Pizza Dough Recipe - Delayed Fermentation?

tomaschonnie

Has anyone ever used this method of delayed fermentation for making pizza dough? I came across the recipe on the net.

Ive posted the whole recipe but Ive highlighted the most important bits to do with the delayed fermentation method. (sorry about the length of the recipe, its a bit over-engineered IMO!)



"Best Pizza Dough Ever Recipe

The dough Peter uses for his Napoletana pizza in this book is rooted in a delayed-fermentation method. If you like to wait until the last minute to make pizza dough, you are out of luck here. The key is the overnight fermentation. You end up with a golden, beautiful crust with the perfect amount of crunch and subtle yeasty undertones.

Peter Reinhart's Napoletana Pizza Dough Recipe
Heidi notes: Peter's recipe says the olive (or vegetable oil) is optional. I use it every time - always olive oil, not vegetable oil. I love the moisture and suppleness it adds to the dough, and it makes your hands soft too.
4 1/2 cups (20.25 ounces) unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 (.44 ounce) teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
1/4 cup (2 ounces) olive oil (optional)
1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) water, ice cold (40°F) mixed with ½ tsp malt syrup
Semolina flour OR cornmeal for dusting

1. Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment), If you are mixing by hand, repeatedly dip one of your hands or the metal spoon into cold water and use it, much like a dough hook, to work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand. Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn't come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55F.

2. Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment and misting the parchment with spray oil (or lightly oil the parchment). Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you are comfortable shaping large pizzas), You can dip the scraper into the water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it, Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan, Mist the dough generously with spray oil and slip the pan into a food-grade plastic bag.

3. Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to 3 days. (Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to 3 months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.)

4. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Before letting the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours, dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. Now let rest for 2 hours.

5. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone either on the floor of the oven (for gas ovens), or on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven as hot as possible, up to 800F (most home ovens will go only to 500 to 550F, but some will go higher). If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.

6. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands, including the backs of your hands and knuckles, in flour and lift I piece of dough by getting under it with a pastry scraper. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. If it begins to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue shaping it. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss as shown on page 208. If you have trouble tossing the dough, or if the dough keeps springing back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax, and try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, though this isn't as effective as the toss method.

7. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 9 to 12 inches in diameter for a 6-ounce piece of dough), lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with sauce and then with your other top- pings, remembering that the best pizzas are topped with a less-is-more philosophy. The American "kitchen sink" approach is counterproductive, as it makes the crust more difficult to bake. A few, usually no more than 3 or 4 toppings, including sauce and cheese is sufficient.

8. Slide the topped pizza onto the stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan) and close the door. Wait 2 minutes, then take a peek. If it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for even baking, do so. The pizza should take about 5 to 8 minutes to bake. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone to a lower self before the next round. if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone for subsequent bakes.

9. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before slicing and serving, to allow the cheese to set slightly.
Makes six 6-ounce pizza crusts."[/I]

Tree

I often make bread and leave it to rise overnight in the fridge. The main reason i do it is time contraints, the bread is ready to shape in the am and pop in the oven shortly after. Its very handy, you can just pull a lump of dough off in the morning to make very quick farls on a hot floured pan. Tasty breakfast.

You do get a much beeryer smell with the longer fermentation. Though to be fair, im not sure what works out better or worse for pizza dough. Lately ive been using a softer dough recipe for my pizzas, one with a mix of buttermilk and water instead of just water, but i havent overnighted that lot yet.

tomaschonnie

im curious as to why theres no 'rise'. other pizza recipes require two rises but not this method. im guessing it happens much more slowly in the fridge? Should i still expect the dough to double in size?

Magic Monkey

I've made pizza from that recipe before, it's a very nice dough, see photo attached. There's no "rise" or proofing as per the standard method of mixing, kneading, first proofing or primary fermentation, knock back, second proofing or secondary fermentation, and bake (ignoring some intermediate stages.) That's because the purpose of primary fermantation is to develop flavour, which is what is happening overnight in the fridge via enzyme action as opposed to yeast action.

