oils

[bicster]

I was talking with the owner of a local pizza shop the other day and he told me that he uses 2 parts corn oil and 1 part olive oil in his dough.  It is honestly one of the better pizzas I have tasted.  Does anyone else do anything like this?  Any thoughts?

[bicster]

corn oil?  anyone?

[Pete-zza]

Josh,

It is quite common to see corn oil used alone or with other oils in deep-dish doughs. From what I recall from my reading on this site, Gino's East and Lou Malnati use corn oil in their doughs. Peter Reinhart also calls for corn oil for his deep-dish dough recipe in American Pie. I believe that DKM has experimented with corn oil quite a bit.

There's no reason why corn oil can't be used for other types of doughs, although the flavor may be detectible if it gets much above a few percent (by weight of flour). Blending it with another oil, like olive oil or canola or other seed oil, will modulate the corn oil flavor so that it won't be as pronounced. I suspect that other factors are more likely at play in making your local pizza maker's pizza so good.

Peter

[bicster]

He uses All Trumps floir and red star yeast.  He did tell me that he lets it rise for 6 hours before putting it in the fridge.  Have you ever tried that?

[Pete-zza]

Josh,

All Trumps and Red Star are good products. I usually try to get doughs that are to be cold fermented into the refrigerator as soon as possible--to keep the dough from rising too much while in the refrigerator and to insure a good useful life for the dough. However, there is no reason from a technical standpoint why a dough can't ferment at room temperature before putting it into the cooler. I'm sure that your pizza maker has learned from experience how to manage his dough such that it is ready when he needs it. A dough that goes into the cooler or refrigerator sooner will usually have a longer useful life than one that has had less cold fermentation, but that isn't a problem if the dough is used before it starts to overferment. Your local pizza maker may be making his dough for a one or two day inventory. If that's the case, his approach to dough management should work reasonably well. His dough formulation most likely accommodates his timetable also.

Peter

[bicster]

I just might have to get a part time job there and learn the secrets!!!