How Long Does Pizza Dough Last in the Fridge – Manage Dough Fermentation

I remember, my stomach ache was getting worse after the weekend pizza party. My doctor told me about the food poisoning, and I didn’t understand the actual cause. Later on, digging into food facts, my wife told me the pizza on which I wasn’t holding back even having it to my fuller, was made from refrigerated dough.

What, Are you serious? I yelled!

Isn’t storing pizza dough in a refrigerator safe? How long does pizza dough last in the fridge? I was inundated with tons of questions to my wife.

So, my mind cooled down, and researched what and what not to do when refrigerating uncooked pizza dough.

Ideally, you can refrigerate pizza dough but make sure it can be utilized within 3-5 days. Yes, pizza dough does last even more in the fridge, but not to do a stunt as I did; the safe zone is what I mentioned above. 

Well, what’s the mystery behind pizza dough and refrigeration; here are some facts to be consumed essentially.

How Long Does Pizza Dough Last In The Fridge? How does Bad Pizza Dough Look Like?

Does pizza dough have to be refrigerated? Or can you refrigerate pizza dough? Yes, The fact is pizza dough is highly prone to temperature, environment, and microbes that can turn it into an expired pizza dough. In light of this, YES, you must be very quick to store pizza dough at safe refrigerated temperatures.

People use three ways to store raw pizza dough, and here’s the life of your pizza dough rely on these methods;

• At rooms temperatures: 4-6 hours max
• Pizza Dough in Refrigerator: This can go up to 7 Days, but I only consider a max of 5 days as a safe zone.
• In the freezer: Can last up to 2-3 months.

Talk about refrigerated pizza dough; still, many factors decide its faith. You can stretch the life of your pizza dough to a bit more extent while playing with ingredients and temperatures. Know this more here;

When Does Pizza Dough Go BAD? Save the Juliet: 

Potentially, the endurance of dough relies on the ingredients and temperatures. On the ingredients part, if you are using milk products in the recipe, I can feel your worry.

The classic dough recipe includes Salt, flour, water, yeast, and your love and dedication. In some cases, olive oil and butter also join the ingredient squad.

What and When Not to Use In The Ingredients:

Be Technical on Flour Selection:

Wouldn’t you mind if I put some chemical formulas behind the pizza dough fermentation? Let’s do it below. But before that, learn it; flour selection is the most technical and vital part in regards to saving your dough from over-fermentation.

The quality and taste of your pizza is highly dependent on the fermentation and strong gluten structure. The stronger the gluten structure will be, the more elastic your dough will go. And apart from this elasticity, fermentation will also last longer due to protein-enriched flour.

So, instead of using regular “0” flour, always use “00” bread flour that has more protein elements.

Do a sidestep from Dairy Products:

The problem arises when you add milk, yogurt, or any other dairy product in the recipe that turns your efforts into a bad pizza dough faster than using water as a liquid agent to make a mixture.

Dairy products shake hands quickly with the bacteria, thus spoiling the party faster. Also, if you are a crispy crust lover, there is no need to use milk, yogurt, or sour cream in the ingredients.

Basically, the use of milk comes when you love to have a more brownish crust and soft dough. The lactose and calcium components in the milk add flavor and more texture to your dough.

Also, when using whole milk instead of water, the pizza dough fermentation becomes slow. So, you have to wait a little longer for the perfect arousal of the dough before you start putting ingredients on it.

Show Minimal Love on Yeast:

Make your “Yeast Move” according to your plans with the pizza dough. If you want to freeze or refrigerate pizza dough for later use, I would say, let’s cut 50-60% of the yeast ratio from the regular concentration you do in your recipe.

Technically, you must avoid fermentation before bringing the refrigerated dough back to life. The low temperatures put the yeast effect to the hibernation phase. However, too much yeast in pizza dough, the more sensitive it’ll behave.

Moreover, with the high yeast concentration in the dough, it’s more likely to exhaust all its power if you slightly mismanage the temperatures. This will eventually result in a flatter pizza.

How Long Can You Keep Pizza Dough In The Fridge – Know the Science Behind Dough Rise:

Tell me, what’s the most critical matter near you? To keep the quality and taste of your dough locked for the longest time? So, you should know what is really romancing behind dough rise.

In this scientific world, there is always a scientific reaction going on behind every happening. Similarly, what goes behind dough rise? Learn it to master your pizza baking skills.

Let’s keep it super general and easy to understand; Suppose, you have done it all and waiting for the dough to rise.

So, while you are enjoying your Netflix expecting the pizza dough to rise in the fridge, the process begins with throwing out gaseous substances, including carbon dioxide, generally known as gas bubbles, and ethanol as alcohol.

Alongside this, the starch and sugar elements in the dough start stimulating the yeast molecules. As the fermentation (which we bakers say is Proofing when it’s fully done) accelerates, the expulsion of waste increases.

Yet, the dough is a dense or thick material; it doesn’t let the gaseous materials escape, causing a bubble up the dough volume which we generally say is pizza dough fermentation or rise.

But then, what is over-proofing? 

Gluten structure breaks down in response to a reaction between sugar elements and yeast, resulting in the release of alcohol and gas bubbles, right?

Generally, when gluten and yeast make a reaction to their fuller capacity and exhaust their resources entirely, you see an expansion in the dough. This is what over-proofing is when yeast gets fully risen for various reasons and then dies, causing gluten structure to weaken and don’t clutch the rise further.

How To Tell If Pizza Dough Is Bad? The Most Common Symptoms:

Does pizza dough Fermentation complete in 3 days or 5 days? Or over a week? There is no exact figure to tell when your efforts will turn into bad pizza dough. But there are some symptoms; if you find your uncooked pizza dough carrying them, you better avoid that stuff consuming:

Smell: When you get a strong alcoholic or beer smell, it’s an indication that your efforts have been ruined. Leave that, and move on to the next.

Change in color: Cream or beige is your standard raw pizza dough color. But if you see full grey or flakes of grey and orange color, hold your patience and prepare for the next.

Taste: You tasted that dough, and if it’s not clicking in the shelves of your mind and taste buds what taste it is, throw that dough. The tasteless dough is a lifeless dough now.

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People Also Ask – FAQs

Does refrigerated pizza dough go bad?

Yes, refrigerated pizza dough also go bad after a week. As the fermentation process only slows down in the refrigeration temperatures, you can see pizza dough going bad after 1 week or more.

Can I refrigerate homemade pizza dough?

Yes, the leftover homemade pizza can be easily refrigerated. However, there is a time limit to which you should not go beyond that may decay your dough and make it inconsumable.

How long does pizza dough last at room temperature?

It depends what room temperatures you have, if its 15-20 Celsius degree, you can wait for 8 hours. However, pizza dough doesn’t last above 12hrs. So you better consume it before that. 

The Bottom Line – Don’t Ruin Your Pizza Dough:

There is no exact limit to how long does pizza dough last in the fridge. But in my experience, whatever method you have used, no matter what concentrations you have put in, 3 days is the most practical limit to use your refrigerated dough.

Some say 5, and some even claim above a week, but that will have more chances of over-proofing and pizza dough fermentation.