Something wrong with pizza dough - 3rd time in a row

Something wrong with pizza dough - 3rd time in a row - Side view of crop unrecognizable person grating piece of hard cheese on palatable homemade pizza in kitchen at daytime

I was pretty sure I had my recipe and method nailed, done tens of pizzas with it but it failed me now for the third time in a row. It's driving me nuts, I had to throw away dough worth 15 pizzas.

The problem is it won't rise as it should.

First the recipe, which I took from popular Italian website and translated. I let it proof for 2 hours.

1/2 kg unbleached all purpose flour 
4g dry yeast, half sachet, or 12g normal.
1tsp sugar
11g sea salt, 1tbsp 
300 ml Warm water
3tbsp Olive oil

So, why it wouldn't rise is beyond me. What might be the factor?

1) Is it the brand of the yeast? Now I use Red Star, but I used some European before.Both fry yeast in sachets.

2) Too cold or too hot water to let the yeast soak (proof)?

3) Kneading for too long or not long enough?

4) Room temperature for proofing too low? It is winter now, and all the previous attempts were in summer. Although I did place it near the heat source.

Last thing I'm going to do now is I'm going to increase the amount of yeast by 2x, to see what happens. But originally I had to reduce by half from all the US recipes when I found an Italian and it worked much better. I still have to know what has changed in the overall conditions for such a huge difference.


UPDATE

Left it overnight and the dough seems perfect. It just needed more time it looks like.



Best Answer

There is not enough information here to give you a solid answer.

There are two things to consider:

  1. Have you proofed your yeast? Active dry yeast needs to be proofed, and while instant yeast does not, it cannot hurt. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water (about 105 - 110 F, 40 - 43 C). After 10 to 15 minutes, it should be quite foamy.

    This demonstrates that your yeast is alive and well, and will be ready to raise your bread or dough.

  2. In the winter, rising will be slower, possibly by a lot, depending on how much cooler your kitchen is. You may wish to create a friendly proofing box for the rise, with a warm hand humid environment.

    My favorite way to do so is to boil a microwave safe container of water (a couple of cups or a liter) in the microwave, and then push it to the back of the cavity. Then use the microwave as a place to let your dough rise. The microwave has to be turned off while proofing, if you turn it on, the dough will fail.




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Can you let pizza dough rise 3 times?

Dough can rise 3 times or more providing that the yeast still has plenty of sugars and starches to feed on after the first two rises. If you're planning on allowing your dough to rise three times, you should add less yeast to your dough so it doesn't exhaust its food supply.

How many times can you punch down pizza dough?

After your dough doubles, gently punch it down (literally) so that the gasses are released from the dough. Usually 2 to 3 gentle punches are enough to de-gas the dough.

How can you tell if pizza dough is Overproofed?

Step 1: Perform the fingertip test to make sure your dough is overproofed. The test involves gently pressing your finger into the surface of the dough for 2 seconds and then seeing how quickly it springs back. The dent you make will be permanent if the dough is overproofed.

What happens when pizza dough is over kneaded?

Though it's important to knead your dough thoroughly, it's not necessary to knead your dough for long. We recommended kneading your dough for about 4 to 6 minutes! Over-kneading your dough will create a fine, crumb-like texture, giving your dough a bready texture rather than a light and airy pizza crust.



12 Errors in Pizza Dough Making You Should Avoid - Top 12 Errors!




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