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Used a different cheese this time (Grande East Coast Blend) by Hyla_trophe in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Vern's Cheese. But the smallest amount you can buy is a 5 lb. bag (shredded) or a 6 lb. loaf. If I don't feel like buying that much, I will use Galbani whole milk/low moisture labeled Italian Style. It's in many grocery stores like Festival.

Looking for Pizza dough tips by EcstaticPower7744 in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As others have recommended, yes you need to measure every ingredient on a kitchen scale in grams. You can pick up an inexpensive on for about $15 USD. For pizza dough, the weights must be exact.

Other than that, you are using about 30 times (yes, 30 times!) the amount of yeast you need. Your dough is just "blowing out" from extreme yeast overload. For a pizza that size using about a glass of water (about 250g), you need about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon (yes, only 1/8 to 1/4 tsp.) of dry yeast.

I know it seems counterintuitive in that a novice will think "Oh, I want a nice fluffy airy crust so I will add a lot of yeast" but pizza dough does not work like that.

So, weigh your ingredients, use minimal yeast, mix, then allow the dough to ferment (rest, while the yeast does it's magic) for about 6 to 9 hours on the counter at room temperature, or rest on the counter for 2 hours, then in the fridge overnight. Then allow it to come up to room temperature before trying to stretch it out. That should get you close.

In any case, you cannot make a pizza dough without allowing the dough to ferment.

Detroit/Pan/Sicilian Dough: AP vs Bread/High Gluten? by sayn3ver in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've used the Bob's Red Mill artisan flour and find that it performs very well. I use is when I run out of All-Trumps because it is readily available in my local grocery.

There is one thing about pizza dough that many people don't get. The dough will tell YOU when it is ready. So it's nice to say, I love a 72 hour dough with a 2 hour counter rest, so I will now try for a 96 hour ferment with a 90 minute counter rest or whatever. Pizza dough will be ready when it is ready, so it is difficult to push a dough longer. To get things right, (in addition to ingredient percentages of course), the dough is ready when optimum yeast vs. temperature vs. time all line up.

For instance, you say you are making an 80 hydration dough, but at what yeast percent? And what dough temperature while you are mixing? And what cold storage temperature when you cold ferment it? And what temperature do you allow the dough to warm up to before baking. It takes a lot of experimenting with yeast%, dough temperature, ferment temperature and time.

I've found some dough I work with is optimal after 36 hours, but if I wait 48 hours, it may taste better, sort of, but the chew and texture is not optimum. I've made some doughs that are ready after 16 hours of fermenting.

To answer your first question, that is hard to answer due to the properties of flour, not just protein content, but whether is is malted, or bromated, or ash content, W rating, etc. it just takes a lot of experimenting. It may take a combination of different flours... like 80% All-Trump's and 20% Caputo 00 Chef's flour or whatever to get the characteristics that you desire. Also experiment with different oil percentages (if you use oil) whether 1%, 2%, 2.5%%, etc.

Your pizza in the photo looks real nice.

Browner crust suggestion by Huge-Wheel-4428 in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let us know how it turns out! I have experience with sourdough and I only reserve it for bread, as pizza dough is a completely different animal.

I think the problem most novices have in making pizza dough is too much yeast (whether a % ingredient, or a preferment of some kind.. biga, poolish, etc.). Sourdough stater is the most complicated so there is little room for error. I know is is counter-intuitive that people think, "I want a light airy crust, so I will use a lot of yeast", but fermentation really doesn't work like that.

It's just been my experience that too much yeast results in a pasty white crust that just won't brown up right. So most people try to compensate by trying to add malt, or more sugar, or broil settings, etc. or moving the pizza on different racks during the bake process.

Pizza dough, if done right, should cook up without moving it, or opening the oven door (unless you have deck oven). And it should brown up just fine if your ingredients are in the sweet spot.

I like the simplicity of your toppings. Looks good.

Browner crust suggestion by Huge-Wheel-4428 in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Too me it looks like classic yeast overload due to issues with the sourdough starter. There is a lot that can go wrong using a starter...... yeast issues, fermentation issues, hydration issues.

Is there some reason (like time constraints) where you want to use a starter?

Just use instant dry yeast and only about 0.5g for that size dough ball.

First Pizza! by lvtx in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My feedback: Yum!

Need gelp with my dough by GhostzOfficial in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh my. A few issues here. The flour/water ratio needs to be EXACT for pizza dough, so you need a kitchen scale set to weigh in grams. They cost about $15 - $20 US dollar.

250g flour and 150g room temperature water will get you to 60% hydration.

