By Charlie Pogacar
How long should your dough ferment? How long is too long? And what type of dough program is right for your pizzeria? These are questions that some of the most seasoned operators are still asking themselves—and they were investigated during a special panel at PMQ Pizza’s Pizza Power Forum in Atlanta, Sept. 2-4.
The panel, hosted by Brian Hernandez, PMQ Pizza’s associate editor and director of PMQ’s U.S. Pizza Team, featured five highly accomplished pizza chefs and offered diverse perspectives on dough programs. Speakers included Vitangelo Recchia (Bella Napoli Pizzeria), Brandon Bruner (Lynn’s Chicago Pizza), Wilhelm Rodriguez (Papa’s Pizza), Jeff Varasano (Varasano’s Pizzeria) and Juan Perez (Posto).
The 45-minute panel was titled “Mad Scientists of Pizza: Mastering the Intricacies of Pizza Perfection.” In alignment with its name, the five pizzaiolos held a spirited discussion on whether three hours, three days or even a full week of fermentation delivers the best results—and when par-baking might be the smarter play.
Related: Level Up Your Pizza Game With These Tried-and-True Dough Hacks
The Case for Long Ferments
For some panelists, dough only starts to shine after several days. It’s like a fine wine, Rodriguez said: The longer it ferments, the better it tastes.
“You gotta wait to have better results,” Rodriguez said. “That’s why I’m very passionate about long fermentations. Sometimes more than four or five days. That’s how you’re going to taste the wheat the way you are supposed to taste it.”
Varasano agreed, detailing the experiments he’s run to establish an optimal fermentation length. The standard at Varasano’s Pizzeria is a four-to-six day fermentation, though Varasano added that sometimes the pizzeria has to tap a three-day dough when they’ve run out. “But it’s totally different in three days than it is at four,” he said. “It really starts [to be exceptional] at four [days], in my opinion.”
“The best dough is right before it collapses,” Varasano continued. “The flavor is going up, the structure is going down. Five minutes before the structure is completely eaten through—that’s the best-tasting pizza you’re going to get.”
The payoff, both chefs said, is depth of flavor, better color and the elusive micro-blistering—a particular area of expertise for Rodriguez that has made his pizzeria an Instagram darling.
The Counterpoint: When Faster Makes Sense
Not every operator can—or should—commit to a six-day ferment.
Brandon Bruner runs two doughs at Lynn’s Chicago Pizza: a buttery semolina-based deep-dish and a “flour dough” for New York-style pies. “Seventy-two hours has been my jam lately,” he said. “But it’s not every day. We only use it for slices, catering or emergencies because it’s too expensive to do all the time.”
Recchia, a member of the U.S. Pizza Team, shared that he’s been experimenting with the opposite extreme with his Roman-style pizza: three-hour biancas with hydrations north of 80%. “I’ve been working with that because I don’t necessarily have the space to hold 45 kilograms of dough for days,” he said. The quick ferment allows him to test recipes and manage space constraints without tying up cooler shelves.
Their point: In a high-volume pizzeria, throughput and real estate matter. Flavor is important, but not at the expense of service. Further, your fermentation will always depend on the pizza style you are intending to make.
Par-Baking as a Practical Tool
In further evidence of the nuance surrounding fermentation times, the conversation naturally turned to par-baking, a method often dismissed as a shortcut but embraced by several panelists.
“In America, the system that was taught is more or less doing par-bakes just because of space and because people don’t want to wait that long [for their pizza],” Recchia said. “At my place, we par-bake everything but our New York-style [pizza]. We par-bake our Detroits, Sicilians, grandmas, Romans and [alla] palla—because we don’t have the space and we don’t have the time.”
Rodriguez agreed, highlighting par-bake’s training advantages. “One of the best things [with par baking] is you can teach employees very quickly how to make a nice Detroit or Sicilian,” he said. “In half an hour, a new employee can learn. It also adds more crispiness, because when it’s par-baked and cold and you finish the pizza, it’s going to get more crisp. And you can move faster in your pizzeria.”
The Takeaway for Operators
The panel underscored a truth about pizza dough: Time is an ingredient, but so is practicality.
For those chasing maximum flavor and blistering, long ferments deliver. But for operators prioritizing speed and functionality—or those doing styles that require longer times in the oven—par-baking or shorter ferments might be the right move.
The real question is not whether five-day dough is better than a three-hour dough, but whether it’s right for your shop, your staff and your customers. The key is to not be afraid of trying new and different things, even if you’re a well established pizzaiolo.
As Recchia summed up, experimentation is part of the craft. “Everything is in ratios…the only thing that is going to change is your water,” he said. “So understanding what your water is going to do to your recipe is going to bring out what you’re attempting to do. And you might make a mistake, and it might be the best thing you could have done.”
