Forty-eight hours cold, and what it cost me

I extended the cold proof from 24 hours to 48 and changed nothing else. The crumb opened the way I hoped. The flavour went somewhere I did not expect.

Formula — trial 14

Flour	Caputo Pizzeria · W 270 · 12.5% protein
Hydration	62%
Salt	2.8% of flour
Yeast	0.12%
Bulk	4 h @ 22 °C
Cold proof	48 h @ 4 °C
Ball weight	250 g
Oven	470 °C deck · 490 °C dome
Bake	90 s

What the extra day did

Fermentation slows almost to a stop at 4 °C while the enzymes keep working. That is where flavour is supposed to be built — not by the yeast, which is nearly dormant, but by the slow breakdown of starch and protein into things that taste of something.

The structure did exactly what the literature says it should. Cell size up noticeably against trial 13, walls visibly thinner, and the rim took the heat without collapsing. What I did not expect was the flavour going flatter rather than deeper — less of the sweetness I get at 24 hours, and a faint sourness that was not there before.

Schedule — 56.3 h total

Mix20 min

Bulk4 h @ 22 °C

Ball1 h

Cold proof48 h @ 4 °C

Temper3 h @ 20 °C

Widths proportional to duration.

The schedule makes the shape of it obvious: almost the entire process is waiting, and the part I actually control is a minute and a half at the end.

Baker's percentages

Flour 100%Water 62%Salt 2.8%Yeast 0.12%

Where it went wrong

Next: hold 48 h and drop yeast to 0.09% to see whether the flavour loss tracks fermentation extent or simply elapsed time. If it is elapsed time, the answer is that 24 hours was right all along and I have been chasing crumb structure at the cost of taste.

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