Pizza Today - April 2017 - 28

importantly, oil forms an effective
barrier between your crumb structure
and any moisture coming off of your
sauce or toppings.
The most widely used oil for pizza
dough is olive oil. But for some types
of dough (such as Chicago-style pan
pizza), butter, shortening or lard may
be substituted. Each of these forms
add unique characteristics to the
finished pie. In a typical formula, oil
or fat would be portioned at between
one to three percent of flour weight.
In baker's parlance, this level of oil
would classify pizza dough as a lean
dough. For more of a biscuit-like
texture, some formulas call for an oil
or fat content of 10 to 20 percent of
flour weight. This type of dough is
in the enriched dough category. For
best results, add oil or fat to your
dough about ¼ of the way into your
mix time. Adding too early may interfere with water absorption. Adding oil
too late will simply coat the exterior of
your dough, making it hard to work with
and adding no significant benefit. When
experimenting with adding oil to your
formula, start by reducing water so that
your hydration level remains the same. If
your normal hydration level is 62 percent
and you are adding two percent olive oil,
reduce water to 60 percent. This will give
you a good starting point.
Perhaps the most significant
trend in dough formulation in
recent years has been the use of
pre-ferments such as biga, poolish,
and pate fermentee.

The use of pre-ferments can seem like
alchemy, but exploration of the fundamentals can easily add new levels of flavor, texture and color to your dough. The
most important contributor to exceptional dough is time. The development of
great pizza crust is dependent on the creation of enzymes through the process of
fermentation. Quite simply, pre-ferments
and starters allow you to manipulate
time. Developing and nurturing a viable
sourdough starter is a subject unto itself,
so for now let's examine the use of the
simpler common forms of pre-ferment.
2 8 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / A P R I L 2 0 1 7

Biga is a pre-ferment often used in
Italian bread baking. It consists of flour,
water and yeast that has been allowed
to ferment for up to 24 hours without
any salt as an inhibitor. A typical biga
formula would be flour (100 percent),
water (65 percent) and yeast (.5 percent).
Combine the ingredients and cover,
letting the dough sit at room temperature for eight hours. Biga will have a
consistency similar to standard pizza
dough. Refrigerate for next-day use,
removing the biga from the cooler one
hour before use. Often, biga will make
up a significant portion of your total mix.
It is not uncommon to include biga in
an amount equal to or even greater than
flour weight.
Most often biga is supplemented by
yeast in the final dough. When using
biga, remember to include the flour and
water weight in your formula calculation.
Since the biga does not contain salt, you
must adjust salt content as well. To add
biga to your dough, cut it in small pieces
and add to the mixture as dough begins
the mixing cycle.
Poolish is a very easy pre-ferment to
use in a pizzeria. It's said to be named
in honor of the Polish bread bakers who
taught its use to their French counterparts. Poolish is the key ingredient used

by many of today's pizza champions. Like biga, a poolish consists
of only flour, water and yeast. The
difference lies in the proportions.
Poolish is considered to be a wet
sponge. A typical poolish formula
is 100-percent flour, 100-percent
water and .25-percent yeast. Combine the ingredients in a bowl and
let the mixture sit at room temperature for four hours. Refrigerate
for next-day use
Poolish will have the consistency
of a batter. It can be used for up
to three days. Remove from the
refrigerator one hour before use.
Experiment with adding poolish
at 50 percent of total flour weight
and modify from there. Poolish is
very active, so you can reduce your
yeast by half. Some pizza makers
choose to add no additional yeast
at all. Incorporate poolish by stirring it into the water before adding flour.
Recalculate water and salt, accordingly
maintaining percentages.
Finally, the easiest pre-ferment to
use is pate fermentee. Basically, this is
old dough that has either been made
specifically to add in to your fresh dough
or has been saved from a previous batch
of dough. The common formula is flour
(100 percent), water (65 percent), salt
(two percent) and yeast (.5 percent).
Combine ingredients and let the dough
sit for two hours at room temperature.
Refrigerate for the next day, removing
from the cooler one hour before use. Cut
pate fermentee into small pieces and add
it to your flour before mixing. Pate fermentee is typically added as double the
flour weight. So if your formula called
for 10 pounds of flour, add 20 pounds
of pate fermentee. All other ingredients
would remain the same.
Incorporating these simple additions
to your dough can vastly improve your
results. And, with a bit of practice, these
options will become a vital addition to
your repertoire. n
JOHN ARENA owns

Vegas.

Metro Pizza in Las

http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM

Pizza Today - April 2017

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