Pizza Today - June 2020 - 22

There are a multitude of other reasons for choosing one type of oven over
another, but space does not permit me
to cover all of those. These are the main
considerations when selecting the best
oven type for your store, and hopefully
they will help you in making the right
decision on one of your most important
-- and expensive -- pieces of equipment.
In looking at different methods
of dough management, some call
for allowing the dough balls to rest
at room temperature for an hour or
more, while others say to take the
dough directly to the cooler without
any room temperature rest period.
Does it really make a difference?
A: Yes, it does make a difference. When
dough balls are allowed to rest at room
temperature before going into the cooler
they begin to ferment, becoming less
dense. As a result, the dough becomes a

better insulator, so when the dough goes
into the cooler it is now more difficult to
cool uniformly. In some cases, especially
with larger/heavier weight dough balls,
the dough may never cool down sufficiently to control the rate of fermentation so the dough "blows" in the cooler,
resulting in a total loss.
Another problem with allowing the
dough to rest at room temperature prior
to going into the cooler has to do with
the temperature of the dough as well as
the actual time the dough is allowed to
remain at room temperature. For
example, if the dough is a couple degrees
warmer than desired, or targeted, the
dough will ferment more, making for an
even less dense dough. If you forget to
take the dough to the cooler at the prescribed time, this can also result in over
fermentation. When combined with the
perfect storm of a dough that is a little
warmer than desired, and a warmer than
usual shop temperature, the stage is set
for blown dough as the order of the day.

By taking the dough directly from
the mixer to the bench for scaling
and balling, and then straight to the
cooler, the effects of dough temperature (or more correctly stated, the
effects of a missed target dough temperature) are minimized. And because
we are doing everything right away,
there is less chance to forget to take
the dough to the cooler. Additionally,
shop temperature will have essentially
no impact upon the dough as the
dough will not be exposed to it long
enough to impact it. The net result
of taking the dough directly to the
cooler is that the dough will be denser, and have a more uniform density,
making it easier to cool uniformly,
and predictably, resulting in better
handling dough, and improved dough
performance over the refrigerated life
of the dough.
As a side note, I've seen a number
of cases where the operator thought
he had the solution to a blown dough
problem by simply reducing the yeast
level in the dough to the point where
the dough would no longer blow. This
worked, but it created a whole new
problem at the same time. With the
lower yeast level, the dough would
no longer rise as it used to, and the
weight of the topping ingredients
compressed the center of the pizza,
reducing its ability to bake properly.
The finished pizza was now characterized by a soft, soggy bottom crust,
and worst of all, a gum line that just
wouldn't go away. As you can see,
reducing the yeast level is not the best
solution to this problem. The only real
solution is to adjust/correct the dough
temperature, rest time and possibly
the room temperature, or simply take
the dough directly to the cooler
before any of these factors can impact
the dough. ■
TOM LEHMANN is
a former director at the
American Institute of
Baking in Manhattan, KS.

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Pizza Today - June 2020

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