Picked up a dough from Pizzanista in LA

[djamc]

After reading about Pizzanista's 200 year old Ischia sourdough-based pizza, I decided to stop by today and pickup a slice and two doughs...

The pizza has a great crust texture and their pizzas r very solid overall, but I was dissapointed with the flavor of the crust...  I was expecting a lot more flavor...

I have 3 questions related to this dough:

1) is it very likely that this starter has the same origin as the Ischia starter discussed a lot on this forum?

2) to turn the doughs I got into a starter do I just increase the hydration, refrigerate and continue to feed once a week?

3) what is the key to increasing the lactobacillus flavor in the dough?

Thanks
Dan

[Bill/SFNM]

1 - No way to tell
2 - Never done it
3 - Different strains of lb will produce different acids and/or alcohols at different temps at different rates resulting in different flavors depending on your feeding/fermentation/proofing protocol. The amount of starter is also a big factor. There are some pretty subtle and complex flavors coming out of this process. After several years, I'm still playing around with this, but the foundation of my technique involves a 48-hour 62F fermentation/proof. The dough passes through other temps also, but I'm still working on optimizing those for the best flavor, not necessarily the most flavor.

[TXCraig1]

1 - Ditto
2 - It is very easy, mix flour and water into the consistency of a thick batter. Take a piece of your dough about 1/3 the mass of the flour-water mix, soften it with a little water if needed, and mix it in. Let it proof at 80F or so until it is very active. This should be pretty fast and easy (I'm guessing 12-24 hours - maybe less). The organisms in the dough should be healthy. Discard half, feed with an equal amount of 50:50 flour and water. When it has bubbled up again (~12 hours), it should be good to go. You can probably discard half, feed it the same amount, and go to the refrigerator at this point.
3 - One way is to ferment at higher temperatures such as I discussed here: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,14627.0.html

Craig

[djamc]

Thank u Craig!  The dough-to-starter info is exactly what I was looking for...  I am going to b receive in the Is his starter in the mail as well, so I'll compare it to the Pizzanista Ischia starter...  Will let u know.

Thanks,
Dan