5. Don’t Rush the Yeast
Yeast is a fascinating fungus, and it’s an essential part of making the perfect base and crust. Without yeast, the dough won’t rise, and your pizza is a flop. Yeast feeds on the sugar in the wheat creating carbon dioxide. The CO2 forms air pockets in the dough and forces it to rise. If you’re worried about eating a live fungus, you can relax – the cooking process destroys the yeast.
When the yeast dies off, it leaves air pockets in the crust that give it the wonderfully fluffy taste. That’s why a good pizza dough recipe will call for the addition of sugar because the yeast feeds on the sugar and creates the CO2.
Top pizza chefs say adding sugar to the dough is the secret step that many people miss out when making the recipe and it’s the reason why they can’t get their pizza to taste like the crust and base from an authentic Italian pizzeria.