Share Your Best Pizza Dough...

[rexehuk]

900c is with an infrared themometer on back coals ? or with a stainless thermometer in the air off of the floor ? 900C would be carbonizing the outer pizza surface rapidly no ? (consulting web melting point for aluminium is apparently 659c)

900c at back with coals obviously, not the ambient air else I would have been cooking my hands while I go. Measured with ir thermometer.

Pizzas cooked in around 90 sec. Accidentally went to wash hands when I put one in and learned to respect the pizza cooking fire god.

Not sure why you quoted aluminium melting temp, the bars in the picture are all galvanised steel

 

[jpaul]

... it was just to indicate how hot 900c is ( with your comments on stepped oven I had wondered if step went up, in some manner, such that hot air might be trapped better - is a door you whip away at last minute a good idea ?)

Your aerated dough looked very liquid, did you need a lot of polenta to tame it ?
equally the pizza seemed heavily dosed (I though I was gourmand) such that ingredient might have broken through.

 

[FrenchTart]

Isn't galvanised steel really bad for things like this due to toxic stuff released at high temps? In regards to BBQ galvanised steel is a serious no-no.

 

[rexehuk]

... it was just to indicate how hot 900c is ( with your comments on stepped oven I had wondered if step went up, in some manner, such that hot air might be trapped better - is a door you whip away at last minute a good idea ?)

Your aerated dough looked very liquid, did you need a lot of polenta to tame it ?
equally the pizza seemed heavily dosed (I though I was gourmand) such that ingredient might have broken through.

Ahh well yeah with the stepping the heat definitely kept in the oven more, the floor temp remaining consistent was great.

The only downside was getting it going, I used a bag of kindling and it started going out, so had to grab more to get it going. Removing two front side bricks got it going until it was hot enough to be sucking in its own air on mass.

In terms of the dough, nope. It was plyable but not wet... Just takes delicate handling to not break it but after five days it's really forgiving and easy to work with. That was around 65-67% hydration.

To turn into a base, you have to do hand forming i find with this dough... I've now gone for semolina flour which is my new favourite, didn't use much at all, and there was no rupturing of the bases at all, they came out very nice, with firm bottoms but still nice and bendy. The pizza looks loaded, but that's just big bits of mozarella.

Regarding the steel... No such issues here. I'm not using it as a cooking surface... They merely form the roof so I have no concerns. Any worries about g.steel as far as I know come from using them for cooking food or preparing food.

 

[FrenchTart]

Hmm...perhaps the BBQ community is a bit overly cautious but it's definitely avoided even for stuff like UDS containers. Might be worth double-checking on anyhow as I was under the impression it was something to do with release of fumes at high temps.

 

[rexehuk]

Hmm...perhaps the BBQ community is a bit overly cautious but it's definitely avoided even for stuff like UDS containers. Might be worth double-checking on anyhow as I was under the impression it was something to do with release of fumes at high temps.

Nothing wrong with a bit of zinc in your blood

Also I can't imagine the exposure into a pizza would be at all noticeable at 90 seconds... vs say smoking for 12 hours in a closed environment and fumes circulating... sure, might end up with a bit of zinc in your food .

If I was using lead flashing, I might be like hey ok you're on to something here, and my guests would probably be dying, I'm sure that would be a good indicator.

 

[jpaul]

I had not heard of galvanised steel concerns either, but after FrenchTart had mentioned it I saw this

 

[TechMinerUK]

Made some Neoplitan dough yesterday to make Pizzas with at the weekend, attempted a 65% hydration dough but ended up being more like 62%. Currently it is in the fridge but it should be interesting as it's my first time with this kind of dough

 

[TechMinerUK]

I'm back and I've been meaning to post this for a while now. The Neapolitan dough was much better in the pizza maker compared to the New York dough (probably due to less oil so the base doesn't burn) but it was a pain to stretch and work with. In the end I had to use a rolling pin on two of the pizzas which was disappointing as the dough just shrunk back or was uneven/created holes when I did it by hand.

Here was (one of the) finished products:


So does anyone have any idea on making the dough easier to work with, it was sticky removing it from the bags and just soaked up the flour on the table. Also how would I go about getting a more pronounced crust?

