Thread: pizza dough question

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:10:54 -0400, Tracy <[email protected]> wrote:

Now I have a bowl of cold pizza
>dough in my fridge.
>
>Do I let it come to room temp before I try to use it? Punch it down
>again and let it rise again at room temp?
>
>Thanks!
>Tracy

I take it out and let it come to close to room temp before shaping it.
Usually takes about an hour.

I think you will be surprised at the taste of it, after having an
overnight rise in the fridge. It really seems to improve it. One of
the bread authorities in this country (Peter Reinhardt) also wrote a
great book on pizza, and he recommends an overnight stay in the fridge
to improve flavor. I sometimes even leave it another day or so,
before shaping it.

Christine, who thinks she might make pizza dough tonight.

Christine Dabney wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:10:54 -0400, Tracy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Now I have a bowl of cold pizza
>> dough in my fridge.
>>
>> Do I let it come to room temp before I try to use it? Punch it down
>> again and let it rise again at room temp?
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Tracy
>
> I take it out and let it come to close to room temp before shaping it.
> Usually takes about an hour.
>
> I think you will be surprised at the taste of it, after having an
> overnight rise in the fridge. It really seems to improve it. One of
> the bread authorities in this country (Peter Reinhardt) also wrote a
> great book on pizza, and he recommends an overnight stay in the fridge
> to improve flavor. I sometimes even leave it another day or so,
> before shaping it.
>
> Christine, who thinks she might make pizza dough tonight.

Thanks for answering, Christine. I thought this was a really good question.

kili

Christine Dabney wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:10:54 -0400, Tracy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Now I have a bowl of cold pizza
>> dough in my fridge.
>>
>> Do I let it come to room temp before I try to use it? Punch it down
>> again and let it rise again at room temp?
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Tracy
>
> I take it out and let it come to close to room temp before shaping it.
> Usually takes about an hour.
>
> I think you will be surprised at the taste of it, after having an
> overnight rise in the fridge. It really seems to improve it. One of
> the bread authorities in this country (Peter Reinhardt) also wrote a
> great book on pizza, and he recommends an overnight stay in the fridge
> to improve flavor. I sometimes even leave it another day or so,
> before shaping it.
>
> Christine, who thinks she might make pizza dough tonight.
>
Thats one of the reasons why pizza at a real pizzeria tastes better.
They cut the dough up into pie weight pieces and put them in trays and
roll the rack into the cooler.

Christine Dabney wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:10:54 -0400, Tracy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Now I have a bowl of cold pizza
>> dough in my fridge.
>>
>> Do I let it come to room temp before I try to use it? Punch it down
>> again and let it rise again at room temp?
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Tracy
>
> I take it out and let it come to close to room temp before shaping it.
> Usually takes about an hour.
>
> I think you will be surprised at the taste of it, after having an
> overnight rise in the fridge. It really seems to improve it. One of
> the bread authorities in this country (Peter Reinhardt) also wrote a
> great book on pizza, and he recommends an overnight stay in the fridge
> to improve flavor. I sometimes even leave it another day or so,
> before shaping it.
>
> Christine, who thinks she might make pizza dough tonight.
>

Thanks Christine. I had a feeling that the flavor would improve.
No more impromptu "let's have pizza" nights if this succeeds....

It will be chicken parm pizza tonight. Before the power went out I had
breaded and pan fried a couple of chicken breasts - as if for chicken
parm. The plan was to slice up the chicken and put it on the pizza. I
will admit this was The Kid's idea. He originally wanted buffalo chicken
pizza but I convinced him chicken parm would be better.

Tracy

I have another question about pizza dough.

I always seem to have trouble stretching it out. It tears, it won't stretch,
etc etc. I make bread all the time, I've made puff pastry with no problem,
I've made all kinds of specialty crusts such as the French ones that contain
a lot of sugar and egg yolk, and have no problem with regular pie crust, but
I've never been able to get the %*!$ pizza crust to behave!

Any tips?

Janet wrote:
> I have another question about pizza dough.
>
> I always seem to have trouble stretching it out. It tears, it won't stretch,
> etc etc. I make bread all the time, I've made puff pastry with no problem,
> I've made all kinds of specialty crusts such as the French ones that contain
> a lot of sugar and egg yolk, and have no problem with regular pie crust, but
> I've never been able to get the %*!$ pizza crust to behave!
>
> Any tips?

Do you let it rest first? Dough needs to rest for at least 15 minutes to
become stretchable, in my experience.

Serene

--
"I think I have an umami receptor that has developed sentience." -- Stef

Tracy wrote:
>
> Christine Dabney wrote:
> > On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:10:54 -0400, Tracy <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > Now I have a bowl of cold pizza
> >> dough in my fridge.
> >>
> >> Do I let it come to room temp before I try to use it? Punch it down
> >> again and let it rise again at room temp?
> >>
> >> Thanks!
> >> Tracy
> >
> > I take it out and let it come to close to room temp before shaping it.
> > Usually takes about an hour.
> >
> > I think you will be surprised at the taste of it, after having an
> > overnight rise in the fridge. It really seems to improve it. One of
> > the bread authorities in this country (Peter Reinhardt) also wrote a
> > great book on pizza, and he recommends an overnight stay in the fridge
> > to improve flavor. I sometimes even leave it another day or so,
> > before shaping it.
> >
> > Christine, who thinks she might make pizza dough tonight.
> >
>
> Thanks Christine. I had a feeling that the flavor would improve.

It should.

> No more impromptu "let's have pizza" nights if this succeeds....

You can still do that, just find a local grocery store that sells
refrigerated pizza dough, usually the ones that also sell ready to bake
pizzas. This dough is generally quite good and are of course ready to
use by the time you get them home and prep the toppings.

