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Why is my dough never conistant???

How consistent is the temperature and humidity in your prep area?
 
I think TIME might possibly be the culprit of your inconsistencies. I too had similiar problems, but since we do a much better job managing FIFO (using colored stickers) and EOL practices, our dough usually gets used in it’s prime usefulness. If our dough sits around more than 48 hours, the yeast dies and flat pizzas are the result.
 
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Can you provide more information on the starter dough, that is, 1) is it made up especially for your dough and, if so, what is in it and in what quantities, or 2) is is part of the prior day’s production, or 3) is it scrap dough that you are recycling and, if so, how old is it? Based on my calculations, it looks like the starter dough (96 oz.) represents about 15% of the total formula dough weight, or about 13.1% of the total weight including the starter dough. If your use of the starter dough is inconsistent, you are likely to get inconsistent results. Also, if the starter dough is old, 0.5% IDY (as a percent of total flour) may be on the low side for a 4+ hour dough. Is the starter dough cold when you use it?

At http://www.pmq.com/tt/viewtopic.php?p=24108#24108, Tom Lehmann says that old dough or recycled dough is usually added as part of the initial mix, not later.

There is no need to put the IDY in water. You can add it to the flour. Also, you may want to start with the water in the bowl, and either add the salt and sugar to the water to dissolve them or add them to the flour. You want to adjust water temperature to achieve a finished dough temperature of around 80 degrees F.

FYI, if my calculations are right, your dough formulation looks like this:

100%, Flour
50%, Water
4%, Sugar
2%, Salt
3%, Canola oil
0.5%, IDY
15%, Starter dough (13.1% of total dough weight)
 
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jokergerm:
So we use a sourdough crust receipe and it is never the same. EVER… some times is wonderful and fluffly and crunchy.

And then other times is dense and flat and doughy

this is my recipe and how we mix it ( the same time every time)

25 lbs high glute flour bleached
1.5 gallons of 70 degree water
16 ounces sugar
8 ounces salt
12 oucnes canola oil
2 ounces insta yeast
4 starter dough 24 oz dough balls

So every day i do the same thing
  1. put the flour in the mixer
  2. add salt and sugar
  3. put the yeast in the bucket with the 70 degree water
  4. let water and yeast sit for 10 mintues
  5. add water/yeast to flour,salt,sugar
  6. let mix 2 mintues
  7. add starter dough and oil
  8. let mix 8 mintues
Then we pull it out and ball it up. put them on the trays and oil them and put them in plastic bags and place in walk in.

Also i do not use fresh dough for at least 4 hours. and my dough is always different.

i have no idea what i am doing wrong. any advice would be nice. maybe i different yeast would help

Thanks
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I measure my IDY to the gram…
I would try separating the starter and the oil…put oil in a minute after mixing starter in…I do not use starter, IDY instead so that is only a guess…
everything else looks OK to me…I have less steps so it is more simple, and more simple the easier to get consistency…less variables,
there are the other variables in fermentation and baking …
hope that helps,
Otis
 
How do you ensure it’s 25lbs flour? If you’re dumping in a full 25 lb. bag, that may be an inconsistent weight - there’s spillage and inconsistency in that.
We can’t effectively weigh the flour exactly in our dough batches, and after about 2-3 minutes of mixing, have someone experienced check the “feel” of the dough and touch up with tiny shakes of added flour if necessary to get the consistency just right…
 
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i agree with MM about the fact you are not weighing your ingredients.
how about the water 1.5 gallons,can be of by up to 3% either way(if you do not weigh).
I.D.Y should not be hydrated b-4 you use it.
your starter dough(which might be off from the start)is to high.
sugar level,WOW!
i am trying to imagine what you are trying to do here.
what is your type of operation???
 
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25 pound bag of flour guaranted not to weight 25 pounds, ± 2%,
weigh it all, even the water, those lines are read different every time,
and remember, when in doubt, simpler the better,
Otis
 
You may want to try weighing your ingredients to see if that solves your problem. But I don’t think it is the amount of sugar you are using, or the amount of starter dough you are using or the type of yeast you are using. You haven’t told us anything about the starter dough (see my earlier post), so one can only speculate as to the source of your problem.
 
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ok our started dough is 4 dough balls that we take of of the batch of dough evey day

so everytiime we make dough we take out 4 24 ounce dough balls out and put them in out starter tub and seal it.

then it sours overnight and we put it back in the next day, then take 4 more balls out and repeat the process
 
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Lets start with the easy things first.
Do not put the IDY into 70F water. This can have a very damaging affect upon the yeast, especially IDY, which likes to be added dry, directly to the flour along with the salt and sugar.
Then, make sure you are consistently hitting your target dough temperature. This is especially important when you will be using the dough after only four hours.
Do these two things first and let us know if they help any.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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As I see it, there are two areas where the inconsistent results can occur.

The first is the basic dough itself. You should try to prepare the basic dough itself on a consistent basis, by weighing ingredients and by maintaining a fixed finished dough temperature as best you can. I am not sure what that is for a dough that can be used after about 4 hours, but it should be the same for each dough batch.

The second area of potential inconsistency of results is the starter dough. I assume that you are fermenting the starter dough overnight at room temperature. Unless you can control the temperature at which the starter dough ferments, its fermentation rate will vary from day to day. It will be faster when the ambient room temperature is high (as in summer) and slower when the ambient room temperature is low (as in winter). So, even if your basic dough is prepared on a consistent basis, the final dough into which the starter dough is incorporated can vary because of the variations in the starter dough itself. One possibility that comes to mind to compensate is to use more yeast at the time of the final mix when it is cool and to use less yeast at the time of the final mix when it is warm. If you are able to maintain the starter dough fermentation temperature at a fixed value (for four pounds of dough you should be able to use a small ThermoKool-type unit to do this), then you may not have to adjust the amount of yeast used. Even then there may be some inconsistencies of results but I think they should be relatively minor.
 
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nothing wrong with sugar level,but i bet your crust is really browning well the first day,but the next day it is not???
 
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yea i think you are right about the browning of the crust. my dough is super hard in the walk in.

we dont use proofing trays we use big baking trays.

with the proofing trays the dough explodes everywhere and we get squares.

now the dough gets like rock hard in the walk in

im lost…
 
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jokergerm:
now the dough gets like rock hard in the walk in
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Is this for a dough with the IDY hydrated in water like you have been doing or with the IDY mixed directly in with the flour? Also, what is the temperature of your walk-in? And what is the finished dough temperature when the dough balls go into the walk-in?
 
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From what you’ve said, I’m guessing that you are not cross stacking the dough boxes for about 2-hours when you first put then into the cooler. After cross stacking, the boxes are then down stacked and nested to prevent drying of the dough balls. You say that your dough balls are "super hard after they’re in the cooler. Are they crusted over? It sounds like they might be. Please take a look in the RECIPE BANK at some of the dough formulas I’ve got posted there and review the dough management procedure, let me know how your dough management procedure varies.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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Tom,

In the opening post, jokergerm said that the dough is balled up, put on trays and then put in plastic bags and placed in the walk-in. From the last post, I believe jokergerm said that he/she used to use proofing trays but is no longer doing so, but rather is now using baking trays.
 
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dough getting hard?
you cover them right?
how many pizzas do you sell per day?
how do you produce a skin,sheet or toss?
 
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