Do You Need to Proof Wholesale Pizza Dough?

Often when restaurant owners buy wholesale pizza dough, they wonder if they need to proof it before baking it. That is, if they need to give it time to let it rise. Usually, frozen dough manufacturers take care of the proofing process for you. And often, you can find freezer to oven dough, which requires no proofing whatsoever. But depending on how you use your pizza dough, and what you do to it, there may be certain instances in which you need to let your dough rise slightly.

If you use pizza dough balls and shape them in any way, you may need to allow your dough to proof before throwing it in the oven. Sometimes the dough can be rolled into a standard pizza shape and not require proofing, but you may want to check with the manufacturer. If however you twist, fold, or reshape the dough in any way other than laying it flat, you may need to give it a bit more time to rise.

This is because, while pizza dough may appear tough and hearty, it can actually be quite delicate. It’s a gentle mix of yeast, gluten and flour that need to all work together to create a crisp crust that is soft (and therefore has bubbles!) on the inside. When you reshape the dough you’re deflating those bubbles and working against the natural elasticity of the gluten. In order to get it back, you need to allow it to rest slightly once again; typically about half an hour is long enough.