How to Store Pizza Dough the Right Way

Storing your pizza dough the right way will change your pizza game! If you have leftover pizza dough, want to save time and work before the next pizza night, or simply love the convenience of having pizza dough ready whenever you crave a pie, you need to know how to store pizza dough.

Benefits of storing pizza dough:

• The dough will last longer
• Make timing more convenient
• Keep the leftover dough for next time
• You will always have pizza dough ready!

How long pizza dough last depends mainly on how much yeast you’re using, and the temperature the dough is stored at. Yeast is more active in higher temperatures, so by lowering the temperature the yeast will slow down. Therefore, pizza dough stored at a lower temperature, like in the fridge, or freezer will last longer than at room temperature.

Storing pizza dough on the counter

During fermentation, you usually store pizza dough at room temperature on the counter. Standard pizza dough is often left for 1-2 hours, while Neapolitan pizza dough is fermented at room temperature for 8-12 hours. The difference is the amount of yeast. The less yeast the dough contains, the longer you can leave it out at room temperature before it over-proofs.

How to store pizza dough at room temperature

Pizza dough should be stored in an airtight container, or covered with plastic wrap. By doing that, the dough will not dry out and create a hard, dry surface. It’s also a good idea to brush the dough and container in olive oil. This will further help the surface from drying out, in addition, to make it easier to get out of the container when you’re going to make pizza.

When making pizza dough, I recommend making one big dough first, and you can of course double or triple your recipe. Then leave it for 1-2 hours, in an oiled container, as described above. Before you create smaller, portion-sized dough balls. Then leave it for another hour to overnight, depending on what kind of pizza dough you’re making.

Storing pizza dough in the fridge

Storing pizza dough in the fridge is great if you want to make it in advance, or if you have some leftover dough after baking pizza. It’s also good for slow fermentation, to develop a better, more complex flavor.

How to Store pizza dough in the fridge

As for storing pizza at room temperature, I recommend leaving it for 1-2 hours at room temperature first. Then split it into individual, portion-sized dough balls. Lastly, put it in an airtight container coated in olive oil.

1. Make your pizza dough
2. Bulk fermentation. Let the pizza dough rise according to your recipe.
3. Divide into individual dough balls
4. Place the dough balls in airtight containers coated in olive oil or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap
5. Leave the container in the fridge for up to 7 days

Tip: If you’re planning to leave the pizza dough in the fridge for several days, you should use high-gluten flour, such as bread flour, or strong pizza flour, like Caputo Chef’s flour.

If you have any leftover dough after baking pizza, simply place the dough balls in the same oil-coated airtight containers and place them in the fridge.

How to use pizza dough from the fridge

When you’re going to use the dough, take it out of the fridge at least 1 hour before you’re planning to bake pizza, to let it come to room temperature. You can now use it just like any room temperature fermented pizza dough.

1. Take the dough out of the fridge at least 1 hour before making the pizza
2. Let the dough come to room temperature
3. Stretch, top, and bake your pizza, like any other pizza dough

Storing pizza in the fridge to improve the flavor

Storing pizza dough in the fridge is also a great way to enhance the flavor. By slowing down the fermentation, the yeast will eat the sugars, and release CO2 at a slow and steady pace. And this will create more complex flavor compounds than quick proofing.

I usually leave my dough in the fridge for 3-5 days. I’ve found this to create the perfect consistency, combined with delicious flavor. This works best for Italian-style pizza dough, with less yeast. If you have never tried slow fermentation, I recommend reducing the amount of yeast a bit. This will slow down the fermentation process further, and help prevent over-proofing.

You can find the best recipe for cold fermented pizza dough here.

Storing pizza dough in the freezer

If you’re not going to use the leftover dough for a while, or just want to have some backup pizza dough ready at all times, you should be storing pizza dough in the freezer. I always have a few doughs in my freezer. It’s not much more work to double or triple your recipe, and it’s super convenient to have a few extra backup pizza doughs.

