My Pizza Experiment

[Traver]

Great site! I wish I'd found it a long time ago. Making decent pizza in has been a pet project of mine ever since I moved to a rural area where I couldn't get good pizza. I thought I would post the recipe I came up with. It might give some of you some ideas or give some of you old pros a good laugh. It obviously isn't authentic anything, but a combination of dough recipes I found and trial and error. It is definitely home made. My hobby is cooking and not baking so my measurements are by volume and I've found that slightly imprecise measurements in this concoction don't make a significant difference. Don't laugh too hard, it is pretty tasty.

Here you go...

1 1/4 c. Warm Water
1 T. Olive Oil
1 Egg White
2 T. Lard
1 t. Salt
2 t. Sugar (or honey)
2 3/4 c. Bread Flour
1/4 c. Semolina Flour
3 T. Vital Wheat Gluten
3 T. Nonfat Dry Milk
1 1/4 t. Bread Machine Yeast

I put all the ingredients in a Cuisinart bread machine in the order listed and run the 2 lb. dough making cycle (40 min.. knead, 1 hour rise). Then I put the dough in a large covered bowl in the refrigerator. This recipe will make two 14" pizzas. I usually make the dough in the morning for a pizza that evening for dinner and then make the second pizza two or three days later for with good results.

To make the pizza, I dust a peel with semolina flour and roll out the dough. At first I used a cheap thin baking stone and had good results baking at 500 for 10 minutes. Then I bough a FibraMent stone and found that the results are better at 450 for 10 minutes otherwise the bottom is overdone.

Attached is a pic. Not I'll have to use all the info on this site to make something more authentic.

[Pete-zza]

Traver,

There is absolutely nothing wrong with your recipe. All that matters is whether you like the end results.

Out of curiosity, can you tell me exactly how you measure out the flour from the flour container? The standard method recommended by flour producers is to stir the flour in the container to loosen in, then lift the flour with a tablespoon or scoop into the measuring cups/spoons, and then level the tops with the flat edge of a knife or its equivalent. Others simply dip the measuring cup into the flour without first stirring it and then shake the cup to get the flour level in it. Of course, there are several other possible methods.

Also, can you tell us what brand of bread flour and what brands of vital wheat gluten and nonfat dry milk you have been using?

Thanks.

Peter

[Traver]

Sure.

To measure the flower I use a clear plastic measuring cup that looks like a drinking cup so I can see if there are any air pockets. I just scoop it out of the bag tap it down and level it off. No special technique.

I use whatever bread flour the small grocery I do my everyday shopping has. It isn't always the same. The pizza in the picture was made with King Arthur bread flour. I've also used King Harverst Gold Medal and Pillsbury bread flour with similar results.

The vital wheat gluten and semolina are Bob's Red Mill.

The nonfat dry milk is Carnation.

-Steve

[Pete-zza]

Steve,

Thanks for the additional information. From your description, it sounds like your measuring cup is like this one: http://www.reliablepaper.com/1_Cup_Bouncer_Clear_Measuring_Cup_p/rcp3210cle.htm. Is that correct? And I assume that you may be using the same cup for measuring the water.

Just for fun, and since it is rare to see a dough formula with so many different ingredients, I decided to see if I could convert your recipe to baker’s percent format, using the expanded dough calculating tool at http://www.pizzamaking.com/expanded_calculator.html. In my case, I used metal straight-sided measuring cups to measure out the flour the way you did in order to determine the weight of the flour. I used a glass one-cup Pyrex measuring cup to measure out the water (without trying to be super accurate) and to weigh it. I came up with the following dough formulation:

Flour (100%): Water (73.5294%): IDY (0.97656%): Salt (1.44761%): Olive Oil (3.50139%): Sugar (2.06801%): Vital Wheat Gluten (6.45813%): Dry Non-Fat Milk (3.3555%): Lard (6.74342%): Egg Whites (8.55897%): Semolina (10.8284%): Total (217.46739%):

385.56 g  |  13.6 oz | 0.85 lbs 283.5 g  |  10 oz | 0.63 lbs 3.77 g | 0.13 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.25 tsp | 0.42 tbsp 5.58 g | 0.2 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1 tsp | 0.33 tbsp 13.5 g | 0.48 oz | 0.03 lbs | 3 tsp | 1 tbsp 7.97 g | 0.28 oz | 0.02 lbs | 2 tsp | 0.67 tbsp 24.9 g | 0.88 oz | 0.05 lbs | 9 tsp | 3 tbsp 12.94 g | 0.46 oz | 0.03 lbs | 9 tsp | 3 tbsp 26 g | 0.92 oz | 0.06 lbs | 6 tsp | 2 tbsp 33 g | 1.16 oz | 0.07 lbs | 6.52 tsp | 2.17 tbsp 41.75 g | 1.47 oz | 0.09 lbs | 12 tsp | 4 tbsp 838.47 g | 29.58 oz | 1.85 lbs | TF = N/A

