Nine-Day Dough

[Glutenboy]

GB All-Trumps dough at 62% hydration, nine days old.  Topped with tomatoes, Belgioso cryo-pack fresh mozzarella, Locatelli pecorino romano, parm reggiano, sweet italian sausage, a little EVOO, and fresh basil.  Dough in the cooler for nine days.  One left for tonights ten-day pie.

[scott r]

yum yum yum, nice work!

[c0mpl3x]

i absolutely love locatelli cheeses, all but the price.  upwards of $20/lb in some stores

[widespreadpizza]

Wow,  20 bucks,  thats robbery.   Costco locatelli romano 7.99 all the time.  Nice looking pies GB!  -marc

[mr782xx]

Looks great!

Has there been any changes in the texture of the dough when cooked?

Got any pics of the dough before being shaped?

[Glutenboy]

Sorry - I didn't take any pics of the dough before shaping.  The appearance didn't change much during the 10 days.  The only difference I noticed was that the older it got, the more delicate and extensible it became.  It never reached the point of being a problem, but it wasn't as indestructible as it was at 6 days.  The differences became more apparant in the finished product.  Better color, LOTS of small blisters that added a new level of texture and crispness to the outer crust, better crumb in the rim, and tremendous lingering depth of flavor.  I was very happy.

[mr782xx]

Sounds awesome. 

Hate to ask YET ANOTHER question, but...  What was the temp of your refrigerator and was the dough ever disturbed on a routine basis by opening and closing the refrigerator door the 9 day period.  I guess a better way to ask the second question is:  is that a dedicated refrigerator for dough making/processing, or is that the same refrigerator you use routinely?

I'm considering buying another refrigerator to use for dough fermenting only.  I'm GUESSING that my dough over proofs at times because the refrigerator door stays open too long during the fermentation process. 

Either that or I'm using too much IDY. 

[Glutenboy]

I use my regular refrigerator and I'm not even sure about the temperature.  I use very little IDY in my dough (.1982%).  It measures out to 1 teaspoon per 1520 grams of flour.  Then I do a bulk room temp rise for a couple of hours (time varies, but dough should double) before balling, oiling, and refrigerating.  The dough balls (mine are around 300 g each) rise a bit in the cooler, but not too much.  I keep them in glad containers and burp the lids every couple of days when they start to swell.  I don't touch the dough til I use it.  I think you can regulate the rise by regulating the yeast.  Long slow fermentation = low yeast content.  This is not the law, just my experience.

[mr782xx]

Thanks!