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More flavour in the dough

M

Mikeyoung

New member
Hey all! Hoped i could bounce a question off you. I currently make our dough fresh every day and whilst we make a good pizza i’d really like the dough to have a bit more flavour. I dont have a walk in unfort and we’re quite tight on space. I have tried with the bulk cold ferment but the results were not great and i think our fresh dough had a better rise in the oven. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the pizza dough to have a better flavour?

thanks in advance

Mike
 
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Try making a bega the day before and adding that to your dough. If you don’t know what a bega is just ask Mr. Google he knows everything. I do this and the flavor is a little more yeasty with just a hint of sourness. Kinda like San Francisco sour dough bread. Hope this helps.
 
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I’ll give that a shot tony. I’ve seen biga mentioned before but ill do a bit of research into it.
 
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sounds interesting after reading about it, how much would you make & use of the biga for a 50#lb batch or just say a 25# batch
 
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Mike;
Here’s another approach that I’ve had good success with in small stores. Get a 30-gallon plastic barrel with a lid approved for food contact. For a 50# flour basis dough size, make a sponge using 30# of flour, 15 to 16# of water (cold) and 0.75-ounce of instant dry yeast. Place these ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix at low speed for about 7-minutes then transfer to the barrel which has been lightly oiled inside. Cover and set aside to ferment overnight. I recommend making the sponge each night just before closing. The sponge will be ready to use on the following day. To make your dough, transfer the fermented sponge to the mixer, add 20# of flour, 14-ounces of salt, 12-ounces of sugar (optional), 2-ounces of instant dry yeast, 13 to 14-pounds of water (75F), 16-ounces of olive oil. Mix at low speed for 2-minutes without the oil, then add the oil and mix just until you achieve a smooth dough consistency/satiny appearance. You are looking for a finished dough temperature of 80 to 85F. After mixing immediately scale and ball, place into dough boxes, wipe the dough balls with a little salad oil, and place in a reach in cooler for at least 2-hours before using. The dough will keep all day in the reach in. Just be sure to stagger/off set the boxes as you place them in the reach in to allow for more effective cooling. After about 2-hours the boxes can be nested to prevent drying. This process gives a finished crust with improved flavor over same day dough and it is about as close to bullet proof as one can get.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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Great reply Tom, i really appreciate your expertise on the issue. Just from looking at your recipe there, i’ve gathered the overall hydration is around about the 57/58% mark, 1.75% salt, 0.34% instant yeast and 2% oil and the sponge makes up 60% of the overall dough.

At present my dough management doesn’t consist of any refrigeration. After mixing the dough i scale and ball then place the dough balls in dough trays and allow them to sit for several hours at ambient temperature. I have a smaller mixer so i actually make 2 or 3 batches of dough each day but the total daily use would be around the 50lb mark on busy days. I stagger making each dough so that the dough doesnt overproof. I notice from your recipe you recommend wiping the dough with oil and placing in the reach in for at least two hours before use. Can i ask what the benefit is of placing the dough balls in the fridge? I’m actually opening a restaurant in a few months so i could designate a reach in refrigerater just for dough.

Thanks for your help Tom

Mike 🙂
 
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Mike;
One of the things that we commonly do is to make a master sponge which is nothing more than a sponge that is large enough to be divided between a number of doughs. Now, every time you make a dough during the day you just add the correct weight of sponge to the dough and you will get an improvement in flavor with each of the doughs. Sponges are very tolerant to variations in fermentation time so you don’t have much if any variation in flavor due to differences in sponge age over the course of the day.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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Great Tom, im going to give that a shot over the next day or two. So you’d recommend a new sponge for each day? I’ve heard of people making sourdough starter where they seem to keep it ‘alive’ by daily feeding although that does sound like more work. Alos you recommended refrigerating the doughballs for 2 hours before use in a cooler, can i ask what this does to the doughballs?

Thanks again, you’ve been a big help

Mike
 
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Mike;
A sponge is not a sourdough starter. A sponge is used to improve the flavor of the baked product while contributing to improved dough handling properties. Like I said, a sponge is about as close to bullet proof as you’re going to get while a starter is rather tempermental as it requires rather precise feeding and temperature control or it can be lost (experience a significant flavor change). In a small shop it is very easy to manage a sponge too.
As for refrigerating the dough balls the only reason for doing this is to extend their usable life. Once a dough ball is formed it will have a usable life of between 2 and 3-hours if not refrigerated, and this can vary with shop temperature. Once refrigerated, the same dough balls wil have a usable life of 3 to 4-hours from the time they are removed from the cooler. Another trick that I have used in shops much like yours is to pre-open the dough balls into pizza skins, place them onto screens and place in a wire tree rack in the cooler, after 30-minutes cover with a plastic bag and they will keep all day. To use just remove from the cooler (keeping covered) allow to temper AT room temperature for about 30-minutes, remove from the screen, (prevents the dough from sticking to the screen during baking) and replace onto the screen or onto a pizza peel for dressing and baking. Once a rack of pizza skins has been withdrawn from the cooler it will be good to use for about 60 to 90-minutes depending upon room temperature, or you can just remove a few at a time to keep you in skins as needed to fill the orders.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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