What is the secret to making good pizza dough?
How to Get the Best Flour Glutenness for Pizza Dough
Flour is one of the most important basic raw materials for baking, and the gluten of the dough it makes will directly affect the taste of the finished product. If the quality of gluten is poor and the taste is poor, the pasta produced will not taste good. The same is true for making pizza. It is necessary to strengthen the gluten of the flour and optimize its taste. How can this be done?
Generally speaking, if you want to better improve the gluten of flour, you can first consider choosing fresh high-gluten flour, because high-gluten flour itself has certain guarantees in terms of gluten.
Fresh high-gluten flour often has relatively large protein content , and the protein contained in it is not easy to be decomposed by protease, so in the subsequent processing, these proteins can often effectively combine with water and form gluten.
It is worth noting that the selection of noodles is not only considering high-gluten flour, but also pays more attention to the quality of wheat raw materials, flour processing technology, and flour extraction rate .
In addition, it is also necessary to pay attention to the storage of flour . When the flour is eaten by moths, rats, moldy, etc., not only the gluten synthesis ability is weakened, but also it seriously fails to meet the hygienic standards.
Kneading dough is the basis and key to making pizza, and the process of kneading dough is also an important part of improving the gluten of flour.
First, attention should be paid to the temperature of the water.
Although all water is at room temperature, seasonal differences will still make the water temperature different, so pay attention to addition and subtraction when using ice cubes. If the water temperature is too high, the protein will be denatured and lose its performance. And if the water temperature is too low, the gluten production rate will also drop. It is necessary to ensure the best state of water absorption of the protein in the flour in order to obtain a better gluten production rate.
Secondly, pay attention to the speed of mixing when mixing.
When using the dough mixer, pay attention to controlling the speed, because if the mixing speed is too slow, the gluten will not be drawn, and good stretch and elasticity will not be obtained; if the stirring speed is too fast, the gluten will break easily, and the dough will not be able to stretch if the gluten is damaged. Achieving good quality.
Waking up is to let the reconciled dough stand for a period of time so that the protein can fully absorb water , thereby promoting the production of gluten. It should be noted that the standing time should not be too long, generally 30 minutes in winter, and shorter in summer, about 15 minutes.
In addition, the flour gluten can be increased by adding gluten, lipase, vitamin C, phosphate, etc. during the proportioning process . Although there are some methods to follow to improve the gluten of flour, in the process of actual operation, everyone still has to vary from person to person, adapt to local conditions, and constantly adjust to explore higher-quality pizza dough production methods.
There are also many ways to reduce the gluten of flour
: Add protease to decompose protein, destroy the gluten structure, and reduce the gluten.
Adding starch and diluting protein is a method often used by many flour manufacturers.
·Adding low-gluten flour has the same function as adding starch.
·Increase the proportion of sugar and reduce the proportion of salt when kneading dough, which can inhibit the formation of gluten. On the contrary, the gluten of the flour can be enhanced.
Therefore, there are actually many ways to simply increase or decrease the gluten of flour, but the most fundamental thing is the choice of raw materials, that is, the choice of wheat flour, so if you want the pizza dough to get the best gluten and taste, or We need to work harder on the source!
High-gluten flour: Usually the protein content is about 13.5% , the color is darker, it is more active and smooth, and it is not easy to form a lump when grasped. It is mostly used to make bread and some puff pastries.
Medium-gluten flour: Usually the protein content is 9%-11% . It is a kind of flour between high-gluten flour and low-gluten flour. It is the most common flour in the market. It is milky white in color and semi-loose in body. It is generally used in Chinese dim sum. .
Low-gluten flour: The protein content is about 8.5% , the color is whiter, the gluten is less, and it is easy to form a ball with hands. It is more suitable for making cakes, sponge cakes, biscuits and sweet pastries.
How to judge the flour gluten? It’s simple, one is gripping and the other is gluten washing .
Just to make a simple judgment, grab a handful of flour with your hands, knead it into a ball with your fist, and then loosen it. If the dough disperses quickly, it is high-gluten flour; if there are finger marks on the surface of the dough, gently weigh it It is medium-gluten flour; but if it can keep the shape of the dough in the process of lightly weighing, it is low-gluten flour.
Another way is to wash gluten. Add 60% water to the flour, knead the dough repeatedly until it is smooth and elastic, and then wash it with water. After washing off the starch, what is left is gluten. After drying, weigh it, and then divide it by the weight of the flour itself to get the protein content. worth it.
But to be honest, I feel that this method is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it is not suitable for personal operation.
If you want to know more about pizza making technology, please pay attention to Dr.Pizza Pizza Technology Service Center. Friends who want to participate in the study, please pay attention to the class schedule in August, and pay attention to the class start time and place.
