What do you do with your dough after the fridge?

[mkevenson]

After a cold ferment, 24, 48 or ? Hours, just wondering what you do with your dough prior to shaping?

I had been removing it from the cold container, dusting with flour, and resting on my board covered with a towel for 60-90 min.

Occasionally it develops a thin skin on the dough, not always.

I re read Peter Reinhart's instructions ,The Bread Baker's Apprentice, pg 211, 2001' 1st edition,in which he writes to spray oil on your counter , dust with flour, place dough on flour, spray with oil and cover with plastic .

Just wondering what the common home practice is with this group.

My observation in pizzerias, is that the dough is brought to the counter in a plastic box and from there stretched. 

Mark

[Chaze215]

What I usually do (whether its right or wrong...lol) is take the dough from the fridge after a cold ferment and let it sit at room temp for 2-2 1/2 hours with a spritz of cooking spray (so it doesnt stick) and covered with some plastic wrap. After 2-2 1/2 hours, the dough should be easy to work with and stretched. Im sure some others that are more experienced will chime in. Good luck!

[patnugent]

dust the counter, pull the dough out when i start my oven and put it on the flour(i dip the top than flip it over so it is sitting the correct way) then cover with plastic.  Usually sits for btw 45-75 minutes.  havent had a dried out crust form.

[Pete-zza]

Mark,

There are different ways of handling this as noted by the other posters. Some people make doughs that contain no oil and prefer to keep it that way. So, they may just coat the dough ball with a light dusting of flour and maybe cover the dough with something--like plastic wrap or a towel or an inverted bowl--while the dough tempers. One trick that I found that works well when you want to extend the temper time for any reason is to leave the dough ball in its container and cover it while the dough tempers. That way, the dough won't really start to warm up until the bowl itself warms up. Of course, you can remove the dough ball from the container any time you want, to conform to when you want to make the pizza.

Peter

[pizzaneer]

This time of year my house is about 65 degrees. I don't use the fridge for fermentation, just find an out of the way spot for the container(s).  No oil on the containers or dough, just some flour sprinkled in.  Found oiling the balls made them really sticky and hard to open without a lot of bench flour.  Really don't like the taste of burned flour on the bottom of the pizza.

So in answer to your question, if you don't use the fridge, it's not going to be an issue warming up your dough to room temp.  It's already there.  There, I fixed it.  lol 

[sebdesn]

timely subject,just made 5 pounds and its got another day or 2 in the veg box in the fridge,in a plastic bag,then,I flatten it out to a quarter inch thick or so and into anotherlarger plastic bag,and into the freezer,until timeto use,then take it out in the morning on the day you are going to use it,and let it sit at room temp.then in the evening,roll it out, and off to thebig wooden sheet to finish the thing,and then off to the oven
Bud

[Tscarborough]

Straight from the fridge to the oven.

[mkevenson]

Straight from the fridge to the oven.

Interesting! Reasoning?

Mark

[Tscarborough]

It is easier to work my high hydration doughs cold.

[mkevenson]

Thanks

[Chicago Bob]

It is easier to work my high hydration doughs cold.

+1
Especially(for me)if it is a NY style of dough. Without a 'lil chill on the dough it stretches too easily and I'll get thin spots. My local slice joint keeps their dough balls right there inside the refrigerated prep table and when they open a ball they can really get that thing stretching nicely on the back of their fists....so I've always just copied them.

[vtsteve]

I'm using Caputo at 59%, and the Doughmate boxes. When I'm outside at the WFO, my dough gets crusty *very* quickly unless I oil the dough balls. After I form the balls I put just a drop or two of oil on one palm, and roll the ball between both palms before I set it in the box. Sometimes I'll transfer the cold balls from the box to a covered sheet pan, and set that in a pan of warm water, to quickly bring them up to a workable temperature.

[bfguilford]

I'm one of those people that Pete-zza talked about. I just take it out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter in the container for 3-ish hours, now that our "room temperature" is 65 degrees (less time when room temp is higher).

Barry

[pythonic]

Flour is one thing I hate on my crust.  My normal process is to flour after it comes out of fridge and cover.  Will there be less flour on your crust if you flour just before you open it?  But if u do it this way how do you keep the dough ball from sticking to everything while warming up?

[La Sera]

To cut down flour on our crust, we use a soft brush to clean up any remaining flour off the formed dough sides and top before adding sauce and toppings.

[pizzaneer]

I use a lightly floured bowl for fermenting. About 1/2 hour before using it, I take the cover off and let the top dry a little. I smear out a smidge of flour where I'm going to stretch it- about as much as you would put on to dust a peel.  I invert the bowl and let it drop out - top side down.  Then stretch it.  It's already got a trace amount of flour on the (now) bottom side, enough to work it.  I never flip. The dryness help make it nonstick.  Once it's stretched, I move it to a spot on the board where theres no flour and spin it a few times to lose any excess, then get it on the peel.  Then top.  Shake a few times to check it. 

I don't see the problem with a slight crust forming on the outer surface.  You can never tell after it's baked.  But then, I live in an area with pretty high humidity.  Perhaps it's different in other areas. 

[pythonic]

To cut down flour on our crust, we use a soft brush to clean up any remaining flour off the formed dough sides and top before adding sauce and toppings.

Tried this tonight and it seemed to work better then trying to get it off with a finger.

[Chicago Bob]

When I am stretching out a still slightly cold dough on the back of my fists I am shaking it and also fanning my fingers out under that skin and there is hardly any flour left on it before being laid on to the peel....

[DannyG]

I always take the dough out and let it sit for 2-1/2 to 3 hours, bringing it up to room temperature. During this time the dough rises and I always thought that this was necessary to further develop the dough. Not being anything close to an expert, am I wrong in this assumption?

[Tscarborough]

It depends upon the profile of your dough.  If you are making a same day dough, you would need to let it rise after a cold rest.  If you are doing a 48 hour cold dough, there is no need for additional rise.