[Failure] Pizzas - failed dough

October 26, 2015
Monday

Thomas Edison failed about 3000 times before inventing the light bulb. When asked about the failure, he remarked “I did not fail a 3000 times, I learnt 3000 ways of not making a bulb!”

The good thing about failure is, it makes the successful days of cooking so much better. The pizzas through the microwave oven is such a difficult recipe to master. Frankly, we must remember the successful days exactly, so in times of distress and going haywire, I can return back to a successful recipe. It just reassures me about what good times have I actually created as well (or been a part thereof).

 More importantly, it has given me a chance to discuss about the beautifully prepared ingredients. Even with the expired dough failing to rise through yeast, which in itself was possibly expired. So, lesson for today - use fresh ingredients even while baking. Yeast is a living organism which becomes less active over time, much like yogurt cultures.




Toppings used - 


Caramelised onions
Caramelised mushrooms
Diced tomatoes
Diced Zuccini
Julienned Red pepper





The ingredients

For the toppings, I had tried baking the toppings yesterday. However, as the water evaporated from the high water content items like onions and mushrooms, they shrunk to a really small size. Part of it also got burnt, which left back the burnt flavour. However, the overall taste of the toppings was quite intense. Mushrooms do leave a strong smell in the air which getting roasted sometimes, which was all good.

The dough disaster today 

There are a number of issues which popped up today. I must check the effectiveness of the yeast next time through the yeast test described here - http://www.eatbydate.com/other/baking/yeast/.

According to this website, Cake Yeast (also called Compressed) is even more perishable than dry, requiring constant refrigeration below 45 deg. F to maintain its freshness and activity. Generally, the eat by date is usually reliable on the packet.

 The yeast needs to become activated in 10 minutes when added in warm water (not greater than 110-115 deg.



Yeast or baking powder?

The failure has also urged me to delve a bit more into the entire technique. Why don't we use baking powder instead of yeast? Well, yeast is the traditional leavening agent, which makes the dough very soft. Hence, the pizza dough becomes quite chewy. In the more modern case, yes, baking soda or baking powder can be used as the leavening agent. However, from experiences previously, the yeasted version tastes much better.