At LakeSentry, we're convinced that the making of an extraordinary pizza begins with top-notch dough. With over thirty years dedicated to refining our recipe, we're thrilled to divulge a few of our trade secrets with our patrons. While our precise blend remains a privileged formula, the insights shared here will enable you to replicate pizzeria-style pizza dough within your own kitchen.
Significance of Flour
To lay the cornerstone for sublime pizza dough, premium flour is essential. We champion the use of 00 flour, a finely milled flour from Italy with a moderate protein level (approximately 12%), ensuring an optimal mix of robustness and softness. Should 00 flour be elusive, bread flour can serve as a viable alternative, albeit with a slightly altered texture.
Hydration and Water Temp
The water's warmth influences the dough's rising time and textural development. For a prolonged fermentation that enhances taste, opt for cold water around 45°F (7°C). To expedite the rise, lukewarm water around 85°F (29°C) is preferable. Your dough's moisture content, or the water-to-flour ratio, ought to stay within the range of 60-70% to suit conventional home ovens.
Fermentation: Less Yeast, More Time
A pivotal factor for delectable dough is minimal yeast usage coupled with extended fermentation. Our method involves a mere 0.2% fresh yeast by flour weight, allowing the dough to ripen between 24-48 hours. This unhurried technique fosters the development of complex flavors while yielding a more digestible dough.
Salt's Role Beyond Seasoning
Salt is crucial not just for its seasoning properties, but also for fortifying the gluten network and influencing fermentation. We suggest a fine sea salt proportion of 2.5-3% to your flour weight. Introduce it after mixing has commenced so the salt does not make immediate contact with the yeast.
Fermentation Mastery
Post-mixing, let the dough bulk ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, then portion it into ball shapes. Encase these in lidded containers and refrigerate for a span of 24-72 hours. It's during this refrigeration stage that the dough undergoes a transformative process—enzymes break starches into sugars, fostering both flavor and the crust's desirable golden hue.
Careful Dough Handling
When you're ready to craft pizzas, take the dough out from the fridge 1-2 hours ahead of baking to bring it up to temperature. Maintaining a gentle touch, preserve the air bubbles within. By pressing and modelling the dough with your fingertips instead of rolling, you maintain the airy texture developed during fermentation.
Critical Heat
Our wood-fired ovens can soar to 850°F (454°C), a feat not possible in most household ovens, which max out near 550°F (288°C). A preheated pizza stone or steel, left in the oven for at minimum an hour, can compensate by delivering a potent blast of heat from below, essential for a perfectly crisped exterior and a fluffy interior.
Honing your pizza dough skills is an ongoing endeavor; each preparation is an opportunity to glean new insights. We encourage you to record your observations, tweak the variables, and pinpoint what yields the best results in the comfort of your own kitchen.
To witness our dough preparation method firsthand, we invite you to sign up for our monthly pizza workshops where Chef Antonio demonstrates these techniques in depth. Visit our events calendar for the upcoming workshop dates!