When we talk about cold ferment pizza dough, we basically talk about the dough that is rightly shaped and proofed after a slow and noticeably better flavor as well as better structure.
It is finely edible although the pizza is fermented and then added with the toppings and flavor of one’s choice.
But, the fermentation process is good for pizza dough as it offers one of the in-depth pizzas that produces a genuinely gut healthy lactobacillus bacteria.
Apart from this cold ferment dough of the pizza with whatever toppings you choose to eat on your crust gives a less of the blood sugar spike.
Fermentation of the pizza is a metabolic process. It produces chemical changes in the organic substances.
Fermented dough makes the pizza much lighter, tastier and too easy to digest. When it is about the fermentation of the dough, the yeast gets transformed.
And the carbohydrates come into alcohol that is responsible for the crust’s arooma along with the swift texture. Even the carbon dioxide that creates the air pocket also bubbles up in the oven.
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In simple words, fermentation is the process of yeast eating carbohydrates with conversion with the alcohol. This may sound complicated and understand the yeast that turns the sugar in the flour into gas.
Hence the dough gets inflated by turning it to grow larger. As a side effect of the process of pizza dough fermentation, the natural flavors in the pizza gets enhanced by leaving you with the more flavorful pizza dough.
Baking the pizza on the aluminum pizza sheet or pizza stone is highly recommended with pre-heating and cooking directions for those products at a temperature of 550’F oven for 6 to 10 minutes until the outer crust is golden brown.
Remove the oven by placing on the cooling rack to rest a minimum of 3-5 minutes before transferring to a cutting board to slice and then serve.
Helpful Equipment
- Vessel with straight-sided
- Pizza peeler
- Parchment Paper
- Freezer for cold freezing of the pizza
Pro Equipment
- Baking Pizza Sheet
- Pizza Steel is a must have for cold fermentation of pizza
- Pizza crust baker
- Domestic Oven (550’F)
- Aluminum Foil
Ingredients For Cold Fermented Pizza Dough

The recipe yields 4-5 portion-sized pizzas of around 32-35 cm or 12 inches. Pizza makers can double the recipe if you really love pizza dough. Suppose you get to accumulate some leftovers, you will definitely be able to freeze it.
- Tipo 00 flour is the ideal flour for pizza dough- 500-750gms
- Olive Oil – 10-12grams of virgin olive oil
- Good fine sea salt is the right option
- Instant dry yeast with 1-2 grams
- 10-12 grams of salt for the pizza dough
- Clean bottled water- 320-500 ml of water
- Tomato sauce
- Mozzarella cheese
- Add some small portion of semolina to dust peel the pizza
How To Make Cold Fermented Pizza Dough
- Pour water from the room temperature that is ideal around 20’C or 68’F into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt to mix until the salt is completely dissolved.
- Adding the yeast with the flour-water will mix it completely
- It takes an ideal temperature of 20-30 minutes before you tend to add some virgin olive oil
- The fermented pizza dough is one of the best way to get healthy food
- The 10 grams of fresh yeast is equivalent to 5grams with yeast and 3-5 grams active yeast
- Oil makes the dough conduct full of heat that blazes the hot wood-fired oven.
- The fermented dough will therefore burn achieving the crispier pizza crust with regular home oven
- Leave the pizza dough to rise in the bowl by covering it with a damp towel with plastic wrap for almost 2-3 hours
- Next you will have to split the dough into equal halves and then further divide it into 2 divisions.
- Using an airtight container is a perfect way to store pizza dough
- If you plan to place the pizza dough in the fridge, then put it in the fridge for 5-6 days
- For a couple of hours allow the pizza dough to get baked in the fridge
- Preheat the crust of the pizza for at least 60 minutes and turn on the broiler
- In the meanwhile, dust the pizza dough with the flour and then stretch the same in the diameter circle.
- Bake the pizza properly before serving it hot
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Cold Fermented Pizza Dough In The Fridge

Cold fermentation with Italian pizza at home in the fridge. It is a portion-sized pizza that needs to be cold fermented in a cool environment instead of at room temperature.
The fridge needs to be put in the extreme temperature and the fermentation process slows down and ceases to rise instead of at room temperature pizza in the fridge for a longer time.
How To Keep the Pizza Dough In A Cool Environment?
You will have to keep the pizza dough in the plastic storage container by placing the lid and wrap the dough directly in plastic wrap.
It is easy to place the dough inside the zippered bag by pressing the air out of the bag and then finally seal it. Never forget to wrap the pizza dough before you place it in the fridge.
Cold Fermented Pizza Dough Turns Gets With Best Flour
For the fermentation process, the high-quality and strong Italian Tipo 00 or the Tipo 0 flour is the best choice for cold fermented pizza dough.
This is the good quality of flour that experts recommend using. Tipo has always come up with good results every time it is used.
Tipo 00 flour is made in Italy and is the finest milled flour on the Italian flour scale. Tipo 00 flour is also the highest quality flour available in the market for its uses in the core of the wheat, it contains the least amount of brand and wheat middlings.
Tipo 00 flour is also very stable, which is a measure of the strength of the gluten in the dough. Stronger gluten will help the dough hold its shape longer, which is important when baking a long-rise dough.
And another important aspect is that you should always use clean water and you can also prefer using clean bottled water.
The temperature will increase by a few degrees during a kneading that moves for bulk fermentation.
Another flour that can be used for preparing long, cold, fermented pizza dough is the Caputo Pizza Flour.
This flour is also classified under Tipo OO flour with a capacity of 300-320W. This is an ideal choice for cold fermentation.
How Long Should You Cold Ferment Pizza Dough?
The pizza dough depends on the temperature you plan to ferment the dough in. But the proper flavor comes from cold fermentation procedures.
It is best to recommend leaving the dough balls for almost 24 hours. A proper flavor development is possible only after the cold fermentation.
The dough is then ready to be used sooner. In a cold room (60-65’ F or 15-18’ C) you will want to leave the dough for 24-48 hours in the fridge.
You can also leave the pizza dough for at least 5-6 days with a minimum 24 hours for the best possible pizza crust with cold fermentation process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1) How do you ferment pizza dough?
You can place the pizza on the pizza stone on the top rack as close as possible to that of the broiler.
And, then turn on the oven with the highest setting by turning on the broiler. Getting the sauce, cheese, and toppings you will have to get ready before anyone starts to work on the dough so that the assembly becomes easier.
Q2) Can you over ferment pizza dough?
The aroma of a fermented pizza dough is sour as it allows the dough to ferment for too long. It can be over-proofed making it more dense and sometimes flat too.
Q3) Can you eat fermented pizza dough?
Experts say that eating fermented pizza dough is never bad. It is safe to eat. It is by the strong smell of the alcohol that results from yeast overgrowing by producing alcohol as one of the by-products.
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