Dough Proof Box

[domonsura]

Just head to your local Campbells cash & carry and buy strong flour/pizza flour/bread flour. What matters is the gluten content, that's what gives you the stretch that allows the dough to prove/proof. (depends on which hemisphere you're in as to how it is referred to) I woud stay away from breadmixes as they tend to cost way more than necessary and can have all sorts of crap in them, (stabilisers, free flow agents etc.....) If you get desperate, ask your local bakery or pizza shop where they buy their flour from.

When you find some good strong flour, this is my favourite trusted and true pizza dough recipe......have used it in more than one commercial pizza shop.

375 ml water @37 deg C
40ml olive oil (4tbsp)
8 grams bakers yeast 2 tsp
12 gm sugar
mix in a jar, shake and loosen off lid. keep in a warm place & measure out other ingredients while waiting for krausen.

In a mixer, place;

500gms strong flour
7 gms salt (1tsp)
50gms coarse semolina (4tbsp)
Add frothing yeast mix, mix on slow until combined then 2/3rd speed until 'slapping sides' (google 'dough windowpane test' to get an explanation of how to see when dough is properly stretched). If dough gets overmixed, rest and allow to relax, knocking back as required.
use 11grams of dough per 1cm of pizza pan circumference (ie: 30cm pan = 330grams of dough). Excess dough can be frozen and thawed/re-risen as required, so I suggest portioning before freezing. I usually make a few kg at a time, portion and use as required...(just scale the recipe up as required)...take one/two portions out in the afternoon and roll out when thawed and risen.....

Use a mix of tasty/mozarella and parmesian for better flavour....don't put too much topping on as it will stopthe base from cooking properly, and spread topping away from centre a bit...it will draw back in as it cooks. Just a spray or light brushing of oil in the pizza pan, as there is already oil in the dough.
Sauce...cheese....topping...cheese...seasoning.....cook @ 220-240 deg C for about 10 minutes ....TOO EASY!! Enjoy

 

[pdilley]

Just head to your local Campbells cash & carry and buy strong flour/pizza flour/bread flour. What matters is the gluten content, that's what gives you the stretch that allows the dough to prove/proof. (depends on which hemisphere you're in as to how it is referred to) I woud stay away from breadmixes as they tend to cost way more than necessary and can have all sorts of crap in them, (stabilisers, free flow agents etc.....) If you get desperate, ask your local bakery or pizza shop where they buy their flour from.

Cheers for that tip domonsura, I have one and exactly one Campbells store. Of course they are shut so I will have to wait to try them out for a flour source.

Also looking around the area for paver guys to find some terra cotta. All I've dug up with local building shops is terra cotta floor tile with glaze which is out on two counts, too thin and has glazing. Once I get a stoneware system setup on the shelf on the oven then if Campbells has peels as well then I will be all set!


Cheers,
Brewer pete

 

[domonsura]

if Campbells has peels as well then I will be all set!


Cheers,
Brewer pete

They do here, ali blade with wooden broom handle type handle....reasonably priced I guess (I think about $25? can't remember sorry) , but I'm not sure how long the ones I saw would last before they dropped your pizza on your feet. Maybe some 'pre-use precautionary strengthening' may be in order.....

 

[pdilley]

Fast update, thanks to Wayne I have some Allied Pizza flour (all I could find really) and will get to give the box a good workout if I can free it from the job of making mouldy rice

The pizza flour said 11% (not on the bag or on allied mills web page but buried deep in their site) but did not list the type of wheat (hard red spring wheat I am hoping) so I should be able to do pizza and perhaps bagels. Bread flour is usually high protein wheat with malted barley flour in a small percentage mixed in to promote yeast growth and more co2 production than 100% pure wheat flour so I think I'll get to use my stone mill to grind some malted barley flour for the first time



Mine did not have pizza peels, stones, or other hardware gear so I'll still have to find a proper paver place with Terra cotta or proper stoneware and not the coloured cement rubbish at the local Bunnings.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Airgead]

Bread flour is usually high protein wheat with malted barley flour in a small percentage mixed in to promote yeast growth and more co2 production than 100% pure wheat flour so I think I'll get to use my stone mill to grind some malted barley flour for the first time

BP

No bread flour I've ever seen has barley flour in it. Maybe in the premixed breadmaker kits but all the bakers flour I buy is 100% wheat.

Cheers
Dave

 

[pdilley]

Hey Dave. The interwebs is where I got the reference from. Perhaps its what is sold to bakers as a bread flour enhancer? I'll have to dig up the web page but it mentioned that it was 99.9% wheat flour mixed with a small percentage of malted barley flour.

I gave the pizza flour a run last night and got a good rise, but I rubbed my fingers through the flour and it did not feel coarse milled. A bit too fine milled from my memory. I drove to a specialty shop to bite the bullet and get pizza stones but he was shut (the nerve!) so I ended up going without. The rise was great, but the crumb and gluten levels were not there. More bread like than pizza dough like.

I got 11% off of a deep scouring of Allied Mills web site, its not published on any easy to get to page.

Will give it a go making bread and give it a slow rise treatment in the fridge to see if it improves. It could be down to technique after all but it got a good 8 minutes kneading at least if not more and a big rise in the proof box which was awesome to see after i got back from the shops. Best rise to date in any flours I've used.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

I modified Vespa2's recipe as the proof box nearly cut all the rise times down in half.