Note: Flour is King Arthur bread flour; the calculated thickness factor is 0.0960633

In looking at the above table, the hydration (73.5294%) looks high, but when the flour, semolina, vital wheat gluten and the nonfat dry milk are added together, and when the water component of the egg white (about 87.6% of it is water) is added to the formula water, the effective hydration becomes 65.8%, which is a reasonable number, albeit a bit on the high side. As also noted in the above table, the calculated thickness factor is 0.0960633 [(29.58/2)/(3.14159 x 7 x 7)] = 0.0960633), which corresponds to a pizza with a thin crust (similar to a NY street style). Using member November’s Mixed Mass Percentage Calculator at http://tools.foodsim.com/, and assuming that I did the calculations properly, I also calculated a protein content for the combination of King Arthur bread flour, Bob’s Red Mill semolina, and Bob’s Red Mill vital wheat gluten of a bit over 16%. That would be higher than a high-gluten flour, which will usually max out at around 14.2% for most domestic brands. Of course, if I weighed out the King Arthur bread flour to get a different result than you will get, then the numbers may be off a bit. If you ever are in a position to weigh out the actual amount of flour you typically use to make your dough, then it would be easy to adjust the numbers based on the actual flour weight. Weighing the water also would also be a big help.

The significance of the above numbers is that they allow one to use the expanded dough calculating tool to produce the ingredient quantities to make any number of dough balls (up to a maximum of 999) for any desired pizza size (not just 14”) while maintaining the finished crust characteristics of your 14” size. For example, if you wanted to make a single 16” pizza, the numbers would look like this:

Flour (100%): Water (73.5294%): IDY (0.97656%): Salt (1.44761%): Olive Oil (3.50139%): Sugar (2.06801%): Vital Wheat Gluten (6.45813%): Dry Non-Fat Milk (3.3555%): Lard (6.74342%): Egg Whites (8.55897%): Semolina (10.8284%): Total (217.46739%):

251.79 g  |  8.88 oz | 0.56 lbs 185.14 g  |  6.53 oz | 0.41 lbs 2.46 g | 0.09 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.82 tsp | 0.27 tbsp 3.64 g | 0.13 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.65 tsp | 0.22 tbsp 8.82 g | 0.31 oz | 0.02 lbs | 1.96 tsp | 0.65 tbsp 5.21 g | 0.18 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.31 tsp | 0.44 tbsp 16.26 g | 0.57 oz | 0.04 lbs | 5.88 tsp | 1.96 tbsp 8.45 g | 0.3 oz | 0.02 lbs | 5.88 tsp | 1.96 tbsp 16.98 g | 0.6 oz | 0.04 lbs | 3.92 tsp | 1.31 tbsp 21.55 g | 0.76 oz | 0.05 lbs | 4.26 tsp | 1.42 tbsp 27.27 g | 0.96 oz | 0.06 lbs | 7.84 tsp | 2.61 tbsp 547.57 g | 19.31 oz | 1.21 lbs | TF = 0.096063

Peter

[November]

Peter,

You might have noticed that I updated the Uncle Salmon Food Tools with a few new settings.  You can now select the method by which you measure your compact-able ingredients.  The options are Textbook, Dip, Tamp, and Dip + Tamp.  I took measurements of King Arthur bread flour under these various conditions, used them to calculate standard multipliers, and added this while you were composing your last post.  What's interesting is how close your measurement and the calculated amount (under default depth) came to one another.  If you go back to the calculator and enter 2+3/4 cup King Arthur Bread with Dip turned on, you get 385.7681 g.  Comparing it to your 385.56 g, I'd say we have a workable solution.

- red.november

[Pete-zza]

November,

No, I did not notice the changes. To be honest, I was more concerned about whether I got the total protein content right. I used a two-step process: calculating the protein content of the KA bread flour and the Bob's Red Mill semolina, and then calculating the protein content of that mixture with the vital wheat gluten added. My head was spinning with too many numbers.

