Last night my pizza dough failed – it ‘snapped’ rather than stretched when I pulled it and it still smelled of flour rather than dough.

I was using an already-used bag of flour and a new sachet of yeast (from an already used box of yeast sachets) and it was still well within the use-by date. These ingredients worked fine last week but this week it was really odd – it still kinda rolled out okay but the cooked pizza still smelled ‘doughy’.

Everything else was done in the same way, in the same order and with the same timings so what on earth could have happened? The only thing I can think of was the yeast didn’t work for some reason. Any other ideas?

If the yeast didn’t work then the dough wouldn’t have doubled in size or had lots of air bubbles in it.

Did it double size?

yeah would have been pretty obvious if the yeast hadn’t worked.

Talk us through your whole process, not really enough info tbh.

Incidentally I started my pizza dough with an overnight poolish last week, was superb, makes all the difference to the flavour.

 it ‘snapped’ rather than stretched when I pulled it and it still smelled of flour rather than dough.

and

it still kinda rolled out okay but the cooked pizza still smelled ‘doughy’.

says to me too much flour or you didn’t knead it long enough (too glutenous, hence the snap you’re getting rather the stretch) and the floury taste, and your oven maybe not hot enough?

Im guessing you got the water / flour ratio wrong. Sounds like the dough was way too dry.

Ive done it before when not paying attention stuck 200g in when it should have been 300g etc.

or you didn’t knead it long enough

Did you do it by hand or use a bread maker? On the odd occasion our bread maker fails with pizza dough if the water is added in too unevenly at the start.

My guess would be similar to the above… not kneaded enough, or wrong flour/water mix

even if you don’t knead it enough, if it’s had a couple of hours to rise then it is usually still ok.  My guess is not enough water (I normally aim for about 60% water) or even possibly too much salt which prevented the yeast working

The only thing I can think of was the yeast didn’t work for some reason.

You need to keep the salt away from the yeast otherwise the former will kill the latter.
Keep them separate.

do this next time, thank me later.

Very high hydration dough mind about 70%, so can be challenging to work with, but that along with the overnight poolish to develop the flavour, gives you a tremendously light fluffy insides and crunchy crust.

Just done it with 00 I had in the cupboard, but will look into the manitoba/ hi w rated flours next time though

sharkbait
Free Member

You need to keep the salt away from the yeast otherwise the former will kill the latter.
Keep them separate.

think it takes a lot of salt to completely kill it, it’s more the salt will control how active the yeast is. it shouldn’t completely kill it I think. Might matter more if using fresh yeast to I think.

my got to recipe

https://www.gozney.com/blogs/recipes/100-biga-pizza-dough-recipe

Sorry……Rolled? 😜

So – it’s in a bread maker and nothing other than the normal process.

what does the bread maker do? Does it knead it for you and rest the dough etc? Never used one so no idea. I use a machine to mix dough but I still need to take out oil, cover let rest etc etc manually. There a lot more to it than just sticking the ingredients together and mixing them.

beagle
Free Member
Sorry……Rolled? 😜

An eyebrow was raised! 😆

nothing other than the normal process.

Well, something changed, otherwise it would’ve been fine.

a mate of mine bought a swanky machine thats sposed to do all of the kneading for him with a hook, but when he watched what it was doing he said it just seemed to be moving the dough around rather than actually kneading it, so hes gone back to doing it by hand.

How are we this far into the thread without any reference to the OP’s name?

what does the bread maker do? Does it knead it for you and rest the dough etc?

Yes, it kneads it for 30 minutes then rests it for 1hr. I then take it out and refrigerate until 2hrs before rolling out. It was ‘snappy’ as soon as I took it out of the machine so it was something in the initial 1hr 30mins that didn’t work.

Well, something changed, otherwise it would’ve been fine.

Well yes, but nothing *I* did was different and I have been making it in the same way once a week for over two years.

johndoh
Free Member

Yes, it kneads it for 30 minutes then rests it for 1hr. I then take it out and refrigerate until 2hrs before rolling out.nitial 1hr 30mins that didn’t work.

Don’t know, sounds something has gone wrong in the kneading process in the machine anyhow, 30 minutes also seems far too long to knead for. Rolling dough is mental btw, I suggest looking at the recipe I posted above and pay attention to the processes there. particular how to treat the dough, shouldn’t be a rolling pin anywhere near pizza dough!

Sorry……Rolled? 😜

Exactly – If you are going to roll out your dough you may as well pop to Tesco and pick up a Dr Oetker.

Exactly – If you are going to roll out your dough you may as well pop to Tesco and pick up a Dr Oetker.

It works for me and my kids love them.

Next time, just take the dough out before the resting period, give it a wee bit of a manual knead for 20 seconds or so, start getting yourself used to the texture pre and post knead, and the difference particularly post resting, there’s distinctive phases the dough goes through, and there’s strengthening folds and stuff that also work after the resting period, particularly with more hydrated dough.

what are your dough measurements btw? ie flour, water, yeast, salt, honey/sugar, oil?

you probably find you only need the machine for kneading and it’s better to do the other stuff in a bowl, using a damp towel/cling film and oil to stop the dough developing a skin when resting.

what are your dough measurements btw? ie flour, water, yeast, salt, honey/sugar, oil?

IIRC
300ml luke-warm water
30ml olive oil
540g strong white bread flour
10g salt
7.5g sugar
7.5g yeast

how many balls/pizzas are you making with that?

What type of yeast also thats seems a lot of sugar and oil given I don’t use any at all

I then take it out and refrigerate until 2hrs

I wouldn’t refrigerate it.  It needs at least that at room temp IMO.  I would knock it down after an hour or so if rising too much but I really wouldn’t have it in the fridge.  I would also use half bread half plain flour if not using 00 as it can get a bit difficult to stretch out by hand with only bread flour

IIRC
300ml luke-warm water
30ml olive oil
540g strong white bread flour
10g salt
7.5g sugar
7.5g yeast

About 55% hydration. I guess it should still work, but it’s very low. Try upping the hydration about 65% or so.

350ml luke-warm water
10-20ml olive oil (Although it’s optional, I just just coat in olive oil when it’s resting and after I’ve made the dough balls)
540g tipo 00 flour
10-15g salt (just depends on your taste, bit more would work.)
7.5g sugar or honey
7.5g yeast

tbh I think it just sounds like the machine hasn’t mixed the ingredients properly and there’s been a failure there, it’ll probably work next time. Although I’ve never tried a dough that low hydration, so it could be that too. Anyhow some suggestions for your recipe anyhow! 🙂

I then take it out and refrigerate until 2hrs

I wouldn’t refrigerate it.

Yeah room temperature unless you are overnighting it. The cold is just slowing down the proofing process.

That looks like a pretty standard bread machine pizza dough recipe. It gets you from zero to pizza in a couple of hours. What comes out of the machine should be squidgy and won’t snap – which I’m sure you’re familiar with as you do this regularly.

I’d guess an ingredient or step was skipped, or the paddle didn’t work quite right that time (or paddle wasn’t installed – been there, done that).

Check the squidgyness is there before you whack it in the fridge, and if it isn’t, make another batch and instead of sticking the new batch in the fridge, ball it up, and let it double in size on the worktop/table instead of the fridge and it’ll be ready when you would normally have taken the first batch out of the fridge.

how many balls/pizzas are you making with that?

Four approx 225g pizzas for family pizza and film Saturday nights 👍