Pineapple juice & amounts of yeast

[Mmeewes]

Hey guy I actually have two questions, unrelated but both important.

My first question has to do with peters recipe for starting a "mother sponge" for sourdough in his book, American Pie. He suggests using pineapple juice in the first stage. My question is, will the juice from say a can of chopped pineapples work or do I need to go buy a can of jumex or something similar?

My second question, not pertaining to sourdough, has to do with cold fermentation and the amount of commercial yeast used. I was watching a tv program where a gentleman was being interviewed as he made his Dough for his restaurant. Very quickly he mentioned something to the effect that because he was going to allow his dough to cold ferment for two whole days before use that he uses less yeast. Does this sound like an accurate rule? And if so, by which ration of day to yeast should I follow?

Thanks guys

[texassourdough]

Re: Pineapple juice & amounts of yeast

The advantage of using pineapple juice is simply that the acid prevents the bad stuff from dominating for the first few days. It really doesn't change anything. It still takes about the same amount of time for the good guys to get going. You can use water, unsweetened pineapple juice from a can of crushed pineapple, whatever. Best NOT to have sweetened juice for that invites problems (high sugar content slows yeast...)

Yeast should be about .5 to 2 percent of flour weight for most yeasted doughs. For a two day retard you might need to go as low as .1% or so depending on your formula and practices. There are lots of variables. And yes, the longer you retard, in general, the less yeast you need for while retarding slows fermentation it does not stop it. Also note that the enzymes are breaking your starch and protein matrix down during the retard. Two days is really about as far as you want to go (by choice, IMO. There are those on this site who go longer but...I don't recommend it as a general practice).

good luck!
Jay