Dough proofing containers

[PizzaBrewer]

What's the best container for proofing/retarding/storing dough?  I've been using an assortment of cereal bowls, pyrex baking dishes, etc. which serve only OK for the job and are very space in-efficient in my fridge. 

There's a liquidation sale/auction on Monday at a local restaurant supply house.  Listed in the brochure are the following:

Pizza Dough Pans
Pizza dough Boxes, Polycarbonate
Proofing/Retarding Pans
Pizza Screens

Any advice as to what these are and what's a good price to pay?  Any suggestions appreciated.

---Guy

[Pete-zza]

Guy,

My favorite storage/retarding container is a plastic storage bag (preferably the kind with the sliding locking tab) or an empty bread bag. They are low mass and therefore cool quickly. And they are cheap. I usually press the dough ball flat before putting into the bag, which allows the dough to cool a bit faster, but also takes little space in the refrigerator. I also like a metal container, like an empty cookie tin. Canadave is a big fan of the metal container.

Except for the pizza screens, the auction items you mentioned are all used to hold pizza dough balls at different stages of production. The Pizza Dough Pans and Proofing/Retarding Pans are quite similar. They are very similar to a cookie tin. They are round, usually metal, and come in different diameters and depths. They are usually stackable and typically run from a few dollars up to about $10. If you need only one, you will also have to get a cover. Of course, if you need more than one, you only need the one cover. The Polycarbonate Pizza Dough Boxes are plastic trays that professional pizza operators use to hold their dough balls, usually in large quantities. They also come in different sizes, are stackable (to prevent crusting) and sell for around $15 and up (depending on size). If you needed only one of these, you would need a cover also. Pizza screens come in different sizes, so unless you are looking for an oddball size, like a 26-inch screen or something else out of the ordinary, you can expect to pay only a few dollars and rarely more than $10.

I personally like the idea of the individual metal pizza dough pans. They should allow the dough to cool a bit faster than some of the other containers (you can also pre-refrigerate or pre-freeze them to cool the dough even faster), they are reasonably compact, and shouldn't take up much space in the refrigerator. The next time I have to buy a bunch of pizza items, I will most likely buy a few of these.

Peter

[PizzaBrewer]

I've seen that some people use the ziplock bags.  My question about that is I thought it was important to form a round ball and to leave it unmolested throughout the proofing so you have a nice round dough to work with when forming the pizza.  How do you wrestle the dough out of the bag and maintain its round shape?  Or is it not important?

Knowing myself, I'll probably end up buying a bunch of stuff if the price is right.  It would be cool to have a bunch of those individual proofing pans. 

Thanks!

---Guy

[Pete-zza]

I think round dough balls are better if you are a professional pizza operator because they take up less space in the dough trays. Even in round metal pizza dough pans as are used by professional pizza operators there will be some spreading. When I ws making the Caputo 00 pizzas, the doughs (on my counter at room temperature) flattened into pancake-like disks. They were very wet yet I had no real problems that weren't solved by using a bit of bench flour.

When Tom Lehmann is asked by home pizza makers about dough storage in the refrigerator, he usually recommends using a empty bread bag or some other kind of storage bag. When I use either, I just open the bag and put my hand under the dough ball and pull it out of the bag. It's already flattened and ready to go, and I don't force much trapped gas out of the dough ball. I don't personally recommend slamming the heck out of dough balls, but if you have seen some of pftaylor's Patsy's photos and accompanying commentary, you will see that dough is pretty sturdy stuff.

Peter