DR Lehman bulk fermentation versus single fermentation

[Tom_Lehmann]

Yep, mixing just the flour and water together and letting it set for 45 minutes is just a waste of time. If you were to add yeast to the mix, then you would get some fermentation going on, and that would serve some useful purpose, however, 45 jminutes of fermentation time really isn’t enough to make a decent pizza crust. The overall, best flavor development comes from long, slow, fermentation, like the dough receives in the cooler over a 12 to 48 hour period of time.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

 

[pizzanerd]

I believe what dewar may have in mind is using an autolyse. If so, you don’t want to incorporate the yeast if it will start to work before the end of the autolyse–which it will for a 45 minute autolyse. The reason for omitting the yeast during the period of the autolyse is to prevent acidification of the dough. The typical practice with autolyse is to add the yeast, and also the salt, after the autolyse period. From that point forward, the dough can be subjected to fermentation just like any other dough. It may well be that using an autolyse in a commercial application may not be worth the effort, or possibly be impractical, but some artisan pizza operators are testing out the concept of autolyse for pizza dough.

 

[Tom_Lehmann]

For the life of me, I can’t see where the advantage is though. It can’t be for flour hydration since normal hydration times run at about 1.5 to 2-minutes, and a long hydration is considered to be in the 3-minute range, all well within the normal dough mixing time of a pizza dough when a spiral or planetary mixer is used. There is no flavor advantage, and it surely makes attaining the targeted finished dough temperature a bit more of a challange. I’ve sat in on some of the artisan bread lectures, and I can attest to the fact that what is taught is a mix of science, art, and home-spun tales of science and daring (not all factual). That’s just the way it is, and I’ve come to accept it as such.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor