When to add yeast

[petesopizza]

All of my best dough's have come out when I add the yeast after the flour water and kosher salt have been mixed. Also always better to let it sit 24-48 hours

[Pete-zza]

petesopizza,

Can you tell us what form of yeast you use, how you prepare it to add to the rest of the ingredients, and what the differences are that you noted in the final results?

Peter

[petesopizza]

I always used ADY. As soon as I get the parts for the mixer I picked up I will be back in the saddle as far as dough experimentation goes. It has been a few years and I am just getting back in the game. I have always wanted a pizza place but right now I am managing a Chili's bar and grill. I think in about 1-2 years I will finally have my own place by the name of "Petes O' Pizza" Which my wife hates, but like I said though as soon as I find the parts I will be able to elaborate on my recipes.

Pete

[Pete-zza]

petesopizza,

The reason I asked the specific questions I did is because I once tried putting ADY into the dough as the last step. I did it to delay the fermentation. I knew that ADY was supposed to be rehydrated in a bit of warm water but I put it in dry just to see what would happen. When the dough was done, I could see specks in the dough. The dough did not perform well at all from that point forward.

Peter

[petesopizza]

did you let it sit for 24 hours and then proof it to 60+?

[Pete-zza]

In my case, after seeing the specks in the dough I decided to let the dough ferment at a warm room temperature for about 6-7 hours, which should have been enough time for the dough to show signs of life. During that time, the dough hardly budged. Rather than put the dough in the refrigerator at that time, I just shaped, dressed and baked the pizza. The crust was flat, and almost cracker-like.

Peter

[petesopizza]

try it again but put in right into the fridge for 24-48 hours then proof it.

By the way Pete-zza nice work on the dough experimentation!!! Your the man!!!

[Pete-zza]

petesopizza,

Thank you for the compliment.

The idea of adding ADY last in dry form was not an original thought. One of our accomplished members, giotto, first put forth the idea as a way of delaying fermentation. He felt that instant dry yeast (IDY) worked too fast for his purposes. We had several exchanges on the forum on this topic, an example of which is this one: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,937.msg16949.html#msg16949 (Reply 58). Ultimately I believe that giotto came to the conclusion that hydrating the ADY was the safer way to go.

If you look at the instructions on ADY yeast packets, such as from SAF, for example, you will see instructions that say to add the ADY to half of the flour and the rest of the dry ingredients. However the instructions go on to say to then add liquids, at 120-130 degrees F to the flour mixture. Otherwise, the instructions say to hydrate the ADY in water at 110-115 degrees F. I'm sure that SAF wants users of its ADY to succeed, especially since most complaints from consumers are over yeast and temperature.

The above notwithstanding, I will repeat the experiment sometime using dry ADY added last, and allow for a long cold fermentation.

Peter