Wood bowl dough rise

[BrickStoneOven]

I was at RD today and I was thinking of buying the 8" wooden salad bowls they have using them for my fermentation. They are made of Mahogany I don't know it that is good or not. So obviously my question is can I use them for the fermentation, I was just going to make each dough ball and put them in each bowl then put them in the refrigerator. Its 12 bowls for 6 bucks or something like that I forgot, I didn't buy them because I wanted to ask someone on here first.

Thanks

David

[Trogdor33]

I remember somebody mentioning getting good results using a wine box but a quick search didn't turn up the thread I was looking for. Wood is nice for proofing because it naturally absorbs the excess water that normally condenses in the glad containers while also keeping the dough moist. Regardless, at that price, it's cheap enough to experiment with.

[Essen1]

I remember somebody mentioning getting good results using a wine box but a quick search didn't turn up the thread I was looking for. Wood is nice for proofing because it naturally absorbs the excess water that normally condenses in the glad containers while also keeping the dough moist. Regardless, at that price, it's cheap enough to experiment with.

Look here:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7091.0.html

[Pete-zza]

David,

You might want to check to see if the mahogany bowls are stained and/or sealed. One of the principal features of wooden pizza dough boxes is that the wood can absorb some of the moisture in the dough balls. The only commercial wooden dough boxes that I am familiar with and have investigated are those from Marsal: http://www.marsalsons.com/default.aspx?pageId=25. They are made from poplar. I believe that mahogany is a considerably harder wood.

For a recent update on the Marsal wooden box situation, see Reply 2 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9482.msg82065/topicseen.html#msg82065. As I am sure I have discussed on the forum before, I once did a search for unfinished wooden bowls of a size large enough to hold a dough ball for up to an 18" pizza, with room for normal dough expansion, and I found them to be quite expensive--more than I was willing to pay.

Peter

[BrickStoneOven]

That is what I forgot to add into the post, I don't know what Mahogany looked/felt like but it felt to me that it had a finish on it, it didn't have that woody feeling. I don't want to get them if they do, but they are for serving salad in so shouldn't it not have a finish in the bowls?

[Pete-zza]

David,

I am not an expert on wooden salad bowls but I would think that you would want some kind of finish (see, for example, http://www.amazon.com/General-Finishes-SALAD-BOWL-QT/dp/B001DSXD7A) to insure that food particles or bacteria are not trapped in open pores of the wood. Maybe that is less of a problem with a hard wood like mahogany, I just don't know.

Peter

[BrickStoneOven]

Can you use the wood boxes in the refrigerator or are they for room temp fermentation. I usually do 36 hour fermentation in the refrigerator, how long would I have to do them if I did it at room temp.

[Pete-zza]

David,

I believe that wooden dough boxes are a throwback to the era before refrigerators became commercially available. They have been pretty much largely supplanted by plastic dough boxes. I would think that the wooden dough boxes should be usable in a commercial cooler but, to be on the safe side, I would call Marsal and ask them whether that is so.

Unless you plan to make authentic Neapolitan doughs or you want to become the next Brian Spangler (see Our Dough at http://www.apizzascholls.com/aboutourpizza.htm), I don't think I would go the room temperature fermentation route for your pizzeria. However, if you are dead set on doing a room temperature fermentation, you will most likely have to modify your dough formulation and preparation methods for that application, or else end up with a very short room temperature fermentation based on the dough formulation that you brought to the forum.

Peter

[BrickStoneOven]

I want to try out a wooden box, one of my friends is a carpenter so I am going to see if he can make me a box. So using a wooden box in a refrigerator is fine?

[Pete-zza]

I want to try out a wooden box, one of my friends is a carpenter so I am going to see if he can make me a box. So using a wooden box in a refrigerator is fine?

David,

I called Marsal and was told that their wooden dough boxes can be put into a cooler.

Peter