Your dough will double in size, or at least rise somewhat, once you follow step 4 and remove the dough 2hrs before baking, to allow it to come up to room temperature and for the yeast to re-awaken.

Tree

Mine still doubles in size in teh fridge. It can cause hassle if i use too small a bowl/lunchbox...

tomaschonnie

cheers, that clears it up for me. nice pics, by the way, looks tasty. ill try (if im not too single-mindedly ravenous) to remember to take one of mine.

Magic.Monkey wrote: »

I've made pizza from that recipe before, it's a very nice dough, see photo attached. There's no "rise" or proofing as per the standard method of mixing, kneading, first proofing or primary fermentation, knock back, second proofing or secondary fermentation, and bake (ignoring some intermediate stages.) That's because the purpose of primary fermantation is to develop flavour, which is what is happening overnight in the fridge via enzyme action as opposed to yeast action.

Your dough will double in size, or at least rise somewhat, once you follow step 4 and remove the dough 2hrs before baking, to allow it to come up to room temperature and for the yeast to re-awaken.

tomaschonnie

pizza turned out great! the dough was much better with this method. rose beautifully in the oven.

Minder

Nice recipe and some nice results in the pics. I'll definitely will give this a try, I really like the idea of an overnight proving of the dough. It makes a home made pizza much more accessible - the shorter dough recipes are still hours long, making them only really suitable for weekend cooking.

tomaschonnie

i made that dough on monday afternoon. got 6 pizza crusts from it. used 3 of them tonight, gonna leave the other 3 in the fridge til tomorrow then im gonna freeze them until i feel like pizza again. while you definitely need to plan ahead with this recipe, the results are much much better.

Cicero

tomaschonnie wrote: »

im curious as to why theres no 'rise'. other pizza recipes require two rises but not this method. im guessing it happens much more slowly in the fridge? Should i still expect the dough to double in size?

...the recipe states "instant yeast"...If memory serves me, there is a message on a lot of packs of instant yeast stating only one rise is necessary...

Magic Monkey

Some yeast products may say that alright, as they may contain S500 which is a bread improver that allows you to skip the primary fermentation step.

Otherwise the main difference between instant v.s. dried or fresh yeast is that it can be added directly to the flour, with no need to dissolve in water - this isn't strictly necessary with fresh yeast, as it can be added to french baguette dough after kneading, but dissolving it helps ensure even distribution and an even crumb.

Little Alex

tomas... what is malt syrup and is there anything I can use instead of it if it's not easy to find?

FarmerGreen

Malt syrup is a type of sugar used in brewing, for the sake of 1/2 tsp
just use white sugar.

Little Alex

tomaschonnie, that is some awesome pizza! Made up a batch of six last night and just had one now:

Little Alex

... and had one again today:



Breakfast Pizza!

dubh101

4 star pizza used this overnight method,many years ago when I worked there,their dough recipe was strong white flour,sugar, salt, water, fresh yeast,olive oil. add salt too flour,mix sugar,yeast,and oil well into warm water,add mixture too flour.mix till dough comes away from bowl,store in fridge for 2 days before using.

Emerald087

Hi has anyone ever tried to make pizza doe with sugar? And also if you put the doe in the fridge the yeast does not work right? I use to make doe with egg yokes I think it combines the doe better than oil. But the oil makes the doe smoother and crispyer.
Chris

Emerald087

dubh101 wrote: »

4 star pizza used this overnight method,many years ago when I worked there,their dough recipe was strong white flour,sugar, salt, water, fresh yeast,olive oil. add salt too flour,mix sugar,yeast,and oil well into warm water,add mixture too flour.mix till dough comes away from bowl,store in fridge for 2 days before using.

Surley I dont think its neccesary to leave the doe in the fridge for two days?