My 15 Day Old Dough

[LaPizzaBrutta]

So, it was time to clear out the fridge and I had an old ball of dough in the back dating back to March 24 

I figured, what the hell! I had some other stuff I was looking to get rid of as well, so I threw it all together.

My dough consists of:

Flour (100%):    750.97 g  |  26.49 oz | 1.66 lbs
Water (63%):    473.11 g  |  16.69 oz | 1.04 lbs
IDY (.35%):    2.63 g | 0.09 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.87 tsp | 0.29 tbsp
Salt (3.42%):    25.68 g | 0.91 oz | 0.06 lbs | 5.35 tsp | 1.78 tbsp
Total (166.77%):   1252.4 g | 44.18 oz | 2.76 lbs | TF = N/A
Single Ball:   313.1 g | 11.04 oz | 0.69 lbs

This one had a very sourdough-like flavor. When I opened the container, before even proofing, and took a whiff it had a strong alcoholic smell and was laden with massive bubbles. Wondered how it would turn out.

I quick roasted some eggplant and garlic and threw that on with some mushrooms and thin slivers of red onion. I used Polly-O whole milk mozzarella, cubed to about half an inch...and no sauce.

She rose up pretty well (little Vesuvio lol) No pimples this time (?) either. Hmmmm. And not too much color on the sides. I'd guess there wasn't much residual sugars left to brown well enough, although the bottom and the top got a nice char from being sandwiched between stones.

[norma427]

LaPizzaBrutta,

That pie out of your 15 day old dough looks great!    I bet the taste of the crust was wonderful.

Great pictures,

Norma

[Jackie Tran]

pizza looks great LPB.  I think I do see some pimples tho.

[Glutenboy]

Flavor?  I gotta know.   

[NY pizzastriver]

I gotta know too, GB. I'm interested in learning how it lived 15 days with a yeast % of .35% when your formula can't go 10 days at 0.19817%, roughly. The longest I went with yours is 9, or any dough successfully for that matter. (freezing at some stage aside) Was it vacuum sealed? Placed in a hyrdo-box and buried at the bottom the sea? Lol, yeah this interesting though, anxious to learn more details and explanations.

[Pete-zza]

I'd also be interested in the details, particularly the details that relate to the preparation and management of the dough. I would also add that 3.42% salt is a lot of salt. It is almost at the level used to make acrobatic dough. It's possible that the high salt levels slowed down the fermentation of the dough due to its inhibitory effect on yeast performance. I would also think that 3.42% salt would result in an overly salty crust, but I have been surprised before by how much salt a lot of people use without complaint.

Peter

[LaPizzaBrutta]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I didn't expect much from this dough, but it still rose up to my surprise.

The flavor was good. It had a very sourdough-y tang to it. Smelled wonderful when baking.

I store my individual dough balls in the small plastic containers I get spumoni in. They aren't completely air tight, but work well. And I store them on the bottom/back area of my fridge.

Peter, I was a little wary of my salt content when I first started experimenting, but found my dough to be a bit bland. So, I gradually increased the amount with each batch until I found one that seemed to balance the flavor out just the way I like it. My guess is that the current salt content is what kept those little buggers at bay for so long.

I used my normal process for this pie, although I had realized something in my process that may have a bearing on the end result.

I pull my dough out usually about 2 hours before use. An hour in, I crank up my oven to preheat. Now, I store my dough container on top of my fridge to keep it consistently warm. I'd say it gets up to about 80 degrees above my fridge, as my oven is blasting at 650 degrees and since I have such a small kitchen, heat is retained closer to the ceiling. This causes my dough to jump back and the container lid begins to dome over from all the gases. When proofed and ready, the dough becomes pretty elastic, yet stretches out very well without any worry of tearing.

I don't know what else to say. It sure turned out a lot better than I had imagined and tasted wonderful. I was expecting a tortilla with cheese LOL! But got a nice meal out of it!

[LaPizzaBrutta]

To elaborate on my dough making process...

- I mix half the flour, all of the water (about 65 degrees), and all of the IDY into my Kitchen-Aid bowl and stir in small circular motions (always in one direction only) with the round handle of a wooden spoon until it all gets incorporated and sticky, then I walk away and leave it covered with a towel for 20-30 mins on the counter.
- I come back and throw a handful more of flour into the bowl and start it on the mixer (on setting 2) with the spiral hook until incorporated.
- Toss in all of the salt and mix in.
- Toss in the remainder of the flour and mix up until the bowl sides are clean.
- Pull out the dough ball and hand knead until completely smooth.
- Place dough ball on baking sheet and loosely cover with plastic.
- Put covered dough in oven with no heat for 2 hours (makes a nice dead box).
- Pull out of oven and portion.
- I then dip the tip of my finger in oil and dot it on the palm of my right hand and begin balling the portions.
- Drop each ball (about 313g each) into a plastic container, snap on the lid, and store it in the bottom/back of the fridge.

Now the containers I use are more tall than they are wide (cylindrical). So, when my yeast start to kick in, the dough only rises upward, not 'out', and you can see a network of webbing and bubbles through the transparent container. Geez, I hope all this makes sense. LOL 

Unfortunately, that was the last of my dough. I'll see about putting another one together at some point this weekend and take some pictures if anyone has any questions.

thanks for your time everyone. This is a lot of fun!

EDIT: to be exact on the ingredients used, if that helps at all:

King Arthur Bread Flour
SAF IDY
Acqua Panna Spring Water
Diamond Crystal Pure Kosher Salt