Q: I’ve heard you point out that the dough needs to be blended to a selected temperature. Do you arrive at this temperature by various the dough mixing time?
A: The completed dough temperature is assorted by making changes to the temperature of the water added to the dough. Colder water ends in a decrease completed dough temperature, and hotter water ends in the next completed dough temperature. For essentially the most half, the dough mixing time might be a continuing after getting decided the proper mixing time in your particular dough. For many functions, we advocate a completed dough temperature within the 80 to 85 diploma vary. That is assuming your kitchen space can have a room temperature within the 70 to 80 F vary. Cooler or hotter kitchens could require a barely hotter or colder temperature vary.
There are two widespread methods to calculate the proper water temperature wanted to reach at a predetermined completed dough temperature. One is the process given out by Lesaffre/Crimson Star Yeast Company. This system merely requires that you just subtract the fl our temperature from 145, with the reply being the proper water temperature to make use of.
The opposite is a bit totally different in that there are extra components concerned, and it goes as follows: 3 times the specified completed dough temperature, minus the sum of the fl our temperature, room temperature, and friction issue (whereas this may be calculated, in your particular dough measurement and mixer, most individuals who use this technique simply plug within the quantity 30 for the friction issue when a planetary sort mixer is used). The result’s the beneficial water temperature. In both case, the completed dough temperature might be near, or at, the focused completed dough temperature, and a slight adjustment within the water temperature should be required to zero in on the specified temperature. When making adjustments to the water temperature, we advocate that you just change it in 5 F increments, both up or down, as mandatory.
I maintain listening to all these totally different views on how pizza dough needs to be blended. What’s your advice? Pizza dough, not like bread dough, needs to be below blended to some extent. The below mixing of the dough ends in incomplete gluten improvement, which in flip helps to make the dough a bit simpler to ball. It additionally contributes to a extra open, coarse crumb construction within the completed/baked crust. Extreme mixing of the dough may end up in a troublesome, rubbery dough consistency whilst you’re attempting to around the scaled dough items into balls. However, even worse, it could actually additionally end in a finer, extra bread-like completed crumb construction within the baked crust. From a private perspective, I believe the one time it’s fascinating to completely develop the gluten construction in pizza dough is when you will produce frozen dough. In that utility, you can find that absolutely developed dough can have improved freezer tolerance and longer shelf life if the gluten is extra absolutely developed.
One of the best ways to establish correct dough/gluten improvement in pizza dough is thru visible look of the dough throughout mixing. Close to excellent dough improvement will be achieved by mixing the dough simply till it takes on a easy, satiny look. At that time, you possibly can cease mixing and be assured that the dough is correctly blended for 90 p.c of our functions.
One other, and doubtless a bit extra correct technique of assessing correct dough improvement is to take away a hen’s-egg piece of dough from the mixer and type it right into a ball. Then, bending the fingers of each fingers inward on the second knuckle, convey your fingers collectively so the again of your fingers are touching. Orient the dough ball so it’s on prime of your finger ideas, and convey your thumbs right down to seize the dough ball between your finger ideas and thumbs. Now, roll your fingers downward, inflicting your thumbs to drag on the dough ball, stretching the pores and skin. If the dough pores and skin exhibits indicators of tearing, you may need to combine the dough a bit longer. If it doesn’t tear, the dough is correctly blended.
Due to the under-mixed nature of a pizza dough, it actually doesn’t make a lot distinction if we obtain the dough improvement utilizing low or medium pace on the mixer. It simply takes much less time if we will use medium pace.
On the final Pizza Expo I heard you point out that it isn’t mandatory to place the yeast (compressed) into the water to dissolve earlier than including the fl our and different elements. If you happen to don’t do that, how will it get blended into the dough?
Compressed yeast, a.okay.a. recent yeast, is definitely greatest added on to the fl our, a lot in the identical means that on the spot dry yeast (IDY) is added. It truly goes into the dough fairly simply, with little or no mixing motion required. The one time that I ever advocate suspending the compressed yeast within the water is when a VCM sort of mixer is used. On this case, the blending time is so quick, measured in seconds, that suspending it within the water is the one positive means to make sure that it’s completely and uniformly distributed all through the dough.
The identical advice is made when making a cracker sort dough, once more for a similar motive. On this case, the blending time is even shorter, usually a minute or much less, and on this particular case, we go as far as to advocate that the salt, sugar and yeast are all added to the water within the mixing bowl and stirred collectively for a couple of seconds previous to including the flour.
This is without doubt one of the few occasions after I ever advocate mixing the yeast, salt and sugar (if used) collectively within the water, however it’s the one option to get them evenly distributed all through the dough in view of the very quick mixing time. It isn’t a lot a matter of the salt and sugar instantly damaging the yeast and impairing its means to ferment a dough; however, relatively, if the salt, sugar and yeast are allowed to set within the mixing bowl for an prolonged time period earlier than the fl our is added and the blending process began (like that by no means occurs), there’s a likelihood that the yeast will be broken. The outcome can be a softer-than anticipated dough consistency, undesirable dough stickiness — and presumably a discount in refrigerated shelf life. ?
Tom Lehmann is a director on the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kansas.
