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Milk Street Recipes

Can Pizza Dough Warm up at Room Temperature?

Asked Sep 20, 2019 by Mitchell G.

This may be a silly question but - I'm planning to double or triple Milk Street's pizza dough recipe (). The recipe instructs to bring the dough up to temperature by putting the dough in small bowls within other bowls with warm water. The number of bowls in action could quickly get completely silly.

If I just take the dough out of the refrigerator a bit earlier - will that be fine? I hate to miss some critical step.

Thanks!

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COMMENTS

  • Mitchell G.

    September 25, 2019

    Thanks! We got an accessory for our kamado grill that turns it into a pizza oven and we were having a pizza party to celebrate. I ended up only doubling the recipe - and still had more dough than I needed :-) I did put the dough in bowls but I made larger water baths with roasting pans to keep it to only a little crazy.

    It worked perfectly. Best pizza dough I've ever made. Lots of superlatives about the pies from our guests as well.

    Thanks!

  • Zachary S.

    May 18, 2020

    Can you put the ziplock bags with the refrigerated dough directly in the bowl of warm water ?

    • Lynn ClarkMilk Street Staff

      May 18, 2020

      Hi Zachary - I spoke with the recipe developer, Diane Unger, and she says "no." That's because the dough will stick in the bag as it warms in the water. You can either use a plastic deli-style container to ferment and warm the dough - it won't stick in the deli container in the same way - or simply transfer the dough to a bowl before warming. Good luck!

  • Mitchell G.

    May 18, 2020

    When I was working with a dozen or so pies, I did put the ziplock bags directly in the warm water and used my sous vide container and immersion circulator to keep the water at the desired temperature. It worked - however, Lynn and Diane are right that the result is much better when using a container rather than a bag. The dough was easier to work with, had better expansion, etc. We couldn't tell if there was a taste difference. For smaller quantities of 1-4 pies, following the recipe as written has given me the best results.

    • Lynn ClarkMilk Street Staff

      May 18, 2020

      Thanks for your insights, Mitchell!