Pizza Dough With Malt Syrup
A pizza dough with excellent flavor, cold-fermented and made using brown rice syrup (rice malt syrup).
Cold-fermented your pizza dough
Cold-fermented pizza dough with malt syrup provides the best depth of flavor. This dough uses brown rice syrup as the food source for the yeast to start the fermentation process. Neutral oils allow the yeast fermentation flavors to come through.
Pizza is for an informal get-together. Although you can make a pizza, it can be exotic depending on the sauce, cheese, and toppings selected. It has been hard to think of food over the last decades with a broader liking than pizza. It is, therefore, desirable to serve when entertaining guests. Numerous pizza dough recipes, tools, and techniques exist for making "the best home pizza." My goal has yet to be a pizza expert but to develop a reliable dough recipe. For dough that forms well, has good flavor, and is repeatable. I often prepare elements of a meal a day or two in advance and have considered that in this recipe. Early preparation of pizza dough is highly desirable because it enhances the flavor. Cold fermentation is possible by scaling the yeast and refrigeration.
This dough is suitable for at-home pizzas and pizza rolls. It is best as a cold fermentation dough. The recipe uses brown rice syrup (rice malt syrup) to give the yeast a food supply for favorable fermentation. The fermentation flavor is from the malt syrup sugars; therefore, the flour is less critical to flavor. A bread flour of strong pizza flour is best; an Italian 00 pizza flour is a desirable choice. Using neutral oils prevents the masking of the distinctive pizza dough fermentation flavors. Olive oil can impart flavor to the dough that competes with the fermentation flavors. The quantity of dough made is excellent for hand-formed on a round 22" aluminum pizza pan or thinly rolled out for making pizza rolls. I have also used this dough in an 11" X 17" rimmed baking sheet with favorable results. The physical characteristics of the dough improve with shortening; the shortening helps with dough expansion and is neutral in flavor; this neutral flavor allows the yeast to ferment flavors to be dominant.
Pizza dough recipe Ingredients
3-7/8 cups (450 grams) of bread or 00 pizza flour. The best way to do this is to weigh your flour in grams. I have also used an all-purpose flour for this recipe with favorable results.
Water 1-1/8 cups (270 Grams)
Yeast – active dry yeast
2-1/2 tsp same day
1-1/2 tsp yeast overnight only, to 24 hours cold fermenting cold-fermenting
1 tsp 24 to 48 hours, cold-fermenting
1 tsp Salt
avocado spray oil
Cold-fermented pizza dough instructions
1. To start the yeast fermentation healthy, use a 2-cup glass measuring cup and heat the water in a microwave oven for about 45 to 60 seconds to achieve a temperature in the 120°F minimum to 130°F maximum range. Do not exceed 130°F. Thoroughly stir in and dissolve the brown rice syrup. A higher temperature helps dissolve the brown rice syrup, as it is very thick.
2. Allow the water to cool to 115°F for about 5 minutes and stir in the appropriate amount of yeast as specified per the desired fermentation time. Use a digital probe-type thermometer to check your water temperature. Place the measuring cup in a proofing oven to maintain an approximate 90°F ambient temperature for 15 minutes. At 15 minutes, the mixture will have formed a healthy froth, expanding the volume in the measuring cup. You should smell a pleasant yeast fermentation from the mixture.
3. Place the dry ingredients, flour, and salt into the stand mixer bowl with the flat beater attachment, run the mixer on low, speed 1 for 10-15 seconds to mix the dry ingredients, raise the mixer, and form well in the dry ingredients. Set aside the pre-measured 1 tbsp of shortening, as you will add it during the mixing process after changing to the dough hook. Adding the shortening part of the way through the kneading process will allow the dough to strengthen, as adding the shortening early in the process will inhibit gluten formation.
4. Pour the fermented mixture and the froth into the dry ingredients well. Run the mixer on low with the flat beater (speed 1 -2) for about 1 minute to mix the dry and wet ingredients. Then stop and change to the dough hook and run the mixer for 3 minutes on low speed 2. At this point, add the shortening to the mixture. Run the mixer on low speed 2-3 to knead the dough for 6 minutes.
5. After the mixer kneading process, remove the dough and hand-form it into a ball. Spray a bowl with avocado oil and place the dough ball inside. Cover with a damp towel and put it in a proofing oven for 1 hour.
6. When the dough has doubled, punch it to release gas. On the avocado oil sprayed surface, stretch and fold the dough twice, one time in each direction, then tuck the edges under to form the dough into a ball.
7. Place the ball into a container lightly sprayed with avocado oil and put it in the refrigerator for a time with the indicated amount of yeast.
Hand-forming cold fermented pizza dough on a 22-inch pizza pan.
Tips for hand forming dough on a 22" aluminum pizza pan:
1. Liberally coat the pan's surface with cornmeal.
2. Start at the center of the dough ball, applying pressure and forming outward with your hand as you rotate the round pan.
3. Apply more cornmeal in the dough's path as you expand its diameter.
4. Do not press on the outermost 1 inch or so of the dough, Cornicione, or "end crust." You can periodically let the dough rest for 5-15 minutes during forming.
5. Cover the dough with clear plastic wrap While it rests to prevent it from drying out.
6. Allow the dough to rest; this will improve the dough's ability to form. Forming the dough is a slow process, so prepare for other tasks during the rest of the hand-forming periods.
7. A pizza using this dough recipe typically takes 25 minutes in an oven preheated to 450°F using the center rack.
You can top your dough with pizza sauce, cheese blends, and pepperoni.
