You’re over proving it
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We left overnight, and 6 hours to the cook from balling.
It’s close but no cigar.
Sainsburys had an offer today on a ball for a quid. That will do until I work out the dough mess.
I’ve only made pizza dough a couple of times but, based on making bread dough, it isn’t just the proving time that matters. Proving temperature and the amount of yeast used are equally critical.
Big holes (as you describe) and collapsing when handled are both certain indicators of over proving.
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Enjoy the above but if you really want do it , enjoy it , get it wrong, get it nearly right and learn.
A good oven at temperature is a small part of the equation.
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^^^ very much this
Great advice.
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I agree. Just frustrating as we are following the recipe to the letter and it is so close to being sublime.
The slops bucket is too big at the moment. I just want a base that doesn’t insist on shrinking.
Buy ready dough and enjoy that for a bit and then the home made dough bug will kick in.
It sounds like you are using a too high-protein/high-gluten flour, you might want to change over to flour with a lower protein content, between 11.5% to 12.8%. The lower protein content will help reduce the memory characteristics of the dough, thus reducing snap-back after pressing / rolling.
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Been using Caputo blue, same as the Lopwell Distro (bags of white powder shared at a discreet rural location). That’s double 0, the above is single 0.
Good advice. Some of the variables are clearly out and I can have a play with amounts and types of flour.
I really wouldn’t get hung up on that.
Horses for courses, I use the Nuvola because I’m trying to get to a lighter thinner crust. YMMV.
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Caputo blue is the Italian pizza industry standard, for use with very hot wood fired ovens above 500. If you cook at a lower temp red bag is the one to use 300-500. Nuvola is not as fine as 00 and supposed to be easier to handle at high hydration.than the 00 variants. Its been delveloped for the home oven market. Personally I found the resulting dough from Nuvola a little sticky and lacking the velvet feel with dough from caputo blue,also it doesn’t have the classic crisp but chewy texture I love with Neapolitan pizza. It does puff up and crisp very well though.
It sounds to me like you are not resting the dough for long enough (left somewhere cool) also I was confused by your second attempt recount - When you say it stretched but had shrunk by the time you put it in the oven.
Did it shrink with sauce and toppings on or before?
Also be careful with how much flour you use while stretching and putting on the peel (excess flour will tighten the dough and burn like fuck in the oven. The peel should be flour free and so should the base when it goes on. Lift your pizza and swipe away any flour under it.
It’s all about practice, lots of practice.
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Feck, that is a total shed load of faff, just for a Pizza. Life’s too short.
Papa Johns for the zero faff win.
I could say that for most of my hobbies at least pizza faff has a delicious end result. Also if like Steve you’ve bought a posh pizza oven it makes sense that he wants the best pizza he can get from it.
I love proper pizza. Whatever Papa Johns is it ain’t pizza in my mind.
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Me too.
OK, but Domino’s ? Hey !
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Very helpful. I’ll reply when I have more time. One of the other problems was the dough sticking and we have been dusting a lot more second time to combat (yes it does burn, but we get a pizza in the oven!).
As for the faf, the result second time round (still a way to go) beat any shop/takeaway pizza stone dead, and was on a par with the best restaurants I’ve been to.
I like good pizza, and I crave excellent pizza.
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Tru dat.
Shame though, as the appetite is raging while the slop bucket is growing.
Also, we are on gas fumes and refills seem to be at Putin’s discretion.