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.
Not Enough Time For Rising
This fermentation process allows carbon dioxide to form air bubbles within the dough which gives it a fluffy and light texture when cooked. If not given enough time for this reaction to take place, the resulting pizza may be flat or dense instead of having that desired pillow-like softness.
If your prep area is too cold, scout out warmer areas in your kitchen – perhaps next to a stove or heater – where you can place your dough bowl as it rises. If all else fails, you can try placing the bowl containing your dough in a warm water bath to speed up how quickly it rises.
Yes, you can still eat bread that doesn't rise. You can make a dessert or flatbread out of dough that does not rise by adding melted butter or sprinkling sugar and sesame seeds, then baking for about 10 to 30 minutes. Find out if you can knead the dough after it rises here.
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.
Although it's not usually as long-lasting as a double risen loaf of bread. You can make good bread with a single or double rise. Single rising is quicker to make but requires more kneading. If you want to make a softer bread, it might be best to rise once.
Most traditional pizza dough recipes call for the dough to rise twice. The first rise gives the dough time to develop its gluten structure, which gives the finished crust its chewy texture.
“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.
Lightly flour your finger and poke the dough down about 1". If the indent stays, it's ready to bake. If it pops back out, give it a bit more time. The poke test is especially helpful for free-form breads like cinnamon rolls.
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. After a bit of rest, the gluten in the dough will relax, making the process of stretching much easier.
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.
How to store pizza dough on the counter. 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. Pizza dough should be stored in an airtight container, zip lock bags, or covered with plastic wrap.
Not enough yeast
The more yeast you add to the dough, the faster it will rise. So if don't add enough yeast, the dough will rise too slow, and can even appear to not rise at all.
Dough that's left to rise at room temperature typically takes between two and four hours to double in size.
The second rise is shorter than the primary fermentation after the bread loaf has been shaped and panned; usually taking only about half the time of the first rise at room temperature, or shorter for smaller loaves and rolls.
If your kitchen and/or counter where you knead the dough is cool, the dough will cool down also (even if you used warm water to make it). If your dough is kept at around 80°F, it should take between 1 and 1½ hours to rise double in volume.
If it holds its shape, then it's ready for the next step. After the second rise, however, a baker is looking for the dough to spring back at her slowly when she pokes it. The second proving has given the bread more elasticity, and made it harder to deflate the air.
At which point during the dough making process would it be best to freeze or refrigerate? 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.
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.
Normally with pizza dough you give it a short to medium rise (30 to 90 min) as one big ball of dough, or even an overnight cold rise. The rise after rolling it out is generally very short, like 10 to 20 minutes; it's not the main rise and is more about relaxing the dough than rising.
A lean, moist dough in a warm kitchen will probably rise in 45 minutes or less. A firmer dough with less moisture will take longer to rise.