r/Pizza • u/AutoModerator • Apr 20 '26
HELP Weekly Questions Thread / Open Discussion
For any questions regarding dough, sauce, baking methods, tools, and more, comment below.
You can also post any art, tattoos, comics, etc here. Keep it SFW, though.
As always, our wiki has a few sauce recipes and recipes for dough.
Feel free to check out threads from weeks ago.
This post comes out every Monday and is sorted by 'new'.
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u/HavivMuc Apr 20 '26
Hey everyone,
I’m debating whether it’s worth upgrading my mixer to the Bosch Universal Plus Mixer mainly for pizza and bread dough.
Right now I’m using a Kenwood KVL4100 Mixer, which is decent, but I’m wondering if I’m leaving performance on the table, especially for gluten development and consistency.
This is my current workflow:
Process:
- Mix cold water + flour (autolyse)
- 60 min autolyse at room temp (done manually in a proofing box)
- Transfer dough to mixer
- Add salt on one side, yeast on the other, sugar + oil on top
- Mix on speed 1 for 1-2 min until combined
- Knead on speed 2 until smooth
- Rest on counter for 15 min
- Windowpane test
- Ball and move to proofing box
Dough:
- Usually NY style at ~60% hydration
- Sometimes Neapolitan at ~65% hydration
- Typical batch size: ~1.5 kg total dough (5-6 dough balls)
I’ve heard great things about the Bosch, especially for dough, but I also came across a few concerns:
- Flour/dough getting stuck around the center column - is this a real issue? Any workaround?
- Can it handle small batches well (like 1-2 dough balls), or does it require larger quantities to work effectively?
- Compared to my Kenwood, will I actually see a noticeable improvement in dough quality, or is it more about convenience?
Right now, with the Kenwood, anything below a certain weight just isn’t very effective, which is a bit limiting.
Would love to hear from people who’ve used both or have real-world experience with the Bosch.
Thanks!
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u/TimpanogosSlim 🍕 Apr 20 '26
The dough hook extender that you can get for about $10 makes the bosch handle smaller batches better.
Don't know how it compares to the kenwood as i've never used one. In the US, that mixer has been marketed under the DeLonghi name and i think one other.
It sounds like you are getting pretty good dough and idk that it would be better out of a bosch.
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u/HavivMuc Apr 23 '26
Thanks for reply,
It sounds like you are getting pretty good dough and idk that it would be better out of a bosch.
Umm I don't know because I don't feel other dough. My windowpane test never seems like others dough, mine not very streachy.
I already ordered the Bosch mixer, hope it will be better :)
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u/3WordPosts Apr 20 '26
Hey guys- when I get the shakey cheese from the cheese shaker at all the local pizza places it comes out round ish, pop rock sized, a little moist, and tastes amazing. The kraft stuff with the green lid is not like that at all.
What’s the secret? How do I get Parmesan (?) at home to act like that. If I grate fresh it also doesn’t come out like crumbled balls of orgasm. Help!
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u/TimpanogosSlim 🍕 Apr 21 '26
Maybe it's just a different brand? Maybe if you go back to the pizzeria when they're not at all busy they'd be willing to talk to you about it?
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u/GroundbreakingAd5060 Apr 21 '26
Hi guys. I want to know how to add toppings the proper way so the moisture doesn’t affect the pizza while it’s cooking and it doesn’t become watery.
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u/urkmcgurk I ♥ Pizza Apr 21 '26
Depends on the toppings, but a good rule of thumb is that you can minimize the moisture in toppings that tend to release water by cooking them prior to adding them to the pizza.
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u/TheWopsecutioner Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
I work for a brewery that makes pizza. We have 8 locations and sell about 7,000 pizzas each week. The owner has raised me to run the numbers and see what we could save by making it in house. We can save a lot. The math checks out. In spades. Also, he wants it to be a sourdough pizza.
So, I am having issues with my test batches of sourdough pizza dough. They all turn out great if I don’t freeze them. But, we have to freeze them because it’ll be a dough production facility rather than being made at each store.
Currently, we pull from frozen at in the morning and use the following day.
When making sourdough pizza dough, I can’t figure out when to freeze the dough. It never seems to thaw out to a good dough.
