Hoping to get some feedback from everyone. I have been open now for almost 1 year, and during that time I have had a couple (now three) people say to me that the dough tasted rubbery. These are all three people who have had my pizza before, and each of them experienced this rubbery dough when taking the pizzas out to a friends house (who lived about 10 - 20 minutes away varying on each case). Now I have to assume that if these three had the issue, that there are most likely many more that have experienced it and said nothing (even though I always ask for good or bad feedback, and recently started an online form for feedback).
I have included the dough recipe I use, in hopes that someone may have even a thought (or certainty) of what may be wrong:
25lb Bag of Flour (All Trumps)
7qt (Approx - I measure it not weigh) Refrigerated Tap Water
6oz Oil
7oz Salt
8oz Sugar
.5oz Yeast (Fleischmann’s Instant Dry Yeast)
To start with I pull the water, and measure out my salt, sugar, and oil. I have the yeast pre-portioned in Solo cups with lids. I then open my bag of flour and let the water hit approximately 45 - 50 degrees.
I then dump the water into the mixer, add the oil, salt and sugar (which I have together), mix for about 30 seconds with a whisk, add my flour, then sprinkle the yeast on top, and mix for ~10 min.
It takes me approximately 45 - 60 minutes to ball up all the dough. I then put it straight in the walk in and let it sit for 24 hours. After 24 hours I pull it out for about 45 - 60 min at room temperature and put it back in for another 23 hours (so 48 hours total) which is usually at night so it sits for an additional 12 hours til morning (a total of 60 hours). I then use the dough directly from the walk in when making my pizza.
Now about what I am looking for in my dough (to keep in mind for suggestions). I am looking for dough that will last between 5 - 7 days after making, and has a little rise to it but not extremely doughy (I am currently baking it in a deck oven but will be switching to conveyor soon).
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I cannot say entirely for sure, but I do not think so. That would be a good question to ask them next time they come in, but for arguments sake of trying to think of solutions, I will assume not.
Your yeast is a bit low, actually, you should be at between 1 and 1.5-ounces. Then, 45 to 60-minutes to cut and ball 41-pounds of dough? Ya gotta stop reading War and Peace while cutting and balling the dough. You should be getting the entire dough cut, balled and in the cooler within 20-minutes of taking it off of the mixer. With all of that said, are we talking about a tough/rubbery crust on a DELCO pizza? Heavens! I thought they all came that way! If anybody has a sure fire cure for a steamed, tough, chewy crust on a DELCO pizza right out of the box, please let me know. This is the “Golden Fleece” of the pizza industry, and it is also what has contributed so much to the popularity of take and bake/bake to rise pizzas. The one thing that really helps with this situation is to recommend that the pizza be placed into a 300F oven for a few minutes before serving. This will help to fully reheat the pizza and recrisp the crust to some extent.
Also, make sure your box has vent holes in it, special bases that are placed under the pizza in the box to help remove steam from the bottom of the pizza also helps to reduce sogginess.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Thanks for the response. Yes it is strictly deco. I tend to do the dough in the evening and in between orders. As for the yeast, my concern is (I use 8oz for 10", 12oz for 12", 16oz for 14" and 20oz for 16"). With upping the yeast to 1 oz, will it still last (without blowing up) for 6-7 days after making it, in the walkin?
On rereading your post and finally seeing the “keeping for 5-7 days” concern, I may have an answer for the texture issue. With the higher yeast pitch rate, the dough is usable after 24 hours, perfect in about 48, and usable up to about 3 or 4 days tops in my experience. You would need to make dough twice instead of once, which may improve texture and flavor at the investment of a second dough processing.
With that lower pitch rate, it will possibly last longer, but it will also take longer to ferment up to the best usable texture. Is it possible your customer issues are from early in the life cycle of your dough? It might seem more likely to me as it may not have fermented enough yet.
That is a very plausible explaination. At the current rate, I typically make my dough aroun 9 PM. I let it sit the entire day, pull it out at 9 PM the next night, then put it back in at 10 PM. It then sits for an additional day, and I use it starting on Day 3 (after about 60 total hours). Perhaps I need to let it sit for another day, or perhaps pulling it out again the next day for an hour?
The key to getting the dough to last for up to 7-days in the cooler is in the control of the finished dough temperature. To get 7-days cooler life out of the dough you should be targeting a finished dough temperature of 70 to absolutely not more than 75F. Get the dough scaled, balled, and into the cooler all within 20-minutes from the time the dough comes off of the mixer. Cross stack the dough in the cooler for 2.5-hours, then down stack and nest the dough boxes. The sweet spot for the dough will be at about 3 to 4-days, but you will still get acceptable performance out to 7-days. Like I said though, the key is in controlling the finished dough temperature.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Thank you very much. So I will boost the yeast up to 1oz to start, and then cross stack them to preserve temperature. Using this method, should I pull them to proof at room temperature at all during the process (like a day before use, or at the very beginning) or just continue using them straight from refrigeration?
Also, one more question. Is the mix time of 8-10 minutes good, or should that alter? And when I double the ingredients to make 50lb batches (which we will be doing come this winter) should I double the time or just bring it to about 15 minutes?
Even when doubling the dough size you don’t need to adjust the total dough mixing time. Just be sure the mix until you achieve a smooth, satiny appearance to the dough, usually 8 to 10-minutes in second speed. When you get ready to use the dough, we recommend that you bring it out of the cooler about 2 to 3-hours in advance of using it. This allows the dough to temper AT room temperature to a temperature of about 50F. Once you begin using the dough it will be good to use over the following 3-hours (stored at room temperature).
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor