Giant bubbles that come to the surface of the ball. Then when I flatten the balls to make the pizza, I get enormous bubbles pushed out to the crust that burn in the oven.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

by TheZag90

14 Comments

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  2. Bubbles are okay. When you form your pizza pop the big bubbles on the crust by hand and you should be good.

  3. BadSmash4

    You can pop them by hand or with a thin skewer or something while you’re shaping the pizza. Bubbles are a good sign that fermentation is going well, you just need to pop them manually and, depending on how you want the crusts to come out, carefully.

  4. When you stretch the dough out, gently pinch the bubbles that are too big, and then rip them.

    Your dough looks great.

  5. maythesbewithu

    So like many have said, this is a desirable feature, not generally a problem.

    But, if you don’t like these large bubbles and the char that the cornicione gets from these bubbles at the edge, then here is a suggestion (besides simply popping them at shaping time)

    To distribute the air more evenly, reshape the dough halfway through the “bench rest” phase. — This is the phase when you take the dough balls out of the cold and rest them for 4-6 hours before shaping and cooking.

    The reshape is going to be mild, not vigorous, and the timing needs to be played with to meet your goal:

    – remove the dough balls from the fridge and set a timer, but set the timer for 1/2 of what you normally do. (So 2 hours instead of 4)
    – when that first timer goes off, reset it for the same (2 more hours) time…that will be stretch and top time.
    – pull each ball out onto your work surface, flatten with your palm, then bring the edges into the center.
    – flip over and repeat the flatten-fold.
    – reshape into a ball and return to the tray.

    Yes this will tighten the gluten which has been relaxing, but it will also redistribute the most active yeast colonies throughout.

    The reason for the bubbles is generally some yeast colonies are stronger than others and wake from the “cold retard” to ferment quickly in small areas around the ball. Redistributing them with a pair of flatten-folds should even the gas production out.

    IF WHEN YOU RETURN TO SHAPE THEM and they are tight, then this time split needs to be moved earlier (1 hr then 3 hrs).

    IF WHEN YOU RETURN TO SHAPE THEM and they are again bubbly, then this time split needs to be moved later (3 hrs then 1 hr).

    IF YOU DON’T EVEN USE A COLD RETARD FERMENTATION, then simply scale back your initial yeast percentage.

    Please post results.

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