Leoparding - The Discussion Continues...

[heliman]

Re: Leoparding - The Discussion Continues...

Greeting Dr Jay!!!

I made a biga earlier on this evening and plan to try out the 48 hr fermentation just to test the theory. What in your view would consume all the sugars the quickest? More/less yeast perhaps?? Longer fermentation??

Interestingly the Da Michele pizzas have lots of leoparding which is what piqued my interest during my visit last year. The pizzas have a whiteish appearance so that spots contrast nicely. Definitely visually appealing in my view.

[texassourdough]

Re: Leoparding - The Discussion Continues...

Hi Rossco!

I think you have the right idea but I am not sure cold fermentation is necessary.

I don't pursue leoparding particularly but when I have it and have seen it, the dark spots are typically associated with relatively large bubbles. Long retards tend to encourage that so...it makes sense. However, overproofing in general should provide similar benefits of sugar depletion (which I would think should not be necessary to get leoparding but would tend to make it look more visually pronounced) and airy/bubbly dough.

I would expect that early balling of the dough would also be favorable to leoparding for it encourages airier dough. And relatively gentle shaping would also be beneficial as would a more extensible dough (and less elastic so easily shaped).

The subtleties of dough are amazing!
Jay

[heliman]

Just thought I would raise this topic again and see if there are any new theories or thoughts on how to create it. Perhaps Peter R can offer some insight here.

So far the most plausible theory seems to be a 48 hr cold fermentation which consumes all the sugar and minimises browning. This process produces air pockets that char at temps around 425 and 480 C and produce the spots.

Comments welcomed...