How Long can Pizza Dough Sit Out in Cold & Warm Temps

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.

Confused?

 Let me make you believe that it’s the bone of contention, real confusion that keeps on worrying you about what to chores. What if your pizza goes wrong then?????

Stop, please. The distress is ending now. How?

We’ve got your complete analysis of pizza dough proofing time and their relationship with the final results when consulting pizza Chef opinions. So, follow this article and make delicious dough for your pizza. 

A Quick Answer to How long can pizza dough sit out?

How long you can leave the pizza dough depends on the environmental temperature that allows it to rise. For example, to let your pizza dough rise at room temperature, you should leave it for 2-4 hours until it doubles its volume.

Yet, the pizza dough rise time varies according to humidity lvel and the environment temperature. So, before exploring the best ways to rise the pizza dough, let’s have a quick overview of the pizza dough rising time according to the fermentation stages and method :

• For cold fermentation, at the first stage of rising pizza dough at room temperature of 75°F to 78°F (23-25 degrees centigrade), let the fermentation start for 1 hour.  Then form the dough ball and shift them to the fridge for cold fermentation for 24-72 hours. When you remove the dough balls, before stretching them to form a pizza let them come to room temperature first.
• For regular fermentation at room temperature of 75°F to 78°F (23-25 degrees centigrade) leave dough balls for 2-4 hours until they are double in size.
• For warm fermentation i.e, near the oven or heater, rise the dough for 1-2 hours only.

How long Should you Rise Your Pizza Dough During for Cold Fermentation?

The 24-hour period of resting the pizza dough is a good rule. It ensures that the dough is completely relaxed and yeast ferments, giving you a better-tasting crust in ordinary circumstances.

It’s best to make homemade pizza dough the morning you plan to make pizza, but if you’ve to make it ahead of time, there are a few rules: 

• First, the longer the dough sits out, the sourer it’ll taste — your ultimate goal. Also, remember that the longer the dough sits out, the less elastic and springy it becomes, so your crust could be flatter and less puffy than before. An excellent way to combat the dough’s texture is to punch down and knead it again after refrigerating it overnight. It’ll help bring back some of that elasticity and give you a nice crust.

• And if you’re thinking of storing pizza dough in the fridge for up to 5 days, that’s pushing it. The flavor gets too sour and funky after just two or three days. If you want to store pizza dough longer than that, you can freeze it and thaw it out on day one when making your pizza (It’ll also give your yeast time to wake up and start fermenting again).

How Long Should your Pizza Dough Take to Proof at Room Temperature?

It’s pretty hard to prepare an authentic restaurant-style pizza in a day. The reason is yeast fermentation is essential to make the pizza tasty. However, proofing the dough at room temperature is perfect for enhancing the process, although it compromises the flavor. 

Still, a warmer temperature is better for letting your pizza dough rise and become fluffy. If you want to make sure the dough goes as fast as possible, put it in a warm place like an oven with no heat or near a heater.

If you like family recipes but don’t have much time to spend making them from scratch, try using this simple trick to speed up the whole process!

As a rule of thumb, you should leave the dough ball for 1-4 hours until it’s double in size and smells sweet. If left too late, it’ll smell sour what we call overfermentation. Though overpriced pizza dough can also be fixed, yet you can’t alter that bad taste.

So, What’s the Ideal Rising Time for your Pizza Dough?

The rising time for pizza dough depends on the environmental temperature and the pizza dough ingredients: yeast and sugar. The higher the temperature, the faster it rises. 

• At about 1 degree above absolute zero, it’d take 11 hours to rise.
• At about 50 degrees Celsius, it’d take 6 hours.
• And at about 100 degrees Celsius, it’d take only 4 hours.

Another factor is how you make the dough. A hand-kneed dough will rise more slowly than pizza dough made in a commercial machine. It’s because the dough has less gluten to help it rise. So if you’re making your pizza dough in a commercial bakery, follow their guidelines for rising time.

What’s the Best Place for your Pizza Dough to Rise?

Pizza dough needs a warm place to rise; the best place is an oven (turner off). It allows the dough to rise evenly and helps increase its volume. If you turn on the oven for a few minutes to warm it up, then shut it off, you can use that space to let your dough rise.

