What Hydration Do You Need for Wood-Fired Pizza Dough?

This week I made a pizza dough using 62% hydration compared to my normal level of 60% hydration. I ask myself, is there enough of a difference.

Should I raise it to 70% to see a significant difference in the dough structure and outcome?

My initial response to that would be 'eek'! Only because I've experimented with high hydration levels (e.g. ciabatta dough) and the stickiness associated with manipulating high hydration dough leaves me spinning with gooey stress.

I've created a Pizza for Beginners YouTube playlist that gives some great tips to help your learning to cook pizza journey! Enjoy your Pizza Cooking!

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The video above shows a pizza dough cooked with a 62% hydration and it definitely was easier to stretch out that dough. Just a little bit. And with a cold-proof and a good freeze I'd expect it to be even better. The Pepperoni Pizza cook using the wood-fired burner in the Roccbox Pizza Oven was straightforward and great fun.

The Pizza Dough Recipe:

24hr bulk room proof then shaped into dough balls and left for 30 mins before the stretch.
500g Blue Caputo pizzeria soft-grain milled at 00 Flour
1.5g dissolved dry yeast - 0.3%
9g dissolved table salt - 1.8%
310g water - 62% hydration

This oven is easy to use and cooks up a great pizza. I have yet to burn my crust with this oven and it always cooks a great crust. If I was starting off again as a complete pizza cook beginner, I'd have really benefited from using this oven because of this

Enjoy!

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http://www.youtube.com/c/Got2EatPizza

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