Punching down the dough will remove some of the gas bubbles and will produce a finer grain. It also redistributes the yeast cells, sugar, and moisture so they can ferment and rise the dough during the proofing stage.
After the dough has risen, punch it down. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough in half and roll each piece into a ball. If you're not using the pizza dough right away, lightly coat the dough ball(s) with olive oil.
When to Punch Down Dough. Yeast bread recipes typically require two stages of proofing, also known as rising. After the first rise, it's important to punch down the dough to prevent it from over-proofing. Overproofed bread is dense and unable to retain the gas bubbles necessary for the structure of the bread loaf.
I suggest this technique more and more often in my classes and recipes, as it allows us to more fully hydrate the dough, almost to the point of over-stickiness, yet still create a very workable, dynamic dough, one that pops in the oven and creates more of the large irregular holes that artisan bakers (and consumers) ...
While there's a ton of different methods for kneading, the preferred one is to use the heel of your hand to press and roll the dough across the worktop. Then use your other hand to return it to the start while at the same time folding it over. Continue this for the next 3-5 minutes or until the dough is ready.
While some enjoy the rhythmic motion of kneading by hand, there are advantages to using a stand mixer. Using a stand mixer takes less time because you can mix and knead the dough in the same bowl. Machine kneading is also easier on the wrists and hands.
After the ingredients have all come together, cover the bowl and allow the dough to rest for 10-20 minutes. Then, knead on medium speed for about 5 minutes.
It's better to leave cold pizza dough out for 30 minutes and/or follow my recommendations for using a window to let the pizza rise. If you don't want to wait for pizza dough to rise before stretching it, then make pizza on a frozen pizza crust. There are so many ways to make it taste restaurant quality.
If you skip stretching and folding, chances are you will end up with soggy dough that doesn't hold its shape before or during baking. Developed strands of gluten help hold the bread together as it bakes, and contributes to a strong upward rise (called oven spring) rather than spread during baking.
Typically, pizza dough is degassed twice because the recipe often calls for you to degas the dough after each rise. The second time occurs after the second rise, and this time it's crucial because the gluten has had time to develop again.
More importantly, why do you do it? Punching down is a common technique used in bread baking and it is essential to almost every yeast bread you bake. Punching down deflates the dough and releases the air so that you can knead it and form it into loaves or other shapes.
Yes. And in fact, letting dough rise twice is highly encouraged if you're making Neapolitan-style pizza. This is because it gives a lot more time for the yeast and dough to interact with one another and create that perfect, chewy crust.
The second rise allows the yeast to produce carbon dioxide gas, which helps to leaven the dough and gives it a light, airy texture. However, some recipes only call for a single rise. This can be achieved by using a higher amount of yeast or by letting the dough rise for a longer period of time.
“A few days' rise is fine and will enhance the taste of the crust, but any more than three days and the yeast will start to eat up all the sugar in the dough and convert it into alcohol, which will adversely affect crust flavor,” Schwartz said.
Under-proofed pizza dough is hard to stretch and dense. An over-proofed dough will stretch too thin and won't spring up when you put it in the oven. Warm-up your dough: Cold dough is hard to stretch and more prone to tearing. Let your dough warm up to at least room temperature before stretching for best results.
Pizza dough reacts similarly, turning stiff and inflexible when it's chilled. That's why it's important to let the dough come up to room temperature before stretching it. This might take about an hour, so pull the dough out of the fridge when you preheat the baking steel and/or stone.
Warm the Dough
The protein, called gluten, that makes the dough chewy is tighter when the dough is cold. If it is not warmed enough, the dough will snap back like a rubber band when you try to stretch it. Bring the dough to room temperature loosens it up and makes it easier to work with.
If your gluten hasn't developed enough, it will remain too tight and your dough will want to spring back into its original shape.
If your crusts aren't puffing up in the oven, this usually means that there's not enough air in your dough. Finely ground flour = airy dough. 00 flour or strong white bread flour works best.
The first reason your pizza dough gets tough is that it contains too much flour. Or in baking terms, the dough has too low hydration. If the dough contains too much flour compared to water, the result will be a dry, tough pizza dough that's hard to work with. The simple solution is therefore to add less flour.