Slow Ferm. Dough

[scottz]

Hi Guys,
I just arrived back from a family trip to Bali, and while we were there, we checked out a Italian Resturant called Massimo Ristorante. They have a huge Wood oven, and my kids were keen on having pizza, so of course...I had to try. The pizza was amazing!! Luckly enough, the Head Chef likes to walk around and talk to the punters...so I grabbed him and asked about his dough recipe. What he told me is instead of using the 7g yeast for each kg of flour, he uses 1 g per kg of flour and cold ferms. it for 48 hours. The dough was really crisp and chewing, just really bloody good!

Has anyone else used this type of process, and how did you go with it. Do you fridge it before or after balling up the dough??

Cheers

Scott

[texassourdough]

At 48 hours your dough will tend to lack structure so balling can be after retarding. The only exception MIGHT be really high gluten flours. The others should be well broken down and "relaxed".

The answer can depend a bit on hydration but...the enzymes should have done their job and it won't matter much but will almost certainly be better to ball later - but you will know after you try it!
Jay

[Tscarborough]

I usually do an hour to 4 hour warm ferment, then ball and continue the cold ferment. The dough is good out to at least nine days, but I normally shoot for 2 days.