Pizza Development

Pause here. We need to talk. Well, it’s about pizza.

The pizza dough recipe is simple. It is flour, yeast, water, and salt. But there is one secret ingredient — time.

While the dough is proofing, two processes happen simultaneously: fermentation and maturation.

Fermentation is an increase in the volume of the dough (given by yeast which fermenting produces carbon dioxide trapped in the gluten structure). Fermentation is responsible for the pizza’s texture, ideally both soft and crunchy.

Maturation corresponds to a set of processes when the more complex structures (fatty starches and proteins) are broken down into simpler elements. Maturation creates the taste and the nice color of the pizza.

Fermentation is happening super fast. Maturation is slow, and it can’t be rushed. If the dough rises too quickly, it will be overdeveloped: airy, bubbly, and burn out. If the development is too slow, your pizza will end up flat, dense, and chewy.

The key to success is simple. You have to pace the development so it will match the maturation. Well, are you a tasty pizza?