Over kneaded dough will go from being strong and stretchy to being weak and sloppy. It will rip easily when stretched and will struggle to hold its shape. During shaping, an over kneaded dough is difficult to stretch and once baked, the pizza will be tough and dense.
Over-kneading your dough will create a fine, crumb-like texture, giving your dough a bready texture rather than a light and airy pizza crust.
You will know when to stop kneading the dough when the dough is no longer sticky and then begins to smoothen out and spring back when you press down on it. It may take a few times to get it right but after a few times, you'll begin to understand when your dough is ready to be stored away for proving.
If you believe that your dough is slightly over-kneaded, try allowing it to rise a little longer before shaping it into a loaf. While you can't fully undo the damage of over-kneaded dough, letting the dough rise for longer can help relax the gluten in the dough a bit.
When you cut into an over kneaded dough, you will notice that the interior is very dry and crumbly. The slices will likely fall apart rather than holding their shape. While the general taste of the bread may be the same, it will not have a nice mouth feel but, again, be dry, dense and crumbly- no thank you!
If you think you've over-kneaded the dough, try letting it rise a little longer before shaping it. You can't really undo the damage of over-worked gluten, but the longer rise can get the dough to relax a little. Loaves made with over-kneaded dough often end up with a rock-hard crust and a dense, dry interior.
Overproofed is when the dough has rested too long and the yeast has continued making carbon dioxide while the strength of the dough (gluten bonds) have begun to wear out. The dough will look very puffy, but when you touch it or move it you may notice it deflate or sag.
Fixing the Tough Pizza Dough
Generally, what you will want to do is use a bit of water to try and bring back the hydration ratio. This may not always work, as the flour has already been worked into the dough, but it may be worth trying if you want to salvage your dough recipe.
The longer you knead the dough, the less sticky it will become. Strangely, if you do not rehydrate your yeast correctly this can also result in a sticky dough. Active dry yeast needs to be rehydrated with warm water to activate it correctly and cause it to bloom.
Let rest at room temperature until the dough doubles in size, 1 to 2 hours. Or, if time is tight, let it rest at least 20 minutes before proceeding. Or refrigerate for several hours, deflating if necessary if it threatens to burst the plastic.
Pizza dough that has been left to rise for too long, or has been over-proofed, can potentially collapse. The gluten becomes overly relaxed, and the end product will be gummy or crumbly instead of crisp and fluffy.
For best results when using prepared pizza dough, let the dough rest at room temperature in the bag or covered, until it has risen a little, and then try to stretch it out. It's been my experience that the bought dough is usually harder to stretch out than the homemade version.
Pizza dough should proof in room temperature anywhere from 1 to 24-hours or even more. While cold-proofing a pizza dough can take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours.
After the dough has rested, turn it out onto a very lightly floured work surface and knead it by hand about 20-30 times. (If your dough has the perfect consistency, you don't even need to flour the surface.)
Although a single-rise dough will not have the same complex flavor as a double-rise dough, it will still be fluffy and light. So, does pizza dough have to rise twice? The answer is no, but rising the dough twice does produce a tastier crust.
Why is my dough springing back into place when I try to form it into a pizza shape? If your dough is springing back into place when you try to stretch it out, this usually means that the gluten hasn't had enough time to develop. Gluten is what makes dough elastic and stretchy.
If you do not cook the pizza for long enough it will retain a lot of moisture and there is no chance that the base will become crispy. Thicker dough will also mean that it is harder for the heat of the oven to permeate the dough. This could potentially result in your dough being raw or undercooked in the center.
Cook's Illustrated says to make cold water doughs for bread and pizza recipes because they benefit from long, slow, yeasted rises. The cold water maintains the gluten structure that traps gasses produced by the yeast and adds flavor to the bread.
Over proofing or fermenting the dough can also result in the gluten structure weakening causing sticky dough. Sticky dough isn't necessarily a bad thing, although I appreciate how frustrating it is for a new baker.
What happens if bread dough is over-kneaded? If the bread dough is over-kneaded, it will not rise in the oven because the stiff gluten prevents the gasses from inflating it.
So, why does this happen? Simply, because it hasn't proofed. Proofing dough is essential because it's this process that allows the retail pizza dough to become full of air bubbles and rise. And it's this process that allows the dough to be soft and flaky and chewy on the inside after it bakes in the oven.
What to do if your pizza dough tears: If dough tears after you have already added toppings, a common Italian quick-fix is to quickly remove the toppings and then fold the dough in half like a calzone. Next, you place basil under the torn area, and then turn over and re-add toppings.
Properly proofed dough will be much more consistent in structure, with a soft and fluffy interior, and larger, but more evenly dispersed air bubbles present in the crumb. Over proofed bread is likely to have a very open crumb structure, due to the development of excess CO2 during the proofing stage.
When we make yeasted breads such as Challah, we press the dough gently with our knuckle or finger to determine if it is properly proofed and ready for baking. If the dough springs back right away, it needs more proofing. But if it springs back slowly and leaves a small indent, it's ready to bake.