coating dough ball in oil
I have a couple of questions about coating the dough ball in oil. I plan on trying dmsnyder's/Maggie Glezer's pizza napoletana
Mainly what effect does this have on your pizza stone. I have seen mentioned that oil on a stone could cause smoking for quite some time. My stone is the cheap one from Bed Bath Beyond but it works fine for my needs.
Is the oil to prevent drying out and forming a crust? The pizza place I used to deliver for would ball the dough and place in fridge overnight but would not coat in oil. It did not form a crust as long as it was covered.
Maybe it is to prevent sticking from a higher hydration dough. The dmsnyder one is 66% and I would bet the pizzeria uses lower hydration than that. If this is the case what do you think is the highest hydration I can use without sticking?
Thanks
Oil is used to prevent formation of the crust, or in case of pizza dough fermented in the pastic bag in the fridge - to ensure that it does not stick to the bag. If you use oil sparingly smoking is not going to a problem - most of oil will disappear during shaping. As to the hydration - the number itself is utterly meaningless unless you know what flour is used - for example in my experience Caputo flour hydrated at 58% and KABF hydrated at 78% give pizza doughs which handle about the same.
In high hydration doughs it allows you to more easily handle the dough.
Gerhard
Thanks
I have been having so much trouble shaping doughs in the 70% hydration range, like no knead types. I try pushing out with my fingers or rolling between two pieces of no stick foil or parchment. I spend so much time fixing tears that I just feel like calling Dominos and calling it a night :)
We like thin pizzas so I am looking for lower hydrations that are easy to work with. I have no problem using a rolling pin as it is easier and we don't care if there are not a lot of bubbles in the crust. I have tried the cracker style but didn't care for that so I guess I am looking for hydration between 55 and 65.
I am sticking with KAF flours as that is what many people use and it is easily available, so I can match recipes when people are listing specific flour brands. I also have a KA mixer to knead firmer doughs.
I just mixed a batch of dmsnyders napoletana. It is in the fridge now. A little sticky but nearly as bad as the no knead types. I needed to add a touch more water but put a little too much in so had to add a touch more flour. Now I am not sure of the exact hydration.
I will keep trying if that is not exactly what I need. Maybe a lower hydration with oil in the dough to help shaping.
Thanks