About how pizza came to our kitchen, let's talk next time.
Today there is a topic that is more extensive and serious - making pizza dough on kefir. This kind of test is a quick variation.
Most likely, Italian “pizza maker” would be surprised at such a pizza - on kefir, or would find the dish - not pizza, or resent such blasphemy over professional and culinary pride - Italian open pie. They don't make pizza dough on kefir - only with yeast!
But this way of making pizza dough got accustomed in our kitchen. And this is a reason to share the subtleties of its preparation.
Pizza dough on kefir - general technological principles
This article focuses on the pizza dough on kefir. But in order to make the best and most correct dough, rewrite the recipe a little and go to the kitchen. Each oven bakes the same, but the cakes are always different. If you understand some of the subtleties, then you can not look for a recipe, and not worry about what was put in the dough a lot, and what - a little.
“The dough must be able to feel and know what it breathes”, - our grandmothers said and were right.
So, about kefir and how he behaves in pizza dough on kefir.
Kefir is a relatively new product. In any case, in the form in which it appeared relatively recently. A fresh, fermented milk product has an undoubted benefit for participating in digestion, since it, even if artificially, is enriched with lactic acid bacteria. But already at a temperature of 70 ° C, the undisputed bacteria that are present in kefir die.
If the baking temperature of the dough with the most benign mode reaches two times higher than the most critical temperature for the life of lactic acid and bifidobacteria, then what is the use of kefir as a fermented milk ingredient for the dough?
It is absolutely possible to say that lacto-and bifidobacteria, changing their structure, take part in the fermentation of dough, forming gas bubbles, which, when baked, under the influence of temperature, expand and make the dough more air. Dairy products - everything, without exception, are the best natural habitat for this type of bacteria. Consequently, they are present in milk, and in sour cream, and in yogurt - in any dairy products. Their participation in fermentation is similar to the action of yeast - “work colleagues”. In addition, you should not run for kefir, if the house has sour cream or yogurt - from these products the dough will rise just as well.
But the difference between these two groups of microorganisms is. Lactic acid bacteria, unlike yeast , will not start without an alkaline environment, and yeast requires carbohydrates contained in sugar, flour and other components of the dough to revive them.
Lactic fermentation stops when a certain concentration of lactic acid is accumulated in the mass, and begins to play the role of a preservative. It is in the growth and accumulation phase that dairy microorganisms make the dough loose, but after their colony grows to a critical point, the process begins opposite to fermentation.
If you miss this moment, making the pizza dough on kefir, then you can start its fermentation only with the help of alcohol-forming yeast. Otherwise, the lush dough will not count.
For baking dairy products, as a fermentation method in the dough, it is beneficial because they don’t eat more sugar, so the sweet dough will remain sweet. The alcohol-forming “colleagues” of lactic acid bacteria eat up the sugar so much that as a result, the dough can even smell like acid and alcohol, create an unpleasant taste in the finished baking.
But these two types of microorganisms, getting into the same environment, absolutely do not interfere with each other. Fermented milk bacteria “do not pay attention” to alcohol produced by yeast, do not “rob” sugar - the main food. To yeast the neighborhood of sour-milk bacteria is also indifferent.
But the presence of those and other microorganisms helps the test ascend faster and better.
You should not count on the special pomp of the pizza dough on kefir, without adding yeast. Many housewives often baked pancakes and know this recipe by heart. Recall that the pancake dough is liquid. And therefore it quickly rises and is baked, and products from it turn out juicy and soft. From this it follows that the flour in the dough for kefir should be added very moderately, if, of course, the plans do not worth baking crispy cakes. From here comes the conclusion: pizza dough on kefir without using yeast should not be too steep. Add flour to it so much that it is convenient to work with it - to make a round cake with it. Exception - if you cook puff pastry, on kefir, chopped.
About flour.
Never rush to pour into the dough all the flour specified in the recipe. It is necessary to add it in parts to make sure that the dough will turn out the desired consistency. Flour has a different moisture content, which depends on the type of grain from which it is made, and on the conditions of its storage. If the recipe says that you need one glass of flour, then in each case it may need more or less.
