hi
made a few SD loaves now, happy enough with how theyre coming out for a novice, and also thought id utilise the starter for making my own pizza, rather than yeast.
again, happy-ish, got a few issues that ive asked about on the pizza forum, but as this is a question about using the starter specifically, im asking this one on here......
now when i feed the starter for the loaves, i believe theres a 'sweet spot' for the starter to be used, maybe when its bubbled up as high as its going to go, and just about to reduce again, something like that? depending on when you use it, depends on how your crumb will turn out i believe? and if you just used a starter from a few days ago thats 'flat', then the loaf would probably be inferior with little rise?
now with pizza, we're not after a rise, or any performance at all with the dough really, so my question is, does it matter whether the starters the same as with a loaf? with a loaf you mix the dough, knead it, rest it a couple of hours, shape, then prove for a few hours. pizza, you mix the dough, knead, rest it a couple of hours then make pizza, no prove as such?
so.....yes ill still feed my starter every now and then, but is it important to use it at a particular moment in its 'cycle' for pizza, or can i get away with using it 2 or 3 days old if im not about to bake any bread?
thanks
Timing is always a factor. As with a loaf, you need to determine what you are trying to achieve. I tend to use starter that is past it's peak for pizza. I also use more starter and give it less time. This gives a great taste without creating a huge rise in the dough.
I'm not sure why you would think that you are not after any rise or performance out of pizza dough (?!).
In my experience, proper fermentation (which time is a critical component of) makes all the difference, just like making a loaf of SD bread.
To demonstrate the effects, do an experiment using starter at different levels of ripeness, and the same schedule otherwise.
OTOH - while there is a "sweet spot" for using a starter, the spot, or window, isn't super small, so you do have some latitude (and the initial collapse of a mature starter doesn't necessarily equal dead yeast and LAB, just that they have stopped producing gas at the previously high rate with conditions were ideal and they were metabolizing at their capacity).
i suppose what i was trying to say (badly :-)) is that you dont make sourdough pizza by waiting a few hours to prove, prodding it until its the 'right time' to bake, i assume you miss that part out of pizzas, as you can make the pizza almost as soon as your '2 hr fermentation' is up. hence no 'performance' to speak of. yes i really did word that badly didnt i :D
i think i need to read up on making SD pizzas then, as i dont really know what im doing, just following instructions :-)
thank you
often and I find it is best to make and scale the dough one day before you want to bake. I make the dough and then scale it and let it mature for 24 hours in the fridge, we have left it for 48 hours before with good results. When I make the pizza I take it out of the fridge about an hour before we are ready to make the pizza. Usually works out that taking it out when preparing the toppings works for us. We like to fry mushrooms with shallots as one of the toppings and sometimes we put sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil on a sheet pan it the oven on low heat (250ºF) for 20 minutes to half hour. Buy fresh sweet peppers, fresh hot peppers, fresh garlic and sometimes some left over veggies like a stir fry. One thing to remember is not to overload the pizza with toppings, less is truly more.
Gerhard