Using whey instead of water?

[Bill/SFNM]

The other day I made up a batch of fresh mozzarella and held on to a quart of the whey that was left over. Has anyone used whey instead of water in any pizza dough recipes?

My Camaldoli starter should be fully activated tomorrow, so I'm thinking of making some Focaccia alla Genovese from Reinhart's book using the starter instead of commercial yeast. He says you can substitute wine or milk for half of the water. I'm thinking it might be fun to use the whey. It is from organic milk so hopefully it contains no antibiotics or other chemicals that could kill the good bugs in the culture. I've used whey in dough for hamburger buns and English muffins to good effect, but never in this way. I'll probably make two small focaccias - one with whey and one without. Any suggestions?

TIA.

Bill/SFNM

[Pete-zza]

Sante Fe Bill,

I have tried dried whey in pizza dough but I'm not sure it was baker's grade. I bought mine from Whole Foods. As you may know, dairy whey contains lactose, which is a form of sugar. However, it is not metabolized by yeast (the only reducing sugar that isn't) but it contributes to browning.  It is also very low on the sweetness scale so you won't detect it in the finished crust. It was such a long time ago that I tried the whey that I don't recall whether it had the intended effect. I do know that it is sometimes used by pizza operators where they want the browning but not the sweetness.

Peter

[Bill/SFNM]

Peter,

The whey left over from cheese making is a little on the sour side from the acid and salty, but, as you point out, doesn't seem very sweet. Maybe I'll save it for some waffles and just do the experiment tomorrow with the Italian starter. Gotta learn to keep it simple, but sometimes I get carried away as my avatar motto says. Thanks for the info. I'll post photos in the neglected focaccia section of this forum. Focaccia deserves more attention! I love it!

Bill/SFNM

[Bill/SFNM]

Success has lot to do with the kind of milk you use. Most supermarket milk isn't very suitable. What did you use? Lately, I've been using unhomogenized from Trader Joe's.

Bill/SFNM