Overproofed? Then what?

[SheilaAnn]

Richard Chrz
jhapka
WayneT
Attjack
RonB

trying to remember our avid bakers ….

troymeister
Thunder77
58limited


I am using SE Foolproof Pan Pizza this week. https://www.seriouseats.com/foolproof-pan-pizza-recipe

Made this yesterday afternoon. NOTE: I did half recipe by weight.

Checked it this morning and I fear it is overproofed. Will it still be viable, just not as “lively”? I’m sure I can find the answer on the inter-webs, but I wanted to start the conversation here.

[Richard Chrz]

Well, going back to The NY Times Kenji thin crust pizza article posted in AR, Kenji mentioned that he felt it was better to have the dough over proof so it would roll out remain flat, at least for that recipe. Maybe you have stumbled onto a new technique in your pizza making? Look forward to seeing the results,

[barelfly]

This is exactly what i thought of, since I watched the video last week.

[MBMorgan]

You could try knocking it back (deflating it) gently then letting it proof again ... unless it's already collapsed/deflated on its own, in which case you might be stuck with what you've got.

[WayneT]

Although I’ve never done it myself, this sounds plausible.

[Richard Chrz]

Photo looks like it has already collapsed.

[MBMorgan]

Richard Chrz - yeah, I agree ... but it's the only suggestion I've got ... beyond "cook it and see what happens" and "watch out for potential proofing gotchas next time".

[Attjack]

Sadly, I am of no help in this case.

[RonB]

I agree with Richard Chrz - you have made a dough suitable for thin crust. Or, you could try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5803cR20XI

This is something I have never understood. Over proofing is when the yeast has been used up, but if ya reshape it, it will rise again... I know I have something wrong in my thinking about this, but what is it ,cause it does work.

[Spinaker]

Sadly, this is where Breadhead would have really come in handy

[jhapka]

You’re good to go

[jhapka]

“ After all those hours of you doing absolutely nothing to it, your dough should look basically like a big, puffy, lumpy-looking bowl of soup. When you uncover the plastic and knock the bowl slightly, you'll see the whole thing deflate a bit. This is A-OK.” from the recipe

[MBMorgan]

This is something I have never understood. Over proofing is when the yeast has been used up, but if ya reshape it, it will rise again... I know I have something wrong in my thinking about this, but what is it ,cause it does work.

Actually, over proofing just means that the yeast has produced more gas than you need for the type of bread you're making. During proofing, two things are happening ... the yeast is eating, reproducing, and burping (hence the too much gas at some point).

In addition to all that yeasty activity, gluten is continuing to form and to develop its structure. At some point, the physical structure of the gluten will become over-developed and will weaken and be unable to support all that gassy dough ... and it collapses. The yeast is still very much alive (it never really "gives its all”) but the gluten structure is no longer able to support any more gas-inflated dough ... so it will never rise again.

It's like inflating a tire until it bursts. After that, you can pump air into the tire all you want, but it will never inflate again.

The only way that knocking back (deflating) over proofed dough will work is if you do it before the gluten structure weakens and falls apart.

[radshop]

I don't know if my answer comes too late to help, but I've save overproofed pizza dough (don't think it would as well work for bread) by gently incorporating enough new flour to build some structure, but not so much that you really mess up your hydration ratio or leave a lot of unfermented flour in the final mix. I don't have exact figures to give, but absolute max would be 20% of total. You can do it either as a secondary proofing or even better when you shape your dough. I'm not guaranteeing it will work, but it's worked for me.

[FireMan]

I mean, this here post is blowing my mind. Overproofing, proofing, burping, inflating a tire, 20% hydration ratio, collapsed & tire bursting, gluten structure, and then someone says “that is plausible.” All this in making a pizza. What happened to pepperoni & sausage? Maybe I’ll just order out.

[SheilaAnn]

FireMan 🤣🤣🤣

[BourBonQ]

FireMan I'm with you. My brain hurts!

[SheilaAnn]

I just completed step 3. It’s resting in the CI pan. In the end, is there really bad pizza? I’ll keep y’all posted.

[Jfrosty27]

There is NO bad pizza!

[mnavarre]

I was i grade school in the '70s. There is, most assuredly, bad pizza. Very, very bad pizza. PTSD levels of bad pizza.

[SheilaAnn]

Here we go!


straight outta the pan.



side view

it tasted good. Past pies have had more lift. While this was dense and flat, the flavor was there.

[Skip]

There's nothing wrong with that pizza.

[Draznnl]

That pizza looks good to me. Are you sure it wasn’t what you were shooting for all along? 😝😝😝

[FireMan]

Oh no, artistic juxtaposition! Gimme a break.
BTW, great lookin pizza!