 

[jpaul]

first rule of fight club 'don't use a rolling pin'

a lot of polenta on hands and board (re-usable for next time) - a while back they had Domino's tv series with dough prep competition ...could not see the work surface through its polenta covering, but i only use a tablespoon (with some pre-placed on pelle too - ready to go)
Rolling pin typically bursts the dough air holes for me and end up with dough sticking to rolling pin - so it is firm stretching with hands.

 

[rexehuk]

So does anyone have any idea on making the dough easier to work with, it was sticky removing it from the bags and just soaked up the flour on the table. Also how would I go about getting a more pronounced crust?

First off, as suggested ditch the rolling pin.

1. Roll into balls and let them rest to room temperature (there's a paul hollywood video for this... roll into ball, and push down and under and rotate, until you have a nice flawless ball, and the seam is at the bottom)
2. Lightly dust them with plain flour, do the same with the board
3. Use your hands (don't even place on board yet) to gently poke and pull it from the middle whilst turning in your hands
4. Once it starts getting bigger, keep going and then make a fist and place the dough on ur fists, (or one) and keep rotating and either pulling outwards with fists, or if using one fist use the other hand to turn it around as you go
5. I then put it directly onto my pizza peel which has a generous amount of fine semolina on, and pull it into final shape
6. Stick toppings on and cook immediately

 

[TechMinerUK]

first rule of fight club 'don't use a rolling pin'
a lot of polenta on hands and board (re-usable for next time) - a while back they had Domino's tv series with dough prep competition ...could not see the work surface through its polenta covering, but i only use a tablespoon (with some pre-placed on pelle too - ready to go)
Rolling pin typically bursts the dough air holes for me and end up with dough sticking to rolling pin - so it is firm stretching with hands.

I've heard about Polenta and Semolina to help prevent sticking. Is there a better one out of the two? Also I know I shouldn't have used a rolling pin as it squashes all the air out

First off, as suggested ditch the rolling pin.

1. Roll into balls and let them rest to room temperature
2. Lightly dust them with plain flour, do the same with the board
3. Use your hands (don't even place on board yet) to gently poke and pull it from the middle whilst turning in your hands
4. Once it starts getting bigger, keep going and then make a fist and place the dough on ur fists, (or one) and keep rotating and either pulling outwards with fists, or if using one fist use the other hand to turn it around as you go
5. I then put it directly onto my pizza peel which has a generous amount of polenta on, and pull it into final shape
6. Stick toppings on and cook immediately

That's a pretty comprehensive list, does it matter if I don't use OO flour for coating the dough? Also that explains why the dough was hard to work with as I didn't let it rest but once made I did put it directly on the peel

When stretching do I only spend a small amount of time stretching from the middle or should it be 50/50?

Thank you for the advice as well

 

[jpaul]

I have not tried semolina, but polenta you can get a 1.5kg bag about £1.5 at mrT, so i speculate it is cheaper (and you can cook polenta w/parmesan and fry in slices - versatility)

I like rexehuks' description,typically I fail to achieve any discernible thicker edge, for fear of poking a hole in centre, and it is a race against time once on pelle to get the tomato on to weigh it down and stop shrinkage, and then get the rest of the topping on to avoid tomato saturating dough and a catastrophic hole or poor transfer onto hot plate - 2 minutes tops from dough ball

 

[TechMinerUK]

I have not tried semolina, but polenta you can get a 1.5kg bag about £1.5 at mrT, so i speculate it is cheaper (and you can cook polenta w/parmesan and fry in slices - versatility)

I like rexehuks' description,typically I fail to achieve any discernible thicker edge, for fear of poking a hole in centre, and it is a race against time once on pelle to get the tomato on to weigh it down and stop shrinkage, and then get the rest of the topping on to avoid tomato saturating dough and a catastrophic hole or poor transfer onto hot plate - 2 minutes tops from dough ball

Hmm, I thought there might be another way other than adding topping to stop shrinkage. I know that as soon as it hits the stone it becomes very maleable and easy to stretch. I guess I'll have to be faster next time

 

[rexehuk]

I've heard about Polenta and Semolina to help prevent sticking. Is there a better one out of the two? Also I know I shouldn't have used a rolling pin as it squashes all the air out



That's a pretty comprehensive list, does it matter if I don't use OO flour for coating the dough? Also that explains why the dough was hard to work with as I didn't let it rest but once made I did put it directly on the peel

When stretching do I only spend a small amount of time stretching from the middle or should it be 50/50?

