cold fermented poolish, and feeding it
Greetings
I love baking pizzas. I find that 2 or 3-day cold fermenting of the dough gives excellent taste (I'm using IDY). But sometimes I get a shortage of time and fridge space, so I began to think of using a poolish. However, where I live, it seems that there are some harmful bacteria lurking around in the air, so long room temp fermenting with little yeast is a bad option for me, as it allows the bad stuff to work its way in. That is why I prefer cold fermenting, as it seems that cold temp is not suitable for harmful bacteria.
So my question is: can poolish be made by cold fermenting? and if I adjust the yeast amount so that it is ready in 2 days, would it develop that light sour tangy taste I'm used to when cold fermenting the dough for 2 days?
And if so, will it transform that tangy taste to the final dough?
And one last question: is it possible to feed cold fermented poolish, the way you do with sourdough? I mean, for example using half the amount of poolish, then add an equivalent amount of flour and water mix to the other half and keep in the fridge for the next dough? Can that technique be used as a continuous source of poolish on a daily basis?
Yes to all of the above. The refrigeration only slowdown the fermentation process.
Their is no such thing as bad bacteria. Not sure exactly what you are refering too but their is an actual technique that use the " Bad| bacteria to make bread. You can google it, it's called " salt rising bread"
In any case it does not really matter. If you prefer to use the fridge, go for it. You will need to experiment on the amount of yeast that you will need to " peak" at your desired time.
Usually a 40F Frige will have a sourdough peak in 18 hours as oppose to 6 hours at room temperature. I am not sure what kind of time frame you will have to have to peak when you want, but you definately can do it
Hope that helps
Thanks Dan for your kind help.
How can you tell when it reaches its peak?
I've mixed 420g white flour with 480g water and 1/4t IDY. Now after 84 hours (3 days and a half) it didn't rise, though there are tiny bubbles here and there on the surface. It smells nice but no strong yeast smell nor sour smell, perhaps a bit like fresh, pre-mature yogurt smell. Should I wait longer until it doubles in height? or can I use now and feed, hoping for better results as feeds are repeated over time?
As a rule of thumb, if it does not look right, it's because it's not right.
You need to weight your IDY as well. You cannot go by Teaspoon or Tablespoon. For example you would need about 1% of your overall flour weight in yeast in room temperature environment but if you are going to retard for 3 days, two thing has to happen, You will need to increase you yeast to maybe 1.5% or even 2% and you will also need reduce you water to 100% hydration in order to see a bunch of tiny little bubble at the surface like if you were trying to blow saliva out of your mouth.... Tiny tiny little bubles .If you are at a higher hydration( like you are now at 114%), the bubles are so small that it's difficult to see of they burst before making it to the surface.
Let me know if that make sense or not
Dan
It has those tiny bubbles you mentioned, Dan. I was just wondering if that was all there is to it? or should there also be a rise in volume? perhaps there is no rise because its hydration is too high compared to usual dough?
Any other signs of a peak or mature starter I should look for in a 114% hydration poolish?
I've just taken the first batch to make a pizza dough. When I fed the starter, I re-adjusted the hydration so now its 125% - I also used dairy whey instead of water when I fed it, in addition to using the whey also in the final dough. I've read that whey enhances the characteristics of the pizza crust: better taste, better water absorption and darker coloration.
I'm using a tiny bit of IDY in purpose, as I want to give the other enzymes (lactic acid and such) to develop before the yeast gets too strong. I'm also hoping, by the addition of dairy whey from yogurt, to boost the development of those delicious enzymes.
I think, as I keep using some of the starter and feeding the rest, IDY would eventually recede to almost zero existence, leaving only acids, like a sourdough perhaps?