Dave,
Bubba was a professional pizza operator and, as such, it is common practice, if not a necessity, to have a way of making a backup dough in case something happens to the regular dough. It might be a power failure that happened overnight and ruined the dough, or the dough maker forgot to put yeast or salt in the dough, or any one of a number of other unanticipated events. I agree with you that an emergency dough may not be as good as a regular cold fermented dough, especially in the crust color department. That is because the Maillard reactions require simple (reducing) sugars in order to produce crust coloration. Ordinary table sugar is a disaccharide that has to be broken down into simple sugars (fructose and glucose) in order to participate in the Maillard reactions (as residual sugars). There are some simple sugars in the flour, but table sugar takes a fair amount of time to be broken down into simple sugars. However, some of the table sugar may provide crust coloration through caramelization but you may need a lot of it.
I think that there are some dough recipes that produce a decent emergency dough. One that I liked is a Papa John's emergency dough. I described one such version at Reply 52 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6758.msg66312.html#msg66312. You will note that that recipe is similar to what Bubba uses except that I used a lot of sugar, in the form of honey, and the crust was thicker. The honey was used because it already consists of simple sugars that can start to work immediately, not only to feed the yeast but also to provide crust color through the Maillard reactions and maybe also through caramelization. If one uses honey in Bubba's recipe instead of sugar, I think there is a good chance of getting increased crust coloration.
Peter
Oh man Peter you are so right. As my wife and I read this post this morning we both cracked up at the same time and echoed the name of an old employee who was great in every way, but would invariably forget the yeast in the dough at the most inopportune times. And yes the equipment failures, utility interruptions, Presidential visits if you are in close proximity and no there was no compensation for for such requested closings.
Anyway try this. Make my dough as per usual with no modification. Cut into three portions weighing 16.6 ounces each and roll the dough into balls and dredge in flour. Place one in a bowl coated in olive oil and leave it in a warm spot to raise until doubled. Place another in the cooler as per usual. Then place the third one in a plastic bag ( I like the produce bag from buying veggies at the store) and put in the freezer.
Now turn on your oven and heat your brick for pizza tonight. Now take the warm dough from the bowl and handling gently to preserve the raise as much as possible place the dough in a pile of bench flour. The pat and press from the center out but not where you want the outer crust to raise and form your pizza.
Careful as this dough will be very soft and easy to open as it will stretch under its own weight when lifted to your fist. Dress as you will and try this pizza.
Wait while the second dough ball cold proofs. Then make your regular pizza as like. Eat compare the crust difference and enjoy.
As the doughball in the freezer is not as time sensitive you can take a break for a day or two or not, its up to you.
The day before use you may slow thaw it in the cooler over night or the day of warm thaw on the counter. The cooler works better as the yeast wakes more evenly. Make a pie compare and enjoy. Please take note of the ability of this universal dough formula to withstand most any production conditions. This is not a happenstance and I did this with intent. Try it and see.
When testing I recommend cheese pizza as the best test.
