Re-Balling Your Dough - VIDEO
If you’ve tried the Forza Pizza Sicilian Dough Recipe you’ve noticed the recommended re-ball step. We consider this step optional because it is dependent on the amount of time you have before bake. If you have the time you do it, if you don’t have the time you still make pizza you just adjust your steps. We’re here to encourage home pizzamaking not put up time barriers that prevent you from making pizza.
The video below begins 12+ hours after the dough has been rising in the pan. For me this typically means it is early morning, I mixed the dough the night before, and I am having pizza for dinner later in the day. So after the re-ball there is still a good 8-10 hours for the dough to get a second rise before bake. As you can see, this is not a hard and tight dough-balling. It is more like a gentle re-shaping where closing the bottom is not even necessary. You will also see I like to touch the dough a lot!
The second rise will create a more uniform and consistent hole structure across the pizza which also makes for a more consistent top bake. After the second balling, the dough ball will be a little bigger and smoother than the first rise and also feel more inflated.
In the pictures below from left-to-right and top-to-bottom: 12 hours after mixing, after re-ball, 10 hours after re-ball which is 22 hours after mixing. The dough is ready to be stretched in the last pic, but can also stay and rise for a while longer if needed.
Again, this recipe was built for convenience. Please only interpret the timing as guidelines and do your best to work it into your schedule. Do not worry if you have 7 hours instead of 8, the important thing is that you make pizza and continue to make pizza!
