I’m opening a pizza place in Mexico (more as a hobby/retirement thing) I worked in a pizzeria in Boston as a kid…
Can’t figure out what’s going on with my dough…
I’m looking for a typical NY/Boston type deck oven pizza… using the recipe, I’ve made batches with both fresh yeast and powdered yeast, sugar and no sugar… let it cold ferment 1 day, 2 days, 3 days. Have a Globe 60 qt mixer, Blodget 1040 oven running at 550F… the flour I’m using may be the culprit … is their best quality high protein (13.5%)
Flour= 100%
Salt= 2%
Water= 53%
Fresh Yeast= 0.08%
Sugar= 1.5% (was trying to use to get brown crust)
Oil (delayed)= 5.3%
The Flour company sent a rep to work with us, he is more accustomed to making breads but seems to have a knowledge of pizza dough, albeit different than what I am looking for. The 3rd batch I used a recipe that Princess Cruises uses on their big pizzas served by the pool, a great tasting NY style slice pizza.
Handling the dough:
Using a Globe 60 qt mixer with a dough hook. Running low speed for 8 mins, half way through adding the oil. Dough is coming out of the bowl at 78-80 degrees. Because of the warm temp here, were are using colder water (about 50F) to obtain the end result of 78-80 for the dough.
Taking the dough out of the bowl, letting it rest in an air conditioned room (did I mention it gets really hot and humid here, lol) for about 10-15 mins, then cutting, sizing and rolling it into 600 gram balls. (gotta get use to Metric). 6 balls to a plastic dough box, uncovered in a 40F fridge for 1-1.5 hours. Covering them after that time (lightly oiled from the time they are put into the box). I’ve let them ferment 24, 48 & 72 hours respectively. Take them out of the fridge an hour to 1.5 hours before using.
They have a decent texture and smell , stretch well… sauce, cheese and pepperoni… into the Blodgett at 550F for about 8 mins (oven has preheated for 2 hrs) cheese, sauce and toppings are great but the rim of the crust is WHITE. Crust flavor is kind of blah. Crunchy on the bottom (too crunchy for me). Bottom has an OK color to it… but I’m not happy at all with the crust… Supposed is their best flour, highest protein available here (13.5 +/- .5).
Where am I messing up… going to try a gen purpose flour with a 10.5 % protein to see what happens next.
I’m guessing that the flour you’re using may not be malted, so I’m suggesting the following:
Increase the sugar level to 3%.
Increase the fresh yeast/compressed yeast (CY) to 1% .
Assemble the dough as follows: Add water to bowl, followed by salt, sugar and flour. Add yeast on top of the flour. Begin low speed mixing sequence. (See below)
Mix the dough for only 2-minutes at low speed, add the oil and mix one additional minute in low speed.
After mixing in low speed mix at medium speed for 8-minutes.
Take Dough DIRECTLY from the mixer to the bench for scaling and balling.
Place into the dough box and lightly oil the top of each dough ball.
Place in cooler (uncovered) for 3-hours).
Cover boxes to prevent drying.
Allow the dough balls to cold ferment for 24 to 48-hours.
Remove from cooler (keeping covered) and allow to warm at room temperature to 50F/10C.
Begin opening the dough into skins by your preferred method.
NOTE: Your dough should be sized for a minimum of 25-pounds/11.36-Kg. of flour weight.
Please keep me posted on your results.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
You don’t happen to be opening near Tulum are you? Headed there in about 10 days for the honeymoon. Don’t think I can make it very long without pizza in my life!
Sorry I took so long getting back… Mexican time is contagious I guess.
I tried the recipe and went back to the original recipe… I think what was happening was the pizza makers weren’t allowing enough time for the oven to warm up and come up to the proper temp. Now it seems good… at least that’s my thoughts.