Pete-zza'a NY Style Pizza recipe and techniques

[friz78]

Pete,
I want to thank you for the great NY style pizza recipe that you developed on the "Tom Lehmann's NY Style Pizza" thread.  I also want to thank you for adjusting this recipe, per my request, for a 16 inch pizza size.  For those who are interested in this recipe, it can be found at the "Tom Lehmann's NY Style Pizza" thread and it is Reply #86.

I made it for the second time tonight and it was fantastic.  I was able to fix the extensibility issue that existed in my first attempt (although it wasn't that big of an issue in the first place).  I think the ultimate fix had to do with my decision to return the baker's scale that I purchased that only measured in .25 increments.  I went and bought a better scale that measures in .05 increments and I think that made a huge difference.  Make no mistake, precision in measuring ingredients is critical in achieving consistency and quality.

I also paid closer attention to the temperature of water used in mixing the dough as well as temperature of the dough after mixing.  The dough had a temperature of about 82 degrees before I put it into the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Another adjustment I made had to do with the kneading of the dough.  This time I increased the total kneading time from 3 minutes to about 6 minutes.  I'm not sure if this had any effect on the extensibility of the dough this time, but the extensibility was as perfect as I could hope for.  If anyone is looking for a great NY Style recipe and techniques, the Lehman thread is just a wealth of knowledge and information.

Friz

[Pete-zza]

Friz,

I'm glad to hear that the recipe is working out well for you.

When Tom Lehmann is asked about dough that is too extensible (stretchy), he usually talks about dough temperature, hydration, oil (e.g., olive oil), and additives like L-cysteine and glutathione (dead yeast cells) that are used by professional pizza operators to soften the dough structure. By temperature, he means the temperature of the finished dough when it goes into the refrigerator/cooler and the temperature when it comes out of the refrigerator/cooler. He says that in either case, if the temperature is too high the dough can overferment and become overly extensible, even in a 24-hour retardation period. Clearly, if the hydration percentage is also high, the increased chemical action can further contribute to extensibility. Using a lot of oil and dough-conditioning additives can have similar effects.

Accurately measuring ingredients comes into play since it is easy to throw off the hydration perdentage by inaccurate measurements of the water and/or flour, especially if too much water is used as a result of the inaccurate measurements.

Peter