>
> It will be chicken parm pizza tonight. Before the power went out I had
> breaded and pan fried a couple of chicken breasts - as if for chicken
> parm. The plan was to slice up the chicken and put it on the pizza. I
> will admit this was The Kid's idea. He originally wanted buffalo chicken
> pizza but I convinced him chicken parm would be better.

Buffalo chicken pizza is very good when done properly (don't skimp on
the Red Hot). Another good variation is a white pizza (olive oil and
garlic) topped with chicken, crumbled feta cheese, hot cherry pepper
slices and just enough mozz. to hold everything in place.

Janet wrote:
> I have another question about pizza dough.
>
> I always seem to have trouble stretching it out. It tears, it won't stretch,
> etc etc. I make bread all the time, I've made puff pastry with no problem,
> I've made all kinds of specialty crusts such as the French ones that contain
> a lot of sugar and egg yolk, and have no problem with regular pie crust, but
> I've never been able to get the %*!$ pizza crust to behave!
>
> Any tips?
>
>


Add more water.

Janet wrote:
> I have another question about pizza dough.
>
> I always seem to have trouble stretching it out. It tears, it won't stretch,
> etc etc. I make bread all the time, I've made puff pastry with no problem,
> I've made all kinds of specialty crusts such as the French ones that contain
> a lot of sugar and egg yolk, and have no problem with regular pie crust, but
> I've never been able to get the %*!$ pizza crust to behave!
>
> Any tips?
>
>
What's your recipe?

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:41:34 -0400, "Janet" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>I have another question about pizza dough.
>
>I always seem to have trouble stretching it out. It tears, it won't stretch,
>etc etc. I make bread all the time, I've made puff pastry with no problem,
>I've made all kinds of specialty crusts such as the French ones that contain
>a lot of sugar and egg yolk, and have no problem with regular pie crust, but
>I've never been able to get the %*!$ pizza crust to behave!
>
>Any tips?
>
Let it rest.... it's like pie dough in that sense.


--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West

"Tracy" <[email protected]> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:g621mo$74l$[email protected]..
> Yesterday, I decided to make pizza. In the past I just made the dough and
> without even letting it rise - made the pizza.
>
> I have lately been playing with letting it rise first. When I let it rise
> I get a denser pizza, but when it doesn't rise I get a much thinner crust.
> I like both.
>
> My problem? Last night after I made the dough, my power went out. I had
> heard my BIL's power had gone out (he lives one town over) but had it back
> within an hour. So, I figured I'd just wait it out.
>
> Let's see, it was around 6 that I made the dough, it was rising nicely,
> but I still had no power at 7 or 8. So, I punched it down to let it go
> again. No power at 10 or 11. I put the bowl in the fridge at that point.
>
> Power finally came back on at 11:30. Now I have a bowl of cold pizza
> dough in my fridge.
>
> Do I let it come to room temp before I try to use it? Punch it down again
> and let it rise again at room temp?
>
> Thanks!
> Tracy

You've probably already decided what to do, but this is what I do. I never
let the dough rise less than 12 hours. Overnight in the fridge in a Ziplock
is great. After at least 12 hours I punch it down and for it and bake it.
The difference in flavor is astounding.

"Tracy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:g621mo$74l$[email protected]..
> Yesterday, I decided to make pizza. In the past I just made the dough and
> without even letting it rise - made the pizza.
>
> I have lately been playing with letting it rise first. When I let it rise
> I get a denser pizza, but when it doesn't rise I get a much thinner crust.
> I like both.
>
> My problem? Last night after I made the dough, my power went out. I had
> heard my BIL's power had gone out (he lives one town over) but had it back
> within an hour. So, I figured I'd just wait it out.
>
> Let's see, it was around 6 that I made the dough, it was rising nicely,
> but I still had no power at 7 or 8. So, I punched it down to let it go
> again. No power at 10 or 11. I put the bowl in the fridge at that point.
>
> Power finally came back on at 11:30. Now I have a bowl of cold pizza
> dough in my fridge.
>
> Do I let it come to room temp before I try to use it? Punch it down again
> and let it rise again at room temp?


By now I assume you have solved the problem. Yes, punching it down and
letting it rise again would have been a good solution. But for future
reference, I like to make pizza dough by letting it rise slowly in the
fridge overnight. I find it makes for a much nicer tasting crust.

Paul

"Janet" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
>I have another question about pizza dough.
>
> I always seem to have trouble stretching it out. It tears, it won't
> stretch, etc etc. I make bread all the time, I've made puff pastry with no
> problem, I've made all kinds of specialty crusts such as the French ones
> that contain a lot of sugar and egg yolk, and have no problem with regular
> pie crust, but I've never been able to get the %*!$ pizza crust to behave!
>
> Any tips?

Knead it more. You need gluten to make the dough stretch.

Paul

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:10:54 -0400, Tracy <[email protected]> wrote:

>Do I let it come to room temp before I try to use it?

Yes....

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:11:21 -0400, Tracy <[email protected]> wrote:


>Thanks Christine. I had a feeling that the flavor would improve.
>No more impromptu "let's have pizza" nights if this succeeds....

Oh yes you can.... It freezes really well..so no reason why you
couldn't let it have an overnight rise, and then freeze it. Then you
could pull it out when you wanted pizza...impromptu!!
>
>It will be chicken parm pizza tonight.

I would be interested in what you think of the flavor...

Christine

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:32:15 -0600, Christine Dabney
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:11:21 -0400, Tracy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>It will be chicken parm pizza tonight.
>
>I would be interested in what you think of the flavor...
>

I make chicken pizza, but I grind lightly poached or leftover chicken
meat in the FP.


--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West