Hey Brenda! King Arthur question

[xenon]

I've been using long rise / overnight recipes to preserve that precious precious yeast.

Also - I've been eating too much bread. (Actually. I've resolved to cut back to only pizza)

[Mik]

I chickened out and bought dough from Dewey's where The Princess used to work.

[Optimistic]

Unlike pretty much everywhere else on the internet, the comments section at KAF is actually really helpful The people who monitor those boards do a great job of responding to questions raised and troubleshooting issues.

I've had my eye on this recipe for a few months. I love NY style thin pizza if I buy it, but if I'm baking it, I like the thicker crust:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/crispy-cheesy-pan-pizza-recipe

[xenon]

@Optimistic said in Hey Brenda! King Arthur question:

Unlike pretty much everywhere else on the internet, the comments section at KAF is actually really helpful The people who monitor those boards do a great job of responding to questions raised and troubleshooting issues.

I've had my eye on this recipe for a few months. I love NY style thin pizza if I buy it, but if I'm baking it, I like the thicker crust:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/crispy-cheesy-pan-pizza-recipe

Thanks for sharing that, Optimistic. I'm going to try to repurpose one of my pizzas to this method. Looks so good.

[Optimistic]

Brenda, xenon, and others that bake. . .do you weigh your flour? I don't, and am wondering if I need to start doing so. Maybe that contributes to my crappy bread-making endeavors of late.

[xenon]

Game changer for me. Might be because some of my flour was sitting around for a while and packed quite tight.

My first foray into bread making a few weeks ago was a disaster. Got a digital scale from amazon for about $12.

Game changer.

I tested some of my flour weight on the scale after to confirm. I was way off. YMMV

[Mik]

Yeah, weighing is very important in baking. It's chemistry.

[xenon]

Another big benefit has been that you can convert recipes you like into ratios - and scale them up and down with accuracy once you have a scale.

I had a recipe for 5 pizza dough balls. I only wanted 3. Multiple all the weights by 3/5.

[brenda]

@Optimistic
Opti, for bread, yes, weigh your flour until you get really comfortable making a certain recipe. The first several times I make a new recipe, I always weigh the flour. My challah bread is one I've made so many times, I can tell just by feel whether it needs more flour or liquid. My frequent pizza dough is the same way, I just measure and adjust. With varying humidity and temp, a given recipe will need tweaking to get the desired texture. On a cold winter day, I just know I'll have to add a bit more liquid. On a humid day, probably not.

Something that new bakers sometimes find difficult to manage is the hydration level for the dough, especially if it's meant to be a wet dough, actually sticky. Don't be afraid of sticky dough. Just wet or oil your hands, or use a bench knife to move it around. A good high hydration will help you get a nice moist bread. The oven never adds moisture to your bread. LOL. You have to make sure it's moist before you bake it, and that often means a sticky dough. People keep adding more flour to make it easier to handle, and then they're disappointed with dry bread.
Sticky is good!

[Jolly]

How about a pizza crust made with beer?

[Optimistic]

@Jolly Sounds delicious!

Ok, that´s it then, I´m sold on the scale. Most of my baking is cakes and cookies type-stuff, and I mostly stick to my favorite recipes. Working without a scale has not been an issue before. I´m also not really sure why I was able to have success with yeast dough years ago but lately not--but xenon, now I´m wondering if it´s because my baking ingredients are a bit on the older side, and maybe my flour has settled.

Ok, what about about a thermometer to measure water temps for the dough? Necessary?

[mark]

Just took delievry of 10lbs of KA Bread flour. This is a first. I usually just get Gold Medal at the grocery store. Always unbleached and all purpose. Although I did get some nice whole wheat flour a couple of weeks ago. I started substituting 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour for the same all purpose flour, in my sourdough bread recipe. Makes for a good hearty bread.

And yes, as you get more loaves made under your belt you will just know by the feel of the dough. I never weigh or measure my flour.

[mark]

I go between 110 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit for the water temp.

[Optimistic]

@mark
Curious to hear what differences you note with the Bread Flour. I used to be just an all-purpose flour user, but recently got the Bread Flour. Actually, let me rephrase that. I decided to finally open the nice KAF Bread Flour I had in my stash, that had a use-by date of mid-2019 --says the gal who wonders why her bread didn´t turn out so great.

I have a fresh bag of the Bread Flour waiting for me after I get a lot of practice with the older bag.

[Aqua Letifer]

[Optimistic]

YUP!

[Mik]

Well, I have pre-cooked the sausage. I think we will sauce it with tomato-ricotta pesto on one and olive oil and garlic on the next. Hot and mild sausage, a blend of Italian cheeses, sliced fresh tomato and basil slivers after the bake.

I had one 17" crust pre-tossed and have cut it into fourths to fit our pans. Now I have a thick half sheet pan upside down in the oven at 550 to get it screaming hot. The pizza will go from a cornmeal dusted flat pan we are using as a peel direct to the hot stone, which is positioned in the bottom of the oven. We will see!

[Mik]

Oh yeah, and a little fennel pollen after the bake too.

[Mik]

First piece. Pretty good.

[jon-nyc]

Damn that looks good.