Is it safe to say that all of the measuring methods in the tool entail using a leveling of the measuring cup/spoon used (to the extent that the flour is above the top of the cup/spoon)? Also, would "shaking" a measuring cup once the flour is in the cup be treated the same as "tamping"?

I am amazed at how close the flour numbers came. I don't really know what to make of it. If it was good measuring on my part, rather than luck, then that suggests that your revised tool should be even more useful than in the past.

Peter

[November]

Peter,

Is it safe to say that all of the measuring methods in the tool entail using a leveling of the measuring cup/spoon used (to the extent that the flour is above the top of the cup/spoon)? Also, would "shaking" a measuring cup once the flour is in the cup be treated the same as "tamping"?

All methods of measurement assume a leveling off at the end.  There is no "heaping" option, and probably never will be.

The term "tamp" in this case refers to a process of banging the cup of flour on the work surface to force more compaction.  Conceptually, I can't see how shaking a cup of flour would be very useful except to spill flour all around it.  Some settling would occur as a result of course, but why anyone would do it if they're trying to compact the flour is beyond me.  A side-to-side motion is very inefficient for downward compaction.  I guess the answer to your second question is, no; unless you conduct a "shaking" experiment and determine that the numbers are the same as for dipping.

If it was good measuring on my part, rather than luck, then that suggests that your revised tool should be even more useful than in the past.

That was the goal.

- red.november

[Pete-zza]

November,

I was recently trying to replicate a recipe by JerryMac where the flour was recited by volume. I suspected that Jerry was just dipping his measuring cup into the flour, to the point of overflowing, and then shaking off the excess to effectively level off the top of the cup. He subsequently confirmed that approach at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5851.msg55560.html#msg55560 (Reply 61, second line). Even in this thread, it is not entirely clear how Steve is "tamping" his measuring cup. I think his language "I just scoop it out of the bag tap it down and level it off" can be construed to mean that he is "tapping" the cup itself (e.g., by rapping the measuring cup with something) rather than tapping the cup itself on a work surface. I would consider both methods as being equivalent, or close enough to be treated as such. Is that a fair interpretation?

Peter

[November]

Peter,

Tamping does not produce the same results as striking the side of the cup or shaking the cup.  I see shaking to level off as an alternative to leveling off with a flat edge.  Flat edge leveling is specifically assumed in the calculator.  I would place "shaking to level" in the same category as heaping (although in a subcategory of its own), because shaking rarely gets the column of flour perfectly level.  Shaking to compact is another matter altogether.  Compaction shaking, or forced settling, typically results in much less compaction than tamping.  You'll notice that if tamping were employed, according to the calculator the mass would be 414.2957 g.  Shaking just can't come close.

In Steve's case, tapping has an elusive definition.  If he means tamping, 428.7379 g would be closer to what he's working with.  If he's tapping the side, it would be slightly more compact than a normal dip and level.  If he means load-packing with a rim limit, then it's exactly the same as heaping.

- red.november

[November]

Peter,

This is interesting.  I went to conduct shaking tests to see how shaking compared to the other methods.  As I expected, shaking does not come close to tamping, but it's almost identical to dipping by itself.  Dipping and shaking together is almost identical to tamping by itself.  So, I'm not sure how to label that because most people will use shaking in addition to another method.  For now I will update the labels, but some may be confused by it.

- red.november

[November]

For the record, when I dipped and shook to level off (not shaking the cup before it was full), the weight of the flour was exactly half-way between "Dip or Shake" and "Tamp or Dip + Shake."  This was possibly Jerry's method.  If this comes up again, you may be able to simply take an average of the two values.

[Traver]

Interesting. That's a lot of number crunching. I guess I'd need a scale to get the numbers exact.

The cup I use is similar to the one at the link. It came with my bread machine. I don't think I really compact the flour. I dip the cup in the flour and then poke it or tap it on the counter to get any air pockets out and shake it to make it level at the top.

The cup I use for water is different. I never thought about it before, but I checked it out and the volume is about 1/8 (12.5%) less.

The crust is fairly thin. About 1/8 inch in the center. It's also fairly rich.

Thanks for the info.

-Steve

[November]

I dip the cup in the flour and then poke it or tap it on the counter to get any air pockets out and shake it to make it level at the top.

You just listed three things that are compacting your flour beyond the force of gravity: dip, tap (possibly tamp), shake.

[November]

Peter and Steve,

Based on the information given, I calculate the total hydration of the dough to about 63.0617%.  That's based on all the flours (measured with dip and tamp), water and egg moisture.

