My family has a ny style pizzeria in the bay area and we've been open for over 40 years. We have been making pizza long before I was born doing the same dough recipe forever. In general we are known for having a great crust but lately it's been very hit and miss. I know there are tons of variables when it comes to dough but we've had the same guys doing the dough with the same ingredients for years.
Here's a quick summary of our dough process and I'll also include some of the possible issues I've considered and hopefully you all can help me with some suggestions.
General mills superlative flour
Water
Cake yeast
Milk
Oil
Salt
24 hour bulk ferment in the walk-in
Balled for at least 4 hours then used throughout the day
Our dough, when its right, is crispy on the outside and chewy but tender inside. Lately it's been overly tough, less oven spring and more dense. We first started having problems You don't want to work on sat again do you? so we thought maybe it was just too cold and the dough wasn't rising. We built a little heated inclosure and regulated the temp but that wasnt it. My next thought was that we're over mixing (11 mins in Hobart mixer) so I cut that down to 9 minutes. I recently talked to one of my vendors and he said my guy who does the ordering will sometimes over order the cake yeast so old yeast will be the next thing I look into. I also think it could be one of my ovens. I have a 1048 blodgette double deck and a 1060 blodgette double. The large 1060 has the same BTU's as the smaller one and everytime that huge door opens it looses heat. The bottoms cook to fast and the tops too slow. I'm realizing this is kind of a scatter brained post but for whoever got through it if you have any ideas I'm all ears. Thanks
