High Altitude

[AbeFroman]

Hi,  I'm a newbie pizza maker as well as a recent transplant to Denver.  I'm going to be making (or taking my best attempt at making) BTB's Lou Malnati's chicago style deep dish for my wife's birthday...no pressure.

My question is what adjustments, if any I should make to the yeast proportions (or any other for that matter) to account for the high altitude.  Generally, our experience with leavening agents on the baking soda and baking powder side are that they over react in the high altitude.   I don't know if yeast has the same impact or this is just something that occurs with the baking soda and baking powder.  What we have done to compensate for the baking soda/baking powder is reduce o 75% of recipe. 

Any advise is appreciated.  Thanks. 

[parallei]

Welcome to the site, and Denver. As you noted, adjustments are needed for high altitude baking and I do modify cakes and quick bread recipes that are chemically leavened.  I've found this guide helpful:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes2008/high-altitude-baking.html

I do not make an adjustments for breads and pizza dough done with yeasts or starters. I just keep an eye on the dough while it ferments (like one would at any elevation) and that is mostly dependent on ambient temperatures.  I've successfully used the deep dish recipes found here (and many others) with no modifications.

I'd be interested in hearing the Dough Doctor's take on this, but I think this is the approach most of us "at elevation" take. 

Have fun....

[AbeFroman]

parallei  - thank you for the advise and welcome to Denver.  So far we love it here.  I'll keep an eye on the dough and cross my fingers on the rest. 

[Bill/SFNM]

Abe,

Welcome from the oxygen-starved.

On the home page for this forum, there is a Google search box at the bottom left. Type in "high altitude". You will see a number of posts on this very topic.

Bill/SFNM @ 7000'

[AbeFroman]

Ahh I didn't see the Google search box.  That is a much better search than the top left.  There's a wealth of information on this topic.

[The Dough Doctor]

Abe;
With yeast leavened products there is no need to make any adjustments until you reach about 7,000-feet (think Cree). With chemical leavening (baking powder) you do need to make an adjustment of roughly 8% less for every 1000-feet increase in elevation above from the elevation that the product was formulated at. You will find that the baking is somewhat different in Denver than in Chicago. I would recommend that you bake at 15 to 25F higher temperature.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor