Pizza Today - June 2017 - 26

knead to know

with JOHN ARENA

I
AUTO PILOT
How the autolyse method
can improve your dough

2 6 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / J U N E 2 0 1 7

n today's hyper
competitive market
consumers are much
more knowledgeable
and demanding. This has been
great for our industry because
it has caused us to look outside
of our own insular world for
methods and formulas that
have the potential to improve
our products.
In the old days, back in Italy,
dough was mixed by hand in
a wooden box referred to as la
madia. This method allowed
the pizza maker to use a sense
of touch to coax the optimal
results from the ingredients.
Renowned pizza makers such
as Franco Pepe still adhere to
this philosophy of minimal
mechanical intrusion on the
process.
In the U.S., the first pizza
makers used what is called
direct method dough formulas.
This means that ingredients
were combined, mixed, and
then divided and rounded perhaps with a very short bench
rest. The dough balls would
then be covered and allowed to
rise for use later in the day.
This method certainly works
and has the advantage of being
easy to teach and execute. The
challenge for us as operators is
how to improve our products
in a manageable way. The best
recipe in the world can be
undermined if it is not simple
to consistently reproduce.
The goal of mixing is three
fold:
1) Incorporate the ingredients
2) Develop gluten 3) Initiate
fermentation.
For pizza dough, the most
common mixing methods are
the simplified method and the
improved method. The simplified method is a long mix at
slow speed that is gentle on
the dough. Many pizza mak-

ers prefer this method, and I
recommend it - especially if
using a planetary mixer, which
is most common in American pizzerias. The improved
method utilizes two speeds
in the process. Slow speed
to combine ingredients and
then faster speed to finish
the dough and develop the
proteins. With either method
the goal is to avoid excessive
friction, which will oxidize the
dough and toughen the gluten.
Enter autolyse. Perhaps
the simplest way to improve
your dough without reinventing the wheel is to incorporate this simple artisan bread
baking technique. Autolyse
has been in widespread use by
bakers since the 1970s. This
operator friendly method of
mixing dough was developed
by renowned French baking
instructor Raymond Calvel in
an effort to reinvigorate the
bread culture of France that
had suffered from industrialization. In recent years the
most recognized names in the
pizza industry have discovered
that they can dramatically
improve the texture, flavor and
even the color of finished pizzas with this technique.
Autolyse, in its most basic
form, is simply incorporating
the flour and water in your
formula and then letting it
rest in the bowl for up to 30
minutes before adding the additional ingredients and completing the mix. During this
resting period the flour will
have improved absorption of
water and increased enzymatic
activity will be promoted.
The resulting enzymes will
enhance flavor and break down
carbohydrates, producing
simple sugars to feed the yeast.
An added benefit to using this
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