old dough to new batch

what % of old dough can you add to the new batch.
I remeber Tom Lehmann telling me it was 15%
my question is, is it 15% of the finshed dough or the flour weight ?

I am guessing finished dough, ie, total finished dough can have up to 15% or 4.5 pounds can be old dough.

does anybody do this regularly ?

Otis

why bother…how much are you saving with 5 lbs of dough?

I understand to reduce spoilage but is the cost benefit worth tainting your new product with old

Otis;
You can safely add up to 15% of the dough weight as scrap dough without any adverse affects. The dough isn’t spoiled, it is just getting a little on the old side, or it will be by the time you will be using it later on. So this is just a matter of simple economics. If the dough has truly spoiled, (sour taste, funky aroma, stringy texture) don’t try to salvage it, just toss it. If there is still some life in the dough there is no harm in trying to salvage some of it. In large, wholesale production facilities, the scrap may be as high as 45 to 60% of the dough weight and we still use it, but, and this a a BIG but, we carefully manage the scrap with regard to age and temperature so as to maintain it in relatively good condition, thus allowing it to be added back to fresh dough at these high levels.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

Thanks Tom, not spoiled just getting too old by the next day when I would use it…
I am making 26 pound batches, so I can safely add back in up to 4 pounds of old dough…
better yet, I wish had a need for croutons or bread sticks, but I am strictly pizza and that is the best place for it…
I have been re-using a little at a time, just wanted to know the reasonable limit…
If anything, I would think it may make the new batch a little more mellow…all the variety we get !
Otis