Extremely long(+40) room temp fermentation with starter

[wucactus1]

So I have been wondering/pondering this for a bit, but could you potentially do a 48+hour room temp dough with starter or would the pizza dough itself start to become a starter...?

[TXCraig1]

It's going to depend on your temperature (and starter quantity). I'm planning a 36 hour RT this wekend (<65F).

CL

[wucactus1]

My apartment is at 75-80 usually...Im figuring an extremely low amount of starter, but with temps of 80 is it still possible? Usually when I make dough I bring the thermostat down to 75 so 75 is very possible, and I dont happen to have a wine cellar box/etc.

[TXCraig1]

Even if you 0.25%, I think you'll explode your dough long before 40 hours at anything near 80F.

I use a igloo cooler with a block of ice (frozen plastic bottle full of water - adjust the size/quantity to control the temp) for fermenting at lower than my ambient room temp.

CL

[Jackie Tran]

Craig, I meant to tell you that you have some great ideas.  I was thinking about trying the cooler box method recently b/c I wanted temps lower than 75F.  

I have been using your method of diluting CY in 10cc of water and portioning out exactly what I need.  If I need really small amounts, I'll double dilute it again and just use what I need.  

Thanks again,
Chau

[Pete-zza]

wucactus1,

A while back, widespreadpizza (marc) and I experimented with room temperature fermented doughs using no added yeast whatsoever--either commercial yeast or natural leavenings. The only yeast was wild yeast or other organisms in the flour or air or in/on utensils. The duration of fermentation was related to the room temperature at which the doughs fermented. You can read about those experiments in the thread at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7225.0.html. For specific posts that you might refer to, see Reply 84 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7225.msg78779.html#msg78779, Reply 121 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7225.msg79287.html#msg79287 and Reply 124 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7225.msg89301.html#msg89301. For marc's results and discussion, see the posts starting at Reply 65 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7225.msg78705.html#msg78705. I think that the key takeaway is that even without adding any yeast to a dough, it is hard to get extremely long room temperature fermentations out of the dough.

You should also be aware that there is something called leuconostic bacteria that can also produce gases to cause a dough to rise. I don't know if this was a factor in the doughs that marc and I made, but you can read more about them in Reply 28 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,10008.msg87669/topicseen.html#msg87669.

Peter