Gottabedapan vs. Lehmann Dough: The Rematch

[gottabedapan]

Attempted the Lehmann dough for the first time since the Great Lehmann NY Style Dough Disaster chronicled earlier, armed with many of the tips and techniques gleaned from the Tom Lehmann's dough tips for the amatuer pizza maker at home] thread and others.

The most important change I made—at least to my mind—was to mix the flour and IDY into the water and salt (put the salt and water into the mixing bowl BEFORE adding the flour and IDY), instead of following my usual procedure of starting with half the flour and the IDY in the bowl and adding the water to that.

To say that the difference was dramatic is an understatement. With my usual procedure, I've never been able to get a contact patch, so the dough ends up climbing the hook and spinning in circles rather than kneading; this time, the contact patch (the dough that sticks to the bottom of the mixer bowl) formed right up, and the dough kneaded up like champ! (Sorry, no pictures: I was in a rush to get to a meeting and didn't have the time to find my digital camera.)

The pizza turned out quite nicely. Here's a pic of the uncut pie:


And here's one of a slice, complete with a nice bubble (I couldn't resist popping it open to show off  ):


While I'm not ready to declare victory yet (one change I'll be making next time is to preheat the stone longer), I am quite encouraged by the results of this go around.

Finally, HUGE thanks to Pete-zza, Steve, Candave, and others who have shared their time and expertise!

[Pete-zza]

gottabedapan,

Looking at your results, I would say that you are well on your way. Nice job.

As they say, the devil is in the detail. And if you can master the detail, you will always enjoy success in your pizza making. Let us know if there is some aspect of the process that can be covered more fully or better explained.

Peter

[abc]

The most important change I made—at least to my mind—was to mix the flour and IDY into the water and salt (put the salt and water into the mixing bowl BEFORE adding the flour and IDY), instead of following my usual procedure of starting with half the flour and the IDY in the bowl and adding the water to that.




hmm that's interesting

[gottabedapan]

The most important change I made—at least to my mind—was to mix the flour and IDY into the water and salt (put the salt and water into the mixing bowl BEFORE adding the flour and IDY), instead of following my usual procedure of starting with half the flour and the IDY in the bowl and adding the water to that.

hmm that's interesting

The reason I believe it's the most important change is that putting in the water first means you're mixing the flour into the water, rather than mixing the water into the flour, as you would with my usual procedure.

As I said, I've never been able to get the contact patch when I put the flour in first, but this time, it formed almost immediately and held up 'til the very end of the mixing. I would venture a guess that with my usual procedure, the flour soaks up most of the water before it (the water) gets to the bottom of the bowl and the wet mass ends up clinging to the dough hook and pushed around in circles, instead of being anchored to the bowl and being stretched and pulled (kneaded). BWTHDIK.

[Perk]

The reason I believe it's the most important change is that putting in the water first means you're mixing the flour into the water, rather than mixing the water into the flour, as you would with my usual procedure.

Actually I never thought about it mixing (flour in water) or (water in flour).
I have always done the mix (four in water) method and never had problems.
I think you could have found something that seems like it wouldn't matter but it does.

Interesting.