Open Kitchen Quick Tips: Pizza Dough

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What is Open Kitchen?

Stratford Chefs School offers a wide variety of recreational Open Kitchen Cooking Classes for the public at the School’s professional kitchens for enthusiastic home cooks, keen children and their parents, and those seeking to refine their skills in a specific culinary area. Classes are offered in the off-season, from March through early October with Chef Instructor Eli Silverthorne. While in-person, hands-on training is always the best option, we're happy to share some quick Open Kitchen video tips for you to try at home, starting with Pizza Dough! Mangia!

Learn How to Make Slow Ferment Pizza Dough

Everyone loves pizza, and it's fun to make your own! in this short video demonstration, Stratford Chefs School Instructor and Open Kitchen Program Manager Eli Silverthorne demonstrates and explains how to make your own pizza dough at home. Review the recipes and written instructions below, and then watch the video demo, which can be paused at any time as needed.

Chef Eli's Video Demonstration

Recipe and Written Instructions

Follow the written instructions below and watch Chef Eli's video demonstration to learn how to make your own slow ferment pizza dough at home.

SLOW FERMENT PIZZA DOUGH

Tools Required

Large plastic bench scraper

Scale

Stand mixer

Proof container

Bake sheet

Hot oven

Saran Wrap

Wooden spoon

Dough hook

Large bag

Fridge space

Pizza peel

Notes:

A preferment is a preparation of a portion of a bread dough that is made several hours or more in advance of mixing the final dough. A poolish is a preferment used to build extra flavour and extra acidity in the dough.

Follow the times as an estimate; they are based on a Desired Dough Temperature (DDT) of approximately 76F.

If your bread is cooler than 76F it will take longer, if it is warmer than 76F it will ferment more quickly. Slow fermentation in fridge develops flavour.

Poolish - Preferment

250g All Purpose (AP) flour

250g Water

Pinch yeast

Final Dough

1kg Bread Flour

8g Instant Yeast

26g Salt

10g Corn meal

ALL Poolish

650g Water 80F

45g herb oil

METHODOLOGY

STEP 1 - Making a Poolish

Combine water, flour, yeast in a bowl – then transfer to a narrow (i.e. tall and not wide) vessel with room to grow (upward).

Lightly cover in saran wrap to prevent excess drying out; allow culture to develop as a preferment 12-16hrs in a cool place (70F)

STEP 2 - Mixing

In stand mixer with dough hook place flour, yeast, salt, cornmeal, all the poolish.

Measure water to 80F temp, then measure 650g in the used/spent poolish container
-- add this water to the mixing bowl with everything else, except the oil.

Mix on low speed (2 at home) 3 mins (adjusting moisture levels with additional
water (if dry) or flour (if wet) – so dough hook barely lifts dough from bowl base -- --
-- then increase to speed 2 (3-4 at home) for 2-3 mins as you slowly add infused oil 

Check dough temperature and consistency: Desired Dough Temperature = 76F.
-- Place, loosely covered in warm or cold environment depending on its temperature, and allow to bulk ferment for 1.5hrs (folding twice at 30 & 60 min mark, done at 90)

STEP 3 - Bulk Ferment

Total 90 minutes with two folds (at 30 and 60 min marks)

STEP 4 - Divide

Cut don’t tear. Using a bench scraper cut the dough into (x12) 190g pieces;

Transfer measured/cut dough on to lightly floured surface, keep covered with a food/bread bag 

Working one at a time on a minimally floured surface, make the classic boule shape using tiger claw method (demo). This will expel air out and tighten gluten before resting in fridge.

STEP 5 - Secondary Proofing

TWO OPTIONS

OPTION 1 - use right away - by rolling the shaped dough and topping and baking as
desired (this will be a denser / tougher dough as gluten is tense) 

OPTION 2 – retard covered in fridge 4-36 hours; this will be a better hydrated,
more relaxed, easier to work with dough; with optimal flavour development. If doing option 2, brush a parchment lined tray lightly with herbed oil.

-Space boules on to oiled parchment approx 6” apart, then dab tops of each boule lightly in herbed oil

Cover in plastic & retard in fridge 4-48hrs

STEP 6 – Preheating Oven

Option 1 = still (standard) home oven – 500F (12-14 mins) 

Option 2 = convection (forced air) oven – 445F (half fan) (7-11 mins) 

Option 3 = Deck/bread oven – 265C (509F) (4-8.5 mins) 

Remember, if you are using a pizza stone, start in cold oven and raise in temp

STEP #7 – Tempering the pizza boules

Remove pizzas boules from fridge 15 minutes prior to use 

STEP #8 – Shaping the pizza dough

TWO OPTIONS

OPTION 1 - Shape pizza dough with hands (as per demo) 

OPTION 2 – using a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface

STEP #9 – Topping the pizza

Once sufficiently thin, dust a cutting board or pizza peel with cornmeal. Carefully place dough on top of cornmeal, shimmy slightly to prevent from sticking to the peel 

Top dough lightly with with desired sauce, starting in centre then spreading towards
the edges with the base of a spoon – keeping a 1-1.5” border around the edges 

Once sauced top lightly with grated cheese then topping, then light cheese again. 

Be sure to shimmy on floured peel after sauce, after adding toppings, and before oven.

STEP #10 – Baking the pizza

Slide into 500F oven – bake 6-8mins or till desired doneness. Cool on a trivet or cooling rack slightly, before slicing into wedged triangles.

BUON APPETITO!

MORE INFORMATION

Learn more about our Open Kitchen recreational cooking classes.

Learn more about our Enriched Cook Apprenticeship 32 week program.

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Stratford Chefs School is a not-for-profit Career College focused on the innovative, hands-on training of high-quality, aspiring Chefs and Culinary Entrepreneurs. The School’s vision is to be the primary training and education source of choice for tomorrow’s culinary leaders, and to train students with a culture code of excellence, innovation, collaboration, and respect.

Established in 1983, Stratford Chefs School has set the standard of excellence for culinary training in Canada, graduating nearly 900 alumni who contribute to a distinctive Canadian cuisine. The unique Apprenticeship program provides students with a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of classical cuisines and the business elements of operating successful restaurants in today’s market. Stratford Chefs School is one of Canada’s most successful and respected culinary institutions and is continually evolving to meet the needs of its students and the culinary community.

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