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I noticed recently that the link to the Think Tank archives is no longer there. It had not been working for some time. I hope that this does not mean that the archives will no longer be supported. I was weaned on the information contained in the archives, including the wonderful information...

MWTC, Can you clarify a bit further which aspects of the starter activation you would like me to address? There are many aspects of starters that can affect the dough in which it is used, including the species of starter, its temperature before and at the time of incorporation into the dough...

lilian, There are three Caputo 00 flours available in the U.S. at the moment, but the most popular one, the Caputo 00 Pizzeria flour, has a protein content of 11.5-12.5%, which is perhaps most similar to our all-purpose flour. It is a very finely milled unbleached flour with no malting (it has...

MWTC: MWTC, It’s up to you, but 2 T. of honey in relation to 800 grams of flour comes to about 5.3%. Honey is sweeter than sucrose so you may end up with a sweeter crust than you would like. However, it should help with the browning.

MWTC: MWTC, Yes, as to both questions. I don’t work with “natural” poolish or sponge, so I am learning along with you as much as one can sitting behind a keyboard and not actually seeing what you are doing. You are my seeing eye dog 😃 .

MWTC, I was trying to rule out as many causes as possible. At this point, let’s wait to see what you get with your latest dough batch. Another possibility that occurs to me based on your latest comments is that the change in the feel of the dough may have been because of the greater softening...

MWTC, You know, you aren’t helping me convince lilian that she really doesn’t need to add commercial yeast to her naturally-leavened dough to get decent oven spring 🙂 . Seriously though, if all you changed was the ferment time of the roughly 63%...

lilian: lilian, It would be helpful to have an idea as to what you consider to be an adequate oven spring that you feel that you have to use commercial yeast to achieve it. As I am sure you know, there are other factors besides residual yeast in the dough at the time a pizza is baked that are...

MWTC, Unfortunately, I can’t help you with this one. If you research the subject of natural starters/prefements, you will find a lot of conflicting information, even among the experts. Much of what you will find is by individuals with little or no formal education on the subject, and based on...

lilian, I have used both the Ischia and Camaldoli starters for pizza dough (for several different pizza styles, not just Neapolitan) and I can tell you that the crusts are mild tasting. I can’t speak for sourdo but I suppose it’s possible that they wanted to...

lilian: lilian, As you can see from this link, http://www.sourdo.com (click on Our Sourdough Cultures), there are quite a few different strains of starters that can be used for bread baking and for other applications, including pizza dough for certain yeast strains. It is also possible to make...

See http://www.pizzafusion.com/.

See this thread: http://www.pmq.com/tt/viewtopic.php?p=2027#2027.

lilian, In my experience, the differences are positive and very noticeable–usually with the first bite of the pizza crust and I don’t have particularly sensitive tastebuds or nose (which contribute in about equal measure to defining the sensation of taste). Remember, there are literally...

MWTC, I’m glad to see that you are making real progress in achieving your objectives as you originally stated them when you started this thread. At some point, you might want to shorten one or both of the two phases of your preferment development. That might help avoid having to use diastatic...

MWTC: MWTC, The amount that is sometimes recommended is 0.5-1% of the total flour. Since you added honey to your dough, you may be OK. Yeast likes honey.

MWTC, Ah. Now I see what you are doing and saying. I have never seen anyone use a two-stage preferment process like you described. Can you tell me your logic for using that method? As for what to call your preferment, based on your numbers, what you end up with at the end of the two-stage...

MWTC, You are confusing the “final dough” with the “preferment”. In your case, you said earlier that your latest dough formulation uses a flour/water/starter culture mix of 120 grams, of which 60 grams is flour and 60 grams is water (of course, there is wild yeast in the mix also). That is your...

MWTC, Have you switched from a natural poolish to a natural biga, or are you still using the poolish preferment but have misnamed it? There are quite a few people who use both a natural starter/preferment and commercial yeast. Even artisan bakers do it. Home pizza makers usually do it to get...

MWTC, A biga is a preferment that is made up of flour, water and yeast. The final dough into which that preferment is incorporated is called just “dough”, or “final dough”. It doesn’t have a fancy name that I am aware of. I refer to the basic dough formulation itself as the “Total Formula”...