The consistency of the dough depends on its gluten content. Therefore, to avoid annoying misunderstandings, use flour of the highest grade.
Recipe 1. Pizza dough on kefir, yeast-free
Product Composition:
Eggs 3 pcs.
Kefir of any fat content 150 ml
Fine salt
Refined oil 50 ml
Soda, food 1/4 tsp.
Flour, wheat 250 - 300 g
Dough Preparation:
Beat the cooled eggs with a mixer, as for sponge dough, in a large bowl. Scrambled eggs will give extra pomp to the pizza dough on kefir. Pour in a thin stream of vegetable oil, without stopping the intense beating. Turn off the mixer, pour kefir, continuing to stir the dough with a whisk. Add salt, and then begin to sift the flour directly into the dough, in small pieces, constantly working with a whisk, but not so intensively, trying not to destroy the bubbles that have formed. The consistency of the dough should be loose and homogeneous, but not liquid, so that you can work with it with your hands - the dough, like for dumplings, is only very soft. Add soda at the very end of mixing. Roll the resulting dough into a bowl, place it in a dish and wrap it tightly with film so that it “rests”. In the meantime, reheat the oven and prepare the pizza toppings. Sprinkle the surface with flour, divide the dough into 2-3 servings, and roll them into a ball. There is no need to roll out the dough on the table. Liberally grease the forms, and mash the dough portions directly into them with your hand. Leaving the outer part of the circle thicker. Cook the dough immediately, as it is not to be stored.
Recipe 2. Pizza dough on kefir and yeast
This dough - yeast, straight, is also very fast in cooking. As already mentioned, the yeast and lactic acid bacteria in such a dough will work simultaneously without interfering with each other, and therefore the dough will approach very quickly. The main thing is that kefir should be warm enough - not from the refrigerator.
Ingredients:
Yeast, dry 1/2 tsp
Kefir (any) 120 ml
Salt
Sugar (to start the yeast) 5-7 g
Flour 200-240 g (including - on the subfield)
Dough Preparation:
Put sugar, salt and yeast into warm kefir. Add no more than 1/3 of the total flour, stir the liquid with a whisk, and let it stand for a while until bubbles appear. Pour out the rest of the sifted flour and knead the dough. The finished dough should lag behind the dishes and hands. Then transfer it to the surface for cutting, sprinkled with flour, and begin to form a circle for the pizza.
Recipe 3. Pizza dough on kefir - pizza in a pan, from liquid dough
Kneading the batter, like pancakes, the pizza can be cooked very quickly in a conventional frying pan.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
50 ml of kefir
Salt
Butter, melted 30-40 g
Soda
Flour 140-150 g
Refined oil (for frying)
Dough preparation method:
Beat the eggs in the foam, add salt to them. It is more convenient, of course, to use kitchen appliances, a blender or a stationary mixer. Beating does not need to stop, but only to slow down and continue adding melted or softened butter, then kefir and sifted flour. In the end, add the soda, mix the finished dough, but with a spatula or spoon and stand the dough to make the soda, and start baking the cakes on a preheated pan. It is necessary, warming up the pan well and butter in it, switch the stove so that the medium heat is kept during baking, pour dough into the heated pan, distribute it over the entire surface, not more than 1 cm thick, and cover it with the lid so that the dough is baked at the bottom a little brewed steam. After the dough, you can lay out the sauce and pizza toppings and continue to bake in a sealed container until the top layer of cheese is melted.
Recipe 4. Pizza dough on kefir and yeast (sponge method)
Ingredient list:
indicated in recipe 2. But the amount of yeast and sugar must be doubled.
Dough Preparation:
Prepare the brew in advance, preferably for the night, tightly wrap the dishes with food film (air should not penetrate the prepared brew), and put the container with the dough in a cool place: if the freezer chamber is at the bottom of the refrigerator, put the dough on the top shelf . So Opara can stand up to 12 hours, without the risk of spoil. When you are ready to cook the pizza, warm the dough at 20-25 ° C for an hour, and knead the dough as usual.