How to store pizza dough in the freezer

1. Make your pizza dough
2. Bulk fermentation. Let the pizza dough rise according to your recipe.
3. Divide into individual dough balls
4. Place the dough balls in an airtight container coated in olive oil or in a zip-lock bag
5. Let the dough balls rise till almost fully fermented
6. Place the container in the freezer and leave for up to 3 months

Like storing pizza at room temperature or in the fridge, I recommend leaving it for 1-2 hours at room temperature first. Then split it into individual, portion-sized dough balls, before putting them in airtight containers. Ziplock bags are also a great option since they require less space in your freezer.

To store leftover pizza dough in the freezer, simply place the dough balls in oil-coated airtight containers and put them in the freezer.

How to use pizza dough from the freezer

1. Take the dough out of the freezer and leave it on the countertop for 4 hours
2. Let the dough thaw and come to room temperature
3. Stretch, top, and bake your pizza, like any other pizza dough

When you’re going to use your dough, remove it from the freezer, and leave it for at least 3-4 hours at room temperature to thaw.

Alternatively, you can thaw the dough in the fridge to thaw overnight. Then, take it out, and let it come to room temperature before you’re going to bake the pizza.

Tip: if you’re in a hurry, you can speed up the defrosting by using a room temperature water bath. Submerge the container or zip-lock with the dough and leave to defrost for 1-2 hours.

Read more bout how to freeze pizza dough here.

How to store pizza dough during fermentation

It’s also important to store your pizza dough right during fermentation. Especially if you do a long, slow fermentation, like for Neapolitan pizza (recipe) or cold fermentation (recipe).

Neapolitan pizza

When making Neapolitan pizza you let the dough balls ferment from 6-12 hours. And if they are not stored properly, the surface will dry out. This creates a dough that’s harder to open and scratch, and will also create dry, hard flakes on your pizza crust after baking.

The best way to store Neapolitan pizza dough balls is in a proofing box. A pizza proofing box is an air-tight container made for easy soring of pizza dough balls during proofing. Proofing boxes come in all different sizes and can hold anywhere from 4 to 12 pizza dough balls.

If you want to read more about pizza proofing boxes, check out this article.

Cold fermented pizza

For cold fermentation, the easiest and most convenient way to store the pizza dough balls is in individual airtight containers, as described in the section about storing pizza dough in the fridge. You can store the dough balls in a proofing box too, if you can fit it in your fridge.

Why does pizza dough go bad?

The main threat is over-proofing. Overproofing happens when you let the dough rest for too long, and it starts losing its shape and texture because gluten is not able to trap the gases inside the dough anymore.

The surface of pizza dough is not airtight, like a balloon that traps all the gas inside, and gas is constantly escaping. As long as the yeast can produce enough gas, the dough will keep rising. But if you let the dough rest for too long, the gluten strains will weaken, and the yeast will not be able to produce enough gas to keep inflating the dough. You will then end up with a dough with poor structure, that is not able to keep its shape.

The amount of yeast in the pizza dough regulates the speed of the fermentation. That means that the more yeast you add, the faster the dough will rise. Most home pizza recipes use a lot of yeast, to achieve fast rising. Neapolitan pizza, on the other hand, uses much less yeast and therefore ferments slower.

Pizza dough will not go bad, in the sense that it’s dangerous to eat just by leaving it for long. As long as your ingredients are not bad, contaminated, contain mold, etc. It is therefore really important to use quality ingredients when you bake pizza. The dough may however develop off flavours if it’s left for too long.

Frequently asked questions about storing pizza dough

How long can pizza sit out on the counter?

Standard pizza dough 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.

How long can pizza stay in the fridge?

You can store pizza dough in the fridge for up to 1 week. Storing pizza dough in the fridge will slow down the fermentation, but not stop the process completely. Therefore, you should adjust the amount of yeast if you plan to leave your dough in the fridge for an extended period of time.

Even though you can leave it for up to two weeks, I recommend freezing the dough if you’re not planning to use it within 7 days, because it can overproof. I’ve found the sweet spot for the flavor to be 3 to 5 days, so there is not any point in leaving it longer for flavor.

how long can pizza stay in the freezer?

Pizza dough will last 3 months in the freezer. When the pizza dough is stored in the freezer, the fermentation process stops completely. You can therefore leave your dough much longer in the freezer than in the fridge.

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