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[nedman]

I just recently came across this site and it seems that there are very intelligent pizza people on here.  So ihave a couple of questions.

I have been in the pizza industry 10 years now and have expirienced many different dough recipe's how ever they have all contained salt and oil, some also sugar.

I was curious the importance of all these ingredients.

I recently got hired on as a GM of place that does only calzones  and there recipe contains only yeast, water, and high gluten flour.

We definitely want the a very crispy crust, but are looking for possible ways to give our dough some more flavor. 

Also I think I know the answer to this already but, yeast can die/expire, quit working after long storage periods? yes/no 

any comments/help would be greatly appreciated

[pacoast]

Yes, yeast will lose activity after prolonged storage. For this reason many store yeast in the freezer where it can be stored almost indefinitely due to the lowered temperature. If you have a larger quantity of yeast of questionable quality try proofing it. Add about 2 tsp of yeast & a tsp of sugar to a cup of very warm water, about 110F. Stir & let sit for five minutes. If it bubbles & smells like bread, then it is still active. If you haven't done this before, prepare another cup with known good yeast & compare.

Many doughs do not contain oil & sugar, it depends on what you are making. If you search around this site you will find many discussions of the how these ingredients affect dough. The most common method for increasing dough flavour is extended fermentation. This can be done under refrigeration or at room temperature. Other methods include sourdough (natural yeast), using stone ground flours, adding some rye flour, etc. I would imagine that at least the former would work for calzones, however I am in no way a calzone expert.

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[UnConundrum]

dough recipe's how ever they have all contained salt and oil, some also sugar.

Salt is a very important ingredient to control the yeast.  Rule of thumb would be 2% of the flour weight.  That can then change based on ambient temperature and other ingredients.  Might help your search for flavor as well.

[Pete-zza]

nedman,

There are quite a few threads and posts on the forum that discuss what various ingredients do. For example, see http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7915.msg67914.html#msg67914. Also, if you look under the Dough Ingredients board, you will see many posts, particularly those from BakingBusiness.com, that discuss what the various dough ingredients do. For example, for one on salt see http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,8764.msg75936/topicseen.html#msg75936. Also, for a more basic discussion of the role of salt in dough, see http://www.kingarthurflour.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/15ec5c94af1251cdac2d7a25848f0e27/miscdocs/salt.pdf. For a discussion on some of the more common ways to enhance the flavor of a crust, see http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7551.msg79094.html#msg79094.

Peter