Recipe 5. Pizza dough on kefir and margarine
If you prefer pizza on a thin, crispy, puff basis, then this recipe is what you need.
In fact, it is a puff pastry, like for the cake “Napoleon”, and the consistency of the pizza dough will be the same. The difference is in the filling. Kefir, if desired, replace with sour cream or yogurt. If you prefer a real, creamy taste, use butter, at least 72.5% fat.
Ingredients:
Salt
Margarine, cream (top grade) 75-100 g
Kefir 50 - 70 ml
Soda or ammonium 3-4 g
Flour 200-300 g
Dough preparation method:
Pour the sifted flour on a chopping board and start chopping the cubes of prepared, cold margarine right in the flour, until you get fine crumbs from flour and fat. Collect it with a slide, make a recess inside, salt it, add soda and pour in cold kefir. The dough is fat, so to make it you need to use cold foods, and work with it very quickly. After the kefir is mixed in and the dough is glued together into a uniform, plastic mass, divide it into portions, roll each piece into a ball and put it in a cold place. Such dough can be prepared for the future and stored portions separately in the freezer, taking them as needed.
Each portion is rolled into a circle on the surface, sprinkled with flour, and immediately baked, adding sauce and filling.
Recipe 6. Pizza dough for kefir, vegetarian
Ingredient list:
Flour 300-350 g
Salt
Ammonium 5-7 g
Kefir (1%) 150 ml
Dough preparation method:
Sift wheat flour and add salt and ammonium to it. Pour kefir into a large bowl (it should be heated to room temperature), whisk it with a whisk and, adding the flour mixture in small portions, knead the dough. Knock the dough on the table and put it in the bowl again. Seal with film so that the dough remains free of air. Soak it in this form, near the heat, for at least an hour. Then cut the semi-finished product into portions, and papyyvaya work surface roll out the pizza dough on kefir. The layers should be no more than 1 cm thick. Roll the edges of the cakes 3 cm inwards, then put the dough into the mold, seam down and cook the pizza.
Recipe 7. Pizza dough on kefir, with fat, home-made cottage cheese, for sweet filling
If you add less sugar, then from the same dough, you can make a pizza with any savory filling.
Product Composition:
Cottage cheese, fat (15%) 250 g
Sugar 50-70 g
Kefir 120 ml
A mixture of soda and ammonium 10 g
Creamy margarine (or butter) 125 g
Salt
Egg 2 pcs.
Semolina 150g
Flour 200-250 g
Cooking:
Combine, first separately, the wet and dry ingredients of the dough. Pre-flour flour. Curd, eggs and kefir thoroughly mix with a mixer in a lush and smooth mixture, add melted fat. After starting to pour the dry mixture, stirring the dough with a whisk, and then - manually. Let the dough stand so that the semolina absorbs moisture. It should make a thick, but very soft dough. It should be thick enough to be comfortable working with him. If flour is not enough, then mix it right on the table. Each portion needs to be rolled in flour, and the product is formed in the prepared form. Immediately spread on the surface of the filling, making a depression in the cake, closer to the center.
Pizza dough on kefir - tips and tricks
- The test for kefir should be allowed to brew so that it becomes plastic and malleable, and fermented milk bacteria have time to interact with an alkaline medium (soda, ammonium, baking powder). To prevent the gas bubbles emitted from escaping, cover the container with the dough with a film so that it does not vanish and begin to work with it when it is slightly limp. Sprinkle flour over the countertop.
- Flour is poured into the liquid basis of the dough, and not vice versa, so that the dough is smooth, without lumps.
- If you are cooking dough on kefir, then there is no need to use the additional oxidizer contained in the baking powder for the dough, and citric acid or vinegar. Kefir is an acidic enough medium to start a reaction. Adding acid can accelerate this reaction so that the dough does not have time to rise.
- When adding soda, try to follow the measure. Its excess will give the dough a dark color and unpleasant taste. It is better to replace it with ammonium or mix with it in equal parts.
