Silky, Stretchable Dough - How?????? Pizza Discuss Silky, Stretchable Dough - How?????? in the Brick Oven Cooking forums; UPDATE... The dough was much better than before but needed about 2 hrs to get to room temperature. It stretched ...

[heliman]

UPDATE...

The dough was much better than before but needed about 2 hrs to get to room temperature.

It stretched much better than before. Still not quite as good as the FB video but perhaps a bit more standing will get it spot on.

Sample pic below...


Rossco

[Mitchamus]

here's another 2 cents...

From the sounds of it, your problem was not enough water, and maybe over-kneading.

glad to see you've cracked it though...

Another tip - snap lock sandwich bags are great for letting dough balls proof in.

I make my dough balls the day before, put them in the bags and leave them in the fridge overnight. The bags allow you to pile them up, and you don't have to worry about them drying out or sticking together.

I leave them in the bags right up until I start shaping them - just turn the bag inside out and the dough will come out.

I let them come up to room temp for at least an hour before I use them though.

I find 300g is the best dough ball size for me.

[heliman]

Ziplocks sound like a good idea Mitchamus...

Just a quick question on that ... do you re knead the balls again before using them??

Rossco

[Mitchamus]

No I just let it plop out of the bag onto a well floured bench... dust them on top and just start shaping them.
(by the sounds of it I have the same flour shaker as you with the stainless mesh)

They need some encouragement to come out, next time I'll try a 1/2 second spray of canola in the bag first, but it's worth it for the convenience...

They are very sticky when they come out of the bags, since they haven't been dusted with flour since initial shaping, and have lost zero moisture.

You really want to work them as little as possible at this stage.

they'll be more of a blob than a ball, but turn out fine.

cheers,
Mitch.

[heliman]

Sounds good - must say I have a terible problem finding a spot for the tupperwares in the fridge as they're so bulky.

BTW what flour are you using?

Rossco

[Mitchamus]

I'm using Manildra pizza flour.

[Dutchoven]

Rossco
Glad you have a handle on it. Originally I think it was the intermediate kneading that was over-developing the gluten. If/When you scale your dough just quickly make it round and then pop it into the proofing/resting container. It is possible to fold the dough about 30-45 minutes into the bulk fermentation to add a bit more gluten development but it is not something we do. Always better to handle it as little as possible. Incidentally, do you take the temp of your dough coming out of the mixer. A good temp in in the 72-75F range...at least for us it is.
All the best!
Dutch

[heliman]

Thanks for that Dutch...

Just to claify my process... according to the FB video the guy left the dough proofing in a large ball (not yet divided into smaller balls) overnight and cut and prepared pizza size balls the following day.

I did the same and when I got home last night, I took it out of the fridge and let it warm up for about 40 mins. It was still quite cold but I kneaded it for a few minutes, divided into 180 gram balls, twisted it for surface tension and left it covered on a marble slab for 2 hrs.

Results as mentioned were pretty good but I think that it may have needed some more time to proof/warm up on the counter as the second pizza was prepared about 30 mins after the first one and it stretched much better than the first one.

The thing is though, I would definitely prefer to proof overnight in the fridge with pizza-sized balls as it takes too much time waiting for the big ball to reach room temperature, then another 2 hrs to rest before baking.

No I don't check the temp of the dough - should I be doing this as part of the process??

Rossco

[dmun]

Just a quick question on that ... do you re knead the balls again before using them??

The less you handle the dough right before baking, the better your results will be. Out of the fridge, slight warming, out of container onto the floured bench, gently flatten and round, stretch out skin. Re-kneeding or more than the minimum shaping will seriously effect dough handling.

[heliman]

Goodness me - did I ask that rather ambiguous question????

So, by "slight warming" do you mean that the dough should still be a bit cool and not at room temperature?

I have definitely cut down on overall handling which seems to have greatly improved the malleability of the dough. How long do you knead you dough overall then at each stage of the process?

I will rethink the cutting and preparation the following day part in view of your comments...

Rossco