I read the Slice piece and the comments and offer up the following observations.
First, Peter Reinhart is well aware of the concept of oxidation. In fact, the very first time that I can recall reading about the harmful effects of oxidation on carotenoids was from something that he wrote. Even after doing substantial searching for more information on the subject, I found very little. Later, after I bought Professor Calvel's book
The Taste of Bread, I found a lot more information about oxidation of bread dough. In France, that oxidation took place at very high mixer speeds with very intensive mixing. Also, if the salt, which is an antioxidant, was added to the dough toward the end of the kneading process, that resulted in even further oxidation of the dough. In this context, I looked at Peter Reinhart's instructions for making his NY style dough in a stand mixer. Those instructions are at pages 114-115 of his book
American Pie. I see nothing from those instructions from the standpoint of mixer speed or mixing/kneading durations that leads me to believe that oxidation of the dough takes place with those mixer speeds and durations. In my opinion, Peter Reinhart would not have given instructions that he knowingly believed would result in oxidation of the dough and harmed the carotenoids.
Second, I agree with all of the commenters on the autolyse and what it constitutes. Professor Calvel was the "father" of the autolyse method and gave it its name. The autolyse should involve only flour and water (and possibly a natural levain). If people want to add salt, yeast, oil and other ingredients along with the flour and water, and let the mixture rest, they should feel free to do so. However, in my opinion, they should not call such a rest period an autolyse. Call it a quasi-autolyse or ersatz autolyse or some other non-ambiguous term and then explain what it is so that it is not confused with the classic Calvel autolyse. The post that I often cite on the subject of autolyse for those who are interested is Reply 9 at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2632.msg22856.html#msg22856. I might also add that in Peter Reinhart's instructions referenced above, in which all of the ingredients for the pizza dough are added to the bowl at the same time, he never refers to the ensuing rest periods as autolyse rest periods, even though the rest periods he calls for do improve the hydration of the flour.
Third, one of the things that is missing in the Slice piece is a discussion of finished dough temperature. It is very easy to end up with a very warm dough using a food processor. The finished dough temperature can be many degrees higher than a comparable dough made in a stand mixer, even when using the pulse feature and, typically, the full speed of the food processor to finally bring things together. I once calculated the friction factor of my 14-cup Cuisinart food processor and it was much higher than for my standard KitchenAid stand mixer with the C-hook. I later learned that I could keep the finished dough temperature of doughs made in my food processor in the desired 75-80 degrees F range by using cold water, mainly the pulse feature, and a short period of operating the food processor at full speed. The danger in not trying to keep the dough cool is that the dough will ferment much faster and rise much faster and continue to rise even after being placed in the refrigerator. This activity is further aggravated if the amount of yeast is also high. As noted below, I established that the dough formulation referenced in the Slice piece calls for 0.944% IDY. That is a high value.
Fourth, I calculated the thickness factor for the recipe discussed in the Slice piece and, assuming the dough is used to make 12" pizzas, the thickness factor value comes to 0.119; for 14" pizzas, it is 0.08743. Of the two values, I think that most New Yorkers who cherish the NY "street" style or "slice" style and know about thickness factors, which is quite a few members of this forum, will tell you that 0.119 is too high a thickness factor for that style. However, the 0.08743 thickness factor is much closer to what you are likely to get for that style. So, in my opinion, 14" is the better size to use for authenticity. I personally think the tougher test to come up with an authentic NY style is to make an 18" pizza, particularly one with slices that do not droop.
Finally, as I have commented before, I do not view Peter Reinhart's NY style dough formulation as being the best representation or manifestation of the NY style. I took a stab at converting his recipe to baker's percent format at Reply 7 at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,8100.msg69678.html#msg69678. The dough formulation referenced in the Slice piece is quite similar. I did some conversions and used the expanded dough calculating tool at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/expanded_calculator.html to come up with the following:
Flour (100%):
Water (66.6666%):
IDY (0.94444%):
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt (1.55555%):
Olive Oil (6.34920%):
Sugar (3.93746%):
Total (179.45325%):
| 637.88 g | 22.5 oz | 1.41 lbs
425.25 g | 15 oz | 0.94 lbs
6.02 g | 0.21 oz | 0.01 lbs | 2 tsp | 0.67 tbsp
9.92 g | 0.35 oz | 0.02 lbs | 2.92 tsp | 0.97 tbsp
40.5 g | 1.43 oz | 0.09 lbs | 9 tsp | 3 tbsp
25.12 g | 0.89 oz | 0.06 lbs | 6.3 tsp | 2.1 tbsp
1144.69 g | 40.38 oz | 2.52 lbs | TF = N/A
|
Note: Dough is for three dough balls for three 12"-14" pizzas; the calculated thickness factor for a 12" pizza is 0.119 and 0.0874 for a 14" pizza; no bowl residue compensation
I am no expert in the NY style at the street level, and I see little merit in getting into an arm wrestling contest over Peter Reinhart's NY style dough formulation, but I think that the sugar and oil levels in the above formulation are not typical of the NY style dough formulations I have studied. To me, they are more like an American style but for a thinner crust. For those who wish to pursue this matter further, I invite them to study the NY style dough formulations presented in the thread at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,11860.0.html. They should also look at the Lehmann NY style dough formulation.
Peter
