I have always wondered whether batter for dosa, a fermented rice and lentil pancake originating in South India, could be used as a preferment in pizza dough. And, more importantly, would the resulting product be unique in some way?
Turns out, "yes" on all questions. The wild yeast in dosa batter worked as expected in pizza dough. It proofed during bulk fermentation and proofed again at room temperature in the pan. The rice in the dosa batter clearly helped with crust browning, but I might experiment with a slightly higher ratio of dosa batter next time to impart even more of that dosa flavor into the crust.
I mixed the dough and then left it in the refrigerator for two days, then let it rise in a 14in round Lloyd pan for a few hours before baking.
Then I baked at 550F for 10 minutes with the pan on a Baking Steel.
- Costco APF (Central Milling APF) : 228 g
- Dosa batter: 100 g
- Water: 131 g
- Salt: 5.6 g
- Olive oil: 8.3 g
- Instant yeast: 0.2–0.3 g (belt and suspenders in case the dosa batter is only mildly active)
by rajba