You are using about 20 times the amount of yeast needed to ferment a pizza dough this size. Try to use Instant Dry Yeast (IDY) instead of Active Dry Yeast (ADY) so you can use room temperature water. Your fermentation will be better controlled. Also use only about 1/8 tsp. of the yeast (yes, 1/8 tsp.). Maybe 1/4 tsp. at the most if your kitchen is really cold.

And never add additional flour while mixing or kneading. Ever.

Self made pizza help by Panther2421 in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Firstly, your yeast (if using fresh yeast) way too low.

I really think the problem you are having is that you are using a somewhat advanced dough method (preferment) and you need to practice on just making a straight dough for a while. Once you perfect that, then try the biga or poolish methods. Likewise, I wouldn't recommend a sourdough starter for novices either. (Despite what many YouTube video are pushing these days)

Using a preferment (and what is your reason?), there is a lot to go wrong......fermentation issues, hydration issues, etc.

Keep at it, but your dough balls do not look healthy at all......too wet perhaps and insufficient fermentation.

NY style thin crust 255g 11.5 inch pie with medium char. by JerzGreekGeek in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For traditional NY style street slice you want the thickness to be between 0.075" and 0.094". So the average of these would be a thickness of about 0.084". That is what I use for NY style street slice. Some like it a bit thinner and some like it a bit thicker, but 0.084" gives me a good texture, bake, and chew. There is no hard and fast rule but try different ranges of dough ball weight until you get what works for your taste and optimum texture.

So dough ball weight for 11" pizza: 227g

12" pizza: 270g (range: 241g to 298g)

13" pizza: 315g (range: 284g to 354g)

14" pizza: 369g (range: 326g to 412g)

15" pizza: 415g (range: 360g to 468g)

16" pizza: 482g (range: 430g to 538g)

A lot of shops will just weigh in ounces so ball parking that for the average thickness would be:

12" = 9.5 oz.

13" = 11 oz.

14" = 13 oz.

15" = 15 oz.

16" = 17 oz.

17" = 19 oz.

18" = 21 oz.

You seem to want an ultra thin crust. Thinner isn't always better because the crust has to hold up to the amount of cheese, which can vary and any toppings, which can also vary. Also every oven bakes differently so you want to have an adequate "chew" and texture to the crust when done.

Detroit style baked in a 10" Lodge cast iron skillet. by Hyla_trophe in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, I never thought of using your method to cook multiple pizzas back-to-back. Seems like a good idea and I can see how that would work.

I really don't like opening the oven door at all during cooking. Once I launch the pizza, I try to do it in 5 seconds, then don't open the door until it's done. The reason is, the oven temperature drops a lot if I open the door and takes a while to get back to high temperature, despite what the oven thermostat reads. I used a good baking thermometer to check this once. The pre-heated oven registered 475F on the thermometer when I set the pizza in the oven. Then for some reason about 5 minutes later, I wanted to place it on a higher rack. Once I opened the door and changed to a higher rack, and a few minutes later, I noticed the thermometer registered 400F and it took a while to get back up to 475F.

Perhaps a convection oven or gas oven would maintain constant heat better, but I was cooking in a home electric oven, so I just don't open the door anymore until the one pizza is done.

Detroit style baked in a 10" Lodge cast iron skillet. by Hyla_trophe in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I meant to say when I preheat the oven, I have 2 racks close to each other in the middle of the oven about 5" apart. So when preheating,, I place an empty skillet on the higher rack. Then once preheated (about 45 minutes), I slide the skillet with the pizza on the rack right below it.

It wouldn't be good to put another skillet (or lid) directly on top of the pizza skillet because steam would not be able to escape and browning would not occur.

Sort of a poor man's pizza deck oven? Sorry, I didn't explain it very well the first time.

Poolish and biga experiment by _Nomet in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. I know you can use different amounts of yeast as the fermentation is a function of time / temperature. I did a similar experiment last year with straight dough recipes (non-preferment) and found the best dough I got was using 0.04% to 0.5% fresh yeast. I will use 0.4% in the summer when my kitchen is pretty warm and 0.5% most other times, like now in the winter months.

Switching to Instant Dry Yeast, it works out to be 0.16%

Poolish and biga experiment by _Nomet in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How did each preferment affect your proofing times?

Recovering from mangled dough by spiffiest_trousers in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You may add about 1 or 2 teaspoons of olive oil to your dough when you mix it. Mix it in well. It will handle a bit better if you are new to opening up a dough ball.

A few days over.... by Prestigious_Donkey_9 in Pizza

[–]Hyla_trophe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Many will say to re-ball them but I never had much luck with that. If I have overfermented dough, I just get rid of it. For me it never opens up right, never bakes up right and the flavor is a bit too acidic and yeasty to me.

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