What happens if dough is not kneaded enough?

Dough that has not been kneaded, or hasn't been kneaded long enough, appears lumpy, doesn't stretch very well, and tears easily . If your dough is like this, it needs more kneading. Keep kneading it until it's smooth, stretchy, and more pliable.

What should dough look like that has been kneaded enough?

Smooth Dough – The dough will start out looking like a shaggy, lumpy mass and will gradually smooth out as you knead. By the time you finish, it should be completely smooth and slightly tacky to the touch .

What not to do when making pizza dough?

Not Letting the Dough Rest Proofing – which is the process of putting the dough aside and allowing it to rise – enables the yeast to leaven through fermentation, making the dough rise. Not allowing your dough to proof for long enough will result in a hard, dense and just plain gross pizza base.

What is the secret ingredient for pizza?

The Secret Ingredient to the Perfect Pizza: Fresh and Never Frozen Dough . Pizza is one of the most beloved foods in the world. It's hard to resist the lure of a crispy crust, gooey cheese, and savory toppings. But what many people don't realize is that the dough is the foundation of any great pizza.

What happens to pizza dough if you over knead it?

Yes, but the amount of time and effort it would take to do it by hand would require a lot of strength and endurance - maybe 20 - 30 minutes of constant kneading. Over kneaded dough will be tight and tough and won't stretch properly and the resulting bread will be flat, hard, chewy and unappealing to eat .

What is the finger test for dough?

Gently press your finger into the dough on the top. If the dough springs back quickly, it's underproofed. If it springs back very slowly, it's properly proofed and ready to bake. Finally, if it never springs back, the dough is overproofed .

Why doesn't no-knead dough rise?

Your no knead bread will not rise if: You add no yeast or starter containing wild yeast . You yeast is dead or your wild yeast starter is not sufficiently viable. You add waaaaay too much salt to your dough.

How do you know if dough is over or under kneaded?

The overworked dough will often feel tight and tough . This means that liquid molecules have been damaged and won't stretch properly, causing the bread to break and tear more easily. Conversely, a dough that is underworked will be harder to form into a ball shape.

What is the secret of pizza dough?

There are many tricks to achieving a tasty, homemade pizza dough that rises into a beautiful pizza crust, such as making sure your ingredients are at right temperature , using half bread flour for a stronger dough and half all-purpose flour for a nice rise, substituting honey for sugar to help caramelize the crust and ...

How to fix pizza dough that won't stretch?

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.

How should pizza dough feel after kneading?

One of the signs that your dough is ready is that it will be completely smooth after kneading it.

How long should you knead pizza dough?

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.

Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough Recipe (2024)

Pizza

Mix the dough, wait a day, and start stretching pies.

J. Kenji López-Alt

Culinary Consultant

Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.

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Updated August 31, 2023

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Why It Works

A longer fermentation time allows enzymes to break down the flour's protein, resulting in a stretchy, fully leavened pizza dough with no physical kneading.
Treat the dough gently so it holds its character and texture.

Any New Yorker who eats bread has most likely tried some of the magical edible stuff thatJim Laheyproduces atSullivan Street Bakeryor at Sullivan Street Pizza (formerly known as Co.).

Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough Recipe (2)

Through meticulous scientific investigation, I think I've finally discovered the true secret to getting bread as good as Lahey's on a completely, 100% consistent basis. Step one: get Jim Lahey to make it.

Ok, ok. So I admit, it's not a particularly practical method, and my sample pool here was one. That said, when Mark Bittman and Jim Lahey dropped theno-knead breadrecipe on the world back in 2006, with a single short youtube video, they did more to improve home baking than perhaps any other single event in history. I know that I've personally never looked back. (Seemy own explanation of the science here).

Lahey's first book,My Bread, was all about the no-knead method. The way you do it? Just mix flour, salt, and yeast, add water, stir it all together, then let it sit in a covered bowl for eight or nine hours. Over the course of this long fermentation, enzymes break down large flour proteins into smaller segments that can then quite easily be cross-linked into stretchy sheets of gluten. You wind up with a dough that stretches as if it had been perfectly kneaded, without any of the oxidation that occurs with actual kneading.

The result? Perfectly textured bread with next to no work.

Lahey's bookMy Pizzapromises to do for pizza whatMy Breaddid for bread. It's largely based on his no-knead dough, with dozens of recipes for topping combinations that are tomato-based, white sauce-based, and completely sauceless. You'll find most of the pies from Sullivan Street Pizza within its pages.

If there's one thing any home pizza maker can tell you, it's that it's nearly impossible to get the same bubbly, crisp, charring that you get from a real-deal wood-fired Neapolitan pizza oven. Check out the video below as Jim Lahey shows us that not only is it possible, it's actually pretty damn easy to do.

First, a note from Lahey:

While I'm not picky about the flour—either bread flour or all-purpose is fine—what does concern me is how the dough is handled. Treat it gently so the dough holds its character, its texture. When you get around to shaping the disk for a pie, go easy as you stretch it to allow it to retain a bit of bumpiness (I think of it as blistering), so not all of the gas is smashed out of the fermented dough. I prefer to hold off on shaping the ball until just before topping it. If it's going to sit for a while—more than a couple of minutes—cover it with a damp kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out. I offer you two approaches for shaping. The simpler one, executed completely on the work surface, is slower than the second, where you lift the disk in the air and stretch it by rotating it on your knuckles. Lifting it into the air to shape it is more fun, too.

For more tips on stretching, topping, and baking your dough, check out the video below.

This dough is perfect for making Lahey's recipe for pizza topped with broccoli rabe, garlic, ginger, and Thai chiles.

March 2012

Recipe Details