Share Your Best Pizza Dough...

The difficulty in working the dough is primarily down to the hydration level. Try dropping it to more like 60% and it'll be easier :)

It's strange you've got sticking issues with the greaseproof paper. When I've used it in the past I don't oil it in any way. That said, when I used to use greaseproof paper there was often a little oil in my dough mix.
 
FrenchTart said:
The difficulty in working the dough is primarily down to the hydration level. Try dropping it to more like 60% and it'll be easier :)

It's strange you've got sticking issues with the greaseproof paper. When I've used it in the past I don't oil it in any way. That said, when I used to use greaseproof paper there was often a little oil in my dough mix.
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Yeah it kind of confused me to why it happened but I definitely was not happy with what it did to the finish on the bottom of the pizza. The day before managed to stretch it by hand so I think I just need practice with some of the more highly hydrated doughs.

I think I am going to have to leave it a few days though as today we visited friends in Leeds and ordered pizza from Ecco Pizzeria, they do Neapolitan pizzas by the 1/2 metre and do some really nice combinations! I think three days out of four means i need to make something a little different tomorrow. :D
 
f00b4r said:
Yeah it kind of confused me to why it happened but I definitely was not happy with what it did to the finish on the bottom of the pizza. The day before managed to stretch it by hand so I think I just need practice with some of the more highly hydrated doughs.

I think I am going to have to leave it a few days though as today we visited friends in Leeds and ordered pizza from Ecco Pizzeria, they do Neapolitan pizzas by the 1/2 metre and do some really nice combinations! I think three days out of four means i need to make something a little different tomorrow. :D
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Madness. Make it a week of pizza :p

Sorry for the slow reply also - missed this originally.

Greaseproof paper on the base definitely does give it a kind of weird texture compared to having it directly on stone. I really prefer to avoid using greaseproof paper these days if I can but when I'm feeling incredibly lazy or something has gone horribly wrong I'll still do it.
 
Made another tonight with the pizza oven. I didn't flatten the dough enough and also, thinking back, I made the dough balls too big. Result was a bit of an odd one - pizza expanded a lot and burnt on the top but was still pretty tasty. I'm still struggling with this new flour too. It seems to become a lot softer and stickier at any given hydration.
 
FrenchTart said:
Somewhat cheap pizza oven...

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/g3-...n-only-53-98-delivered-from-amazon-uk-2346154
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Its been marked as spam, guessing it is the same as you have though?

What new flour are you using? I was thinking about ordering some of this stuff if I cannot find it locally but up until I have just concentrated on the protein level in the flour after getting pointed in that direction by a Serious Eats article.
The wife is away a couple of days on business next week so think I will make some more test doughs up this weekend. :D
 
Weird that it was marked as spam. Oh well, they're cheap anyhow :) It's the oven I have, yes. I still need to get round to modding it.

I'm still stuck on rubbish supermarket flour at the moment. I'm planning on ordering in something decent quite soon though. I need to get a suitable container so it doesn't instantly go off.
 
FrenchTart said:
Weird that it was marked as spam. Oh well, they're cheap anyhow :) It's the oven I have, yes. I still need to get round to modding it.

I'm still stuck on rubbish supermarket flour at the moment. I'm planning on ordering in something decent quite soon though. I need to get a suitable container so it doesn't instantly go off.
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Can help you there, having bought a ton of containers.

You want a Sistema KLIP IT, I got mine from the rainforest, but they actually sell them in Asda cheaper.

Comes with a little measuring cup too which is handy, and keeps your flour pristine. I was keeping mine in the bags / some cheap asda ones and had little black bugs in it, so invested in these and not looked back!

Where you getting your flour from SM?
 
Moses said:
Vac pac the bag of flour in an oversized vac bag, so you can open it and reseal a number of times?
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He won't need to if he buys the container I suggested, has a seal to keep it air tight.

Only downside is, it won't fit a 2KG bag from shipton mill in, so I have an overflow coffee can I use which is also sealed.
 
I keep all our flour in Kilner jars - very cheap and look great. In fact we have Kilner jars for most food storage from rice, cous cous, lentils to pasta of varying types as well as tea/coffee/sugar containers.

I'm pretty sure it's the 2 litre ones that can hold 1.5kg bag. We have never had flour going off like we did when in the bags.

Edited - this is the one
 
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Bit of an experiment with my latest batch of 65% hydration dough. I've got some 400ml tupperware which I liberally covered the inside of with olive oil. I've stuck each 200g dough ball into one of those, sealed and stuck it in the bottom of the fridge. I'm hoping it will rise well enough and not stick so I can just tip it out onto a bed of flour for shaping/stretching.

I'll be keeping an eye on it and might 'burp' the tops if need be. I've seen it used on one of the pizza making forums with great success though.
 
I have some of my usual dough in the fridge for later in the week, it's 61.5% by the recipe but I always add a little extra water in the food processor if I can so I am guessing it's is around 65%.
I am hoping that I get the benefits of the cold ferment for texture and taste but a much easier dough to work with; the method makes it in a food processor in a few minutes and because if comes of kneaded it is easy to work with.
I would be really interested though with regard to successful cold fermenting in some form of container though as it would make it much easier to knock it back for the first couple of days.
 
I'll let you know how it turns out - it's in a particularly cold part of the fridge so the fermentation is very slow but it's getting there. I may test one of the dough balls tonight.

I think I probably over-oiled the container but it should at least be easy to get out without sticking... :p

To be honest with regards to ease of working it's all down to the hydration (at least when you've got extended cold ferment periods like we're talking about) so if you're struggling with 65% I would simply drop it closer to 60% as you've mentioned. If I'm making something closer to New York style I'll often use 60% as it's just much easier to stretch it - especially useful with a larger pizza like that.
 
In the past week I've tried Rudy's (it was shut), Dough and Honest Crust.

Rudy's: I have no comment as they don't open Mondays. Derp.

Dough: I went to when Rudy's was closed. Disappointing to the extent that I would rather have had a Pizza Express pizza. Grim weird crispy base that I assume was gluten free even though the menu did not advertise this. The crust was thinner than the middle?! Great that they cater for coeliacs and (more likely) fussy gluten hating hipsters but I'll keep my glutenz thanks.

Honest Crust: owned by the same folks as Rudy's but out in Altrincham in the Market Hall which is a really nice space with various food outlets (all a bit overpriced but emphasis is on doing the basics well and using local produce which is never a bad thing). Pizza here was very very good. Nice bubbly crust with good colour and good balance of toppings. The broccoli and smoked mozzarella special is delicious, as is the nduja topped one. Only complaint was the base was maybe rolled a touch thin for my liking, I like a little bit of bite in the middle but that's more down to personal preference. Maybe the dough could do with a little bit more fermentation as FT suggested above to develop the flavour more too but it's a minor complaint. If Rudy's is this good then it's a winner too.
 
Interesting to hear /re Dough. I've never been but based on that review I won't rush to change that. I've been meaning to try Crust for a while though. I need to get on that.

My experiment with tupperware dough wasn't a huge success but I'm not sure how much of that is down to it being my first try and the fact that I chucked too much oil in the box to try to prevent sticking. I've got three more to play with so I'll see how it turns out...
 
Okay all the doughs got used tonight and at 3 days were not getting those funky flavours that i got form your at 4 and 5 days.
On the other hand it turns out that using crab meat with tomato paste as a base and adding big lobster chunks for the pizzas, along with the home made Munich Helles to wash it down with, makes for a pretty tasty meal. :D
 
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