In addition, you can wrap the bowl in a towel and place it in a warm spot in your kitchen. If you don’t have access to a heated area, you can also use plastic wrap or a damp towel to cover the bowl and trap heat inside.

If you want to let your pizza dough rise at room temperature (around 20°C or 68 degrees Fahrenheit), be sure to be placed it in a draft-free area away from direct sunlight and heat sources. Please do not put the bowl directly on the counter or table because this will keep it from rising properly because of constant exposure to heat coming from below (especially when you want to rise your dough in less than 24 hours.

However, you can also use a combination of both hot and cool temperatures. It takes skill to keep the dough at both temperatures for the best results. First, reheat it for 6-8 hours, then store pizza dough for another 6 – 8 hours or overnight after this process. It is your choice whether to use this method or not. 

How to know that your Pizza Dough is Ready for Stretching?

 

 

The last step is to test the flavor of the pizza dough. It’s a crucial step to know whether the dough is ready or not. Here, we don’t need to worry about its color, but we need to pay attention to the size. With the help of your fingers, just pick some dough and check it out.

Temperature and time play the primary role in raising your pizza dough. However, it’s only the size that indicates the outcomes. Here is how to tell about the pizza dough ready to go in the oven:

• It has got 2X volume. Please don’t confuse the volume with dough height.
• It’s shiny.
• It’s stretchy.

To know about the pizza dough’s readiness, putting it in a cube-shaped container is the best way. So, the next time, don’t use a container with a round base.

Can you Leave your Pizza Dough out Overnight to Rise? 

Yes, if you’ve decided that you’re going to/need to let pizza dough out all night, there are a few things to consider. Here’s what you should know before you leave your dough out at room temperature so you don’t wind up disappointed. 

Keep the dough in a cool place. 

Keeping your dough cool can help prevent the yeast from over-rise and to become too puffy. It’s vital if you want to make your dough in the evening and bake it the next day.

To do this, place your dough in a cooler or a refrigerator overnight (it should last about 10 hours, if necessary). Or try putting the dough outside on a cold night. It’ll slow the rise and help prevent those air bubbles from forming.

Use less yeast 

To make your pizza dough rise more slowly, use less yeast. The more yeast you add, the faster it’ll rise.

Using less yeast ensures that your dough will rise slower and won’t overpower the other flavors in your pizza.

As a general rule, add 1 teaspoon of yeast for every cup of flour in the recipe. And, if you’re using active dry yeast, never exceed 2 teaspoons per cup of flour. If you’re using instant or rapid-rise yeast, don’t exceed 1 1/2 teaspoons per cup of flour. Using less yeast is especially helpful when working with store-bought pizza dough. 

These often contain more yeast than homemade dough, so you’ll want to adjust the amount of liquid in your dough recipe to compensate.

Cover the dough tightly. 

If you’re not going to be using the dough right away, the first thing you need to do is make sure that it’s covered tightly. The last thing you want is to wake up in the morning to find that the surface of your dough has dried out or bugs have somehow gotten onto your dough.

For this reason, you must make sure the dough is tightly covered, either with a lid or plastic wrap.

Is it Suitable to Leave your Pizza Dough Overnight for Proofing?

NO…!

If you’re going to use the dough in a few hours, there is nothing to worry about. But if you’re going to consume it on a coming day, you should know the proper methods of storing the dough. 

You cannot store the dough outside if any following possibilities match your condition. 

Don’t leave pizza dough out if your home is warm.

If you’ve got a warm home, the best place to store your dough is in the refrigerator. If there is no room in your refrigerator, you can place it in a cool basement or a cool, dark closet. If you don’t have any of these options, you can keep your dough at room temperature for about two hours before it begins to overproof.

To bake the dough at a better time, prepare it right before you plan to cook. If it’s essential to make the dough ahead of time, store it properly in a cool area and only take it out when you’re ready to use it.

Don’t leave pizza dough out if your is not lean. 

The essential components of dough are wheat, water, salt, and yeast in 99 percent of situations (and oil in many cases). These are the elements that give the dough its lean texture.

