I have been wondering what would happen if I used "wild" beer yeast in my pizza dough. So I took the dregs from a beer fermented entirely with 2 strains of Brettanomyces yeast (claussenii and bruxellensis) and mixed up my usual batch of Lehmann-style pizza dough. For those that will be curious about my specific recipe:
Flour (100%):
Water (62%):
ADY (0.36%):
Salt (1.05%):
Oil (0.84%):
Sugar (1.5%):
Total (165.75%):
| 265.93 g | 9.38 oz | 0.59 lbs
164.88 g | 5.82 oz | 0.36 lbs
0.96 g | 0.03 oz | 0 lbs | 0.25 tsp | 0.08 tbsp
2.79 g | 0.1 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.5 tsp | 0.17 tbsp
2.23 g | 0.08 oz | 0 lbs | 0.5 tsp | 0.17 tbsp
3.99 g | 0.14 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1 tsp | 0.33 tbsp
440.78 g | 15.55 oz | 0.97 lbs | TF = 0.101
|
Instead of using ADY, I included the collected yeast sediment from the bottle, along with some of the liquid, and considered that to be a part of the total amount of water. Not exactly the most precise way to measure things, I guess. So I mixed the dough up and let it sit at room temperature for two days. Today was day two, and I noticed that the dough had doubled in volume. I heated my oven to 550 (convection) and preheated my stone for almost an hour. When I tossed the dough, it was a little softer than what I'm normally used to with refrigerator-retarded dough, but it was still nice to work with even though it required a bit more care. The pizza was done after the usual six minutes, and I noticed a very nice crust rim rise, great coloration, an airy and open (but chewy) crumb, and some great sourdough flavor! This was such a great success and such a nice surprise that I don't think I even want to bother with conventional yeast anymore unless speed is of the essence. At any rate, I think this will be the first of several more experiments to come. So, without further adieu, here are the links to the pictures. I would attach them, but I'd rather have links with better resolution.
Whole pizza:
http://i45.tinypic.com/oj3ybp.jpgAnother view:
http://i50.tinypic.com/8zp7ch.jpgCrust rim:
http://i46.tinypic.com/2dj2mat.jpgCross section:
http://i49.tinypic.com/2jb020o.jpgCrust rim 2:
http://i45.tinypic.com/2zqtyf5.jpgCrust coloration:
http://i48.tinypic.com/i1wp3d.jpg
