Floppy dough
Hello:
I have followed Ken Forkish's instructions for overnight pizza dough using Caputo's 00 unbleached white flour. During the shaping stage, I divided and folded the dough as per instructions, ending up with what felt like fairly tight little balls. However, after putting the five balls of dough into the refrigerator on a baking sheet, all five balls just flattened out. I am attaching a photo.
This is a chronic problem I have with Forkish recipes. While I have made some bread that tastes good, it never has much rise, and the dough, after shaping, is always too loose and floppy and never feels firm.
Do I need to use less water? Do I need to fold more often prior to shaping? Do I need to fold more during shaping? I am at a loss. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
Gyorgyi
I don’t really see that problem here.. these balls of dough are meant for pizza, right? Did they make good pizza?
Hi, zachyahoo!
The pizza tasted good. But I thought you were supposed to end up with nice tidy well shaped little globes of dough. It's not much of a problem with pizza dough, but the same thing happens with my bread dough. It doesn't flatten out as much as the pizza dough dough does, but it also doesn't have a great rise.
Gyorgyi
Gyorgyi, try a little less water. Try reducing water amount by 5% next time. I also would suggest trying more folds as you suggested.
Finally, you might also try bottled water, because really soft water can cause your dough to be too slack:
https://www.bakemag.com/articles/11985-the-importance-of-water-quality-in-baking#:~:text=Dough%20characteristics%20could%20be%20affected,will%20affect%20the%20fermentation%20activity.
"Hard water will provide a faster fermentation and dough with a tendency to have an excess of strength, while soft water will generate slower fermentation activity and dough with a tendency of lacking in strength."