Pizza Today - September 2020 - 22

Tony Cerimele of New Columbus
Pizza in Pennsylvania recently started
incorporating a sourdough starter into
his mix of already diverse doughs. While
he still uses a direct method with yeast
for his famed New Forge Style pie that
his family has been making and selling
since the 1950s, he is exploring using a
natural starter for his other styles.
"What the pandemic has made us do
is learn to become efficient with a natural starter," he says. "I always wanted to
learn how to use and maintain one, so
there is no better time than now. I am
sure we will not run out of yeast. But,
just in case, we will be prepared."
What method you use depends
on what you're trying to achieve in
your final product. Meyer tends to
lean towards using a poolish because she
likes the acidic content and flavor that
comes with it. "I like the starter method
because you make it the night before and
then mix it into your dough ... and then,

voila! With the direct method there's a
own dough process and revisit techlittle bit more work on the pizza maker's
niques that I forgot about in the daily
part," she says. By taking this simple
grind of my restaurant.
extra step your dough has layers of added
Cerimele echoes my feelings. He has
complexity in both flavor and texture.
also evolved his dough process from
You can also manipulate a direct dough
when he started: "(It used to be) everyinto getting these qualities by giving it a
thing in at one time when the mixer was
longer bulk ferment.
turned on," he says. "Now we start with a
I've found over the years that my pro30-minute autolyse, and the ingredients
cess of dough making is what affects the
are all timed for best hydration and temfinal product the most. When I switched peratures. I feel that really improved the
from using a poolish to a sourdough
quality of the dough."
starter, my overall recipe didn't change
I guess what I'm trying to say is that,
very drastically. What changed was how
no matter what method you use, your
I manipulated the process. Instead of
dough can be improved by small tweaks
giving it a short bench rest of only 30
in the process without changing the
minutes, we now do a five-hour bulk rise. recipe. Even if you don't want to use a
We also do an autolyse, which is basical- sourdough starter or poolish, you never
ly letting the dough rest after combing
know what you're going to learn from
the flour and water. This strengthens the
just exploring something new. n
dough, gives it elasticity and forms the
gluten structure. These changes are not
exclusive to using a sourdough starter.
AUDREY KELLY is the owner and
pizzaiola at Audrey Jane's Pizza Garage
But making this change forced me to
become more knowledgeable about my
in Boulder, CO.

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Pizza Today - September 2020

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