I really like this proof box, its awesome
Most important it adds consistency to both temperature and humidity so I can work on improving each recipe unique to this box and get them to come out spot on every time.


I got this lovely set of loaf tins risen in about 20 minutes:


Underneath both tins I had this bowl with the next batch just starting.
This photo was taken about 34 minutes later than above when the first bread was out of the oven and I could get those tins back!
More like triple than double in size. Time was about 40 minutes.


Then out of the oven was the first loaf:


And onto a rack to cool along with its twin:


The tins were cooled under the tap and immediately loaded with that bowl of freshly risen dough which was knocked back, rolled and formed into the tins.

6 more minutes and I need to go pop them in the oven.


Found out I could theoretically fit 6 tins in my oven at one go. That means I could knock off 12 loaves in just an hour and half of baking time and minimise my electric use and get all my loaves baked for the next week or two.

Starting to feel excited now


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Airgead]

The tins were cooled under the tap and immediately loaded with that bowl of freshly risen dough which was knocked back, rolled and formed into the tins.

Here's a hint - take the loaves out of the tins half to 2/3 the way through cooking. It allows the bottom and sides to brown up and develop a little crust.

It also means you get your tins back sooner...

Cheers
Dave

P.S. Baked 24 brown rolls this afternoon...

 

[pdilley]

Cheers for the tip Dave.


I reduced the final rise in the tins to only 16 minutes. This has resulted in perfectly round smooth-as-a-baby-bottom tops to all the tin loaves without any spillover like one of the first batch did.

I also jam a butter knife in the over door half way through baking to let more moisture out in the final bake.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

Raining since it was dark outside this morning and still going, cold as anything. Wife's away. what to do? Bake Bread!

I got the box, the power to do bread any weather consistently so why not.


Today we have two variations on the theme going.

First Two Loaves:
10 % Galaxy Malted Barley, ground into wholemeal and then four coarse screenings to remove the large chaff while leaving lots of smaller flecks of husk for fibre.
90 % Strong Flour
So 100gm Barley Flour, 900gm Strong Flour
Water at 690gm and Salt at 20gm
Using Lowans yeast this time, giant tin with heaps of yeast for next to nothing.

and the second variation

Last Two Loaves:
100% Strong Flour 1kg
Whole Milk at 690gm
Salt at 20gm
Lowans yeast


Going for an interesting bread on the first batch, I've read up to 50% Barley flour can be used, I'm starting low at 10% but keeping it wholemeal.

Going for a English Milk loaf on the second.

Oven's fired up, dough has proofed like buggary in this proof box, lets see how they turn out!


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

I switched to a longer proofing period as described in the recipe for milk loaf I had in an old book.

One thing I noticed is this produced a more dense loaf, and one tin I dropped onto the bench and the long proofing collapsed, as a sign of over proof. I will switch for milk loaf back to my normal proof routine I developed with the first loaves made with this box.

For baking, only after baking the barley loaves did I find a recipe for one with a long time period, cooler temperature baking schedule, that of oatmeal breads. As a result the normal temperature was too hot and the sugars caramelised and quickly turned to burning. I pulled the loaves out a few minutes early and they did not get to develop the internal temperature to keep cooking them through when cooling, so I ended up with the typical fault of uncooked centres.

The milk loaves turned out a lot better, almost perfect, but again milk has sugars in it so they came out with dark top crusts which tasted fine, just might be considered a baking fault by a picky bread book. I will also adjust their temperature down and lengthen the baking time on the next batch.

I have four milk loaves planned for this weeks baking so lets see how they turn out with the modifications mentioned above.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Airgead]

I switched to a longer proofing period as described in the recipe for milk loaf I had in an old book.

One thing I noticed is this produced a more dense loaf, and one tin I dropped onto the bench and the long proofing collapsed, as a sign of over proof. I will switch for milk loaf back to my normal proof routine I developed with the first loaves made with this box.

You might be able to do the long proof if you lower the temp. I find a longer, cooler proof gives a better development of flavours.

I have been known to proof for 12 or 18 hours in the fridge...

Cheers
Dave

Edit - In an old baking book they are probably proofing at room temp (no temp controlled proofing boxes back then). Unless its a commercial baking book in which case they might have used higher temp.

 

[pdilley]

Cheers Dave,

I'll have to go slow for artisan styles. This baking is for my sandwich bread for work lunches. The flavour is already above what I buy in the stores for a standard white loaf so no complaints.


Doing an upgrade to the dough proof box. Adding one of these:

SKU 3172
Now I get a clock inside the box to time begin/end proof with and temperature and humidity gauge to help track each proof session against the previous. At this price the humid environment should kill it after years and years of use but no worry, get another as a replacement.
Not bad for about $9 including shipping to Australia.



Adding a general temp probe as well but not for this box, but for the baking and also for the mashing of beers:

SKU 11694
Gives me a fast measuring (second or so) digital thermometer where most of them I saw were very slow 22 seconds of 2 second sample time to get a locked accurate reading. Also as a benefit the probe is in the very tip so good for placement in a loaf of bread centre to get my baking down pat with proper internal loaf temperature before removal from the oven. And even better, 2nd use in the mashing of beers.
Not bad for about $6 including the shipping to Australia.


And of course, got some more dough getting ready to go into the proof box for this weeks baking.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete