I watched some of these videos and have a couple questions.
1. I notice in some of the videos when they initially start opening the dough they actually slap it prior to stretching. . . . Is this to degas the dough a little? I seem to recall having to be diligent when overly bubbles appear during bakes and will pop them at times.. I haven't seen this happen in any of the videos. I wouldn't mind eliminating this issue for myself.
2. I've seen pizza's turned in place, turned and set slightly off original location, and pizzas brought to the mouth and turned and back in generally in same location. I had someone tell me that you should put the pie back in the same spot after turning to lessen the chance for burning as the original spot will have 'equalized'. If it's half on the original spot and half off it would provide different temps on the same pie. They all seem to work, and maybe it's just a matter of maintenance/competence with baking the pie.
Dear Tman, I do not know what you exactly mean by "degas": to vacate the trapped air and CO
2 inside dough, to move them from one location to another, or both. My knowledge of the science of convecting air/gas inside a medium, such as dough, and the rheology of the medium is lacking. Therefore, I am not sure to what degree the stretch-slap method "degases" a dough ball. It seems to me, in my estimation, the stretch-slap technique can satisfy the following objectives:
1. To stretch and loosen a dough disc;
2. To uniformly distribute dough throughout the disc;
3. To centrifugally and through the specific application of hands concentrate more dough in the rims (and, perhaps, releasing the tension that builds therein, especially if the dough is stiff); and
4. To shake off excess flour.
Certainly, to my thinking, the trapped air and gas are set in motion as a result of the exerted dough locomotion during the stretch-slap method. It seems logical to deduce that some of them are ejected while the rest rearranged throughout the dough disc and cornicione. If so, then the better the technique is carried out, the less one should be annoyed by the uninvited guests!
In addition, some doughs generate more CO
2 than others, depending on temperature, amount of yeast, method of dough management, and etc. Hence, fostering the proper methodology should mitigate, not entirely rule out, the formation of such bubbles. Have a great weekend!
