doughboy,
Thank you for the additional information.
I’m still not sure what you mean by “bubbles”, that is, whether you are referring to the large bubbles that form in a pizza crust, often in the rim area, or large voids in the interior of the rim (crumb) that form as a result of oven spring. Maybe you can refer us to a photo that shows what you mean. There are also very small blisters that can form on the outer surface of the rim that some people call bubbles. I don’t think you mean these but I mention it just in case.
Looking at the dough formulation you posted, I believe that the amount of IDY you listed, 1.4 ounces, is in error. Since a packet of IDY weighs 0.25 ounces (1/4 oz.), I assume that you meant 0.25 ounces. I converted your dough formulation so modified as follows:
100%, Flour (bread), 15.25 oz.
64.875%, Water, 9.875 oz. (temp. = 105 degrees F)
2.3%, Kosher salt, 0.353 oz.
2.46%, Sugar, 0.375 oz.
6.56%, Oil, 1 oz.
1.64%, IDY, 0.25 oz.
Total dough weight = 27.11 oz.
Individual dough ball weight = 13.55 oz.
Thickness factor at 14” = 0.0880
Thickness factor at 16” = 0.06740
The first thing that jumps out at me is the amount of yeast, 1.64% IDY, together with the water temperature you used (105 degrees F). Both of those conditions—a very high quantity of yeast and warm water--are consistent with making what is usually called an “emergency” dough in the pizza trade, that is, a dough that is made and used within a couple of hours or so. As you will note from this item,
http://www.pmq.com/cgi-bin/tt/index.cgi?noframes;read=8503, your quantity of IDY even exceeded the maximum recommended for IDY for an “emergency” dough. I might mention that your water temperature perhaps went down a bit during the 10-minute rehydration of the IDY, but I did a test today with 105-degree water and after 10 minutes it was down to 94 degrees F, in a rather cool kitchen. So, your water temperature even after normal cooling was consistent with the water temperature you would use to make an “emergency” dough. As noted previously, my practice when rehydrating dry yeast is to rehydrate it in a small amount of water at 105 degrees F for about 10 minutes and then add it to the rest of the water, which is on the cool side. I don’t add sugar to the water although some people add a pinch.
Your oil, at 6.56%, is also on the high side and, at that level, it will normally contribute a tenderness in the finished crust. The sugar, at 2.46%, will also contribute to that tenderness. Whether the oil and sugar at those levels were responsible for the lack of bubbles is hard to say. With the small thickness factors I calculated above for the 14” and 16” pizza sizes, there isn’t a great mass of dough to begin with, and it is possible that as you shaped and stretched the dough out to 14” and 16” you didn’t form a rim that was big enough to create a lot of voids in the crumb during the oven spring. If the rim was soft and tender that may have been because of the levels of oil and sugar you used. That may also have contributed to the gummy condition you mentioned, by virtue of the high quantity of oil retaining the water in the dough, which was high to begin with (almost 65% hydration), thereby preventing the water from evaporating enough and drying the crust.
It’s also possible that your dough management was not correct. I calculated a total knead time of 15 minutes. Since you used a long autolyse (30 min. plus 10 min., or 40 min. total), that should have cut back the required knead time quite significantly, even if done by hand. In your case, you may have overkneaded the dough, which can lead to a tight crumb with small, similarly-shaped voids. It is also possible that punching down the dough one hour before shaping may have expelled the gasses in the dough, which can also lead to a tight crumb. I suspect you may have done this because the dough ball expanded too much in the two hours preceding the punchdown, most likely due to the high quantity of yeast.
I think I have given you enough ideas to play around with. If you want to make a cold fermented dough, my advice is to cut way back on the yeast and rehydrate it in the manner discussed above. You can even add the IDY directly to the flour if you would like, or, if you want to use the classic Calvel autolyse (as you did), you can add the IDY to the dough just before adding the oil and salt. If you do reduce the amount of IDY to normal levels, and temperature adjust the water to achieve a finished dough temperature in the 75-80 degrees F range, you won’t have to do a room-temperature rise. The dough can go right into the refrigerator.
You might also lower the oil content, maybe to something like 2-3%. And knead the dough less and don’t punch it down in preparation for shaping and stretching. If you cut back on the amount of yeast, you may find that the dough may not need punching down because it won’t rise as much as your dough did.
I can’t promise you that following the above recommendations will cure your problems. You might want to change one variable at a time to determine if you see progress, and make adjustments based on the actual results you achieve.
Good luck, and please let us know if you find a solution to your (lack of) bubbles problem.
Peter
