October 2, 2007 - 4:17am
Retarding half of dough during Make-Up
Hi there... don't really know which topic to put this under... hope anyone out there could help....
I'm planning on selling some of my breads this Christmas, the volume would be about 3-4 kg of dough at a time, (and rounding it into a 1/3 oz (about 10 grams) ball ... like a dunkin donut munchkin does take time) ... and I'm just worried that after mixing and resting the dough, the "make-up" part would take so much time that the rest of the un-made-up dough just lying on the table would ferment too much. Would it be wise to divide the dough in half, and put the rest in a retarder just to slow down the initial fermentation? I haven't done this before. Thanks so much for your help. =)
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You could do that or try rolling one kilo of your dough into a long cigar. Then taking your bench scraper cut off small pieces and weigh them so you know aproximate size. Then cut fast: First cutting stroke should be toward you, the next away from you, this creates a spacing between the dough balls as you cut. Be quick when rolling your marbles and you won't lose your's. :)
Mini O o°o°o°o°
thanks for the tip minioven....
so, is it safe to say that once i finally roll it into a long cigar and make my first scaling, I would just follow 'that' approximate size and end up having all of the cut dough in an approximately same scaling weight? (i'm assuming that it wouldn't be 100% equal) ... but I'm guessing that the work would be much quicker. =)
That can squish out the right amount. You can stop anytime, weigh and make a re-evaluation, but to weigh each piece at 10g is very time consuming. Or you can make 100g cigars and cut each into 10 pieces. Are you selling each little ball or are they all part of a whole?
Mini O
.. and that actually gave me a good systematized way of mass producing these balls. Thank you! =) But ... would there actually be a machine that rounds as small as 10 grams per piece? I have tried searching but haven't found any... =( I don't think i'd be able to afford it...
The Italians might have one for gnocchi for the little dough ball pasta they make. I just use the above method. Great for small dumplings too.
I have another idea too, once cut, (lightly flour?) and with palm open and ever so gently roll balls between table and your hand. Might be able to form 10 or more at a time this way. Or use a very light small cutting board in circular motion.
Have fun... glad I could help out,
Mini O
Click on grissini (bread stick) machine at:
http://www.macpan.com/en/prodotti.php?idC=57
I actually watched a tv program last night about Jamie Oliver, a well-known chef in the UK, making some gnocchis by hand with some local Italians whilst in Italy, cooking for a meal of 40. Great stuff, didn't know there's a machine that actually does that kinda stuff. Thanks for the help Mini-O. I always round doughs by hand, the bad part is I have a slight RSI / carpal tunnel due to my previous job (sob...) ...
But the slicing of the long 'cigar' would actually help a lot. Thanks again. =)