Oh my gosh, can you comment more on what you wrote: "I’ve been using my 77˚F seedling mat/proofing cabinet to bring my dough balls to room temperature." Getting dough to rise in my very cool house is always a challenge, but I have a seed mat! How do I make a proofing cabinet with it? Is it nothing more than placing the bowl w/dough on the mat and covering that with something, maybe like a plastic storage bin? Thank you!
Dana - I'll do a post about it here eventually, but for now I just posted a photo on my Instagram for you to check out! https://www.instagram.com/p/CHN5dqtg_Ca/
I decided to run an experiment. I put my seed mat down with a cooling rack over it, put a thermometer on the seed mat then covered the whole thing with a big plastic bin. The temperature when I began was 65F. At 30 minutes the temp was up to 74F and at one hour it was 82F. At that point I raised two corners of the plastic bin about four inches to release some heat. At 1.5 hours the temp was 78F. Then I raised the other two corners of the bin and at 2 hours the temp was 76F. This could be a total game changer for me!
it's fine! But it does interfere with heat transfer and traps moisture, so the bottom crust won't ever get quite as crisp. You can always remove it once the bottom of the pie has set, though!
I should also note that I cut the parchment to the edge of the dough. This prevents the parchment from burning and becoming brittle--making it much easier to remove.
Adding on to Dana, I never thought of using a seedling mat, and it makes sense! It brings seedlings to the right temperature, making sense to bring the dough to the right temp. I don't know how many people have one, but I wouldn't be surprised if many cooks/bakers also have one to start seedlings, since the 2 hobbies share similar characteristics.
One thing to add, I realized that I've been using the wrong size container. I used my lava rock container (~8-9 inches) when I'm supposed to use a 4-5 inch container because I thought I needed 1/2 inch of space. I thought the problem was that the dough was too slack when it was actually the container.
I’ll clarify what I meant- the dough spread too much in the 8-9 inch container and it was hard to flour it without it folding and being misshapen since it was thinner which made it harder to control and by the time I got it out of the flouring pie plate, it was already 12 inches but I didn’t shape it which means that the cornus is uneven and misshapen. Some parts thick, other parts thin. So no, it doesn’t affect the rise but it does affect the shaping. Next time I’ll use a smaller 4-5 inch takeout container.
To clarify the cornus part, when I turn it over in the flouring container it stretched a lot and even more when I transfer it to the counter which brings it to 12 inches and I didn’t shape it which means I couldn’t control the size of the cornus.
I’ve had one for 15 years, sliced close to 750 pizzas on it, thrown it into the dishwasher on occasion, and it still looks great! I can’t believe it has no noticeable knife marks.
It’s non-sticky and non-thermal like wood, so it’s great for sliding in pizzas and it’s thin enough to retrieve pizzas off a pizza steel or stone. It seemed expensive when I got it (compared to a restaurant supply wooden peel), but it’s held up amazingly.
Oh my gosh, can you comment more on what you wrote: "I’ve been using my 77˚F seedling mat/proofing cabinet to bring my dough balls to room temperature." Getting dough to rise in my very cool house is always a challenge, but I have a seed mat! How do I make a proofing cabinet with it? Is it nothing more than placing the bowl w/dough on the mat and covering that with something, maybe like a plastic storage bin? Thank you!
Dana - I'll do a post about it here eventually, but for now I just posted a photo on my Instagram for you to check out! https://www.instagram.com/p/CHN5dqtg_Ca/
Brilliant! I bet I could put it in the storage drawer under my oven.
I decided to run an experiment. I put my seed mat down with a cooling rack over it, put a thermometer on the seed mat then covered the whole thing with a big plastic bin. The temperature when I began was 65F. At 30 minutes the temp was up to 74F and at one hour it was 82F. At that point I raised two corners of the plastic bin about four inches to release some heat. At 1.5 hours the temp was 78F. Then I raised the other two corners of the bin and at 2 hours the temp was 76F. This could be a total game changer for me!
What about using parchment paper on the peel?
After ruining one too many pizzas on the peel, I started using parchment underneath as a cheat.
it's fine! But it does interfere with heat transfer and traps moisture, so the bottom crust won't ever get quite as crisp. You can always remove it once the bottom of the pie has set, though!
This is my strategy, and I find it works quite well. I pull it out roughly two minutes in, when I rotate the pie. (With a pair of long tongs.)
I should also note that I cut the parchment to the edge of the dough. This prevents the parchment from burning and becoming brittle--making it much easier to remove.
Thanks for the comic relief in the form of the tea towel falling when you closed the oven door. This ALWAYS happens to me! :-)
ha, yeah. I keep thinking I need a better place to hang my towels.
Adding on to Dana, I never thought of using a seedling mat, and it makes sense! It brings seedlings to the right temperature, making sense to bring the dough to the right temp. I don't know how many people have one, but I wouldn't be surprised if many cooks/bakers also have one to start seedlings, since the 2 hobbies share similar characteristics.
One thing to add, I realized that I've been using the wrong size container. I used my lava rock container (~8-9 inches) when I'm supposed to use a 4-5 inch container because I thought I needed 1/2 inch of space. I thought the problem was that the dough was too slack when it was actually the container.
Are you suggesting that the size of the container effects how the dough rises?
I’ll clarify what I meant- the dough spread too much in the 8-9 inch container and it was hard to flour it without it folding and being misshapen since it was thinner which made it harder to control and by the time I got it out of the flouring pie plate, it was already 12 inches but I didn’t shape it which means that the cornus is uneven and misshapen. Some parts thick, other parts thin. So no, it doesn’t affect the rise but it does affect the shaping. Next time I’ll use a smaller 4-5 inch takeout container.
To clarify the cornus part, when I turn it over in the flouring container it stretched a lot and even more when I transfer it to the counter which brings it to 12 inches and I didn’t shape it which means I couldn’t control the size of the cornus.
Ah, thanks for the clarification. Now I understand.
If you’ve never used 1, I’d recommend the Epicurean Pizza Peel:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PRI3TS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_VvzPFbVD5G9PR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I’ve had one for 15 years, sliced close to 750 pizzas on it, thrown it into the dishwasher on occasion, and it still looks great! I can’t believe it has no noticeable knife marks.
It’s non-sticky and non-thermal like wood, so it’s great for sliding in pizzas and it’s thin enough to retrieve pizzas off a pizza steel or stone. It seemed expensive when I got it (compared to a restaurant supply wooden peel), but it’s held up amazingly.
I reread this for the 3rd time and I realized that another reason my dough was slack was because i let it sit at room temp for too long.
OMG! I watched this splendid video in art class. I am surly making this when I arrive at my shelter.