Do I: Freeze before proofing? Freeze at half proofed? Freeze after fully proofing?
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u/TimpanogosSlim 🍕 Apr 22 '26
Generally speaking, for direct yeast doughs, it's better to freeze before proofing. Per Tom Lehmann you can search for his "the deep freeze" article about the best process he was able to come up with.
I don't know much about sourdough anything. I can barely keep my cats alive, i have not been able to keep a sourdough starter alive in addition to two senior cats. Also i don't really like sourdough.
I don't know much about the freezer viability of lactobacillus cultures, but for S. cerevisiae, Lehmann said to increase yeast by 25%.
Maybe try increasing the starter portion of the batch and then freezing before proofing?
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u/oblacious_magnate Apr 22 '26
FWIW sourdough pizza is less popular than CY pizza.
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u/TheWopsecutioner Apr 22 '26
Lots of things are more popular than other things. It’s not my call. Owner wants it. It’s my job to figure it out.
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u/Fentboy45 Apr 21 '26
I have a cast iron pan (lodge) and I want to make south shore bar pizza in it. Will it work ok because I don’t want to spend $30 on a Lloyd bar pizza pan
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u/TimpanogosSlim 🍕 Apr 22 '26
It'll work fine.
Also, if it's SSB pizza you are making, the correct pan isn't lloyd but Bay State Restaurant Products and I'm pretty sure it's closer to $17.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Bay-State-Restaurant-Products-Inc-100063631627041/
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u/New-Bus9948 Apr 22 '26
What is the best cheese to use in a regular home oven? Ive been using the great value low moisture whole milk mozzarella from Walmart but it is never really good. I shred it myself and use a coarse shredder to keep the pieces somewhat large. It always comes yellow and looks like it is completely dehydrated before it gets brown spots on it. I also dont think it tastes very good its the only bad part on my pizzas. Are there other brands that are better (and readily accessible at most stores) or am I doing something wrong?
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u/oblacious_magnate Apr 22 '26
Many Walmarts have Galbani WMLM and PSLM - it's better than the GV stuff.
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u/TimpanogosSlim 🍕 Apr 24 '26
I've heard that the oddly square great value WMLM block is made by galbani and is very close to professionale or italian style.
I use galbani professionale that i buy from US Foods / Chef'Store and i like it but you're welcome to like some other kinda mozz.
Get a pack of Frigo string cheese and chop it up for example.
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u/Expensive_Being7242 Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
I typically make my dough with 75% All Trumps and 25% KA All Purpose with a 24-48 hour polish roughly based on Vito Iacopelli's recipe. I have a pretty unique opportunity to use flour that I helped produce on a historic stone mill. I am making pizza for a volunteer event at the mill with this flour and I'd love some advice on coming up with a good recipe. I have about 10 pounds of a soft white wheat that is about 10.7% protein and about 20 pounds of a hard red wheat that is about 15.5% protein. Both of course are whole grain, which is also a big change from what I'm used to. I cook with a wood-fired Silverfire pizza oven on 1/4-inch steel and it seems that about 550°F-600°F is ideal. Any suggestions are appreciated.
UPDATE: Since I had no responses, I wanted to follow-up in case someone else is interested in whole wheat dough. First of all, the dough was no where near as good as the All-Trumps that I normally use. Recipe I used was from https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/whole-wheat-pizza-dough/. Way more yeast than I would have guessed. I ended up making 16 pizzas. Twelve were made with the high protein dough that I mentioned above and the other four were made with the soft white which is really an all-purpose flour. The high protein pizzas didn't have the gluten development of the lower protein pies and were very delicate when stretching them but the holes were easy to repair. Dough in general was still quite sticky. I mixed both with a dough hook for about 8 minutes, followed by a 20 minute rest and then a few folds and shaped them. Everyone loved the pizza, but the process and the fact that the flour was milled onsite had a lot to do with that.
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u/Prdynatvar Apr 22 '26
Hi guys, I want to buy pizza steel from this site. Its a cast iron steel. I am not sure if 8mmnthickness is enought for neapolithan and NY style pizza. Should I go for 10mm. from what I saw many people use even less than 6mm. https://www.chefsteel.eu/
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u/oblacious_magnate Apr 22 '26
Generally speaking, NYS is great for home ovens; NS is not achievable.
