If you don't let pizza dough rise, then it will not be able to trap the air bubbles that make for a light and airy crust. This will result in flat and dense bread that won't have much flavor or texture.
If you're in a hurry, skip the rise and make the pizza right now. It will make a thin-crusted pizza with a cracker-like flavor. Option 2 — Let the dough rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. If you're planning to make pizza today, then give the dough a rise.
The yeast inside your dough must rise before baking, which allows it to undergo chemical reactions which create air pockets or little bubbles within the dough. Without these little pockets of air, your dough will bake into a flat and dull bread that is simply too dense to be enjoyed.
To put things simply, when you do not allow your bread to rise, it is going to be dense and less flavorful. it will be more akin to a cake than anything else, given that it will be just dough and not the plethora of air bubbles that make bread into the fluffy loaves that everyone knows and loves.
“The first thing that springs to mind,” Bertinet says, “is that your dough is probably too cold.” Or, put another way, the water you're using isn't warm enough. “It's vital you give the yeast a helping hand, otherwise it'll just slumber lazily,” he says, adding that your water/ flour/salt/yeast ratio is also crucial.
The longer dough rises (up to a point), the more flavor it develops. Conversely, dough that rises too quickly produces bread with flat flavor. Nail the sweet spot — warm enough to rise at a decent rate, yet cool enough to develop flavor — and you're golden.
Standard pizza dough (with more yeast) can sit out on the counter for 2-4 hours, while a Neapolitan-style pizza dough (with less yeast) can be left out for up to 24 hours.
Keep your pizza dough on the counter where it belongs. Let it rest: A little shrinking is normal as you stretch your dough. If your pizza dough is quickly snapping back or difficult to stretch, your dough is too tight. Cover your dough with plastic wrap and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
Don't let it rise for too long, though.
“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.
It won't give you enjoyable bread if it hasn't risen, and there's no point putting energy into cooking it. You'll get a dense, inedible loaf. Instead, combine some more activated yeast with the dough, or turn it into a flatbread recipe.
Though it's important to knead your dough thoroughly, it's not necessary to knead your dough for long. We recommended kneading your dough for about 4 to 6 minutes! 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.
When ready to use, let the dough sit out on the countertop for 30 minutes to warm up before stretching. Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. As you can see, it will rise a bit.
Yes, for a thicker, fluffier dough let it rise for 15-30 minutes, or until doubled. Can I make this dough the night before? Yes, to make this dough the night before put it in a bowl, cover it tightly with plastic wrap and a damp towel and store it in the refrigerator.
In short, the most common reasons for your pizza dough not rising are incorrect use of yeast, improper water temperatures, inadequate rising time and over-kneading the dough.
Unfortunately, it can be hard to get proofing right. Dough needs to be covered during the proof, but if there's a hole in your plastic wrap or you use a cloth that doesn't create a tight seal, air exposure will cause the top of your dough to become crusty and tough.
Gluten is what makes dough elastic and stretchy. If your gluten hasn't developed enough, it will remain too tight and your dough will want to spring back into its original shape. Pizza dough needs flour with a high protein content in order to develop gluten.
Gluten, the protein that makes pizza dough chewy, is tighter in cold conditions like the fridge, which is why cold pizza dough will stretch out and snap back just like a rubber band.
You can refrigerate the dough after almost any step, but after the first rise (or a little before) works best. Store it, covered, in the refrigerator for 1-3* days. Allow room for the dough to expand as it will continue to rise.
If the dough is under proofed, the indentation springs back really fast and does not stay. If the dough is over proofed, the indentation stays, the surface is sticky, and the structure may collapse.
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.
The best place to let dough rise is a very warm place. On a warm day, your counter will probably do just fine. But if your kitchen is cold, your oven is actually a great place. Preheat oven to 200 degrees for 1-2 minutes to get it nice and toasty, then turn it off.
One way to make pizza dough rise faster is to place it in a warm oven. The heat will help activate the yeast, causing the dough to expand more quickly. Another way to speed up rising is to punch down the dough and knead it vigorously before shaping it into a pizza crust.
Are you wondering how long pizza dough can sit out for proofing before you start making your most awaited pizza? The answer is, that the rise time for pizza dough can be as short as 6-10 hours at room temperature and as long as 1-3 days (24-72 hours) in the refrigerator.