Long-Fermentation Pizza Dough: Light, Airy and Easy to Digest

Why does pizza from a good pizzeria taste so different from homemade? Usually it's not the oven – it's time. A long-fermented pizza dough matures for 24 to 72 hours and becomes more flavourful, airier and easier to digest. Here's how it works and how to do it at home.

What happens during long fermentation?

While the dough rests, the yeast and the natural enzymes in the flour are at work. The enzymes break starch down into sugars and proteins into smaller components. That has three advantages:

• More flavour: aromas develop that a fast dough simply doesn't have.
• Better crust: the released sugars give a nice browning during baking.
• Easier to digest: many people find long-fermented pizza lighter, because part of the starch and gluten has already been broken down.

The three methods

1. Cold fermentation in the fridge

The simplest method: the dough is made with very little yeast and matures for 24 to 72 hours at 4 to 6 °C in the fridge. The cold slows the yeast down, but the enzymes keep working.

2. Poolish

A liquid pre-ferment of equal parts flour and water with a pinch of yeast. It matures for 12 to 16 hours and is then mixed with the remaining flour, water and salt into the final dough. Poolish gives an extensible dough with a delicate, slightly nutty aroma.

3. Biga

A firm, crumbly pre-ferment with about 45 to 50 % water. Biga matures for 16 to 24 hours and gives the dough a lot of strength and a particularly airy crumb. It's the basis of many modern pizzas.

Base recipe: 48-hour cold fermentation (4 pizzas)

• 600 g tipo 00 pizza flour (ideally high protein, from about 12 %)
• 390 g cold water (65 %)
• 1 g dry yeast or 3 g fresh yeast
• 18 g salt

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water, mix with the flour and let it rest for 10 minutes.
2. Add the salt and knead for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth.
3. Cover and rest for 1 hour at room temperature, then place in the fridge for 24 to 36 hours.
4. Divide into 4 dough balls of about 250 g each, shape them and let them mature in a closed box for another 12 to 24 hours in the fridge.
5. Take them out 3 to 4 hours before baking so they reach room temperature.

The most common mistakes

• Too much yeast: after a day the dough is over-proofed, collapses and tastes sour.
• Flour that's too weak: regular household flour often can't handle long fermentation. Choose a high-protein pizza flour.
• Cold dough in the oven: dough straight from the fridge is hard to shape and barely rises in the oven.

Airy crust? Then cut it right

The result of long fermentation is a crust full of air bubbles – and a pizza wheel presses exactly that air back out. Scissors cut from above and below at the same time, and the crust and toppings stay just as they came out of the oven. More in our comparison pizza scissors or pizza wheel.

The CILITTI pizza scissors made of stainless steel are designed for thick, airy crusts and keep your fingers away from the hot pizza.

View the scissors on Amazon

Frequently asked questions

How long can pizza dough stay in the fridge?

With little yeast and a strong flour, 48 to 72 hours. After that, the dough structure usually deteriorates.

Is long-fermented pizza really easier to digest?

Many people find it so, because part of the starch and gluten is broken down during fermentation. It doesn't make the dough gluten-free, though.

Poolish or biga – which is better?

Poolish makes the dough more extensible and aromatic, biga gives more strength and volume. To start with, cold fermentation in the fridge is the easiest.