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.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, and let the dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
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.
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.
Plan on at least 1 1/2 hours of rise time before shaping, topping, and baking.
Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 45 minutes; then refrigerate it for 4 hours (or up to 36 hours); this step will develop the crust's flavor. It'll continue to rise in the fridge, so make sure it's in a big enough bowl. Divide the dough in half.
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.
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.
Degassing Pizza Dough
You'll need that second degassing to make sure the gluten fibers are the right strength. Of course, what makes pizza dough different from most other doughs is you want your gluten to be strong. So, does this mean that the second degassing isn't necessary? Not really.
The second proving has given the bread more elasticity, and made it harder to deflate the air. Second rises may add significantly to the total time it takes to complete a loaf of bread, but the step can be essential to achieving the taste and texture inherent to a number of popular breads.
Once dough is shaped, it needs to rise (be proofed) for a final time. It should be transferred to the pan it will be baked in or on (most often a loaf pan or baking sheet) first. As with previous rises, cover dough with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm, moist environment.
Overview: How to Make Easy Pizza Dough
Knead: Knead by hand or with your mixer. I like doing this by hand. Rise: Place dough into a greased mixing bowl, cover tightly, and set aside to rise for about 90 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator.
Yes. After the first rise, you can knead the dough lightly to remove some gas that causes air bubbles. This step is ideal if you want your dough to be flat and dense or if you want bread with a close crumb, like sourdough.
Signs of Overproofed Pizza Dough:
The dough has risen beyond its original size: Overproofed dough will have a very large volume and may spring out of the container. The dough is soft and sticky: Overproofed dough will feel very soft and may be difficult to handle.
If the dough doesn't spring back at all, you've likely over-proofed the dough.
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 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.
Keep dough in a food-safe container and cover with a lid with an airtight seal. A well-made pizza dough box prevents crusting on top and encourages complete and consistent proofing.
Make sure that it has a lid, to prevent a tough skin from forming on your dough. Make sure that lid is not airtight, you want the gases from the yeast to escape or you will get a crazy alcohol smell building up in your bucket. If you have airtight seals on your bucket, just leave them ajar and it will be just fine!
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.
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.
If the bread is rising in a warm room and you're worried about the dough drying, spray the top of the dough with water and/or use a damp cloth which will prevent the air from getting through.
If the dough is not knocked back the fermentation rate slows down as time goes by. Of course, there are only so many times that you can knock it back and expect it to rise again. But in most cases, we don't have to worry about it as there is no good reason to degas the dough multiple times during bulk fermentation.