Hi Guys
Today I had made both Raquel and Lehman Style and I am excited to let you all know I have made quite some progress. I will start with Lehman first and then go onto Raquel.
Lehman NY Style Using All Purpose flour and using VWG to up protein of flour to the same as KABF.
Size: 10”
Formula
Flour (100%): Water (60%): IDY (0.25%): Salt (1.75%): Vegetable (Soybean) Oil (1%): Total (163%):
| 147.77 g | 5.21 oz | 0.33 lbs 88.66 g | 3.13 oz | 0.2 lbs 0.37 g | 0.01 oz | 0 lbs | 0.12 tsp | 0.04 tbsp 2.59 g | 0.09 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.46 tsp | 0.15 tbsp 1.48 g | 0.05 oz | 0 lbs | 0.33 tsp | 0.11 tbsp 240.86 g | 8.5 oz | 0.53 lbs | TF = 0.1081736 |
Flour (144.4966 Grams) + VWG (3.2734 Grams)
1) Stirred flour, VWG together. This mix was left for about 4 hours as I had to leave home for a little while but when I got back and ready to make the dough I then added IDY to it.
2) Salt was measured out but as explained above, all the ingredients except IDY were left for approx. 4 hours before use. Once I returned and was ready to continue, I dissolved the salt and water (room temp water)
3) Added flour mix into brine mixture and kneaded for about 2 minutes on lowest speed using beater attachment. I had to alternate now and again with my spatula to gather all the ingredients neatly into a dough ball.
4) Added oil using my hands at this stage and then placed dough ball back into mixer bowl and used dough hooks for about 5+ minutes. Dough was nice and soft, smooth and not sticky.
5) Dough Ball Weight was 237 grams and temperature at the time of balling was 80 Degrees F
6) Placed 2 poppy seeds 1” apart as centre as I could and oiled top/sides of dough ball before placing into oiled tray
Dough was checked at 14hrs in the fridge and it has already doubled its size. Dough was removed after 20 hours in the fridge and poppy seeds were 1.417322 and temperature was at 45.5 F straight out the fridge.
What I found quite peculiar about this particular dough was the way it rose. Instead of rising uniformly all round, one side spread out more than the other. I’ve attached a pic for easier understanding as my explanation sucks a bit.
After 1 hour out the fridge, poppy seeds were measured again and moved a little further apart to 1.65354 and temperature now was at 74.5 F. Dough was removed from the container at this stage, placed onto my floured surface and more flour thrown on top of the dough. Excess flour underneath the dough was moved aside and the dough was then stretched on the counter using my fingers and palm. Dough was then spread over my fist and hand stretched for a short while. I found that the extensibility and elasticity was perfect, I could stretch and it would spring back a little so I wasn’t too afraid to stretch a little extra because the springback would stop it from being oversized. I took extra care to protect the rim and properly define it.
Once the dough was to my desired size of 10 inches, I placed it onto my floured peel, sauced it and then added cheese with slices of tomatoes. I had to constantly jolt my peel back and forth to stop the dough from sticking and then pizza was baked on my stone which was pre-heated for over an hour on 240 Degrees Celcius. I baked for 3.5 minutes before removing, slicing and serving.
Overall, I was really impressed with the Pizza. The underneath baked pretty well but you would notice I didn’t get much leoparding however it was still crispy. The pizza overall puffed up as I wanted it to but found the rim to be quite bready, the crumb was a bit densed rather than large opened holes – it lacked airyness overall. The crust also lacked a little bit of tenderness and required a slight jerk of the hand when holding the pizza in your mouth and trying to bite a piece of it.
Raquel – Barry’s version using AP Flour of 11.8% protein
Size: 10”
Formula
Flour (100%): Water (65.33%): IDY (0.23%): Salt (2%): Olive Oil (2%): Honey (1%): Total (170.56%):
| 104.18 g | 3.67 oz | 0.23 lbs 68.06 g | 2.4 oz | 0.15 lbs 0.24 g | 0.01 oz | 0 lbs | 0.08 tsp | 0.03 tbsp 2.08 g | 0.07 oz | 0 lbs | 0.37 tsp | 0.12 tbsp 2.08 g | 0.07 oz | 0 lbs | 0.46 tsp | 0.15 tbsp 1.04 g | 0.04 oz | 0 lbs | 0.15 tsp | 0.05 tbsp 177.68 g | 6.27 oz | 0.39 lbs | TF = 0.0797993 |
1) Just like mentioned with the Lehman Style, all the ingredients were measured and left at room temperature for approx 4 hours except the IDY which was measured just before needing it.
2) Salt and Water dissolved.
3) Half flour mixture was added to the salt/water mixture and then IDY poured on top then everything stirred using a spatula which eventually ended up looking like a cake batter.
4) Autolyze for 20 minutes
5) Added remainder of flour, oil and honey – tried mixing with machine but dough was too sticky and wasn’t being caught into a neat dough ball. I tried to pickup the dough but it was very sticky and kept grabbing onto my hands.
6) I had to then add 2.5 teaspoons of flour which eventually helped bring the dough into a neat ball but it was still a little sticky so with little light flour and hand kneading, I got the dough ball together, soft, cohesive and not so sticky. This step took much time as the dough wasn’t behaving but all in all it took about 20 minutes. Dough was weighed in at 175 Grams.
7) 15 minutes autolyze

Dough was removed from Mixer Bowl, balled neatened, placed 2 poppy seeds 1” apart and then oiled the top, sides and placed into a lightly oiled tray before placing into fridge.
After 20 hours in the fridge, dough was removed to room temps and poppy seeds checked immediately – at the time it was 1.12204”and temp was at 45.5 F.
After being at room temp for 1 hour, poppy seeds moved further apart to 1.2992 and temp was at 75.6 F.
Dough was placed onto my floured surface, and entire ball was liberally floured then all excess flour moved aside.
Dough was stretched using palms and fingers before I stretched it over my knuckles. I found excellent balance between extensibility and elasticity. I then noticed the centre of the dough thinning quite quick so I placed it onto my floured peel, topped it with sauce, cheese, tomatoe and green/red chilli (yeah, you read right). Baked on my already heated stone at 240C for 4 minutes on the lowest rack.
It all baked up very well, dough puffed up really nicely, and I had a nice rim, not too large and not too small where it couldn’t be seen. First bite I took of the pizza and loved the crisp but now comes the slight disappointing point. Like I mentioned in the lehman style about the pizza having a slight degree of toughness, I found the same with Raquel but a bit worst compared to the Lehman. It was really tough and chewy, needed a good degree of jerking movement of the hand to dismember a piece into your mouth when you try to sink your teeth in. It lacked a bit of airyness and also needs lots more tenderness.
Overall, both attempts were a major leap forward. I don’t know if the tough overly chewy crust in both Raquel and Lehman has any correlation but I cant seem to pinpoint the cause of this so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
PM,
It appears that you forgot to include the yeast in the Lehmann dough formulation you posted. I assume that you did not forget to use it when you made the dough.
For the reason why the oil is not mixed in with the water, see the second paragraph of Reply 3 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,21635.msg218669/topicseen.html#msg218669.
Peter
Sorry about that Pete, that was a Typo - i definitely added IDY.
Looking forward to hearing from you guys
Take Care
Regards
PM
Pictures below
1 - Both Dough balls showing the Lehman on the right not rising uniformly
2 - Lehman Baked taken with flash
3 - Lehman Baked picture taken without flour
4 - Raquel Baked With Flash
5 - Raquel Crust