Dough Temperature Changes during mixing with controlled methods using a mixograph 3/23/2012

Temperature’s effects on mixogram curves have been studied by many investigators, mainly where room temperature was the major concern. Their results showed significant effects on the mixogram for both soft and hard wheat flours. One of the questions remaining questions unanswered is how dough temperature changes during mixing in a mixograph. Some of the conclusions in this article show temperature change during mixing strongly shows the higher the flour protein content, the more work input and the greater the temperature rise.


There are also other conclusions if anyone is interested.

http://www.aaccnet.org/cerealchemistry/backissues/1992/69_681.pdf

Norma

Jim Lahey's new "No-Knead Pizza Dough" 3/22/2012

Jim Lahey’s no-knead dough ball opened well and there was no sticking with using a little bit of bench flour. I lightly coated both sides of the dough ball with flour before opening it. The opened dough ball had many fermentation bubbles in the skin. The no-knead pizza was dressed with Alfredo garlic sauce, spinach, red peppers, spring onions, bacon, grape tomatoes and a blend of two mozzarellas. Even with adding all the dressings the skin didn’t want to stick to the wooden peel. The oven was preheated for an hour and after the pie was slide into the oven with the wooden peel the broiler was turned on. I didn‘t think my broiler would stay on so I opened the oven a little each time it went off. The end of the bake was finished with just the bottom oven coil. The bake wasn‘t perfect, but turned out fairly well. The bottom of the crust could have been a little darker, but still was good. The Jim Lahey’s no-knead pizza was pretty darn tasty and kind of reminded me of a Neapolitan pizza in that the middle crust didn’t stay crisp too long, but the outer rim crust did stay a little crispy even after the pie had cooled down. The crumb was fairly moist. The pie was baked on the middle rack on the pizza stone. I think Jim Lahey’s no-knead pizza dough would fair better in a hotter oven. I might try a the same methods at market or my home BBQ grill set-up sometime. I am going to take a few slices to my mom’s a little while later and see what she thinks of this pizza.

Thanks Paul for figuring out the baker's percent for me and anyone else to use! :)


I took a video of slicing the pie with a pizza cutter, but with only one hand to cut and one hand to hold the camera, the video didn’t turn out very well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXHa93x-dQM

Norma

Mellow Mushroom Attempt with another of Pete-zza's formulations 3/20/2012

This was another formulation Peter (Pete-zza) figured out for me to try in an MM clone pizza.  I really pushed on the dough when opening it and didn't try to form a distinct trim.  I also baked for longer to see if I could get a browner crust something like some of MM pizzas are sometimes.

Norma

Another Attempt on a Mack's pizza with Goya mantec lard as the oil 3/20/2012

This was an attempt on a Mack's pizza using Goya manteca lard as the oil.  Athough the crust was tasty, the Goya manteca lard made the crust too soft to be a Mack's crust.

The pie was still tasty though.  I used the Acme brand of white cheddar and a blend of a really expensive extra sharp white cheddar I purchased at market.

The bottom crust wanted to become too brown and two screens were needed at the end of the bake.

Norma

Trying out a new formulation with another flour for a NY style pizza at market 3/20/2012

These are some pictures of the formulation I am going to try out for my market pizzas.  I tried another flour and think I like the results.

The Lehmann dough toppings were Alfredo Sauce with garlic, spinach, cheddar, two blends of mozzarellas, applewood smoked bacon, spring onions, and olive oil soaked sun dried tomatoes sure was good. Using that Lehmann dough gave the highest oven spring and moistness in the crust. I had upped the IDY a little more on Monday.

Norma