Once you have prepared the dough, a common mistake is not covering
it properly for bulk fermentation. Covering the dough ensures that
the dough does not dry out. A dough that has dried out will produce
a very tough dough, an uneven texture, and most importantly a dough
that is not properly hydrated.
The Fix
After mixing and kneading the dough form your huge dough ball, put
it in a bowl and cover it with a damp towel!
Tip
Wet your towel before you cover the dough. A damp towel will
ensure that no moisture is lost in your fermentation.
A dough that hasn’t risen will not give you the characteristic
delicate, fluffy texture of a Neapolitan style pizza. It will be
harder to work with and stretch out come pizza making time. You’ll
notice the crust’s lack of fluffiness after it’s cooked too.
The Fix
Be sure that your yeast is alive, you have given the dough ample
fermentation time, and that you’re letting the dough properly
ferment at the appropriate temperature.
A cold dough is non buono. A cold dough is when you take a dough
directly from the refrigerator and immediately stretch it out, top
it, and cook. You’ll find that like the other mistakes, it makes the
dough difficult to work with, and also it will give you uneven
cooking. Because it is cold, the crust will have improper spotting
due to the temperature variations (also known as “measles pizza”)
associated with a good Neapolitan style pizza.
The Fix
Allow your dough to come to room temperature before working with it.
Tip
Room temperature is defined here as between 70ºF and 78ºF
(22ºC-25ºC).
A collapsed dough is a dead dough. Basically a dough that has
exceeded its “18 hour window of goodness”. You’ll notice the dough
is thinner in the center when being prepared and that the gluten
also does not have the same strength. A collapsed dough is a weak
dough and is a result of over-fermentation.
The Fix
Follow your recipe’s allotted fermentation times. The Neapolitan
style generally bulk ferments for 2 hours, separates into dough
balls, and then allows for around 12 hours of secondary
fermentation.
Tip
If you’re going to ferment it for a long time. Throw it in the
fridge. This will slow down the yeast so that they don’t eat up
all the sugars at once!
An overly wet dough is a tragedy. It’s hard to work with and only
the most talented pizza chefs can handle such a beast; however it’s
still a very unpleasant situation. What will end up happening is
that you’ll likely be adding way too much flour to the dough to get
it to not stick. This is undesirable because raw flour burns on the
crust which makes your pizza taste terrible.
The Fix
If you live in an especially humid environment, lessen your water
amount in your initial fermentation. If not, tailor your moisture
content to your oven temperature. If you’re baking at home you don’t
need more than a 70% pizza dough. Stop putting so much water, this
isn’t bread!
Tip
If you do everything right in your bulk fermentation, you won’t
have to deal with a wet dough in the end.
There are two scenarios that can occur. Either the temperature is
too low, or it is too high. If the temperature of the oven is too
low, the pizza will have to stay in the oven longer, thus creating a
dry, more crispy pizza. If the oven temperature is too high, then
the pizza will burn! Nobody likes a burnt pizza. Unless you’re my
uncle Vinny. We don’t talk to uncle Vinny.
The Fix
Keep your oven temperature between 806˚F - 869˚F (430˚C - 465˚C).
This is the ideal temperature for the Neapolitan pizza.
Tip
If you’re cooking your pizzas in around 90 seconds, then you’re
doing it right. If you’re doing anything more than that, then your
oven isn’t hot enough.