FOOD NEWS
How To Fix Pizza Dough When It Won't Stretch Properly
BY Claire Redden
Tony Gemignani, the chef and owner of Tony's Pizza Napolatena in San Francisco, says one or a combination of three factors makes pizza dough shrink or "snap back" when stretched.
The first factor is the dough's readiness. It'll shrink if it's not been allowed to mature long enough, it's not hydrated enough, it's too cold, or it's been mixed too long.
The kind of water you use is the second factor. Ideally, you should use moderately hard to soft water, as hard water is often responsible for pizza dough that shrinks back.
The third factor is over-salting. Gemignani says, "Your salt should be somewhere around 2% of your flour weight"; using three times more than that will make your dough snap back.
To fix an inelastic dough, you can add more water, let it mature some more, or bring it to room temperature. If hard water is the issue, start over with filtered or bottled water.
Using flour with high gluten or protein can also cause your dough to snap back. When using such flour, you should "mature your dough at a minimum of 24 hours," says Gemignani.
Gemignani also warns against over-mixing, saying,
"Over [mixing] can cause your dough to be tight and cause it to snap back … Try not to over mix your dough in a planetary mixer."