If any extra ingredients, such as milk or eggs, are added to the pizza dough, it is referred to as enriched or rich dough.

Because milk and eggs do not do well at room temperature, they’ll not do well after being incorporated into the dough and will not let pizza dough sit out for 8-10 hours.

If you eat pizza prepared with this dough, there’s a good chance they’ll both deteriorate, and you’ll get sick.

What should you do if Pizza Dough is Overproofed?

Overproofed dough is never fun, but there is a way to salvage most of the pizza you’re trying to make.

If this ever happens, you need to fix your over-proofed pizza dough.

For this purpose, you can roll the dough out flat while pressing it hard to release the excessive gases. Add the toppings, and bake them as normal. Sure, it won’t be as good as dough that hasn’t been over-proofed, but it’s still pizza and tastes pretty good for what it is.

The best way to save a ruined batch of dough is to follow a recipe that makes a thin pizza crust. It’s best to roll out the dough into a thin rectangle or round shape and then place your sauce and toppings on top.

Then just throw the whole thing in the oven and see how it comes out! This goes against baking tradition, but I’ll promise you it works!

How to stretch pizza dough like a pro?

After making the dough, now comes the process of cooking the pizza. But before that, you’ll have to stretch the dough perfectly. Even if you’re doing it at home, you should do it like a professional. Here are five tips that will help you stretch pizza dough with perfection. 

Keep the dough at room temperature. 

If the pizza is kept in the refrigerator, it must be brought to room temperature for 30 minutes to raise the dough. It tightens up in the cold, and the protein makes it chewy. 

To avoid sticking, use olive oil.

It is often sticky because it is dough. As a result, if you use olive oil to prepare your essential utensils and workspace, it’ll be acceptable to drive the complete cooking task. It’s a quick technique to prevent sticking.

Press the dough before stretching 

Place the pizza dough on a flat disc, and push it down with your middle three fingers. Create a large circle roughly 6 inches across and 1/2 inch thick using an expanding disc. The dough should be smooth and malleable.

Rest again if needed.

It’s okay if the dough appears to shrink somewhat. If it returns fast, relax for 15 to 20 minutes, cover it with a clean kitchen towel, and repeat step 3.

Use both hands to stretch the dough. 

We can see the pizza dough by removing the sheet pan here. It comes with a pro if it is roughly 10 inches across. If the results aren’t what you wanted, you’ll need to take some steps to rectify them. You may repair that by using both of your hands. 

 

FAQs

• How long can you leave the dough at room temperature?

You can keep your pizza for 4 to 8 hours at room temperature without disturbing the ingredients. It will bring your dough to gain 2X volume. However, for cold fermentation, the process can be 24-72 hours long.

• Is it OK to leave pizza dough out overnight?

Of course, you can leave pizza dough out overnight. But keep the temperature as low as you can. 

• How long can pizza dough be left to sit out? 

Ideally, the pizza dough can be left out only for 24-48 hours. The longest time is only 48 hours, not 72 hours.

• Do you knead pizza dough after it rises? 

Yes, you need to knead your dough with gentle hands once it has been raised. It helps in popping large bubbles in the dough, releasing extra carbon dioxide, and giving a super smooth stretchy texture with excellent taste. 

• How many times should pizza dough rise before cooking it? 

The simple answer is to let it rise only once. The pizza dough rises once; any time of 1-3 days given to your dough after it rises once is extended time only, and it doesn’t mean a second rise. When you’ve already stored your dough by dividing it into balls per pizza, it’s ready to be spread.

• Can you refrigerate pizza dough after it rises? 

Yes, you can refrigerate the pizza dough after it rises up to 3 days. You can put your pizza dough in balls form in airtight jars.

How Long Can Pizza Dough Sit Out? Final thoughts 

It’s clear now that you can expand pizza dough according to your requirements. You can prepare it in one day by leaving it at room temperature (4-8 hours) or 1-3 full days by following the cold fermentation method. But to cook homemade pizzas, you should follow all the steps for cooking pizza. Else you may end up ordering from a pizza hut.