Dough - I Don't Get It

nolaegghead

https://www.abeautifulplate.com/flour-101-different-types-flour-for-baking/

WeberWho

nolaegghead said:

https://www.abeautifulplate.com/flour-101-different-types-flour-for-baking/

Thank you

keener75

nolaegghead said:

https://www.abeautifulplate.com/flour-101-different-types-flour-for-baking/

And now I know. Thanks for the link. Very informative!

JohnInCarolina

WeberWho said:

@lkapigian
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@JohnInCarolina
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@keener75
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@Matt86m

I just wanted to take a minute and thank you guys for the help!

Tonight's dough was a night and day difference from the previous dough the past few days. I switched over to an air tight container when storing in the fridge for the 24 hour rest. I had a much higher rise in the dough and the consistency was much better than the other dough I had under the cling wrap on the plate. I also let the dough set at room temperature for 2 hours before stretching it. What a difference. Wow. It was soooooo much easier to work with. 

The only issue I ran into was my Blackstone pizza oven. The motor stopped spinning near the end of the first cook. It apparently didn't like the 1,000 degree heat. So I had to manually rotate them with the oversized pizza peel. (The motors are junk. I knew prior to purchasing it. It will need an upgrade. The motor did come back to life shortly after I was done with the pizzas. The 1,000 degrees was probably a little excessive.  )

I thought the pies turned out really good. Far from perfect but happy to see it moving in the right direction. 

So glad to hear it!  Pizza is in my view nearly as much art as science.  Getting the right raw materials and process down is absolutely necessary, but not sufficient.  There is a lot to be said for experience and being able to react to what the dough is telling you, because the environment it's in (temp and humidity) plays a role.

I think I have learned a lot over the years but I also know that I still have a ton to learn.  But it's fun!  Enjoy!

SonVolt

Welcome to the steep learning curve of making your own pizza. It only gets better from here. 

Btw, little containers vs a plate with plastic wrap doesn't make a difference. Switching to containers likely isn't the reason you had better success on your 2nd try so that's most likely a red herring.  Just be sure to leave adequate space between dough balls if you store more than one on a plate. I use a baking sheet with a total of 3 9oz balls covered in plastic wrap lightly misted with cooking spray.  

King Arthur bread flour is great. My recommendation would be to master NY style pizza first before giving a go at 00/Italian-style pizza. They're wildly different so it can be confusing if you start mixing methods without understanding what you're doing. NY style is easier so I think a better starting point when learning.

Good luck!