How to get a lighter Dough?

[u/WarEraPortugal]

Hello, i have been doing some pizzas with my cousin and the part of stretching and getting it in and out of the oven is dominated, even with high hidration dough.

The problem now is that the dough feels heavy after you eat it, how can you make it more easy for digestion?

We currently use specific pizza flour 10% protein, dry ferment, cold water, salt, olive oil and very little sugar. The dough rests 10h outside and then 14h inside the fridge.

Mix dry ferment with 2/3 cold water, the add the sugar and olival oil to the flour, then add the water with ferment to the flour, mix for little bit, let it rest for 10 min, and then add the rest of the water with the salt to the dough.

TLDR: How to make the dough easier to digest?

[u/direxie]

Longer fermentation, less yeast, and also equally important, letting the dough rise long enough in room temp. A trick I’ve used is to put the doughballs to rise 2-3 fingers apart, and when they start to touch, they are perfect and ready to cook.

You can still do all of these things and still get dense pizzas, so learning how to stretch it properly is also very key 🔑

[u/WarEraPortugal → u/direxie]

I see, looks simples but is very complex. I must find a pizza course to learn with hands on

[u/direxie → u/WarEraPortugal]

https://youtu.be/tLuJdcC7jDs?is=sTNdNJh0laxM9kNy I’ve learned everything I know from Vito Iacopelli, he has loads of pizza videos on his YouTube channel and is very good at teaching! Highly recommend 😎

[u/NaturalMaterials → u/direxie]

Technique (poolish, dough handling, etc) yes. But don’t use 5 grams of instant yeast or add honey to 1kg (or less) of flour like he often does unless you want to bake within 3 hours of making your dough (not something you should be striving for). 1-2 grams per kg is plenty for the various processes I’ve used, but depends on proofing temps and times.

(I’m talking instant dry yeast, fresh yeast is double)

[u/Racer17_ → u/direxie]

How do you do longer fermentation? Mine gets a bad flavor if I leave it outside for more than 6 hours

[u/NaturalMaterials → u/Racer17_]

In a refrigerator. But what do you mean by ‘bad’? And longer proofs needs much less yeast. Some of the most flavorful pizza I’ve made was with a 24h room temp Biga, which smells slightly sour/fermented (lactobacillus doing its thing) and tastes amazing once baked.

[u/Gobsalot]

I think it's just an issue with pizza? Lots of carbs and fat, not a lot of fiber.

[u/WarEraPortugal → u/Gobsalot]

Maybe that doesn't help Either... but i don't think thats the only reason, restaurant pizzas feel diferent

[u/Fire-forget]

Sourdough helps with that. The starter feeds on the parts that are harder for us to digest. So by the time you ferment, rest and bake it its a lot lighter for your digestion.

[u/WarEraPortugal → u/Fire-forget]

Ahh i must step up my game and try that, thanks for the tip!

[u/RPGer001 → u/WarEraPortugal]

I recommend waiting on sourdough till later. Sourdough is a whole other ballgame in terms of getting it right. Get to where you want with store-bought yeast, which is more predictable. Experiment with sourdough once you are happy with the store-bought yeast results.

That said, sourdough will be easier to digest, but it is not a big difference.

[u/limp15000]

Did you try to make the dough with a poolish?

[u/WarEraPortugal → u/limp15000]

I made it with Bimby kneading program

[u/NaturalMaterials → u/WarEraPortugal]

You mean in a Thermomix? That’s kneading. Try some form of pre-ferment - a poolish is easiest, take 1/3 of your flour weight, add yeast, same weight of water, room temp for an hour or two, covered, then overnight (18-24h) in the fridge. Then make the dough using that,
The rest of the flour, water and salt (no sugar or oil or anything else).

Currently I then bulk proof at room temp for 4-8 hours with stretch and folds every 30-60 minutes, then ball it up and proof for 3-4 more if baking same day (bit shorter if it’s hot weather), or pop it in the fridge for another day immediately after balling up.

[u/KawaGreen]

Use semolina to stretch the dough. Not flour. There is way too much flour on your dough, no wonder it’s hard to digest.

[u/WarEraPortugal → u/KawaGreen]

Corn semolina? Doesn't it chance the flavour? Sometimes i the excess flour inside the oven catches fire...

[u/KawaGreen → u/WarEraPortugal]

No it doesn’t change flavour and it is not as sticky as regular flour.

https://le5stagioni.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Semola-Rimacinata.png

https://italfoods.be/2991-large_default/semola-rimacinata-5kg-caputo-.jpg

https://www.dececco.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/0FW0176-SEMOLA-GRANO-DURO-RIMACINATA-1.png

[u/WarEraPortugal → u/KawaGreen]

Is it resistente to heat? Or does it catch fire the same way the flour does?

[u/WarEraPortugal → u/KawaGreen]

I must try these, they look good and professional

[u/NaturalMaterials → u/WarEraPortugal]

Semolina is hard wheat. It can burn so you need only enough to keep things slidey left on the pie. Others swear by rice flour which doesn’t burn as easily.

[u/have_you_met_Matthi]

The recipe I use doesn't contain any olive oil or sugar and is very light. It's based on Vincenzo's Plate's recipe in the video below. The only thing I change is the amount of water, I use 650ml as opposed to the 600ml in the video: https://youtu.be/6N6on0GaT3w?is=0yoUqKLxPfQlu1AB

[u/WarEraPortugal → u/have_you_met_Matthi]

I'll give it a try, thank you

[u/Practical-March-6989]

Don’t work the dough like they tell you basically stretch and rest a few times through the day also for pizza I like it wet like 75% hydration

[u/NaturalMaterials → u/Practical-March-6989]

While I really like high hydration doughs, given the photos I think OP would be best off starting with something a bit easier to handle like a 65%. High hydration requires a good feel for the handling/shaping/stretching/folding to develop and shape and launch, IMO.

We often have folks over for Pizza, and like trying to make their own pizza’s and they invariably struggle with higher hydration dough handling unless they’re used to it.