soggy, tough/chewy pizza. In my opinion, air impingement ovens are better than deck ovens for a delivery operation as the high air flow does a better job of removing excess water from the top of the pizza, which in turn, helps to control some of the sogginess.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
insightful as always tom, thank you.
see you at the expo
ravi
What would you recommend the water % to be for that "light & airy ".
Most of our business has shifted to delivery.
Thanks Tom.
We always say to maximixe the dough absorption to get the best volume/height as well as the most open, porous (airy) internal structure possible. The amount of water/absorption njeeded to accomplish this will vary with the absorption properties of your individual flour. The best direction that I can give you is to say that you should add the maximum amount of water that will give you a soft, pliable dough, but yet not be so sticky so as t make handling difficult. With most U.S. flours, that means using something close to 56 to 58% absorption based on the total flour weight.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
as I hijack the thread just a bit…
I’ve been considering ‘playing’ with substituting some/all of the oil with all lard or lard & pure olive oil…not a blend…
We use no sugar in or dough & use old MM 360’s & have a great product…
In the past I’ve used several brands/blends, but don’t think I can really tell the difference…
Some research shows that lard was used for a ‘Roman’ style of pizza…
Plus, all the hype with sea salt etc, I was just wondering your general opinion of lard & sea salt…
I can’t say that sae salt makes a ehole lot of a difference, but the lard really does, or to put it better, at one time it really did. The domestic lard that we have today is so bland that there is little if any flavor profile, but the old fashion lard of 40-years ago, or that which is still in common use in Mexico lends a fabulous flavor to the pizza crust. Don’t blend it with the olive oil as that serves to detract from both. Ditto for tortillas made with lard.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
If I were to search for a lard…what would I look for? Can’t say I’ve tasted true lard recently…
Old skool shortening type blocks? A Mexican specialty house perhaps? In central FL we do have a strong Hispanic community…
If you can find an imported lard, from Mexico, that would be my choice. Any lard produced here in the States is going to be highly deodorized and almost bland in flavor.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Do you use the same amount/weight of lard as you would oil?
Tom I can ditto the tortillas with lard comment. A friend of my wifes is from Central America…I forget where…but her mother made us homemade tortillas at a party last year and I left with a recipe. They were amazing compared to the bland flat disks we are all used too. She stated you have to use the right fat too make it all work. I have found only one ethnic market that sells the right items so far. Sad thing is they are always out! It is sad that we all depend on mass produced garbage these days. It would be nice if people learned to cook again. Sorry…I know this doen’t help pizza sales. :roll:
sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place, but I am brand new to this board. I just opened an independent location and “luckily” so far so good…but if you don’t mind, I have a dough question. is room temp the ideal temp for my dough balls as we make our pizzas. we made a mistake tonight and for a “crew pie”, we made a pizza with a dough ball right from the cooler…never happened before, but it made me wonder what the “ideal” temp is for the dough that is ready to be hand tossed…Thanks for the consideration.
Rhino;
The “ideal” dough temperature is whatever works best for you. That said, many of us in the industry use a finished dough temperature (temperature of the dough as it comes from the mixer) of 80 to 85F, and favoring the 80F side. After that, correct dough management will either make or break the dough. You may e-mail me directly to request a copy of the Dough Management Procedure. My e-mail address is tlehmann@aibonline.org.
Buy the way, that dough ball that you took directly from the cooler to the prep-table, did it bubble badly?
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor