High hydration dough, how is it made?

All the products born in the Roman scene such as Pinsa Romana, Pizza in Teglia and Pizza alla Pala are made through a high hydration dough and long leavening that determine the unique digestibility and lightness, much loved by the customers of pizzerias and restaurants at national and international level. Roman tonda style pizza, traditionally very dry, poorly hydrated and rolled out with a rolling pin to become very thin, is now made with larger quantities of water.

What determines the success of a highly hydrated dough?

A highly hydrated dough is inherently less caloric than a normal dough. This important result is achieved thanks to the water that contains zero calories. It is therefore well established that the caloric intake will be significantly decreased since the dough will have more water and less flour in proportion.
In addition, the high hydration helps the chemical and enzymatic breakdown of sugars and proteins. Consider that 100 grams of flour contain an average of 360 kcal. That's incredible, isn't it? Thanks to the use of more water, the flour is dissolved and the result is a lighter and more digestible high hydration pizza, which conquers the consumer precisely because it is healthier and less impacting on the daily calorie intake.

In this exact historical time, people are looking for healthier and more wholesome foods, at the expense of foods rich in fats and not very digestible. In fact Pinsa Romana, teglia romana, pala and tonda romana are among the most sought-after and loved products by customers of restaurants and pizzerias.

Another important aspect for making a highly hydrated dough is flour. This must have a high W (parameter that indicates the strength of the flour), about 350/400, in order to absorb large quantities of water because it contains a higher percentage of gluten than a weak flour. But be careful, this does not mean that the finished product will have more gluten, because this will be diluted thanks to the greater amount of water that is around 75%, but it can also reach 100%.

Another essential element of a highly hydrated dough is the water which must be absolutely cold. The reason is simple: hot water makes gluten less tenacious, makes it lose its structure, on the contrary cold water makes the gluten proteins firmer.

In fact, in the wheat grain there are two types of proteins that are divided into soluble and insoluble. As the name itself suggests, the soluble ones dissolve in water while the insoluble ones, gliadins and glutenins, do not dissolve in water.
It is precisely the gliadins and glutenins that create this structure: they join together creating a sort of glue and give life to what we know as the gluten mesh, a lattice that covers the dough.

The gluten mesh is able to hold more gas when it is thicker and stronger. Examples of this phenomenon are products such as panettone, croissant or our beloved Roman pizza. The gluten mesh also has beneficial effects on cooking because the vapors retained inside allow to create high hydration pinse and pizzas that do not dry out and remain crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

How can I get this "precious" gluten mesh?

By adding cold water which helps to create a stronger gluten and kneading quickly and with a lot of friction, and it is precisely in this phase that a professional mixer comes to our aid.

The mistake we shouldn't make when making the dough is to pour all the water together. This procedure is not recommended because it would create very little friction. The right rule to follow is to initially pour 80% of water and, once the gluten has been created, you can pour the rest because, at this point, the gluten is able to absorb all the water without any problem.

Flour, even if it is strong, can have difficulty absorbing all the water. You need to have the right precautions to bring out all its potential from flour. The two gluten proteins (gliadins and glutenins) must bind well together, otherwise the dough will not be alveolar, it will not present the fantastic bubbles in evidence, it will not keep the gases inside, it will not be able to maintain the long hours of leavening and how, as a result, the final product will be dry and not very digestible.

Why is the Roma mixer ideal for high hydration doughs?

The Roma mixer is the professional tool par excellence for kneading highly hydrated doughs such as those of Roman pinsa, pan pizza, pala and round pizza.
When we think of a good mixer, the first feature that comes to mind is double speed: it must be able to work the dough as quickly as possible. This function alone is not enough because the mixer must be well calibrated technically.
To make this concept more fully understood, we can give the example of some mixers that spin very fast, both in the spiral part and in the bowl part.

The bowl, turning too fast, does not give the spiral the necessary time to force (in technical jargon we use the definition "stringing") the dough.
The perfect combination is to have a fast spiral and a slower bowl, in this way the spiral can often turn in one point and this is exactly how that portion of pasta is strung to the max.

The spiral has to “stretch” the gluten, but if the tank underneath moves too fast it cannot do so. The dough must have the right stresses.
Stringing requires strength, which is why to be able to find this balance, the Roma mixer has been reinforced: all the structural elements (motors, pulleys, belts…) have been made with high quality materials that allow the whole machine to withstand strong stresses.

The Roma mixer (produced by Mecnosud) has bowl turns and spiral turns studied to perfection with the Pinsa School team in order to obtain a perfect gluten mesh: the reinforced steel spiral rotates on the vertical axis, while the bowl, as well as moving slower than the spiral, it is able to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise (as in the case of the Pro-X model which can count on a double motor).

Its speed makes it possible to decisively reduce production times and is ideal for making high hydration and long leavening pinse and pizzas.
The Roma mixer is characterized by two speeds of execution, the first has the important function of amalgamating the compound in the initial phase, the second is important for the formation of a tenacious and well-strung dough.

The strenght of Roma Mixer:

- Fast processing and short times
- Can handle high hydration doughs
- Creates compounds with a well-formed gluten mesh
- Revolutions and speeds of bowl and spiral calibrated to perfection
- Easy to use
- Prepare the dough for the long hours of leavening
- It makes the flour absorb more water, avoiding waste