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Pizza help

Discussion in 'Professional Chefs' started by chrisbristol, Apr 25, 2018.

  1. Apr 25, 2018 #1
    chrisbristol

    chrisbristol

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    Hello
    I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice on pizza. Particularly doughs.
    I made a pizza today. The dough recipe was 500g bread flour 1tbsp olive oil pinch of salt. 300 mil warm water.
    Now the yeast is the tricky bit. The recipe said to use 1 tsp fast action yeast but I used a dried active yeast and let it activate in water. Now the yeast instructions are to use 15g of yeast to 300ml water but it also says if the bread recipe says to use fast action yeast half the dried active yeast. So 7 and a half grams. I misread that part so probably added a bit more but to 300 ml of water. In future should I do it in the amount of water it says and ad the other water separate?
    The mixture was a bit to wet. The yeast instructions say normally it would be 150ml to 500g of bread flour.
    Another possibility is that the yeast had been open to long. It does say use within 4 months of opening and I think it has been longer.
    Just trying to figure out why it was to wet.
     
  3. Apr 26, 2018 #2
    chrisbristol

    chrisbristol

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    Just a quick update. After looking online I think the problem was the yeast didn't activate properly. The reason is the dough didn't rise much and wasn't springy when touched.
    So next time I am going to follow the recipe more exactly and use fast action yeast.
    Just one question though. I have read that fast acting yeast is not recommended for refrigerated or frozen dough baking methods.
    Does that mean it doesn't freeze well or are there methods where you freeze the dough while making?
    The reason I'm asking is that if I get it right I am planning on freezing half as it makes 2 pizzas.
     
  4. Apr 26, 2018 #3
    markos sdranis

    markos sdranis

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    salt kills yeast, add it after you've kneaded a bit. also, when making bread you want the water to be cold as it will heat up when mixing, ideally final temperature will be like 30-35 celsius if I'm not mistaken. Not a pastry chef, it's what I remember from school
     
  5. Apr 26, 2018 #4
    seabeecook

    seabeecook

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    The only time I delay adding salt is if I'm doing an autolyse. Salt controls yeast fermentation and strengthens gluten bonds. Otherwise, all ingredients go into the mixing bowl at once. I use instant yeast (SAF). My formula is similar to @21TonyK (100% 00 flour, 2% sugar, 1.75% salt, 58% water & 3% olive oil).
     
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  6. Apr 26, 2018 #5
    markos sdranis

    markos sdranis

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    I don't know enough to argue so I did some more reading. It appears you are correct and I learned something. It only kills yeast if the concentration is high enough. The way we did it is knead for 4-6 minutes, add the salt and continue kneading, it would turn out great so I never questioned it
     
  7. Apr 26, 2018 #6
    seabeecook

    seabeecook

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    Dough is resilient. There is room for variations in technique. I'm sure each one has it's pros and cons.
     
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  8. Apr 26, 2018 #7
    brianshaw

    brianshaw

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    I only use ADY (or wild yeast culture) in breads. Never bother pre-proofing ADY either... old wives tale and only needed if one's yeast is old.

    Worry that IDY burns out too fast over a long rise.
     
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  9. Apr 26, 2018 #8
    seabeecook

    seabeecook

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    I haven't used a lot of ADY in recent years. Instant works well for what I use it for. I use ADY at my sister's house and don't proof it. It may add a bit of time to bulk fermentation, but that's okay. I like cooler fermentation because of flavor development.
     
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  11. Apr 27, 2018 #9
    Evenhand

    Evenhand

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    With active dry yeast, you want the water temp between 100 and 106F for it to activate.