pft,
The pizza I made yesterday was different from any other I had made. I would say that the biggest difference was the thickness of the crust and, related thereto, the light weight of the crust. The crust on the bottom was also lighter, in color, than my usual efforts. In fact, I didn't notice it until I had removed the pizza from the oven to eat it. Also, the pizza was at the point where the cheeses were starting to brown up a bit more than I prefer so I didn't want to leave the pizza in the oven any longer. I am accustomed to light colored crusts when 00 flours are used but the Caputo 00 has more protein than the other 00 flours I have used and should have had decent browning qualities. As between the Neapolitan and NY style pizzas, I would say that the one I made had characteristics of both. The main part of the crust was more reminiscent of a Neapolitan style pizza (soft, light and chewy but without a leathery character), and the rim was more reminiscent of a NY style pizza--an open and airy crumb but with a crunch. But the key difference was the thinness and lightness of the crust.
The flavor of the crust was also better than crusts I have made from refrigerated doughs. It was not as intensive as the crusts I made recently using the natural Caputo 00 starter, but it was pleasant. It also occurred to me to think about using a natural starter with a DiFara dough clone, but it was only an afterthought since Dom DeMarco doesn't use a starter. I agree that there may be merit to using a starter with a DiFara clone and at some point I may experiment with doing so.
The elasticity of the dough also surprised me since I was using around 65% hydration and room temperature fermentation over a total period of around 15 hours. It's possible that when I reballed the dough after 12 hours I may have retightened the gluten network so that the elasticity returned and the remaining few hours were not enough to allow the gluten to relax again. But the elasticity was only a minor inconvenience that was remedied by just allowing the dough to relax a bit. What was also interesting is that after I had shaped the dough into a 14-inch skin, I'm certain that I could have stretched it even further if my stone could have handled the larger size (or I used a large screen instead). At this point I have no idea what an optimum fermentation period might be. That matter would become somewhat immaterial if I had an idea as to DiFara's dough production cycle. For instance, if Dom started his new dough at 11:00 PM, after the doors close, then that would suggest a roughly 12-hour fermentation period (total). Of course, this might vary somewhat based on the hydration used and the composition of the dough in terms of ratios of flours used. Maybe the amount of salt is a factor. My dough had about 1/4 t., which is far less than usual. In fact, Neapolitan style doughs can have up to 2.8% (by weight of flour)--which is generally considered to be high.
Your request to provide IDY amounts in the recipes posted before is noted. When I find my notes I will calculate the IDY amounts and add the information to the earlier post.
As to your question about the Caputo 00 flour versus the KA00, using the Caputo 00 flour should have increased the total protein level of the blend of flours since the KA00 is rated at 8.5% and the Caputo 00 is rated at 11.5-12.5%. I'd be interested in trying the Bel Aria 00 flour in a DiFara dough clone sometime, only because it is much more widely available than the Caputo 00 and comes in 1 kilo bags (2.2 lbs.) whereas the Caputo is sold only in a 55-lb. bag, as you know. The Caputo 00 flour is quite possibly the best 00 flour available in the U.S., because of its versatility and adaptability to different kinds of dough processing. But Friz has shown that the KA00 can also be used with good results, as well as the KASL, which should substitute nicely for the All Trumps high-gluten flour. As I mentioned before, I used the All Trumps and the Caputo 00 since they seem to be the ones that Dom DeMarco is currently using (if the intelligence we have received on this point is correct).
Peter