Master Pizza Dough Science: Tips for Pizza Beginners From Pizza Industry Experts

Key Points:

• • Understand the science behind hydration, flour, time, temperature, and environment — great dough comes from knowing the why, not just following a recipe
  • Master the fundamentals, measure with precision, and make one intentional adjustment at a time to build consistency and lasting improvement

While we are gaining insights from some of the thought leaders in pizza dough, we had to ask them what they would teach the next generations of pizza makers.

If you could teach student pizza makers one thing about dough science, what would that be?

Tony Gemignani: I typically teach that dough is a living organism and that there is no one golden recipe that works for everyone. Around the world, we need to understand that water is different – soft or hard or it may be chlorinated, etc. – that our climate is different, our flour varies all year and fluctuates, that humidity plays a factor. It’s important to understand that our dough can be different every day, so when it comes to making dough, you want to be as consistent for your customers as possible. I always say that the style that you like may not be the style that everyone else likes. When I open up a store, I always say that having two options is better than one: The one that typically works in that city or neighborhood and the one that you want to do. Investing in the right oven is so important, and I like to have multiple temperatures, so I feel that double- and triple-stack ovens play a key role in expansion, especially as trends can change, you will have a model that can adapt to change. I always say that having a restaurant that can’t adapt to change is a dying restaurant.

Tony Gemignani is a 13-time world champion pizza maker, acclaimed restaurateur, and co-author of The Pizza Bible. Referred to as the G.O.A.T., he is the founder of Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, Slice House and owner in 40 restaurants. 

Will Grant: Know your baker’s percentages and take the recipe you already have and break it down to your percentages. At that point, you can start tinkering with your dough and know exactly what you’re doing with it. That being said, it’s really, really important whenever tinkering with your dough to only tinker with one thing at a time and go back to your basics.

Will Grant, also known as Sourdough Willy, is the world’s top sourdough competitive chef and the first non-Italian Master Pizzaiolo Instructor in the United States. With 40 years of experience growing his family’s pizzeria, he now shares his sourdough expertise through Sourdough Willy’s Pizzeria.

Frank Pinello: The pizzerias that I grew up in, people were scared to play with the dough. The owners wouldn’t change anything. “That’s the dough. That’s how it’s made. We do it the same way every day for consistency.” As I’ve evolved in my career, I know my dough really well, so I’m not scared to play with it and try different things, incorporate new flour blends, use our sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast and do that in the midst of a regular week. What I would like to teach them is, you’re working with your dough; you make it every day – learn it, understand it and then understand where you could change things.

Frank Pinello is a Brooklyn-born pizzaiolo and the founder of Best Pizza in Williamsburg, where he revives classic New York slice-joint tradition with a century-old wood-burning oven and deep Sicilian roots.

Laura Meyer: It really boils down to understanding the whys. I think it’s understanding the whys behind your decisions and not just doing it because a recipe is stating it or because it’s tradition or because that high-profile pizza maker is doing it. I think it’s understanding the whys behind your decisions when it comes to dough making. And then, it comes down to the knowledge base of why you do certain things: Why would you change hydration for your operation?

Laura Meyer is a 20-year industry veteran, often referred to as “the pizza queen.” She is a three-time world pizza champion and owner of Pizzeria da Laura in Berkeley, California. Laura is a founder of the advocacy non-profit, Fork to Future.

Leo Spizzirri: Everything we do is based off time and temperature. The higher your temperature, the faster things go, the lower the temperature, the longer. Now, everybody wants to do very long maturation doughs, very high hydration. That understanding of time and temperature is critical. As we (ferment) longer, understanding things like flour strengths and protein are the technical side of what you need to make a dough last before it starts deteriorating and falling apart on top of itself.

Leo Spizzirri is the master pizzaiolo/executive chef at Moderna Pizzeria in Austin, Texas. Chef Spizzirri is one of only 100 Master Instructors worldwide certified by the Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli.

Photo by adobestock.com/ Hihitetlin

Read THE FUTURE OF PIZZA DOUGH, a Q&A with leading pizza industry dough experts — Tony Gemignani, Laura Meyer, Will Grant, Frank Pinello and Leo Spizzirri.

Discover the future of pizza dough with insights from 5 industry experts. Explore emerging trends, alternative flours, and how AI is changing pizza prep.