Does anyone know what effect, if any, substituting chicken stock for water might have on a pizza dough? I plan on mixing the dough with a stand mixer and then kneading it by hand for around 10 minutes or so. Afterwards, 3 days in the refrigerator to ferment. If it works out I am really curious to see what a fish stock would create, maybe the ultimate anchovy pizza?
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Is this a homemade chicken stock? Store-bought? From a reduction or a powder? Have you used this recipe successfully (without the substitution) in the past?– WolfgangAug 15, 2017 at 16:44
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8"Stock" + "ferment for three days" sets off some alarm bells for me, health/safety-wise, and I'm someone who thinks people on this site tend towards the hysterical (just a bit) when it comes to food safety. Broth/stock is actually a medium labs have (maybe they still do) used for growing bacteria cultures, because it's very friendly in that regard.– PoloHoleSetAug 15, 2017 at 16:53
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1@PoloHoleSet : I agree. There's a chance that as they're adding strong yeast cultures, that those would crowd out anything else ... but I've been known to do some questionable things food-safety wise (for myself, not others), and the only way that I'd ever risk this would be to take make a control batch and compare the two side-by-side both before and after baking.– JoeAug 15, 2017 at 17:22
2 Answers
I have experimented with both chicken and beef stock (homemade) in bread, as a substitute for water. I would not call the results a 'failure', good loaves of bread did result, but I could not say they were any 'better' (or even different) than if I had not used the stock. The 'expected' flavor did not come through, though I did see a slight discoloration.
There are others who seem to concur with this: http://101sweetpastry.com/french-bread-boule/ While others still report mixed results: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17864/use-broth-dough And still more who will swear by it: https://juditbakes.com/2014/07/25/chicken-stock-bread/
With worst thing that could happen being nothing special, I'll echo the sentiments from that second link:
I know some people hate to risk even the possibility of wasting food, but, face it, the cost of the ingredients for a loaf of bread is minimal. And if you enjoy a good experiment, there is never a waste of labor involved even if things go wrong.
With that in mind I will say the three day 'ferment' does give me pause for concern. I would personally start with something that offers a faster rise, but that all depends on how much 'risk' your willing to take. If your fridge is hovering at around 34°F (2°C) the risk should be minimal.
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I experiment a lot. Some experiments I don't repeat. Very few result in "so bad I had to throw it out" but perhaps I'm tolerant of non-stellar results, so long as I make note not to repeat them.– EcnerwalAug 16, 2017 at 13:45
Whey water from a batch of mozzarella or ricotta would be a better bet....but a fish stock for seafood pizza...I'm inclined to think that the bread should be just that, a good tasting bread to compliment the seafood & sauce. Good luck anyway! :)