Help save my Neapolitan dough?

gaogier

Active Member
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21 Mar 2021
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UK
Hello

i am making some Neapolitan pizza for Saturday. So I have made the dough but I think something has gone wrong. This is my first attempt at making Neapolitan pizza.

here is what my Dough looks like...
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can this be saved?
 
No sugar and I put the yeast in the 10% flour water
 
That recipe doesn't use a lot of yeast for the amount of flour, so it may have given its all and died. The recipe says to let it rest for at lesat 2 hours, then make the balls and let them sit for 24 hours. So, you are already way out of the time range if you aren't making the dough until Saturday.

As to the salt and yeast weight measurements, I'm not too sure about them. Salt weighs a lot more than yeast so something seems off. I'm not going to weigh it out myself, but I did once for another recipe where I weighed and converted grams to teaspoons and tablespoons for those that didn't have scales and my memory says something is off, so I'd check that if I were you.

Did you use the 00 flour called for?

When using active dried yeast instead of fresh, you have to use about 1/2 less. If you are using instant dried yeast, even less, about 1/3 less. Also, I know a lot of people have stopped doing it, but I still hydrate my active dried yeast with a little bit of warm water and just a tiny pinch of sugar to get it going.

Yes, the dough can be saved. You can treat it like a starter/biga. You'll just have to add some additional yeast dissolved as above. Mix into the starter well, adding a touch more flour if needed, then proceed with the 2 hours, ball, 24 hours, etc.

Just as an FYI, dough can be refrigerated and that will greatly retard yeast activity without killing the yeast. I've kept dough for pita bread for nearly a week in the refrigerator. Just keep it covered in plastic wrap sprayed with Pam or the like so that the dough doesn't form a hard skin. You'll need to take the balls out of the refrigerator about 1 to 1-1/2 hours before you plan to use depending on your ambient temperature.
 
That recipe doesn't use a lot of yeast for the amount of flour, so it may have given its all and died.

I agree - I would think its a mistake. ½ a teaspoon of fresh yeast to a kilo of flour? Sounds wrong to me.

I am not sure how much dried yeast you used gaogier but for a kilo of flour I'd use 2 x 7g sachets of instant dried yeast.
 
I have used a tub of yeast, not all of it, just as much as stated above, I can't remember how I did the calculations but it seemed correct as far as I could guess.

I have knocked all the air out of the dough this morning and it seems that the yeast isnt dead, as it still grew, its now in a fridge.

I only need half this dough, tomorrow, just hoping that I can freeze the rest. It should be okay to freeze right?

As this is my first attempt, what would you suggest otherwise?
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Wait and see if you like the crust before you worry about making any changes.

Yes, it will freeze, but don't leave it in there too long. It's been my experience that the longer the dough is in the freezer, the less active the yeast is once thawed, but that could just be me. Oh, freeze in separate bags. Also, I've found that if you spray the inside of the bag with cooking spray that the dough comes out much easier once it's thawed.
Let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then take out about an hour to hour and a-half before you are going to use so it can warm up and you can work with it.
 
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Okay, so I used the dough, which I kept in the fridge, it looked good.

I used my Gas bbq pizza oven blaze box to cook the pizza, its windy and rain here so I did it quick, and didn't wait for my gas bbq to get super hot, but it was 350°c I can get it to 425°c. I plan to use hot charcoal to get it hotter when the weather is a lot better as its not great here in the south of UK.
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I have put the other half of the dough in the freezer. I hope they will keep okay. How long would they take to defrost? I don't plan on buying frozen pizzas again, if I can help it.

How would you suggest on improving this?
I made another pizza which was thicker dough/base and a lower heat on the BBQ and it turned out beautifully deeper takeaway styled pizza.
 
Looks good! We like the thin crust.

I usually let the dough thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then, as above, let it warm up at room temperature an hour to hour and-a-half before using.
 
A few years ago, I brought a pizza stone, and had a cheap small gas bbq, where I put my stone on. I cheated and used pizza dough out of a 15p Tesco value type deal that all I needed to do was add water. I made the dough, and used it on my bbq it wasn't anything special like Neapolitan pizza but it cooked nicely.

My sister wasn't here for that pizza and all of last year she kept saying how good her pizzas were and I told her that if you want to cook pizza the best way is on a pizza oven that gets really hot. like 900°F hot her partner who is into cooking said that only dedicated pizza ovens can cook that hot. anyway I said I can cook them in a bbq that gets really hot.

I had brought a new bbq about 2 years ago, and love it, it doesn't get hot like 900° but hot enough to spit roast meat on a rotisserie. So, a few weeks ago, my sister came around for pizza in our garden keeping to the new lockdown rules. she insisted on using her fantastic dough making skills and I cook the pizza. My small bbq is in storage, and said that the bbq wont cook the pizza as quick as the other bbq, but she had made 3-4 pizzas while the one was still cooking and she wasn't happy that it was talking so long and I said it was quick.

I decided to buy a pizza oven for the bbq, I brought the same packaged dough and made my pizza, cooked it in 97 seconds. I had to wait for the stone and oven to fully heat up, which took about 30mins. Today with bad weather and having planned ahead for good pizza I had only a short time to get the pizzas in.

I am happy with the results but think the oven could get hotter but unsure weather to put the bbq directly above the flame burners or even better on the heat defuses.
 
That happened to me once!

The problem is storing the dough in a lunch box. It's terribly small just for one not to mention for five or six. There shouldn't be nothing wrong with the dough if you followed the instructions accordingly.

Professional pizza chefs use very large cases to store their dough. Try to do the same next time so you will be able to transfer it much easier after raising. Otherwise you will punch all the air out-and this is not what you want before stretching it.
 
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