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[l33fal@yahoo.co.uk]

Hi
I have been experimenting recently with my own pizza making and have had some success and lots of disasters, but am quite happy to experiment until I find the dough recipe I enjoy most.  I have tried using strong (and extra strong 14%) white bread flour protein 12.7%, I have also used caputo '00' flour (not pizza flour protein it's 10% protein).  The problem I have is I have quite a lot of this '00' flour left to use.  I have experimented mixing the 2 different flours together with varied success.  I have read the threads regarding mixing the 2 flours where there are differing views.  The only reason I have mixed the 2 is because the protein levels in the '00' flour are so low.  I am therefore looking for a recipe combining the 2 different types of flour I was using 800g '00' with 200g strong white bread flour.  I would like to be able to freeze the dough so I can make a big batch and use accordingly. I would like to be able to make enough dough at once for about 10 10-12" thin pizzas (about 275g each).  Could anyone provide me with a recipe? I have active dried yeast and instant dried yeast.  Things I have been struggling with are; autolyse period? When do I do this if I need to? I don't have a mixer and will be doing everything by hand. Activating the yeast? I like the taste of the dough with olive oil and a small amount of sugar for browning of the crust.  How long do I leave the dough to ferment? ( I prefer in the fridge overnight, but do I need to take it out and knock it back at any point? If so when?) I then take the dough out an hour or two prior to making the pizza
My Idea would be;
800g '00' flour/200g strong white bread flour (100% flour)
600 or 650g or ml? of water, what temperature?
21g of ADY?
20g Sea salt?
15g Olive oil?
10g Sugar?

Activate the ADY in warm water (100-105) degrees for 10 mins with a tiny amount of sugar to feed the yeast
Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and olive oil with the water (do I autolyse now? What exactly is autolysing?)
Knead the dough for about 10 mins till smooth and elastic?
Place the dough in a oiled bowl covered with clingfilm and place in the fridge for 24 hours?
Take the dough out of the fridge and leave for an hour
Divide the pizza dough now into individual lumps? Or before placing in the fridge to ferment?
Place each lump of dough in a ziploc bag and freeze.
Take the dough from the freezer and leave in the fridge over night to thaw, then leave the dough to heat to room temp for an hour or two prior to making the pizzas?

I know there are far to many questions but if anyone could help that would be great. I know all the answers are here somewhere but piecing all the different components together is a nightmare.  Will my method work? I'm not striving for perfection or I wouldn't freeze the dough prior to making pizza but I do want a tasty dough that I can master and prepare in fairly big batches (10) and also have the ability to freeze.
Any help would be fantastic and thanks in advance  should you reply.

Cheers
Lee

[Pete-zza]

Lee,

I have done a fair amount of experimentation and research on frozen pizza dough and have some thoughts on the subject in your case, but before offering them up can you tell us how long you want to freeze the dough balls before using?

If you do some searching on the forum, you will find many examples of instances where the members have made and frozen dough balls. I think you will find that dough balls have been frozen at just about every stage, including right after making, after refrigerating, or even after a room temperature fermentation. Often the decision to freeze the dough is made on the spur of the moment, typically because something comes up that prevents using the dough balls at that time. When I intentionally make frozen dough, I use many of the techniques used by commercial dough ball producers who supply frozen dough balls to pizzerias, and I make and freeze the dough balls as quickly as possible. I think I am the only member who does that, so you may want to also consider what other members have done on this score, especially since some of them have reported getting good results using methods different than mine.

As background reading on what freezing dough balls is all about, both in a commercial environment and in a home environment, you might want to take a look at Reply 272 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,576.msg17428/topicseen.html#msg17428 and Reply 721 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,576.msg62457/topicseen.html#msg62457. More recently, at Reply 24 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9121.msg83041.html#msg83041, I discussed the results of a conversation I had about frozen dough balls with an employee of Lamonica's, a well-known U.S. supplier of frozen dough balls to pizza operators (including the food courts of Costco, a major membership wholesale chain). In your case, what might dictate the direction to go will be the duration of the freezing of the dough balls you make. There may also be some trade-offs because of the ingredients you want to use, especially the 00 flour.

Peter

[Pete-zza]

Lee,

In my last post, I forgot to cite the post that I often refer others to on the matter of autolyse. It is Reply 9 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2632.msg22856.html#msg22856.

Peter