SD emergency pizza?

[Jersey Pie Boy]

I kinda figured those don't have representation here, but why not?   So since boys like to play, it figures a Pie Boy would play with pies. Hence:


Decided at midnight last night/early AM today it would be good to have an SD pie tonight..ore more to the  point see if I could make one...I need more pie to eat? Hahah, had just finished pizza for  dinner (see review in Reviews...Liberty Hall)


I didn't have time to refresh a starter so if one was ready I'd use that...There was one container in the fridge that had been refreshed about two days earlier..seemed to still have some life, but I didn't bother with a float test..if it worked I'd know it.


Starter at 5 percent of total flour mixed with 20 percent of total flour at 100%  hydration. Put container in pretty warm garage to move things along..probably 78-80 in there..A guess, but earlier in the week, I measured a much hotter day at 86F. After 4 hours there was some action but not quite enough..I wanted this to fly along..It's an emergency, right? Popped the container into dough proofing boxc=x at 90F..that did the trick. In a couple of hours it was ready to mix. 75% GM 00, 25% All Trumps, 65 HR , 2.7 salt. Hand mixed and a few stretch folds. Balled and into containers to RT 69 for about 4 hrs. Then into fridge to hold until 3 hours before bake. Counter rest at 66F until opening.


Baked Blackstone 740 or so with turndown, total bake 4 min 20 secs. Just bits an pieces of leftovers for toppings and sauce..


So about 6 hrs making levain by pushing temps. Mix and RT ferment 5 hours, hold fridge for 5 hours, counter for 3 hrs...About 18 from start of levain to bake time.


How was it? Not bad..flavor and texture not competitive with a longer doughs, not dense really, but not nearly as airy and open. Worth doing in a pinch?


To me, nope...super fast IDY dough with LDM is a better quick option but its so subjective. To each his own...


But I had fun playing

[Heikjo]

If I were to make an emergency dough and knew the night before, I would feed the starter before going to bed so it's ready in the morning. From there it's a matter of time and temperature how fast the final dough will ferment. I would like to mess around with it as little as possible and leave it at the same temperature and spot until baking. Maybe I'd just use RT rather than my wine cooler to speed things up without having to use too much starter. My apartment is usually 22-25C. If I made this kind of dough often, I would eventually figure out how much starter is ideal. If RT temps fluctuate a lot, a proofing box is very useful. Maybe also put it in the fridge a short while just before baking to cool it down and make it easier to handle.

Same day is possible too, but then you are even more pressed on time. Then I would feed the starter at a higher inoculation to get it ready in 3-4 hours (and feed it with water that is slightly warmed up, not straight from tap), maybe try keeping it in a hot spot, and then something of the same procedure with the dough.

[Jersey Pie Boy]

I'm sure you're making a point.


What would it be?

[deb415611]

looks very good

[Jersey Pie Boy]

Thanks Deb ...actually I like it better as a reheat with some Calabrian chili oil just now this morning. Guess it got its additional fermentation time after it was baked   

[Jersey Pie Boy]

I've had second thoughts...if I wanted SD pie in a hurry, this would be fine..not wonderful but still good pizza

[Heikjo]

I'm sure you're making a point.

What would it be?

Not more than a few thoughts on how I'd approach an emergency SD dough. Your pie looks pretty good.

I've had second thoughts...if I wanted SD pie in a hurry, this would be fine..not wonderful but still good pizza  

As long as you get the fermentation right, you can certainly make good pizza, as you've demonstrated. I guess the next question would be how the SD affects the taste of the dough compared to one made with yeast. Many make SD pies with long fermentation times because it enhances the flavor, but how noticeable is it in a pie that's only gotten some hours fermentation? Enough that it's worth using a starter?

If you start on even ground to compare yeast and SD, let's say you wake up at 7AM a Saturday morning and want pizza at 8PM. You got IDY and starter in the fridge. The IDY you can mix straight into a dough and let it ferment up to 12 hours, even pop it in the fridge. For the SD, unless you got a starter that's already been feed and approached peak before being fridged, needs to be fed first. With a high inoculation and temperature you can probably get it ready in 2-4 hours. That leaves 10-8 hours of fermentation, which is certainly enough to make a good pie.

One advantage with the yeast approach is that you can do it in one step, whereas a starter might have to be fed.

All things considered, you can end up with good pizza either way. I think the most important point is knowing what to do before you have to do it. That you got a recipe and fermentation schedule ready to use if needed.

[The Dough Doctor]

When we used to make emergency sourdough pizzas we used to double up on the amount of starter used and then spiked the dough with 1% compressed yeast or the equivalent of IDY or ADY, adjust the water temperature to give a finished dough temperature in the 85 to 90F range and we had a true "emergency dough" that went from mixer to oven in about 2 to 2.5-hours. This was developed for stores that might be working with a sourdough starter and needed dough in a hurry for whatever reason.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[Jersey Pie Boy]

Thanks Tom,,yes that's really fast. With the extra yeast, those must have really taken off!


Heikjo, you make very good points...having a plan is key. I have a working plan for fast  IDY doughs, and I had a clear idea where I needed to go with this pie. The only part I was winging was that the starter wasn't  fed, and I wanted to really rush the levain. When even the too-toasty temperatures of the garage overnight weren't enough to get the results I wanted ,  I knew the proofer would take me there. From mix onward, the key was not to have the dough ferment too soon , since at 20% SD, RT was too risky.


Thanks for your note

[timgiuffi]

Bill, the way you fed your emergency levain sounds like the way I normally feed mine. I take some straight from the fridge and feed it with equal parts flour and water. It's ready to go in 4 hours at most.

I've never made an emergency pizza dough but a couple of weeks ago I made an emergency loaf of bread. I used 40% starter straight from the fridge, bulk 2 hours, proof 1. It probably needed a little more time but it was good.

[Jersey Pie Boy]

Thanks Tim...I guess I  pretty much usually make my levain this way too...but for pizza, most often I just use a very small amount of it...2-5% and do longer fermentation. When I've used 20% starter like this, I try to ferment in the low 60's to stretch the timing out, this time I was in high 60's and it flew by.


It's all so relative. It has good texture and  flavor, but not compared to longer doughs. If I hadn't done 24-48 hr RT fermentation before, I wouldn't know what I was missing.


I have. I do,   

[Jersey Pie Boy]

I forgot to note that with I had just enough smoked beef left from the dinner at Liberty Hall Pizza ( see Reviews) from the night before, to reheat and add some to a slice from this bake. Pretty tasty      Below mine, a shot from the original Liberty Hall pie, seen earlier in Reviews. Wish I had some leftover Horseradish Cream sauce..that was great!

[norcoscia]

Looks great - the best HR cream sauce I ever had is easy to make - heavy cream, some salt fresh HR -- spin it with a emersion stick blender just until fluffy - don't mix too long or you will make HR butter - great with steaks too....

[Jersey Pie Boy]

Thanks Norm

[andytiedye]

I guess most of mine would qualify as "emergency" in that I rarely make the actual dough the day before.  We do keep our sourdough active and at room temperature all the time, feeding it 1-3 times a day, and I use a lot of starter in the dough.

Getting it to rise usually isn't a problem: