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Do you have any recommendations on dough shelf-life extenders?
Answer:
Lately I’ve been receiving a number of questions regarding the use of “shelf life extenders” to help improve the shelf life of pizza crusts. For the most part these products are designed for use in breads and rolls and probably don’t have much application in pizza crusts. I’ll explain the differences in some of these so called shelf life extenders and let you make the decision as to whether you want to use any of them in your crusts.
Shelf life extenders can be developed to help extend the shelf life (storage life) of a product by either of two different approaches. The first approach that I will discuss is that of the microbial issue. As bread products age, they will eventually exhibit signs of mold growth. This can take as few as four days or it might take up to several weeks. In any case, as soon as mold is present, the product is no longer saleable and must be discarded. These products extend the shelf life of a product by inhibiting mold growth, thus rendering a mold free product for a greater length of time. In retail (pizzeria) pizza production this might be a desirable ingredient to use if you are making a pizza that is intended to be held under refrigeration for upwards of a week or more. If we are looking at normal pizza production where the pizza will be made, sold and completely consumed within 24 hours or so, there is no need for using a product of this type.
The second type of shelf life extender acts to inhibit staling or firming of the bread during its projected storage period. Many times these products are also known as anti-staling agents or bread/crumb softeners. In this function they are generally pretty effective, and do help to provide a softer loaf of bread or a softer roll for an extended period of time. So, can they also be used in pizza production? Sure they can, but do you want your pizzas to be softer and to remain softer for an extended period of time, like a week or more? For most of us the words pizza and softness are seldom used together in the same sentence, let alone the same paragraph. It’s doubtful that a product of this type would have much, if any, application in retail pizza production.
So, to answer the question, no, I don’t think that there is any real benefit of, or application for shelf life extenders in normal, retail pizza production. These ingredients are best left to use by bakers in producing their many bread, pastry and cake type items. If you are a crust manufacturer, commissary operation, or produce a pizza or pizza product and you are experiencing problems with mold growth or excessive firming (staling) and you want a softer eating product, then by all means give these products a try as they are effective in what they claim to do.
What is the rule for adjusting the amount of water added to the dough as a result of outside weather?
Answer:
Actually, there isn’t any rule. The reason why there isn’t any rule is because the outside weather conditions don’t have any affect upon the amount of water added to the dough. I know this might be hard for some readers to believe, but it is true. So what’s happening to the dough if it isn’t the weather to cause a difference in absorption? The two most likely things are portioning of the dough ingredients rather than weighing of the ingredients. When the ingredients are portioned by cups, scoops, pails, etc. there is always some error or variation in the amount portioned out from dough to dough and this can result the need to either add more flour or more water from time to time. We don’t necessarily see the error, so we just blame it on the weather. Then there is the way we assemble out ingredients in the mixing bowl. This will have a rather dramatic affect upon the way the flour absorbs water even if it’s weighed rather than portioned. If the oil is added to the mixing bowl along with the water. (How many of you mix the water, yeast and oil together in the bowl before adding the flour?). In a case like this, the oil floats to the top of the water, then, the flour is introduced into the bowl where it now comes into direct contact with the oil. The oil soaks into the flour, effectively inhibiting it’s ability to absorb any water (remember, flour is the main ingredient responsible for determining water absorption) so we now see what looks like too much water in the dough. At this point, the normal response is to add a little more flour and chalk it up to the weather. We have found that the best way to correct for this problem is to use what we call the delayed oil addition method of dough mixing. By this method the oil is with held from the dough until the flour has had a chance to hydrate (absorb) the water. This normally takes about two minutes of mixing at low or medium speed. At this point you will not be able to see any white (dry) flour in the mixing bowl. The oil is then added and incorporated while continuing to mix for an additional minute in low speed. The dough can then be mixed in the normal manner at either medium or high speed if desired. Our research has shown that doughs prepared in this manner will consistently exhibit more uniform dough absorption properties and handle in a more predictable manner during the dough forming process.
I have a friend who also owns a pizza shop and he uses nothing but Kosher salt when making his doughs. He swears that it gives his crusts a better flavor than regular salt. Is there any fact to this?
Answer:
Pure salt, without the addition of anti-caking agents is nothing more than pure sodium chloride (well not exactly 100 percent, but close enough) and pure sodium chloride is pure salt. They will all perform the same when making pizza crusts. In fact, even salt containing an anti-caking agent will for all practical purposes, give the same flavored pizza as any other type or kind of salt. Mind you, I said “pizza”. When you put the sauce onto the crust and then add cheese and other toppings on top of that, it is awfully hard to appreciate any subtle differences in the taste/flavor of the crust. I do tend to agree though, that when making things such as focaccia or breadsticks, and the salt is added to the top surface of the dough just before baking, its impact on overall flavor is more pronounced and even I have a preference for Kosher or a similar salt in this application.