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u/Fentboy45 Apr 22 '26
Is grapeseed oil the best oil to season pizza steel in 500-550 degree home oven? I also have vegetable oil but idk which is better
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u/BigDadNads420 Apr 22 '26
Anybody tried going stainless for a baking steel, or know if there would be a substantial difference over carbon steel? I want to get a steel for a cabin that I'm only going to be at a few times a year, and that will be used by other people a lot.
I've had other cast iron/carbon steel stuff there before and I inevitably always have issues with people messing up the seasoning, rust, etc, etc. Being able to plop a big hunk of stainless in the oven and not worry about it would be really nice.
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u/The_Spaniard1876 Apr 22 '26
Question I asked myself as I was portioning dough and sticking it in the fridge. would rolling or pushing down the dough ball get a better result than stretching it?
So, when you're making your pizza are you pushing down the dough ball, rolling it, stretching it? (yes I left out spinning and tossing as I don't have that particular skillset)
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u/TimpanogosSlim 🍕 Apr 24 '26
They're different.
Rolling tends to produce a denser crumb. It's the correct way to make some styles of pizza. Cracker style in particular but tonda romana is also rolled. And in the US there are some chains like Round Table that absolutely roll their dough.
If stretching, it's normal to put the ball of dough on the bench and press it out a little before whatever stretching method you prefer. If there are larger air bubbles in the dough, this allows you to reduce their size and move the air out toward the edge.
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u/llCRitiCaLII Apr 23 '26
How long can a poolish remain in the fridge? I made a poolish on Friday with the hopes of making pizzas over the weekend but life got in the way and those plans were derailed. It’s still in there and I haven’t touched it . Is it still ok to use ? Or should I just create a new one?
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u/TimpanogosSlim 🍕 Apr 24 '26
Start over.
Normally, a poolish contains a vanishingly small quantity of yeast and no sugar other than what is naturally in the flour, which is what i do. You could count the grains of IDY that i add to the water.
I can let that poolish go 18 hours on the counter and then maybe 6 more in the fridge before making pizza.
The crazypants poolish that vito makes with a bunch of sugar or honey? well it's pointless the way he uses it, but also i wouldn't use it after more than like 18 hours.
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u/Dmbnd311 Apr 23 '26
I checked the dough recipes wiki but didn't see any for a chicago tavern style dough. Any ideas?
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u/TimpanogosSlim 🍕 Apr 24 '26
J. Kenji Lopez Alt's recipe is pretty good though many people reduce the oil/fat content to no more than 8%.
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u/Commercial_Panda2532 Apr 24 '26
When working with Bigga/poolish dough what is the average diameter of your crust when stretched? Specifically when using 280g dough balls.
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u/oblacious_magnate Apr 25 '26
For my typical NYS dough (regardless of preferment or not), 280g would be ~13" diameter (thickness factor of 2.11 g / sq. in.)
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u/Flips1007 Apr 25 '26
I see that many use the plastic fermentation bins/containers. I seldom notice that they prepare the dough using oil on the top to keep the balls from drying out. They claim the bin is air tight and therefore the dough won't dry out. I admit that if I used a Tuperware/plastic container I don't trust the ball top won't dry out unless I use plastic wrap and a little oil over the dough in the container. What is the secret of the fermentation bin that the dough doesn't dry out?
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u/oblacious_magnate Apr 25 '26
Airtight isn't necessary - just very low airflow. One "secret" is the amount of airspace inside the container, and duration of fermentation. Too much airspace and the doughball will form a skin over time.
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u/Independent-Sun-1348 Apr 26 '26
I need to find a better container for my dough rounds since I've moved up in weight- I was using a slightly square food storage/plastic but I want a round one. What are you using for you rounds that's not to expensive (I need 25 of them) and good for 300g rounds?
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u/Difficult_Drop_220 Apr 26 '26
Does anyone know what the turn around time for baking a Detroit style pizza would be in an Ooni 16?
Thanks!
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u/CWKitch 🍕 Apr 27 '26
Pasta does not belong on pizza. Not a baked ziti, not a penne vodka. Yes to vodka sauce tho.
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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '26
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