- red.november

[Pete-zza]

November,

I think it would help if the different measuring methods were defined in detail so that users of the tool don't have to guess. For example, are the following descriptions correct?

"Dip" means lifting flour into a measuring cup and leveling off with a flat edge;

"Shake" means lifting flour into a measuring cup, shaking the cup, and leveling off with a flat edge;

"Tamp" means lifting flour into a measuring cup, tamping the cup on a work surface, and leveling off with a flat edge;

"Dip + Shake" means dipping a measuring cup into the flour container, shaking the cup, and levelling off with a flat edge;

"Dip + Tamp" means dipping a measuring cup into the flour container, tamping the cup on a work surface, and leveling off with a flat edge.

All of these definitions would presume that the flour in the cup is initially above the rim of the measuring cup. "Lifting" the flour can be done with a tablespoon or scoop or their equivalent.

Peter

 

[November]

Peter,

All the verbs act on the same subject, "cup of flour" so the noun being dipped is the cup.  What you described as "Dip" is the "Textbook" method.  The rest of the definitions are accurate except I'm not sure what you mean by "flour in the cup is initially above the rim."

- red.november

[Pete-zza]

I dip the cup in the flour and then poke it or tap it on the counter to get any air pockets out and shake it to make it level at the top.

Steve,

I took a look at the instructions that came with my Zojirushi bread maker and they are as follows for the one-cup measuring cup that came with the bread maker:

1. Spoon the dry ingredients into the cup filling it to overflowing. Do not press or shake down.

2. Level by sweeping off the excess with a knife.

The instructions also say to level off measuring spoons the same way for small amounts of dry ingredients.

Peter

[Pete-zza]

November,

Thank you.

Is this set of definitions now correct:

"Textbook" means lifting flour from the flour container into a measuring cup and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge;

"Dip" means dipping a measuring cup into the flour container and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge;

"Shake" means lifting flour from the flour container into a measuring cup, shaking the cup, and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge;

"Tamp" means lifting flour from the flour container into a measuring cup, tamping the cup on a work surface, and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge;

"Dip + Shake" means dipping a measuring cup into the flour container, shaking the cup, and levelling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge;

"Dip + Tamp" means dipping a measuring cup into the flour container, tamping the cup on a work surface, and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge.

What I meant with the reference to the flour being initially above the rim of the measuring cup is that the flour is overflowing the cup, which is a prerequisite to leveling with a flat edge.

Do any of the methods described above require that the flour in the flour container be stirred before lifting or before dipping?

Peter

[November]

Peter,

What I meant with the reference to the flour being initially above the rim of the measuring cup is that the flour is overflowing the cup, which is a prerequisite to leveling with a flat edge.

To say it's a prerequisite for leveling is fine, but it should not be viewed as prerequisite for any step prior to the leveling step.  The reason is because the shaking, tamping, etc. is done before the flour is overflowing, otherwise it would just be another method of leveling in some cases.  To be more specific about what I was looking for as I measured the flour, I shook or tamped until the flour settled to its lowest point and repeated such shaking or tamping after each spoonful added (in the case of the non-dipped cups).

Do any of the methods described above require that the flour in the flour container be stirred before lifting or before dipping?

Not before dipping, but before lifting, yes.  People tend to dip until matched with a certain degree of resistance which makes pre-stirring unnecessary.  A stirred flour will provide less resistance but will allow the cup to move through with more force, thereby compacting the flour to similar levels anyway.

- red.november

EDIT:

Is this set of definitions now correct:

Yes.

[Pete-zza]

November,

Do these definitions look OK now?

"Textbook" means stirring the flour in the flour container to loosen, lifting the stirred flour from the flour container into a measuring cup, and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge (as the final step before emptying the cup);

"Dip" means dipping a measuring cup into the flour container and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge (as the final step before emptying the cup);

"Shake" means stirring the flour in the flour container to loosen, lifting the stirred flour from the flour container into a measuring cup, shaking the cup, and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge (as the final step before emptying the cup);

"Tamp" means stirring the flour in the flour container to loosen, lifting the stirred flour from the flour container into a measuring cup, tamping the cup on a work surface, and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge (as the final step before emptying the cup);

"Dip + Shake" means dipping a measuring cup into the flour container, shaking the cup, and levelling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge (as the final step before emptying the cup);

"Dip + Tamp" means dipping a measuring cup into the flour container, tamping the cup on a work surface, and leveling off the flour in the cup with a flat edge (as the final step before emptying the cup).

Peter