Thank you for the advice as well

No worries.

Oh and I wrote polenta... my bad! I mean semolina! You MUST use fine grain semolina flour though, there are course varieties but you want to use bread grade semolina (I use Shipton Mil). I used polenta in the past, and to be honest found it a pain, and makes the base all yellow and dotty...

I just end up using 00 or plain flour, doesn't make much difference tbh... your dusting it, not covering the dough and changing the consistency.

Don't worry about it being sticky, once it's sitting on semolina it'll be all grand and move fine .

If you use a cold ferment for like 5 days, the dough will be super workable and you can stretch it until you can see your face through it! I never make it super thin, usually maybe 1.5-3mm if I had to guess.

 

[jpaul]

yellow and dotty..

.

what is wrong with that - see earlier pics

 

[TechMinerUK]

No worries.
Oh and I wrote polenta... my bad! I mean semolina! You MUST use fine grain semolina flour though, there are course varieties but you want to use bread grade semolina (I use Shipton Mil). I used polenta in the past, and to be honest found it a pain, and makes the base all yellow and dotty...
I just end up using 00 or plain flour, doesn't make much difference tbh... your dusting it, not covering the dough and changing the consistency.
Don't worry about it being sticky, once it's sitting on semolina it'll be all grand and move fine .
If you use a cold ferment for like 5 days, the dough will be super workable and you can stretch it until you can see your face through it! I never make it super thin, usually maybe 1.5-3mm if I had to guess.

I'll need to have a look for some bread grade semolina as the shops near me don't sell it. Also i usually do a cold ferment but it still makes it no more workable although that's probably because I don't let it warm to room temperature before working it

 

[ci_newman]

I posted a lazy man's pizza dough recipe a while back but it has been tweaked a bit since. Similar to Kimi, this is more of a Neapolitan style pizza dough.

You basically want dough that is about 65% hydration. So something like:

(one small pizza)
150g 00 flour
97.5g cold water
dash of olive oil
small pinch brown sugar
large pinch salt
1/4 a packet of instant yeast

Mix it all together, wrap in well-oiled clingfilm and then leave in the fridge for 24 hours. You don't need to knead. The dough will be even better if you leave it longer - 48-72 hours is optimal in terms of flavour development. If you are in a rush though you can just omit the fridge step and knead the dough as normal.

Take the dough out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature (couple of hours). You can work with the dough whilst it's fridge temperature but it's more difficult. Take a large piece of grease proof paper and put it on your work surface. Place dough on top. Oil a large piece of clingfilm and place over the top of the dough. Use your hands to crush/spread the dough under the clingfilm until you've made it thin and pizza-shaped. This is totally untraditional but it requires very little in the way of dough handling skills to get a very good result. You can also use a rolling pin if you're that way inclined. Part of the reason for doing it this way is to avoid the dough sticking to your hands (it's quite a high hydration dough so fairly sticky) and to avoid drying the dough out by having to add too much extra flour during the shaping phase.

Leave the dough to rise how it is for an hour or two. In the meantime, pre-heat your oven to one billion degrees and pre-heat your pizza stone (or ideally, a cast iron pizza stone) to a similarly hot temperature.

Remove the clingfilm but leave the dough on the greaseproof paper. Add your tomato, cheese, toppings, etc. Use the greaseproof paper to lift the pizza onto your screaming-hot pizza stone and then place it as high in the oven as you can (I actually use grill mode quite often). It will cook in about 5 minutes and be amazing.

To make your pizza a bit more dominos-like you need to do a few things: 1) add more fat to the dough (try swapping 50% of the water for milk or adding more olive oil) 2) use cornmeal on the edges/bottom of the pizza and 3) make the base thicker/larger (increase all ingredients by 1/3rd).

I used this recipe last night, it was very tasty

 

[f00b4r]

Just ordered a baking steel and going to see how much difference it makes.
Btw French Tart you might want to edit that recipe to read parchment paper rather than greaseproof paper as the former will end up sticking to the pizza....ask me how I know

 

[jpaul]

I was going to ask about the grease proof, but even with parchment I am surprised you can release the pizza onto the stone/iron with same efficiency as a quick impetus on a semolina lubricated pell, and not end up with a rucked up base or worse missed target.