While it is still cool where I am in Texas, I decided yesterday to make a “winter” version of the original “summer” dough formulation that I described in the opening post in this thread. However, rather than just increase the amount of yeast to compensate for the lower room temperature, I decided to also increase the hydration and the salt to the levels that I generally use for the Lehmann NY style dough formulation. I also added some oil, which is also typical of the Lehmann dough formulation but which I had not used in the original dough formulation. The flour I used was the King Arthur bread flour. In effect, the latest dough was a Lehmann NY style dough adapted for a room temperature fermentation of over 24 hours.
The final dough formulation I ended up with, for a 14” pizza, is the following one, using the expanded dough calculating tool at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/expanded_calculator.html:
King Arthur Bread Flour (100%): Water (62%): IDY (0.024%): Salt (1.75%): Olive Oil (1%): Total (164.774%):
| 255.39 g | 9.01 oz | 0.56 lbs 158.34 g | 5.59 oz | 0.35 lbs 0.06 g | 0 oz | 0 lbs | 0.02 tsp | 0.01 tbsp (Note: 0.06 grams of IDY is equal to about 1 ¼ of a 1/64 t. measuring spoon) 4.47 g | 0.16 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.8 tsp | 0.27 tbsp 2.55 g | 0.09 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.57 tsp | 0.19 tbsp 420.81 g | 14.84 oz | 0.93 lbs | TF = 0.096425
|
Note: Nominal thickness factor = 0.095; dough is for a single 14” pizza; bowl residue compensation = 1.5%
To prepare the dough, I started by combining the IDY and the flour in a bowl. As noted above, the amount of IDY, 0.06 grams, is equal to about 1 ¼ of a 1/64 teaspoon measuring spoon. Such a measuring spoon is often called a “drop” measuring spoon. An example of the “drop” measuring spoon is shown in the photo at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5583.msg47264.html#msg47264. Next, I added the water, which was at a temperature of about 59 degrees F, to the mixer bowl of my standard KitchenAid stand mixer. I then added the salt to the water in the mixer bowl and stirred to dissolve, about 30 seconds. The oil was then stirred in with the water/salt mixture. Using the flat beater attachment, and with the mixer at stir speed, I gradually added the flour/IDY mixture to the mixer bowl, a few tablespoons at a time, about two minutes. There was still some loose flour at the bottom of the bowl that was not taken up by the dough mass, so I stopped the mixer and incorporated the loose flour into the dough by hand, about 30-45 seconds. I then switched to the C-hook, and with the mixer at speed 2, I kneaded the dough for about 5 ½ minutes. The finished dough, which was formed into a round ball, was smooth and cohesive and a bit tacky.
The finished dough weight was 420 grams, which I trimmed to 415 grams, and the finished dough temperature was 67.8 degrees F. The dough was brushed with a bit of olive oil and placed into a one-quart glass Pyrex bowl. I placed two poppy seeds at the center of the top of the dough ball, spaced one inch apart (as discussed at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6914.0.html), and placed the container, with a fitted lid, on my countertop. My room temperature at that time was about 66 degrees F.
The dough fermented at a room temperature range of about 65-68 degrees F for about a day. After 24 hours, the spacing of the poppy seeds suggested that the dough had almost exactly doubled in volume, which was the target I was hoping I would achieve. At that point, there were a lot of fermentation bubbles visible at the bottom of the glass Pyrex container, which was a good fermentation clue, but only a few at the sides. Although I could have easily used the dough at that point, I decided as a scheduling matter to let it ferment for about four hours more. By that time, the dough had risen some more and there were more fermentation bubbles at both the bottom and sides of the Pyrex container. At no time did I punch down or reshape the dough in any manner.
After a total of 28 hours of fermentation, I decided that the time was right to use the dough. So, I proceeded to shape and form it into a 14” skin. The dough was quite extensible but it was not wet or sticky. However, because I intended to use a lot more toppings than usual, and although I believe that I could have dressed the skin on my peel without the dough sticking, I decided out of excess of caution after forming the skin to place it on a sheet of parchment paper on my peel. That way, I would take the issue of sticking out of the equation entirely and be able to take my time and dress the skin at leisure. (As it turned out, the finished baked pizza weighed about 2 1/3 pounds).
Rather than making my standard pepperoni test pizza, I decided this time to make a Kraft’s Macaroni & Cheese buffalo chicken/bacon pizza. The Kraft’s mac and cheese was the standard boxed product as sold in just about every supermarket in America. I cooked up the pasta to the
al dente stage and, after finishing the dish, I placed it in the refrigerator to help stop the cooking process.
The sequence of dressing the pizza was as follows. I started by brushing some Frank’s Red Hot (Original) sauce over the entire skin inside of the rim, so that there would be a taste of that sauce with almost every bite. I then distributed about 2/3 of a cheese blend over the pizza that I had prepared using low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces) and a medium cheddar cheese (about 2 ounces) that I had comminuted to a coarse dice form using my Cuisinart food processor. Next, I distributed a fairly thick layer of the Kraft’s mac and cheese over the pizza, followed by pieces of chicken that were prepared by grilling and basting a large chicken breast in the Frank’s sauce and then cutting the chicken breast into about ½” pieces. I added more of the Frank’s sauce to the cut chicken pieces so that each piece was coated with the sauce. To complete the pizza, I distributed pieces of bacon over the pizza that had been cooked about 75% (about four pieces of bacon), and distributed the remaining mozzarella/cheddar cheese blend over the pizza. After I was done dressing the pizza, I trimmed the parchment paper so that it conformed more to the shape and size of the pizza.
The pizza was baked on a pizza stone that I had placed on the lowest oven rack position and preheated for about an hour at around 550 degrees F. The pizza baked on the stone for about seven minutes, whereupon I moved the pizza to the topmost oven rack position for about another minute to get increased top crust browning. As I moved the pizza to the top rack position, I removed the parchment paper from the oven.
The photos below show the finished pizza. I thought the pizza was very good, with a nice combination of tastes and textures. I particularly liked the finished crust. It had nice color both top and bottom, excellent flavor, and a rim that was chewy but with a crispy exterior and a soft interior that texturally reminded me of crusts that I have achieved before using natural starters. Overall, the crust had an artisan look and feel to it. What impressed me most, however, was how easy it was to make the dough and to achieve a finished crust color, flavor and texture that normally take a lot longer if cold fermentation is used. I also believe that I now have a better feel and understanding about how to make the necessary adjustments to accommodate the particular room temperature where the dough is to ferment.
Peter