Why did my dough turn out tasting sour??

[DeBiase]

I'm newer at this folks so bear with me.  I made a batch of dough a few days ago using "00" flour (was making a Neapolitan dough recipe i read on this site)  I recently purchased the Ischia culture and this was my first time using it.  After going through the process of activating the culture I decided to make some dough.  I bulk fermented my dough for about 30 hours at 65 degrees before making my dough balls.  Once in balls they sat in containers for about 10 hours at 75 degrees.  I made two pizzas - both turned out fine but tasted sour - the sourness definitely came from the crust/dough.  Not what I was expecting.  What went wrong??  It tasted like I was eating a sourdough pizza.

Thanks!

Guy

[The Dough Doctor]

It might be that you have just over fermented the culture, or that you have some form of a lactic acid producing bacteria present that is giving you the very sour/acid taste where as a different lactic acid producing bacteria strain might give a totally different flavor profile. This is one of the things that can happen with these natural ferments, it is also what makes working with them so much fun and so rewarding at the same time. If it isn't over fermented, and if you are not using too much, you might need to start over again and hope for better luck the next time. One other thing, are you sure you used the correct amount of inoculant when starting your culture? If you don't use enough to inoculate with, you may not get enough of the desired bacteria and yeasts to propigate the microflora in the culture, and hence you run the risk of ending up with something totally different.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[dellavecchia]

What went wrong??  It tasted like I was eating a sourdough pizza.

Because that is what you made! Sourdough by definition is a dough made with natural yeast, so you definitely had a sourdough pizza. 40+ hours at room temp (between 65-75) would necessitate a very low amount of starter - maybe less than 2% water weight. It seems that you are trying to emulate TXCraigs recipe, correct? If you have never had a long ferment sourdough pizza, you might notice the sourness come through. As well, I have found that Ischia has a more pronounced sourness that other cultures, such as Camaldoli. I would actually do a 24 hour ferment total. See if you like that mellower level of sourness. You will still get a complexly flavored dough.

John

[DeBiase]

Tom - thanks.  I'll go back to the drawing board on my culture and start over to see if I have different results.  It is possible that the culture is over fermented.  I don't know for certain.  I'm just learning.


John - thanks as well.  You are correct; I only used 1.7% of starter and it was my attempt at TXCraigs recipe.  I have never tried the long ferment process before so it was a first.  I noticed a lot of sourness and that was not what I was shooting for.  I also have the Camaldoli culture but have not activated it yet.  I'm going to try again with your recommended 24 hour total ferment with the Ischia.  I'm also going to try a batch with the Camaldoli to taste the difference.

Thanks again!

Guy

[dellavecchia]

I also have the Camaldoli culture but have not activated it yet.  I'm going to try again with your recommended 24 hour total ferment with the Ischia.  I'm also going to try a batch with the Camaldoli to taste the difference.

Guy - You are welcome. You may need to up the starter to 3 or 4% of water depending on the temp to get a fully developed dough.

John

[DeBiase]

I will do that.  One thing I did notice with the long ferment - my dough balls went crazy.  Darn near popped the top off my containers they were in.  They easily quadrupled.  I had not experienced that before with other methods. 

Can you clarify 3 - 4% of water.  I was basing my percentages against the flour being 100%. 

[Bill/SFNM]

It may take a few weeks or months for a newly activated culture to stabilize. Expect unpredictable results while the different organisms in the soup work out an equilibrium.

[c0mpl3x]

I will do that.  One thing I did notice with the long ferment - my dough balls went crazy.  Darn near popped the top off my containers they were in.  They easily quadrupled.  I had not experienced that before with other methods. 

Can you clarify 3 - 4% of water.  I was basing my percentages against the flour being 100%. 

if you are using 100g of flour, and 62g of water, he is saying you want 3-4% of the weight of starter, based from the water percentage.  it's 1.86-2.48% by flour.

[dellavecchia]

I apologize, I thought Craig was using percentage of water weight (that is what I use). But you should raise the percentage for a shorter ferment.

John

[DeBiase]

Thank you to all.  I will take all of your advice and play around with my next few batches to find out what does the trick.  Just hoping to get rid of the prominante sourness in my dough/crust.  Thanks again!

Guy