Hi,
I used to be able to make very decent Neapolitan style pizza dough a few years back.
My last few attempts at making pizza from self-made dough were a forgettable experience.
The final result looks tempting to bite into, but once you do take a bite, the disappointment arrives.
The dough is chewy in texture and doesn’t even remotely resemble the one that I used to be able to make. It was rather hard to work with.
My last four attempts were with Caputo Pizzeria and Caputo Nuvola. The hydration ranged from 60-67% and each time the dough was kneaded properly I believe (the surface of the bulk was smooth, the gluten mesh was present, the fermentation process took place).
The dough was rising for about 24 hours in the room temp and around 30 hours in the fridge, for around 1 kg of dough only about 1g of yeast was used, the water was ice cold. I skipped the bulk fermantation, the dough was balled right after kneading and the 24 hr room temp/30 hour fridge temp fermantion process began.
Does anyone know what may be the factor causing the dough to be chewy? I couldn’t even reach the “french pancake” thickness that neapolitan style pizza is famous for. I made a few pizzas with dough from local pizzeria and even though the dough was only OK-ish in taste, it was way easier to work with (maybe because of 70% hydration) and I reached the desired thickness.
I know that I haven’t provided much info, but any input will be appreciated!
BTW I’m trying to recreate the l’antica pizzeria da michele dough. If anyone knows how to proceed let me know:) I just know that they use very short proofing times… Do they use more yeast then?
https://i.imgur.com/Em55aCQ.jpg Here is the picture of the said pizza. The total bake time was around 70s, and the temp on the stone was around 470 Celsius. You can even see the stretch lines on the crust that depict how much I was struggling with getting the dough to the desired size
by mongibongi
6 Comments
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I’m no expert by any means and someone can correct my amateur take by all means.
I would leave as bulk for at least 8 hours and I’m not sure a 24 RT is ideal either. Did you windowpane test it?
I’ve always bulked for 4 hours then put it in the fridge.
And by the looks of the dough it looks like it went in cold, how long were the balls out the fridge before you cooked? That will affect how easy it was to handle.
My last, and best cook, 4 hours bulk RT, 18 hours overnight CT then balled and left for 3 hours at RT to rise.
EDIT: I’ve just contradicted my min of 8 hours RT balled but I was going out that day so I stuck it in the fridge before I left. Turned out great though. 1.4g yeast. I always use luke warm water too.
24h room temperature alone would be more than enough with that ammount of yeast. I’ve got a bread recipe with a 24h room temperature proof using 2g fresh yeast on ~600g dough. The result is a awesome tasting (like the french baguette of my youth) but very chewy almost meaty bread. The yeast is pretty much done at this point.
My favorite dough right now is Vito Iacopelli’s 48h double ferment (I usually use it over two days, so 72h at the end). Due to the double ferment it’s really nice to work with without loosing taste. He got more dough variations you can find your favorite from on YouTube. (I can’t post links, as I have been plagued by stealth deletion of most of my comments with links…)
Edit: The PizzApp recommends 0.36g fresh yeast for 24h room + 30h cold
After what you described, i think it might not have anything to do with the characteristics you described, but with your kneading technique. How did you knead it, how did you form it for the bulk fermentation and how did you form the dough after splitting it up?
I am absolutely an amateur at best, but 24hr room temp seems a lil excessive. Not a big fan of hard-and-fast rules when it comes to cooking as there’s tons of individual preferences and variables to consider. Usually when I do a bulk ferment for bread I just keep an eye on it until I feel it’s roughly doubled and passes the “poke test.” Someone else on Reddit sent me the link to some pizzaiolo’s blog that was EXTREMELY helpful and detailed. He actually recommended to skip the bulk fermentation stage and throw the portioned balls straight into the fridge for around 3 days to allow maximum flavor development. I tried it out with my shoddy pizza set up (cast iron skillet + closed gas grill) and it still turned out amazing!
Chewiness usually comes with overworking the dough and the type of flour