Pizza Today - February 2018 - 28

To make the dough, place the
remainder of the water in the mixing
bowl (use ice water for best results) as
well as the remainder of the flour. Add
the rest of the dough ingredients on top
of the flour and mix at low speed for
a minute or so. The time is not critical as we are just trying to incorporate
the ingredients. Once the ingredients
are incorporated, add the fermented
sponge in one piece or cut into smaller
pieces and mix at low speed for two
minutes. Then go to the highest speed
your mixer will mix the dough at and
continue mixing just until it takes on a
smooth appearance.
For many of us this is the same
appearance that we are looking for with
a normal pizza dough when properly
developed. Immediately after mixing,
transfer the dough to the bench for
scaling and balling, place the dough
balls onto a lightly oiled sheet pan,
lightly oil the top of each dough ball
and take to the freezer. The dough balls
will require about three to four hours

in the freezer to freeze solidly. Once
frozen, the dough balls can be packaged
into corrugated boxes with a food-contact-approved plastic bag as a box liner.
Twist the open end of the bag to close
and tuck it down along the side of the
box to secure. Close and seal the box
and keep in the freezer.
Dough balls made in this manner
can be kept frozen for up to two weeks.
To use the frozen dough balls, remove
them from the bulk packaging and
place onto lightly oiled pans or trays
in the cooler and allow to slack-out
overnight. Then remove the dough balls
from the cooler, cover with a sheet of
plastic to prevent drying and allow to
warm to 50 F before using on the line.
This method of making frozen dough
balls will provide a level of finished
crust flavor not usually achievable with
frozen dough unless special handling
techniques are employed.
This method is not recommended
for any operation that requires frozen
dough that has a shelf life of more

than two weeks, but it is an excellent
option for any pizzeria or chain that
maintains complete control over the
dough and wants to have more flavor
in their finished crust.
I've read so many differing opinions
on how much a pizza dough should be
mixed. Can you shed some light on the
proper mixing of a pizza dough?
A: Let me start out first by saying

that pizza dough should not be mixed
to full-gluten development. Instead, it
should only be mixed to a point where
a smooth skin is formed on the dough
mass during mixing. The only exception to this is when commercially
made frozen dough is being produced.
Since we are making fresh dough,
mixing just until the dough looks
smooth is sufficient. If you have to
err in mixing time, it is always best to
under-mix as opposed to over-mixing.
If the dough is under-mixed, the only
issues experienced will be greater difficulty in handling the dough during
the scaling and balling process. And
you can overcome this by using more
flour when you handle it.
By contrast, over-mixing can overly
toughen the gluten and make the
dough more difficult to ball. Even
worse: it makes for a lot more wear on
your mixer. Over time, that becomes
an expensive proposition. I know that
some operators like to use the "dough
window" test where a piece of dough
is stretched and opened between the
hands to expose the gluten film. The
exposed gluten film is then assessed
for clarity. This procedure is an
effective way to assess gluten development, but one must be trained and
experienced in knowing how to open
the dough and what to look for to
be accurate. Instead, just looking for
the smooth skin development over
the dough ball during mixing is easy
to do and easy to understand. Most
importantly, it works. n
TOM LEHMANN is a former director at
the American Institute of Baking in
Manhattan, Kansas and Pizza Today's
resident dough expert.

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Pizza Today - February 2018

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